Liberal peacebuilding too often builds neither peace nor Liberalism. In a growing number of cases, people aren't rejecting and relegating democracy because it's bad; they're challenging it because it isn't relevant to their priorities and needs. The peacebuilding 'moment' - when consent for intervention is present and the opportunity to build a sustainable social contract between peacebuilders and people is most fruitful - is being squandered. This relationship, between governed and governance, relies on mutual needs realization, but there is no formal or informal requirement and mechanism for ascertaining what the 'subjects' of peacebuilding might prioritize. Instead, peacebuilders give the 'subjects' of peacebuilding what they think they should have. This legitimacy gap - between what peacebuilders give and what subjects want - is the subject of this book. Through a range of empirical case studies conducted by country specialists, the book reveals that, when asked, people often prioritize roads, electricity, jobs, housing, schooling and pertinent justice (amongst other things) in the immediate aftermath of war. We find that mapping this locus of legitimacy may help develop the kind of relationship upon which the sustainability of any social contract between governed and governance rests. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding.

Nineteenth-century Russian intellectuals were faced with a dilemma. They had to choose between modernizing their country, thus imitating the West, or reaffirming what was perceived as their country's own values and thereby risk remaining socially underdeveloped and unable to compete with Western powers. Scholars have argued that this led to the emergence of an anti-Western, anti-modern ethnic nationalism. In this innovative book, Susanna Rabow-Edling shows that there was another solution to the conflicting agendas of modernization and cultural authenticity - a Russian liberal nationalism. This nationalism took various forms during the long nineteenth century, but aimed to promote reforms through a combination of liberalism, nationalism and imperialism.

The notion that we are experiencing a change in times, whereby an old global order is giving way to a new one, has been gaining legitimacy in international debates. As US power is waning, the argument goes, so is the set of liberal norms, rules and institutions around which the Unites States organised its global supremacy. Ideational contests, power shifts, regional fragmentation, and socio-economic turmoil paint a broad picture of complex and often inter-related challenges that fuel contestation of the liberal order, both as a normative project and as an emanation of US power. Major players - China and India, Europe and Russia, and the United States itself - are all engaged in a process of global repositioning, most notably in areas where the liberal project has only fragile roots and order is contested: Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. This volume aims to provide critical frames of reference for understanding whether geopolitical and ideational contestations will eventually bring the US-centred liberal order down or lead to a process of adjustment and transformation. The chapters in this book were originally published in a special issue in The International Spectator.

The agenda of external actors often includes a number of objectives that do not necessarily and automatically go together. Fostering security and stability in semi-authoritarian regimes collides with policies aimed at the support of processes of democratization prone to conflict and destabilization. Meanwhile, the promotion of national self-determination and political empowerment might lead to forms of democracy, partially incompatible with liberal understandings. These conflicting objectives are often problematized as challenges to the effectiveness of international democracy promotion. This book presents systematic research about their emergence and effects. The contributing authors investigate (post-) conflict societies, developing countries, and authoritarian regimes in Southeast Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. They identify the socio-economic and political conditions in the recipient country, the interaction between international and local actors, and the capacity of international and local actors as relevant for explaining the emergence of conflicting objectives. And they empirically show that faced with conflicting objectives donors either use a 'wait and see'-approach (i.e. not to act to overcome such conflicts), they prioritize security, state-building and development over democracy, or they compromise democracy promotion with other goals. However, convincing strategies for dealing with such conflicts still need to be devised. This book was published as a special issue of Democratization.

This book compares African and Afrikaner nationalisms to demonstrate that the transition from apartheid to liberal democracy in South Africa was a neo-colonial settlement that left the economy and the military/security sector under the control of the white minority, while increasing wide socioeconomic disparities between rich and poor.

Free marketeers claim that theirs is the only economic mechanism which respects and furthers human freedom. Socialism, they say, has been thoroughly discredited. Most libertarians treat the state in anything other than its minimal, 'nightwatchman' form as a repressive embodiment of evil. Some reject the state altogether. But is the 'free market idea' a rationally defensible belief? Or do its proponents fail to examine the philosophical roots of their so-called freedom? Anti-libertarianism takes a sceptical look at the conceptual tenets of free market politics. Alan Haworth argues that libertarianism is little more than an unfounded, quasi-religious statement of faith: a market romance. Moreover, libertarianism is exposed as profoundly antithetical to the very freedom which it purports to advance. This controversial book is for anyone interested in the cultural and political impact of free market policies on the modern world. It will be invaluable to students and specialists of political and economic theory, social science and philosophy.

eBook available with sample pages: HB:0415090490

The effects of neoliberal economic reforms in the Southern Mediterranean are now widely regarded as a main underlying cause of the Arab uprisings. An often neglected dimension is that of the reforms' implications for local governance. The contributions to this edited volume examine how state power is being re-articulated but also challenged at sub-national levels in Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and Turkey. They explore the effects of neoliberal economic and local governance reforms such as decentralization, public-private partnerships, and outsourcing in the area of public service delivery, poverty alleviation, and labor market reforms on local patronage networks, public accountability, and state-society relations. The findings show that such reforms are often subordinated to established patterns of political contestation among actors who seize on the opportunities that reforms offer to advance their political agendas, thereby illustrating the local specificity of 'actually existing neoliberalisms'. The book thus fills an important knowledge gap by combining public policy and management theories with those on patron-client networks and public accountability at the local level, and situating them within the critical literature on neoliberalism. This book was published as a special issue of Mediterranean Politics.

Since the late 1970s, the spread of Neo-liberalism and the failure of socialist economies and systems in Eastern Europe have resulted in a practically unchallenged hegemony of international capital across the globe. Neo-liberalism is now the dominant ideology, legitimizing the privatisation of state-controlled economies and the substitution of the market for social provision and basic welfare.
In Restructuring Hegemony in the Global Political Economy the authors argue that this process began with the defeat of the New International Economic Order, the Euro-Communist ascendency in Western Europe, the overthrow of the Allende government in Chile, and culminated in the collapse of practical socialism. They assert that the victory of neo-liberalism is now so complete that its radical features have come to be accepted as the new normality.

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Liberal democracy is currently being more widely adopted, so much so that the thesis that this regime stands at "the end of history" has become fashionable. Yet immense internal problems remain unresolved in these regimes. In "Nature and Liberty", John Zvesper explores three of these within modern liberal politics - those connected with ethnicity and race, sex and family life, and the bureaucratized government. He traces the difficulties that liberals have in dealing with these problems to the "physiphobia" - the unreasonable fear of nature - in contemporary liberal political theory. John Zvesper examines the practical problems by using evidence from the political experience of America, a regime that has often been taken to illustrate the characteristic virtues and vices of liberal democracy. The book culminates in a critique of dominant liberal theories, and a sketch of the outlines of a more adequate theory.

The author of this book is an unabashed liberal democrat. He argues that there are a number of myths and half-truths about American politics that need to be properly understood if progressives and the Democratic party are to win the presidency and govern effectively. The book has three parts: myths and realities of public opinion; current party coalitions - their strengths and weaknesses; a programme for progressive Democrats.

Multiculturalism is not a la mode nowadays. It is attacked by both right-wing populists and mainstream politicians and leaders of liberal democracies. Indeed, conflicts surrounding cultural diversity and recognition are among the most salient issues in contemporary societies. Should liberal democracies recognise specific cultural rights of minorities? If so, should they grant rights only to indigenous national minorities or also to immigrants? Is such a recognition compatible with the basic liberal principle of state neutrality? Practical questions of this kind are in quest of sound theoretical foundations. Alan Patten's approach to multiculturalism, developed in Equal Recognition (2014), is the most recent and prominent example of such an effort. Considered "the most important contribution to the philosophy of cultural diversity since Will Kymlicka's Multicultural Citizenship", Patten's work elaborates new and original conceptions of culture and liberal neutrality. It reasserts the case in favour of liberal multiculturalism and applies its theoretical framework to concrete contemporary issues, such as language rights, federalism, secession, and immigrant integration. This collection presents a critical review of Patten's approach to cultural plurality. The critics question the overall normative strategy of Equal Recognition, its account of neutrality, especially with regards to language rights, its assumptions about democracy and, finally, its relevance to public policy debates. It will be of interest to political scientists, philosophers, and legal theorists, and will inspire students and politicians alike. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy.

The author of this book is an unabashed liberal democrat. He argues that there are a number of myths and half-truths about American politics that need to be properly understood if progressives and the Democratic party are to win the presidency and govern effectively. The book has three parts: myths and realities of public opinion; current party coalitions - their strengths and weaknesses; a programme for progressive Democrats.

Markets and Development presents a series of critical contributions focused on the political relationship between citizens, civil society, and neoliberal development policy's latest form. The dramatic increase of 'access to finance' investments, newly gender-sensitive approaches to building neoliberal labour markets, the universal promotion of public-private partnerships, and the 'development financing' of extractive industries, have all seen citizens, social movements, and NGOs variously engaged in, and against, neoliberalism like never before. The precise form that this engagement takes is conditioned by both the perceived and real opportunities, and the risks, of an agenda which seeks to intern 'emerging' and 'frontier markets' deep within a concretising world market, with transformative repercussions for both those involved and, notably, for state-society relations. The contributors to this volume focus on essential aspects of the contemporary neoliberal development agenda and its relationship to and with citizens and civil society, tackling questions related to the roles that various actors within civil society in the underdeveloped world are playing under late capitalism, and how these roles relate to current efforts to establish and extend markets, and market society more broadly, in a neoliberal image. This book was originally published as a special issue of Globalizations.

Terrorism and neoliberalism are connected in multiple, complex, and often camouflaged ways. This book offers a critical exploration of some of the intersections between the two, drawing on a wide range of case studies from the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, and the European Union. Contributors to the book investigate the impact of neoliberal technologies and intellectual paradigms upon contemporary counterterrorism - where the neoliberal era frames counter-terrorism within an endless war against political uncertainty. Others resist the notion that a separation ever existed between neoliberalism and counter-terrorism. These contributions explore how counterterrorism is already itself an exercise of neoliberalism which practices a form of 'Class War on Terror'. Finally, other contributors investigate the representation of terrorism within contemporary cultural products such as video games, in order to explore the perpetuation of neoliberal and statist agendas. In doing all of this, the book situates post-9/11 counter-terrorism discourse and practice within much-needed historical contexts, including the evolution of capitalism and the state. Neoliberalism and Terror will be of great interest to readers within the fields of International Relations, Security Studies, Terrorism Studies, and beyond. This book was originally published as a special issue of Critical Studies on Terrorism.

After Critique identifies an ontological turn in contemporary U.S. fiction that distinguishes our current literary moment from both postmodernism and so-called post-postmodernism. This turn to ontology takes many forms, but in general After Critique highlights a body of literature-work from Colson Whitehead, Uzodinma Iweala, Karen Yamasthia, Helena Viramontes, Percival Everett, Mat Johnson, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Tom McCarthy-that favors presence over absence, being over meaning, and connection over reference. These authors' interest in producing literary value ontologically rather than representationally stems from their sense that neoliberalism's capacious grasp on contemporary language and discourse-its ability to control both sides of a conceptual debate or argument-has made it nearly impossible to write beyond neoliberalism's grip. This is particularly distressing for authors invested in contemporary politics as neoliberalism renders any number of political problems circularly undecidable. Taking up four different political themes-human rights, the relation between public and private space, racial justice, and environmentalism-After Critique suggests that the ontological forms emerging in contemporary U.S. fiction articulate a version of politics that might successfully evade neoliberal appropriation. This is a politics which replaces critique and its reliance on representation with ontology and its ever-shifting configurations and assemblages.

This title was first published in 2000: Bringing oes liberalism have either the theoretical capacity or the political durability to provide for social justice, particularly given the challenges of the new millennium? From a diverse array of disciplinary, cultural and critical perspectives, the contributors to this timely and incisive collection of essays cover ground ranging from the philosophical adequacy of liberalism's central tenets, to the treatment of minority and alternative cultures in contemporary Europe, to the future of welfare provision, to the continued tenability of traditional ideological distinctions and labels amid the social conditions and demands of the new millennium. The book will be of particular interest to philosophers, political scientists and social and legal theorists - and to anyone with a general interest in the present and future horizons of social justice in theory and practice.

At the fiftieth anniversary of 'multiculturalism' as a concept, this is the first book to provide detailed analysis of the contemporary issues facing multiculturalism globally, incorporating the rise of right-wing populism, and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Traverses the past, present, and future of multiculturalism, assessing the positive impacts while also recognising limitations, and how these may impact the future of multiculturalism in the 21st Century. * Provides an in-depth study of critical perspectives on multiculturalism that stem from indigenous and decolonial thought, critical race theory, and black studies. Presents a near global comparative analysis, that moves the discussion beyond western liberal democracies, to the impact of multiculturalism in the Americas, Europe, Oceania, Africa, and Asia. Features a strong mixture of established names, including influential and renowned scholars such as Will Kymlicka, Yasmeen Abu-Laban, Alain G. Gagnon, and Avigail Eisenberg (to name a few), while also introducing new names and perspectives to the field.

With a public career spanning 62 years, William Gladstone dominated the Victorian political arena. He remains, however, an enigmatic figure; a high Anglican, Tory protectionist who became leader of the Liberals, a party associated with free trade and religious non-conformity. This biography examines both Gladstone and the environment in which he operated, concentrating in particular on the political and social composition of the party which he led. The author argues that the parliamentary "Gladstonian Liberals" were far from unqualified supporters of Gladstone, and that much of Gladstone's power was derived from his popularity amongst the electorate. The text concludes with an assessment of Gladstone's achievements and his political legacy.

This book continues and revises the ideas of justice as fairness that John Rawls presented in "A Theory of Justice" but changes its philosophical interpretation in a fundamental way. That previous work assumed what Rawls calls a "well-ordered society," one that is stable and relatively homogenous in its basic moral beliefs and in which there is broad agreement about what constitutes the good life. Yet in modern democratic society a plurality of incompatible and irreconcilable doctrines -- religious, philosophical, and moral -- coexist within the framework of democratic institutions. Recognizing this as a permanent condition of democracy, Rawls asks how a stable and just society of free and equal citizens can live in concord when divided by reasonable but incompatible doctrines?

This edition includes the essay "The Idea of Public Reason Revisited," which outlines Rawls' plans to revise "Political Liberalism, " which were cut short by his death.

"An extraordinary well-reasoned commentary on "A Theory of Justice."..a decisive turn towards political philosophy."

-- "Times Literary Supplement"

Woodrow Wilson is best known for his service as the twenty-eighth president of the United States and his influence on American foreign policy in the twentieth century and beyond. Yet Wilson is equally important for his influence on how Americans think about their Constitution and principles of government. Woodrow Wilson and the Roots of Modern Liberalism highlights Wilson's sharp departure from the traditional principles of American government, most notably the Constitution. Ronald J. Pestritto persuasively argues that Wilson's unfailing criticism places him clearly in line with the Progressives' assault on the original principles of American constitutionalism. Drawing primarily from early writings and speeches that Wilson made during his years as a scholar, Pestritto examines the future president's clear and consistent ideologies that laid the foundation for later actions taken as a public leader. Engaging and thought-provoking, Woodrow Wilson and the Roots of Modern Liberalism gets to the heart of Wilson's political ideologies and brings a fresh perspective to the study of American political development.

Michael Oakshott described conservatism as a non-ideological preference for the familiar, tried, actual, limited, near, sufficient, convenient and present. Historically, conservatives have been associated with attempts to sustain social harmony between classes and groups within an organic, hierarchical order grounded in collective history and cultural values. Yet, in recent decades, conservatism throughout the English-speaking world has been associated with radical social and economic policy, often championing free-market models which substitute the free movement of labour and forms of competition and social mobility for organic hierarchy and noblesse oblige. The radical changes associated with such policies call into question the extent to which contemporary conservatism is conservative, rather than ideological. This book seeks to explore contemporary conservative political thought with regard to such topics as, 'One Nation' politics and Big Society, sovereignty, multiculturalism and international blocs, paternalism and negative liberty with regard to narcotics, pornography and education, regional and international development, and public faith, establishment and religious diversity. This book will be published as a special issue of Global Discourse.

Here is the first book to cover the history of British Liberalism from its founding doctrines in the later eighteenth century to the final dissolution of the Liberal party into the Liberal Democrats in 1988. The Party dominated British politics for much of the later nineteenth-century, most notably under Gladstone, whose premierships spanned 1868-1894, and during the early twentieth, but after the resignation of Lloyd George in 1922 the Liberal Party never held office again. The decline of the Party remains a unique phenomenon in British politics and Alan Sykes illuminates its dramatic and peculiar circumstances in this comprehensive study.

Neoliberalism has been studied as a political ideology, an historical moment, an economic programme, an institutional model, and a totalising political project. Yet the role of law in the neoliberal story has been relatively neglected, and the idea of neoliberalism as a juridical project has yet to be considered. That is: neoliberal law and its interrelations with neoliberal politics and economics has remained almost entirely neglected as a subject of research and debate. This book provides a systematic attempt to develop a holistic and coherent understanding of the relationship between law and neoliberalism. It does not, however, examine law and neoliberalism as fixed entities or as philosophical categories. And neither is its objective to uncover or devise a 'law of neoliberalism'. Instead, it uses empirical evidence to explore and theorise the relationship between law and neoliberalism as dynamic and complex social phenomena. Developing a nuanced concept of 'neoliberal legality', neoliberalism, it is argued here, is as much a juridical project as a political and economic one. And it is only in understanding the juridical thrust of neoliberalism that we can hope to fully comprehend the specificities, and continuities, of the neoliberal period as a whole.

The quest for freedom has always been as much a battle of ideas as it is a popular struggle. Classical liberal pioneers such as John Locke and Adam Smith stressed the inherent worth of the individual, inalienable rights, and the benevolent consequences of the cooperative, peaceful pursuit of one's own happiness. These ideas became the intellectual scaffolding for much of the West's most fundamental institutions and achievements. Yet after its 19th-century high-water mark, classical liberalism lost much of its passion, focus, and popular support. Intellectual trends increasingly began to support coercive egalitarianism, empire, and central planning at the expense of individual liberty, personal responsibility, private property, natural law, and free institutions.
But the eclipse of classical liberalism by contemporary liberalism and conservatism is passing. "The Challenge of Liberty" restores the ideas and ideals of classical liberalism and shows how its contemporary exponents defend such pillars of free societies as individual rights, human dignity, market processes, and the rule of law.