This book by a leading scholar of international relations examines the origins of the new world disorder - the resurgence of Russia, the rise of populism in the West, deep tensions in the Atlantic alliance, and the new strategic partnership between China and Russia - and asks why so many assumptions about how the world might look after the Cold War - liberal, democratic and increasingly global - have proven to be so wrong. To explain this, Michael Cox goes back to the moment of disintegration and examines what the Cold War was about, why the Cold War ended, why the experts failed to predict it, and how different writers and policy-makers (and not just western ones) have viewed the tumultuous period between 1989 when the liberal order seemed on top of the world through to the current period when confidence in the western project seems to have disappeared almost completely.

"That government is best which governs least." - Henry David Thoreau In this major new defense of libertarianism, Dan Moller argues that critics and supporters alike have neglected the strongest arguments for the theory. It is often assumed that libertarianism depends on thinking that property rights are absolute, or on fetishizing individual liberty. Moller argues that, on the contrary, the foundations of libertarianism lie in widely shared, everyday moral beliefs - particularly in restrictions on shifting our burdens onto others. The core of libertarianism, on this "New England" interpretation, is not an exaggerated sense of our rights against other people, but modesty about what we can demand from them. Moller then connects these philosophical arguments with related work in economics, history, and politics. The result is a wide-ranging discussion in the classical liberal tradition that defies narrow academic specialization. Among the questions Moller addresses are how to think about private property in a service economy, whether libertarians should support reparations for slavery, what the history of capitalism tells us about free markets, and what role political correctness plays in shaping policy debates.

The Dead Center takes an acerbic and often ribald eye to contemporary politics, particularly those of mainstream liberals in the United States. Combining engaging polemic and serious intellectual analysis, it offers a timely portrait of a political landscape sullied by an already ineffectual Biden administration, the marginalization of forces around Bernie Sanders and the ominous shadow of Donald Trump in the wings. In these pages Jacobin staff writer Luke Savage exposes the hollowness and futility of the liberal project in the 21st century, offering searing critiques of some of its leading figures, notably Barack Obama and Justin Trudeau, and touching on topics that extend over the milquetoast politics of the Biden presidency, Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing, the monopolists of Silicon Valley, and the worst excesses of cable news punditry. Always deeply informed, often on the basis of direct personal experience, Savage's book also explores the recent trajectory of younger people away from the liberal mainstream and towards the socialist left.

Liberal political philosophy and natural law theory are not contradictory, but - properly understood - mutually reinforcing. Contemporary liberalism (as represented by Rawls, Guttman and Thompson, Dworkin, Raz, and Macedo) rejects natural law and seeks to diminish its historical contribution to the liberal political tradition, but it is only one, defective variant of liberalism. A careful analysis of the history of liberalism, identifying its core principles, and a similar examination of classical natural law theory (as represented by Thomas Aquinas and his intellectual descendants), show that a natural law liberalism is possible and desirable. Natural law theory embraces the key principles of liberalism, and it also provides balance in resisting some of its problematic tendencies. Natural law liberalism is the soundest basis for American public philosophy, and it is a potentially more attractive and persuasive form of liberalism for nations that have tended to resist it.

Upon publication in 1791-92, the two parts of Thomas Paine's Rights of Man proved to be both immensely popular and highly controversial. An immediate bestseller, it not only defended the French revolution but also challenged current laws, customs, and government. The Routledge Guidebook to Paine's Rights of Man provides the first comprehensive and fully contextualized introduction to this foundational text in the history of modern political thought, addressing its central themes, reception, and influence. The Guidebook examines: the history of rights, populism, representative governments, and challenges to monarchy from the 12th through 18th century; Paine's arguments against monarchies, mixed governments, war, and state-church establishments; Paine's views on constitutions; Paine's proposals regarding suffrage, inequality, poverty, and public welfare; Paine's revolution in rhetoric and style; the critical reception upon publication and influence through the centuries, as well as Paine's relevance today. The Routledge Guidebook to Paine's Rights of Man is essential reading for students of eighteenth-century American and British history, politics and philosophy, and anyone approaching Paine's work for the first time.

Liberalism forms the dominant political ideology of the modern world, but despite its pervasive influence, this is the first book-length treatment of liberal political thought from a Christian theological perspective. Song discusses the different aspects and interpretations of liberalism with reference to the critiques of three twentieth-century theologians: the American Protestant Reinhold Niebuhr on the liberal progressivist philosophy of history; the lesser-known Canadian George Grant on the threat of technology to fundamental liberal values, as articulated in the recent work of John Rawls; and the French Thomist Jacques Maritain on the defence of political pluralism. Further to this, Song explores the implications of this political theology for the issues in fundamental constitutional theory raised by a bill of rights and judicial review of legislation, and concludes with an account of the critical but supportive stance of liberalism Christian theology should take.

This book examines the lives of people caught in the dynamics of changing mores, rapid urbanization, and real public health issues in nineteenth-century Buenos Aires. "Modernity in the Flesh" shows the costs Argentines paid for the establishment of liberal democracy between 1880 and 1910. Modernity raised consciousness of the public good and a commitment to new sciences and a new set of priorities that asserted the precedence of health and security of the social whole. This book shows the ways that the tensions of liberal democracy between individual rights and the social good were tempered by "flesh" and articulated through this word. As the state was pursuing positivist science and government, the flesh held out a type of corrective to the focus on scientific and material progress.

Emmanuel Levinas's phenomenologies of the face of the Other have opened new vistas for contemporary ethical thought, but their implications for political thought have remained largely unexplored. In An-Archy and Justice, William Simmons systematically examines Levinas's political thought from its foundations to its implications to fill this theoretical void. Levinas worked against the predominant egocentric traditions in Western philosophy, claiming that in order to respond concretely to all Others the ego must rely on political institutions, yet these institutions must always be held in check by the original ethical relationship with the Other. In his penetrating and insightful analysis of Levinas's work, Simmons argues that Levinas's philosophy provides a new foundation for political thought by grounding the liberal state on an anarchical ethics. An-Archy and Justice is a ground-breaking and thought-provoking analysis of a profoundly creative thinker.

Everything we think we know about populism is wrong. Donald Trump. Brexit. European right-wing extremists. All have been accused of populism. But what does this often thrown about, yet generally misunderstood, term actually mean? The real story of populism is an account of enlightenment and liberation; the story of democracy itself, of its promise of a decent life for us all. Here, acclaimed political commentator Thomas Frank takes us from the emergence of the radical left-wing US Populist Party in the 1890s, through the triumphs of reformers under Roosevelt and Truman, to the present day, reminding us how much we owe to the populist ethos. He pummels the elites, revisits the movement's provocative politics, and declares true populism to be the language of promise and optimism. People Without Power is a ringing affirmation of a movement that, Frank shows us, is not the problem of our times, but the solution.

This book discusses the justifications and limits of cultural nationalism from a liberal perspective. Chaim Gans presents a normative typology of nationalist ideologies, distinguishing between cultural liberal nationalism and statist liberal nationalism. Statist nationalisms argue that states have an interest in the cultural homogeneity of their citizenries. Cultural nationalisms argue that people have interests in adhering to their cultures (the adherence thesis) and in sustaining these cultures for generations (the historic thesis). Gans argues that freedom- and identity-based justifications for cultural nationalism common in literature can only support the adherence thesis, while the historical thesis could only be justified by the interest people have in the long-term endurance of their personal and group endeavors. The Limits of Nationalism examines demands often made in the name of cultural nationalism, such as claims for national self-determination, historical rights claims to territories and demands entailedby cultural particularism as opposed to cultural cosmopolitanism.

What role should a citizen's religious convictions play in political activities? Christopher Eberle is deeply at odds with the dominant orthodoxy among political theorists about the relationship of religion to politics. His argument is that a citizen may responsibly base political commitments on religious beliefs, even if the only reasons for those political commitments are religious in nature. An inherently controversial book that offers a substantial challenge to political liberalism, it will be read by students of philosophy, political science, law and religious studies.

The Prison House of Alienation is an exploration of the humanist theme of alienation that Marx theorized in his Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. It relates this theme of alienation with the themes of haunting in the Manifesto of the Communist Party and accumulation of capital that he outlined in his magnum opus Capital. The volume claims that humanity plagued by ghosts is dwelling in a prison house from which there seems no escape. Yet humanity seeks to escape from this prison house. The essays are a consequent journey in dramaturgy where science and art truly meet to create emancipatory politics that goes well beyond the entire discourse of twentieth-century socialism. The volume begins with Hamlet's lament in Shakespeare's tragedy, who, struck by alienation, is haunted by the ghost of his dead father. It then discusses how instead of creating a radical theory for creating a socialist alternative, 'haunting' gave way to interpretation as an estranged hermeneutical act that displaces revolutionary theory and praxis. This displacement of revolutionary praxis in turn gave way to violence. This volume therefore also analyzes violence from Clausewitz to Mao, revealing that a rigorous line must be drawn between Stalinism and Maoism on one side, and authentic Marxism on the other side. It concludes by questioning the very idea of ideology, suggesting that ideology is not merely a false consciousness, but a terrible psychotic act that would devour the entire emancipatory project of Marxism itself. Placing the human condition at the centre for alternative twenty-first-century politics, The Prison House of Alienation reveals that there can be no science without art and no politics without humanity. It will be of great interest to scholars of philosophy and politics. The essays were originally published in various issues of Critique: Journal of Socialist Theory.

The "New Liberalism" of the late nineteenth/early twentieth century is explored in this original collection of essays by leading scholars. This neglected strand of the liberal tradition demonstrates that rather than being irreparably individualist, liberalism can accommodate community as well as rights and liberty. These essays provide exciting insights into current debates in the liberal tradition and will be of great interest to students and scholars of political theory and the history of political thought.

Never has the Left held power in so many advanced economies, yet the difference this makes to economic policy proves hard to specify. This book is the first to examine in detail the successes and failures of governments across Europe and Australasia to chart distinctive courses in the face of the neoliberal backlash against state intervention, the welfare state, and guaranteed full employment.

Natural law, Liberalism and Morality brings together leading defenders of natural law and liberalism for a series of frank and lively exchanges touching upon critical issues of contemporary moral and political theory. The book is an outstanding example of the fruitful engagement of traditions of thought about fundamental matters of ethics and justice.

This collection of essays examines New Labour's claim to stand in the vanguard of a new form of progressive politics. By examining the ideology of New Labour, the major policy initiatives of Labour government, and the record and prospects of social democratic and progressive governments in the USA and elsewhere in Europe, the contributors attempt to disentangle the progressive and conservative aspects of New Labour politics and the possibilities for genuine progressive advance in Britain and other advanced capitalist countries.

This spirited analysis and defence of American liberalism demonstrates the complex and rich traditions of political, economic, and social discourse that have informed American democratic culture from the seventeenth century to the present. The Virtues of Liberalism provides a convincing response to critics right and left.

Democratic Procedures and Liberal Consensus seeks to examine empirical conditions under which people give their support to liberal democratic regimes and regard policies as legitimate.

Neoliberalism: The Key Concepts provides a critical guide to a vocabulary that has become globally dominant over the past forty years. The language of neoliberalism both constructs and expresses a particular vision of economics, politics, and everyday life. Some find this vision to be appealing, but many others find the contents and implications of neoliberalism to be alarming. Despite the popularity of these concepts, they often remain confusing, the product of contested histories, meanings, and practices. In an accessible way, this interdisciplinary resource explores and dissects key terms such as: Capitalism Choice Competition Entrepreneurship Finance Flexibility Freedom Governance Market Reform Stakeholder State Complete with an introductory essay, cross-referencing, and an extensive bibliography, this book provides a unique and insightful introduction to the study of neoliberalism in all its forms and disguises.

John Skorupski develops in these essays a distinctive and systematic moral philosophy: he examines the central ethical concepts of reasons, the good, and morality, and applies the results to issues of culture and politics. He makes firm the connection between liberal politics and its ethical ideal, and links that ideal to modern morality and modern ideas of the good.

The book examines the development of the idea of community in western liberal democracy and the way in which it inspires participants in 'community development', and community politics'. Controversially, the book argues that 'community' is a contradictory idea, which ultimately frustrates participants in democratic politics.

The book offers a detailed critical analysis of the ideal of 'community' in politics. The book traces elements of the idea of community in a number of social and philosophical contests over the last century, explaining how these are articulated in very recent political and public policy debates. 'Community' is invoked as a justification for re-organisation of state institutions as the source of care, and support for individuals, and as an entity which is valuable in its own right, and needs itself to be sustained and defended.
In community development, community action, community care, and community politics, the tensions and contradictions within the concept are often invariably felt community is both inclusive and exclusive; both organised and unstructured; and both hierarchical and egalitarian. The book argues that analyses of the concept of 'community' shows the role of ideas and ideals in shaping political actions, the barriers to the realization of community in practical contexts, and ultimately the untenability of the ideal itself.

After a turbulent century characterized by vast bloodshed, but also by the spread of democratic government and humane values, the author suggests that the great democracies - led by Britain, France, Germany, Japan and the United States - should form an intercontinental community of democracies - a Pax Democratica according to the author. He argues that such a union will culminate centuries of evolution in world order: from empires to balance-of-power Realpolitik , more recently from cooperative international institutions to an era of supranational communities, composed of likeminded peoples and organized around democratic principles.

In the Name of Liberalism examines why the British and North American governments adopted illiberal social policies during this by this century. The book analysis examples of social policy in Britain and the United States that conflict with liberal democratic ideals. The author argues that government accommodation of illiberal policies are a paradox of a liberal democratic framework and that there is a need to question further the internal workings of entrenched democracies.