Since the Enlightenment, liberalism as a concept has been foundational for European identity and politics, even as it has been increasingly interrogated and contested. This comprehensive study takes a fresh look at the diverse understandings and interpretations of the idea of liberalism in Europe, encompassing not just the familiar movements, doctrines, and political parties that fall under the heading of "liberal" but also the intertwined historical currents of thought behind them. Here we find not an abstract, universalized liberalism, but a complex and overlapping configuration of liberalisms tied to diverse linguistic, temporal, and political contexts.

Since the Enlightenment, liberalism as a concept has been foundational for European identity and politics, even as it has been increasingly interrogated and contested. This comprehensive study takes a fresh look at the diverse understandings and interpretations of the idea of liberalism in Europe, encompassing not just the familiar movements, doctrines, and political parties that fall under the heading of "liberal" but also the intertwined historical currents of thought behind them. Here we find not an abstract, universalized liberalism, but a complex and overlapping configuration of liberalisms tied to diverse linguistic, temporal, and political contexts.

Alle politischen Begriffe und Vorstellungen beziehen sich nach Carl Schmitt auf die politische Unterscheidung von Freund und Feind, deren letzte Konsequenz sich in Krieg oder Revolution aussere. Aber was erlaubte es dem Staat, unter Ruckgriff auf die Legitimationsformel der Nation Millionen seiner Burger in den Krieg zu schicken? Vor dem Hintergrund dieser Frage untersucht Jorn Leonhard Ursprung, Wandel und Vielfalt der aus der Erfahrung kriegerischer Gewalt hervorgegangenen nationalen Legitimationsmuster. Auf synchroner Ebene stellt er Frankreich, Deutschland, Grossbritannien und die Vereinigten Staaten in der longue duree vom Siebenjahrigen Krieg bis zum Ersten Weltkrieg systematisch-vergleichend gegenuber. Das Werk wurde 2006 mit dem Werner-Hahlweg-Preis ausgezeichnet."