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A short book about the challenges to liberalism from the right and the left by the bestselling author of The Origins of Political Order
Classical liberalism is in a state of crisis. Developed in the wake of Europe's wars over religion and nationalism, liberalism is a system for governing diverse societies that is grounded in fundamental principles of equality and the rule of law. It emphasizes the rights of individuals to pursue their own forms of happiness free from encroachment by government.
It's no secret that liberalism hasn't always lived up to its own ideals. In the United States, many have long been denied equality before the law, excluded from the category of full human beings worthy of universal rights. Only recently has this definition expanded to include, to varying degrees, women, African Americans, LGBTQ+ people, and other historically marginalized groups. As the renowned political philosopher Francis Fukuyama shows in
Liberalism and Its Discontents, the principles of liberalism have also, in recent decades, been pushed to new extremes by both the right and the left: neoliberals have made a cult of economic freedom, and progressives have focused on identity over human universality as central to their political vision. The result, Fukuyama argues, has been a fracturing of our civil society and increasing peril to our democracy.
In this succinct, clear account of our current political discontents, Fukuyama offers an essential defense of a revitalized liberalism for the twenty-first century.
List of contents
Preface 1. What Is Classical Liberalism?
2. From Liberalism to Neoliberalism
3. The Selfish Individual
4. The Sovereign Self
5. Liberalism Turns on Itself
6. The Critique of Rationality
7. Technology, Privacy, and Freedom of Speech
8. Are There Alternatives?
9. National Identity
10. Principles for a Liberal Society
Notes Bibliography Index
About the author
Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He has previously taught at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University and at the George Mason University School of Public Policy. He was a researcher at the RAND Corporation and served as the deputy director in the State Department's policy planning staff. He is the author of
The End of History and the Last Man,
Trust, and
America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy. He lives with his wife in California.
