STRATEGIC STUDIES AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

5809
Junior officer cadet
MAV DHANUSHKA

AGREE TO THE IDEA, THAT LIBERALISM IS IN CRISIS

1. LIBERALISM

a) What is liberalism?
b) Why liberalism came into world?
c) Liberal thinkers
d) Modern liberal age
e) Neo liberalism

a) WHAT IS LIBERALISM.................

Liberalism is a political doctrine. It is enhancing the freedom of the one man.that means enhancing the
freedom of the individual to be the central problem of politics.
Liberalism is based on three laws,
1. Political and moral philosophy based on libertyn
2. Consent of the governed
3. Equality
Liberals thinks that government can protect individual freedom. But they also thinks that government
also can be a threat to liberalism because government can going against the law as they wish. That is
wrong.
American pamphleteer said that ‘government is at best’ a necessary evil. Laws, judges and police are
needed secure the individuals life and liberty, but their coercive power may also be turned against him.
The problem then is to devise a system that gives government the power necessary to protect individual
liberty but also prevents those who govern from abusing that power.
[1766-THOMAS PAIN-AMERICAN PAMPHLETEER]
Liberty refers to undue or oppressive restraints on a person’s actions, thoughts or belief imposed by the
state when saying the world liberalism .It come up with free market, free trade, limited government,
civil rights and human rights, capitalism democracy,securalism,gender equality, racial equality,
international freedom of speech, press and religion.

a) WHY LIBERALISM CAME INTO WORLD………………..

Or this topic most likely history of liberalism. In the 17th and 18th centuries liberalism or we can call it
as a classical liberalism to distinguish it from to days usage of the term, emerged as a reaction to
Europe’s decaying feudal order. Liberalism is a business among western philosophers and economies
signature political philosophy of western civilization is simply liberalism or called as classical
liberalism. We can find hint and suggestion about liberalism in other cultures. America that served as
the seedbed of liberalism. Two major movement influenced to these ideas.1st one was the protestant
Reformation and its notion that a person has an individual relationship with the divine. The 2 nd one
was the enlightenment with the assumption that the world has a natural order that individual reason can
discover and understand independently of fait a rationalist philosophy.
17th century England also threatened by royal absolutism in the form of the house of Stuart. Then
began critical period of crisis. As a response revolution, civil war, the beheading one king and booting
out another king. IN this critical century period 1 st organizations, movements and thinkers appeared
who can be unequivocally identified as liberal.1668 leaders of glorious revolution.1776 American
revolution an 1789 French revolution to justify the armed overthrow of royal tyranny used liberal
philosophy.
18th century development of liberalism continued at this century the burgeoning enlightenment ideals
of the era. Through the 18th century this was a period of profound intellectual that problemed old
traditions and influenced several European monarchies. The mid-18 th century the colonists were richer
than the rest of the world. Self-help was the guiding star in the field of spiritual values. Churches,
colleges, lending libraries, newspapers, lecture institutions and cultural associations flourished with the
voluntary co-operation of citizens.

b) LIBERAL THINKERS…………..

Now there are lot of liberal thinkers in the world. As the 1 st one we can nominate JOHN
LOCKE is commonly regarded as the further of modern liberalism because he is the one that
these ideas were 1 st concorporated into an ideology.
Since 18th century Americans Ronald dworhin, Richard Rorty, John rawls and Francis
fukuyuma as well as the Indian Amartya sen and precisian hernando de Soto has broaden to
include a wide range approaches. Some of these guys before they were moved in other
ideologies. Some of the liberal thinker have different views. They don’t agree to this liberalist
list. They think that some of guys are not true liberals.one country should make a listed of
liberalism worldwide. Normally only thinkers listed but politicians are only listed when they
contribution something to liberalism besides their normal political work.

What is a liberal thinker?

Liberals believe in a thriving, spontaneous social order with mutual respect, toleration, non-
aggression, cooperation and voluntary exchange between free people. Most base this on
individuals’ basic moral rights of life, liberty and property, protected by a strong, trustworthy
justice system. They favour free speech, free association, the rule of law and limits on
government that prevent people in authority violating individual freedoms. But liberalism
remains abroad spectrum of views, and liberals do disagree on many issues.

c) MODERN LIBERAL AGE

Because of state anarchism people who suffered in liberalism they start to follow socialism.
Because of that Capitalism was on end of the 19 th century liberal philasophist came under the idea
of that liberalism is not only that government should protect individual freedom peace. Also
government have to provide welfare to its people this ideology was known as welfareism.

d) NEO LIBERALISM
Neo liberalism the word is rarely heard in the United States, you can clearly see the effects of neo-
liberalism here as the rich grow richer and poor grow poor.`Neo’ means we are talking about a new
kind of liberalism. So what was the old kind? The liberal school of economics became famous in
Europe when Adam smith, an Scottish economist, published a book in 1776 called THE WEALTH
OF NATIONS. He and others advocated the abolition of government intervention in economic
matters. But the capitalist crisis over the last 25 years, with its shrinking profit rates, inspired the
corporate elite to revive economic liberalism. That`s what makes it ‘neo’ or new. Now, with the
rapid globalization of the capitalist economy, we are neo-liberalism on a global scale.

1. LIBERALISM IS IN CRISIS?

The last century in US and European politics might well be read in terms of the ever
increasing triumph of liberalism. After World war one the 1920s in agurated elite influence
of an avant-garde that for both good and ill eventually spread its libertarian revolt to mass
culture, thereby often debasing its critical edge during the 1960s. Amid economic stagnation
and post-colonial hangover, the ‘embedded liberalism’ of the post war consensus gave way
to the ultra-liberalism of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan that has defined politics and
the economy since the 1980s.
As the unleashing of choice always new restrictions of the choices of some by the choices of
others, it quickly and contradictorily leads to new and often draconian restrictions on
citizens’ freedoms. Thus ultra-Liberalism results in a hysterical oscillation between release
and control. This is because mere negative liberty lacks positive criteria for discriminating
between what should be allowed and encouraged and what should not.

 Based on the articles and videos it has been mentioned that

 In recent years populist movements have attacked the liberalism they prefer keeping
jobs for their own people, favoring domestic production over imported goods imposing
anti-immigration rules and regulation.
 Populist movements have won referendums and elections in Britain, USA, Poland and
Hungary.

 The following movements which have occurred in the past few years show that the
liberalism is facing a crisis.

I. Brexit; the decision of Britain to exit from European Union. Has caused a crisis of
liberalism in west.
II. Donald trump’s victory over Hilary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.
 About this 1 and 2 points BREXIT is such an all-consuming process for the British
at once a drama, a muddle and a mess that it is easy to forget that it is easy to forget
that it is easy to forget that it is part of something bigger.
 A crisis of liberalism in the west. A growing number of countries have had their own
equivalents of brexit; Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016
presidential election; the election of a populist government in the Italy; the Catalan
revolt in Spain; the rise of populist authoritarians in Russia, Hungary, Poland and, to
some extent, India; the simmering rage against what Viktor orban calls ‘liberal blah
bla blah` in the intellectual dark-web. The list will be a lot longer by the time Brexit
has been completed.
 I. The election of populist government in Italy.
II. The Catalan revolt in Spain.
III. The rise of populist authoritarians in Russia, Hungary and Poland.

So from all above mentioned scenarios, I do believe that liberalism is at crisis.