Liberalism and Socialism

In times of pandemic and global economic crisis, little more than a decade after the last, there are serious questions about how the liberal order can stand, who its friends are, and what the future will look like.  This edited collection provides a comprehensive overview of the principles and stakes at play in the dispute between liberalism and socialism.  It explores the 21^st century appeal of socialism, particularly to millennials and other relatively young citizens, and shows why modern classical liberalism and neoliberalism have generated tepid support, leading to the resurgence of socialism after it was thought dead and buried due to the dramatic failures of statist models in 1989.

The authors put modern socialism and liberalism into renewed dialogue with another to examine whether the two can coexist peacefully, or even reach an overlapping consensus on social reform going forward.  It delves into the history and theory of both liberalism and socialism to determine points of overlap and tension, in addition to a cross-disciplinary interpretive analysis of the present epoch to determine how both traditions have evolved since the 20^th century.  The book is interdisciplinary and provides a broad array of perspectives including a diversity of ideological perspectives ranging from committed Marxists to libertarians. It will be of interest to academics and students in economics and contemporary political culture.

Matthew McManus is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Politics at Whitman College, Washington, USA. He is the author of The Rise of Post-Modern Conservatism and Making Human Dignity Central to International Human Rights Law amongst other books.