Download or read book Rebuilding Liberalism written by Guy Stanley and published by Dundurn. This book was released on 2019-07-06 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A blueprint for constructing responsible liberalism Establishing liberalism that offers freedom and social justice is possible. Doing so requires examining the history of liberal ideas and culture over the last two centuries, followed by a major overhaul of existing systems, which includes coming to terms with liberalism’s past and its major limitations, as well as upgrading liberal economics and preparing for technological disruption. Rebuilding Liberalism combines a discussion about liberal ideas in a social context with political analysis, and builds a path forward that can ensure the survival of liberal society.
Download or read book The Reconstruction of American Liberalism 1865 1914 written by Nancy Cohen and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2003-04-03 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tracing the transformation of liberal political ideology from the end of the Civil War to the early twentieth century, Nancy Cohen offers a new interpretation of the origins and character of modern liberalism. She argues that the values and programs associated with modern liberalism were formulated not during the Progressive Era, as most accounts maintain, but earlier, in the very different social context of the Gilded Age. Integrating intellectual, social, cultural, and economic history, Cohen argues that the reconstruction of liberalism hinged on the reaction of postbellum liberals to social and labor unrest. As new social movements of workers and farmers arose and phrased their protests in the rhetoric of democratic producerism, liberals retreated from earlier commitments to an expansive vision of democracy. Redefining liberal ideas about citizenship and the state, says Cohen, they played a critical role in legitimating emergent corporate capitalism and politically insulating it from democratic challenge. As the social cost of economic globalization comes under international critical scrutiny, this book revisits the bitter struggles over the relationship between capitalism and democracy in post-Civil War America. The resolution of this problem offered by the new liberalism deeply influenced the progressives and has left an enduring legacy for twentieth-century American politics, Cohen argues.
Download or read book Reviving the Left written by Dwight Furrow and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2009-12-04 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: [Furrow's] proposals are fresh - he urges liberals to develop 'a more substantial moral identity' and win a few battles in the values war by building upon their 'inherent culture of caring,' repackaging the conservative movement's successful tactics for the Left.- Publishers WeeklyIn this fresh assessment of the liberal perspective on politics, philosopher Dwight Furrow explains how liberalism lost its moral credentials in the face of challenges from conservatives. He articulates a new way of understanding the moral foundations of liberalism that will restore its political fortunes along with America's shattered moral authority. A work of popular philosophy, Reviving the Left is written in a serious but lively, engaging, and often polemical style.Furrow begins by noting that political ideologies have the power to motivate people because they embody conceptions of how to live. Conservatives have understood this more clearly than liberals, who for too long have relied on bureaucratic solutions and interest-group politics, which have lacked moral credibility and passion. Now more than ever, says Furrow, progressive politics, if it is to move people hungry for change, needs a new vision that will give birth to a more substantial liberal moral identity.Furrow takes conservatism to task for promoting what he labels a culture of cynical, violent narcissism. But rather than praising the liberalism of the past, he argues that liberals must radically revise their conception of moral value in order to reverse the damage left behind by many years of conservative rule. Reviving the Left argues that liberals must build a culture of caring from the ground up by giving social institutions incentives to encourage a more prominent role in public life for empathy, compassion, and responsibility. Only in such a culture will liberal political initiatives have a chance to succeed in the long run.Unlike many books on reviving liberalism, which emphasize economics, policy debates, or political strategies, Furrow's Reviving the Left uniquely focuses on moral values and their philosophical underpinnings. Furrow's extensive use of references to popular culture, especially well-known films, and also topics of current political discourse makes for an exciting, contemporary rethinking of the liberal perspective with widespread appeal.Dwight Furrow (San Diego, CA), professor of philosophy at San Diego Mesa College, is the author of Ethics: Key Concepts in Philosophy and Against Theory: Continental and Analytic Challenges in Moral Philosophy. He is also the editor of Moral Soundings: Readings on the Crisis of Values in Contemporary Life.
Download or read book Why We re Liberals written by Eric Alterman and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008-03-13 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling author and Newsweek columnist takes a characteristically irreverent look at the rampant mistreatment of liberals and liberalism The "most honest and incisive media critic writing today"(National Catholic Reporter), Eric Alterman is committed to restoring the liberal tradition to its honored place as the political philosophy of mainstream American citizens. In this bracing and well-documented counterattack on right- wing spin and misinformation, Alterman briskly disposes of the canards and false definitions that have been foisted upon liberals by the right and have been accepted unquestioningly by nearly everyone else. The perfect post-election book for all those who are ready to fight back against the conservative mudslinging machine and reclaim their voices in the political process, Why We're Liberals brings clarity and perspective to the possibility of a new day in America.
Download or read book Liberalism and Its Discontents written by Alan Brinkley and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Considering the role of alternate political traditions in liberalism's downfall, 'Liberalism and its Discontents' shows how historical interpretation has been a reflection of liberal assumptions.
Download or read book The Collapse of Liberalism written by Charles Noble and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2004-05-03 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Collapse of Liberalism, noted political scientist Charles Noble shows how the American political system frustrates progressive reform while taking liberalism to task for not being radical enough-for what he sees as a long history of accommodating the very same political institutions and corporate interests that it has wanted to challenge. As a result, Noble argues, liberals have been unable to solve the problems of class, race and gender inequality that bedevil the United States. In short, American liberalism suffers not only at the hands of conservatives, but also from its own failures of vision, will, and political strategy. Beyond a critique, Noble offers a breath-taking new progressive strategy for rebuilding America. Clear and thought-provoking, The Collapse of Liberalism is a politically engaged interrogation of the way American liberals think about politics and social reform.
Download or read book Liberalism written by Edmund Fawcett and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-09-22 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compelling history of liberalism from the nineteenth century to today Liberalism dominates today's politics just as it decisively shaped the American and European past. This engrossing history of liberalism—the first in English for many decades—traces liberalism’s ideals, successes, and failures through the lives and ideas of a rich cast of European and American thinkers and politicians, from the early nineteenth century to today. An enlightening account of a vulnerable but critically important political creed, Liberalism provides the vital historical and intellectual background for hard thinking about liberal democracy’s future.
Download or read book Another Liberalism written by Nancy L. Rosenblum and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1987 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Another Liberalism contributes an original perspective to debates about the nature and foundations of liberal thought. In it Nancy Rosenblum describes the dynamic of romanticism and liberalism as one of mutual opposition and reconciliation. She argues that romanticism sees liberalism as cold, contractual, and aloof. And conventional liberal legalism disdains romanticism's longing for all that is personal, unique, and expressive. We learn, however, that romanticism, chastened by its excesses and frustrated by its failures, can "come home" to liberalism. We also learn that liberalism can accommodate individuality and expressivity, reclaiming what it had repressed. Rosenblum creates a typology of romantic reconstructions of liberal thought: heroic individualism, communitarianism, and a new face of pluralism. The author draws on nineteenth--and twentieth--century philosophy and literature: on Thoreau, Humboldt, Constant, Stendhal, and Mill, among others, and on contemporary political theorists for whom romanticism is a source not only of aversion to liberalism but also of resources for reform.
Download or read book Liberalism written by Marcus G. Raskin and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2004 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contrary to those who believe that liberalism has descended into the dustbins of history, renowned political activist and social critic Marcus G. Raskin argues that there is no escape from liberalism. Against the empty headed and mean spirited conservative onslaught of recent times, Raskin asserts and ably demonstrates how the liberal purpose is tied to human liberation and inclusivity for all people. For liberalism to succeed in a new century, it must reckon with its past mistakes--especially its reluctance to be bold. It must also embrace the inextricably interwoven character of morality and politics. To this end, Raskin seeks no less than a new intellectual and spiritual covenant in the university, the political economy, and foreign policy. He shows how this is possible through a radical rethinking of America's role in the world including war avoidance and economic restructuring. He probes the tensions and limits as well as the promise of community, family, and technology. He helps us to recognize the potential of a new multiculturalism within American society and the important role that knowledge workers and specialists will play as change agents in a changed world. Liberalism: The Genius of American Ideals traces Raskin's remarkable journey of the last 50 years through social and political action as well as thought. It is a book for people "in motion" who realize the importance of humane ideas in relation to action, aware that it is not only that peace should be given a chance but that our best instincts must also be engaged through the reconstruction of our institutions. In the face of a new, distinctly uncompassionate brand of conservatism that has shuttered the doors to the very real world of struggle, alienation, and pain, Liberalism is intended to hold out a candle in the window of this dark time.
Download or read book Positivist Republic written by Gillis J. Harp and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2010-11-01 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Liberal Leviathan written by G. John Ikenberry and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2012-08-26 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the second half of the twentieth century, the United States engaged in the most ambitious and far-reaching liberal order building the world had yet seen. This liberal international order has been one of the most successful in providing security and prosperity to more people, but in the last decade the American-led order has been troubled. Some argue that the Bush administration undermined it. Others argue that we are witnessing he end of the American era. In Liberal Leviathan G. John Ikenberry argues that the crisis that besets the American-led order is a crisis of authority. The forces that have triggered this crisis have resulted from the successful functioning and expansion of the postwar liberal order, not its breakdown.
Download or read book The Idea of a Liberal Theory written by David Johnston and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1996-07-08 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Liberalism, the founding philosophy of many constitutional democracies, has been criticized in recent years from both the left and the right for placing too much faith in individual rights and distributive justice. In this book, David Johnston argues for a reinterpretation of liberal principles he contends will restore liberalism to a position of intellectual leadership from which it can guide political and social reforms. He begins by surveying the three major contemporary schools of liberal political thought--rights-based, perfectionist, and political liberalism--and, by weeding out their weaknesses, sketches a new approach he calls humanist liberalism. The core of Johnston's humanist liberalism is the claim that the purpose of political and social arrangements should be to empower individuals to be effective agents. Drawing on and modifying the theories of John Rawls, Michael Walzer, Ronald Dworkin, Joseph Raz, Amartya Sen, and others, Johnston explains how this purpose can be realized in a world in which human beings hold fundamentally different conceptions of the ends of life. His humanist liberalism responds constructively to feminist, neo-Marxist, and other criticisms while remaining faithful to the core values of the liberal tradition.
Download or read book The Revival of Labor Liberalism written by Andrew Battista and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Revival of Labor Liberalism is a careful analysis of the twentieth-century decline of unions and liberals and the important efforts to revive their political fortunes. The break in the labor-liberal coalition in the late 1960s paved the way for an ascendant Republican Party and linked business and conservative interests bent on revising earlier policies implemented by the New Deal and the Great Society. Divided by politics and new social movements in the late 1960s, unions and liberals united in several new political organizations between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s in order to rebuild their coalition and its influence. This is the first book to chronicle the efforts of these organizations, which include the Progressive Alliance, Citizen Labor Energy Coalition, and National Labor Committee. Drawing from extensive documentary research and in-depth interviews with union leaders and political activists, Andrew Battista argues that these new organizations made limited but real progress in reconstructing and strengthening the labor-liberal coalition. He also shows that their restorative efforts were closely tied to factional conflicts in the labor movement. Although the labor-liberal alliance remains far weaker than the rival business-conservative alliance, Battista emphasizes its crucial role in labor and political history since 1968. In focusing on this evolving partnership, this study provides a broad analysis of factional divisions among both unions and liberals and considers the future of unionism and the labor-liberal coalition in America.
Download or read book The New Liberalism written by Jeffrey M. Berry and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2010-12-01 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you think liberalism is dead, think again. In this sure-to-be-controversial book, Jeffrey M. Berry argues that modern liberalism is not only still alive, it's actually thriving. Today's new liberalism has evolved from a traditional emphasis on bread-and-butter economic issues to a form he calls "postmaterialism"--quality-of-life concerns such as enhancing the environment, protecting consumers, or promoting civil rights. Berry credits the new liberalism's success to the rise of liberal citizen lobbying groups. By analyzing the activities of Congress during three sessions (1963, 1979, and 1991), he demonstrates the correlation between the increasing lobbying activities of citizen groups and a dramatic shift in the American political agenda from an early 1960s emphasis on economic equality to today's postmaterialist issues. Although conservative groups also began to emphasize postmaterial concerns--such as abortion and other family value issues--Berry finds that liberal citizen groups have been considerably more effective than conservative ones at getting their goals onto the congressional agenda and enacted into legislation. The book provides many examples of citizen group issues that Congress enacted into law, successes when citizen groups were in direct conflict with business interests and when demands were made on behalf of traditionally marginalized constituencies, such as the women's and civil rights movements. Berry concludes that although liberal citizen groups make up only a small portion of the thousands of lobbying organizations in Washington, they have been, and will continue to be, a major force in shaping the political landscape.
Download or read book Conservatives and the Constitution written by Ken I. Kersch and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-03-28 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the 1980s, a ritualized opposition in legal thought between a conservative 'originalism' and a liberal 'living constitutionalism' has obscured the aggressively contested tradition committed to, and mobilization of arguments for, constitutional restoration and redemption within the broader postwar American conservative movement. Conservatives and the Constitution is the first history of the political and intellectual trajectory of this foundational tradition and mobilization. By looking at the deep stories told either by identity groups or about what conservatives took to be flashpoint topics in the postwar period, Ken I. Kersch seeks to capture the developmental and integrative nature of postwar constitutional conservatism, challenging conservatives and liberals alike to more clearly see and understand both themselves and their presumed political and constitutional opposition. Conservatives and the Constitution makes a unique contribution to our understanding of modern American conservatism, and to the constitutional thought that has, in critical ways, informed and defined it.
Download or read book What Was Liberalism written by James Traub and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sweeping history of liberalism, from its earliest origins to its imperiled present and uncertain future Donald Trump is the first American president to regard liberal values with open contempt. He has company: the leaders of Italy, Hungary, Poland, and Turkey, among others, are also avowed illiberals. What happened? Why did liberalism lose the support it once enjoyed? In What Was Liberalism?, James Traub returns to the origins of liberalism, in the aftermath of the American and French revolutions and in the works of such great thinkers as John Stuart Mill and Isaiah Berlin. Although the first liberals were deeply skeptical of majority rule, the liberal faith adapted, coming to encompass belief in not only individual rights and free markets, but also state action to provide basic goods. By the second half of the twentieth century, liberalism had become the national creed of the most powerful country in the world. But this consensus did not last. Liberalism is now widely regarded as an antiquated doctrine. What Was LIberalism? reviews the evolution of the liberal idea over more than two centuries for lessons on how it can rebuild its majoritarian foundations.
Download or read book The Doom of Reconstruction written by Andrew L. Slap and published by Fordham Univ Press. This book was released on 2010-05-03 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Election of 1872 the conflict between President U. S. Grant and Horace Greeley has been typically understood as a battle for the soul of the ruling Republican Party. In this innovative study, Andrew Slap argues forcefully that the campaign was more than a narrow struggle between Party elites and a class-based radical reform movement. The election, he demonstrates, had broad consequences: in their opposition to widespread Federal corruption, Greeley Republicans unintentionally doomed Reconstruction of any kind, even as they lost the election. Based on close readings of newspapers, party documents, and other primary sources, Slap confronts one of the major questions in American political history: How, and why, did Reconstruction come to an end? His focus on the unintended consequences of Liberal Republican politics is a provocative contribution to this important debate.
