This is a short summary of our lecture on liberalism, democracy, libertarianism and its differences to liberalism. These lecture notes have some interesting insights into South African perspectives and of opinions of the land issue
- We are trying to locate and contextualise these conceptions in the political realm and
real world events
- Recap of libertarianism: Conceptions and arguments surrounding the concept of
Liberty. The importance of Political Philosophy:
- Concepts and arguments involved in public opinion and all practices and institutions
concerned with government
- The core of political questions come down to power
- Central problem (bigger question) = how to deploy/limit public power so ensure
survival and enhance the quality of human life (this is a prominent & recurring theme)
- Negative (Berlin advocated for, limited without a compelling justification), Positive
(autonomy, being able to effectively shape one's life) and Republic Conceptions of
Liberty (freedom of non-domination)
- Objectives: Contextualize the debate on Liberty by looking at: ‘Old’ Liberalism , ‘New’
Liberalism, Liberalism ‘today’
- The link between liberty and democracy
- Evaluate Liberalism as an ideology/doctrine according to whether you’re a critic or
proponent for
- What is Liberalism:
- Political and moral philosophy based on liberty, founded on the consent of the
governed and equality before the law
- Basic idea but subject to an array of views depending on understanding of principles
- Distinct movement of the Enlightenment period
- Common: belief in the value of liberty (not a simple question given the multiplicity of
conceptions)
- Different conceptions of liberty leads to fractures in liberal political theory!
- Liberty/Freedom are normatively basic so the obligation/burden is on justification,
particularly for those who wish to coerce or limit freedom in any sense. All political
activity and law must be justified
- Through different conceptions from different eras, we notice a fracturing
- Old Liberalism: aka Classical Liberalism. Context = 18th Century
- Has 2 views: moderate and extreme.
- Moderate: Main fault lines: Moral status & private property
- For classic liberals, emphasis on private property as it is consistent with liberty, for 2
reasons:
- 1. For some private property and liberty equates to the same thing. Therefore, a
market order based on private property = the embodiment of freedom
- 2. Private property protects freedom. A free-market economy based on private
property protects liberty from interference from the state.
- Extreme: Justified states as legitimate monopolies (monopolies: states controlling
tax, public goods, social services, public health etc;)
- Why? In the name of justice
- Main fault lines: Taxation, Public goods, Social infrastructure
- Justified: Effective protection of liberty & property
, - Again, different conceptions of what can and can’t be justified
- Fukuyama's conception of Classical Liberalism: as institutional solution
- solution to the problem of governing diversity OR a system for peacefully managing
pluralistic societies.
- Core of Classical Liberalism: to promote & protect freedom (justified through markets
and private property)
- Why?
- Context of the 150-year war/ Protestant Reformation (religious conflicts within
Western Europe, although it was driven by social and economic factors- different
Christian sects felt a need to impose their specific conceptions)
- For Fukuyama, Classical liberalism was the solution to avoid conflict by :Limiting
politics and preserving rights
- No agreement on what the good life was
- Liberalism for Fukuyama was to avoid conflict (Republican view?) and protect human
dignity.
- However, Human dignity is also open to interpretation!
- New Liberalism:
- (19/early 20th century). AKA revisionist justice, challenges intimate connection
between personal liberty & private property market order
- Three main challenges set out by new liberals :
- 1: A private property based market= unstable = getting stuck in an equilibrium of high
unemployment. So, new liberals on empirical grounds came to doubt that classical
liberalism was a stable foundation for a free society
- Evident in context of WW2 and the rise of the welfare state
- 2: Losing faith in markets and gov. to supervise economic life
- Why? Has to do with the a) Trust in gov following WW1 where government economic
planning was seen as successful. Contrasts to WW2 context.
- b) Democratization of the west prompted/led to a reevaluation of the state =
revisionist
- 3: Property rights led to an unjust inequality of power.
- Formal equality does not = positive liberty for the working class
- Democracy and Liberalism:
- 'New’ or revisionist liberalism, particularly in the economic context of WW2 spread of
democratization
- Fukuyama: Liberalism is connected to, but not the same thing.
- Liberalism is allied to democracy through its protection of individual autonomy
- Implies a right to political choice and franchise BUT not the same thing
- E.g., Liberal regimes not democratic (Germany 19th Century & Hong Kong 20th
Century)
- Democratic countries not liberal ( Hungary and India today)
- Connected but not mutually exclusive
- Liberalisms competition:
- 1. Communism: Focus on equalizing outcomes. Private property & free markets are
ignored which is a central factor to Liberalism.
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