How To Be A Liberal
Canbury Press (Verlag)
978-1-912454-45-7 (ISBN)
The fightback against populism begins with this work explaining liberal values
'Required reading for anyone interested in politics and philosophy' – Prospect magazine
How To Be A Liberal is a bracing, beautifully written history of liberalism — and a practical defence of liberal democracy in an era of nationalism, culture wars, and post‑truth politics.
Political journalist Ian Dunt (author of How Westminster Works and co‑presenter of the Origin Stories podcast) takes you from the scientific revolution to the present day, tracing how the idea of individual freedom became the most radical programme in modern politics. Along the way you’ll meet rebels, philosophers, campaigners, and iconoclasts — and see why liberalism still matters to anyone who cares about human rights, reason, and a plural society.
Dunt begins where our current crisis starts: the rise of nationalism and its seductive simplifications — attacks on institutions, diversity, and even the possibility of objective truth. He shows how liberalism answers those pressures: by insisting that people are individuals before they are tribes, by defending free enquiry and evidence, and by protecting the space each person needs to live, love, and think as they choose.
Inside you’ll find:
A compelling narrative history of liberal thought—from Descartes and the birth of modern reason, through revolutionary arguments about rights and consent, to the debates that shaped the modern world.
A clear explanation of liberalism’s core principles: individual liberty, equal rights, democratic restraint, and the institutions that keep power accountable.
A modern guide to today’s conflicts—identity politics, anti‑truth, and the new nationalism—and what a renewed, radical liberalism could look like.
Whether you’re a student of political philosophy, a reader of the history of ideas, or simply looking for a sharper way to understand liberalism and liberal democracy, How To Be A Liberal is an essential, hopeful book: a reminder that freedom is not a slogan, but a practice—and that it begins with the individual.
Reviews
‘A tour de force; a mighty trumpet blast for the forces of liberalism and enlightenment in the face of a global tide of ignorance and populism.’ – The Secret Barrister
‘This is a history of ideas as it should be written – brilliant, vivid storytelling about the people who shaped liberalism, the challenges it has faced over the centuries, its commitment to the truth and why it’s now more important than ever to defend it.’ – Caroline Lucas MP
‘How To Be A Liberal is required reading for today’s political debates.’ – Anne Applebaum, Twilight of Democracy
'I'm loving How to be a Liberal. It's really great. I mean breathtakingly good. Bravo.' – Dr Ben Goldacre
About the Author
Ian Dunt is a journalist, newspaper columnist and co-presents the Origin Story podcast.
His first book, Brexit: What the Hell Happens Now? (Canbury Press, 2017), about Britain's challenge in leaving the European Union, was a bestseller.
In How To Be A Liberal (Canbury, 2020), he tells the epic story of personal freedom, with panache and a panoramic sweep. Ranging across history, politics and economics, he makes a powerful case for a radical brand of egalitarian liberalism that can safeguard individuals while looking after everyone.
Buy the book and start reading
Ian Dunt is editor of politics.co.uk. He specialises in issues around immigration, civil liberties and social justice and appears as a pundit on BBC TV, Sky News and Al-Jazeera. Brexit: What the Hell Happens Now? is his first book. He said: 'I wanted to write a book which could be read in a few hours, but allow someone to win arguments about Brexit for the next decade.' Unlike other books about Brexit which look back at the EU referendum campaign, What the Hell Happens Now? looks ahead to the impact of leaving the EU on the EU.
TODAY. Reveals the six lies behind the rise of nationalism in the Republican Party in the USA, the Conservative Party in Great Britain, the Bharatiya Janata Party in India, Likud in Israel, the Alliance for Brazil in Brazil, PDP–Laban in the Philippines, Fidesz in Hungary and the Lega in Italy
1. BIRTH. The origin of independent thought in the mind of philosopher René Descartes, who realised Cogito, ergo sum: 'I think therefore I am'. Mentions Meditations on First Philosophy and Discourse on the Method, and Nicolaus Copernicus' On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres.
2. AWAKENING. In the English Civil War period, radicals started to outline three political thoughts that challenged the established order. They were freedom of religious conscience, the notion of the individual, and the notion of doubt. These three ideas would become central to liberalism
3. THE THREE REVOLUTIONS. Liberalism was moulded in the furnace of three revolutions in the 18th century: The Glorious Revolution in England, the American Revolution and the French Revolution
THE GLORIOUS REVOLUTION
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
4. CONSTANT. The womanising dissolute 18th Century Swiss philosopher Benjamin Constant established the political rights of the individual and warned of the tyranny of an over-mighty government in Napoleonic France
5. HARRIET AND JOHN. Harriet Taylor and John Stuart Mill had a deep love affair and laid the groundwork for the development of modern liberalism, including championing a minority cause in 19th Century Victorian England: the right of women to vote. They wrote The Enfranchisement of Women and On Liberty
6. DEATH. The Dreyfuss Affair in France, the extermination of peasants in Ukraine's Holodomor, and the genocide against Jews in Nazi Germany showed what happened when nationalism when tyrants could channel the 'will of the people' over the rights of the individual protected by liberalism
7. NEW WORLD ORDER. After the catastrophe of the Second World War, liberal democracies in the West built a new post-war, rights-based liberal world order designed to guarantee peace and individual rights. Economically John Maynard Keynes triumphed over Friedrich Hayek
8. BELONGING. One flaw in liberalism was the lack of recognition of the identity felt by individuals, whether nationality or religion. The English writer George Orwell and philosopher Isaiah Berlin averred the importance of this sense of belonging in their writings and ultimately in liberalism
9. CRASH. The post-war liberal world order crashed with oil crisis stagflation in the 1970s when Hayek's small state philosophy took root in US governments, leading to bank deregulation on Wall Street (and likewise in the UK under Margaret Thatcher) - leading eventually to 2008 global financial crash
10. IDENTITY WAR. Liberalism had largely been devised by white men, and women and ethnic groups carved out a separate identity that put the group ahead of the individual. 'This was no longer the politics of how to change the world. It was the politics of who you were.'
11. ANTI-TRUTH. Just as liberalism faced multiple threats from the resurgence of nationalism, the rise of identity politics and the financial crash, people’s ability to use reason diminished with the rise of social media. Now everyone was the arbiter of their own truth. Facts became opinions.
12. THE NEW NATIONALISM. 1. Hungary, where Victor Urban used fear of foreigners to dismantle the free media and democratic institutions of Hungary. 2. The rise of Donald Trump who degraded the idea of independent facts. 3 Brexit Britain where nationalist propaganda trumped a nation's interests
13. THE OTHER. How nationalists in Italy, Britain, the US and elsewhere have seized on a supposed threat to their countries from other people to whip up dissent and to crack down on immigration and the rights of individuals, harming democracy and liberal values
TOMORROW. The big problem with liberalism has been complacency that it would eventually triumph around the world. The answer is for liberals to fight for their democratic values. Joe Biden's election as US President offers hope for a kinder, better future
SORRY & THANK YOU. Acknowledgements and apologies. Mentions Ronald Dworkin, TH Green, François Guizot, Leonard Hobhouse, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Immanuel Kant, Robert Nozick, Martha Nussbaum, Karl Popper, John Rawls, Friedrich Schiller and Alexis de Tocqueville.
FURTHER READING. An extensive list of books that hold the keys to liberalism, including Liberalism: The Life of an Idea by Edmund Fawcett and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Also recommended is Toby Buckle’s Political Philosophy podcast. 'You owe it to yourself to read On Liberty'
INDEX. The As start: Act of Union, Acxiom, Adam, adaptive preference, advertising, African Americans, aggregate demand, agitators, Agreement of the People, Akhmatova, Aktion T-4 programme, algorithms, alternative facts...
| Erscheinungsdatum | 03.09.2021 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | 1 color illustrations; 1 bibliography; 1 iondex |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 129 x 198 mm |
| Themenwelt | Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918) |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Geschichte der Philosophie | |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Philosophie der Neuzeit | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Systeme | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-912454-45-9 / 1912454459 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-912454-45-7 / 9781912454457 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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