Liberalism and Its Discontents

(Paperback, Main)

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A TIMES BEST PHILOSOPHY & IDEAS BOOK OF 2022

A defence of liberalism by the renowned political philosopher

'We need more thinkers as wise as Fukuyama digging their fingers into the soil of our predicament' - The New York Times

'A brilliantly acute summary of the way some aspects of liberal thought have consumed themselves' - Guardian

'One of the West's most interesting public intellectuals' - Times

'Hard to think of a better case for liberal centrism' - FT

Liberalism - the comparatively mild-mannered sibling to the more ardent camps of nationalism and socialism - has never been so divisive as today. From Putin's populism, the Trump administration and autocratic rulers in democracies the world over, it has both thrived and failed under identity politics, authoritarianism, social media and a weakened free press the world over.

Since its inception following the post-Reformation wars, liberalism has come under attack from conservatives and progressives alike, and today is dismissed by many as an 'obsolete doctrine'. In this brilliant and concise exposition, Francis Fukuyama sets out the cases for and against its classical premises: observing the rule of law, independence of judges, means over ends, and most of all, tolerance.

Pithy, to the point, and ever pertinent, this is political dissection at its very best.

Reviews

'Urgent and timely . . . A vital strength of this slim, elegant book is that it is crystalline in its definitions, even while acknowledging the complexities of practice . . . A brilliantly acute summary of the way some aspects of liberal thought have consumed themselves' - Andrew Anthony

'One of the west's most interesting public intellectuals ... he is always worth reading as a writer prepared to recalibrate and develop his thinking' - Iain Martin

'Transformative ... Maybe now, as Europe sees its most brutal war since 1945, we are ready to heed what Fukuyama was trying to tell us all along' - Matthew d'Ancona

'Books have poured out lately on liberalism's failings and how democracies break down. Among the diagnosticians, none is more eminent or experienced than Francis Fukuyama ... Hard to think of a better case for liberal centrism' - Edmund Fawcett

'Fukuyama succeeds in his explaining his objections to identity politics with great clarity and concreteness' - Iain MacWhirter

Author Bio

Francis Fukuyama is a Senior Fellow at Stanford University. He has previously taught at Johns Hopkins University and George Mason University, alongside serving as a researcher at the RAND Corporation and Deputy Director for the State Department's policy planning staff. His six previous books were also published by Profile.