Running Head: THE PLACE OF LIBERALISM IN THE 21ST CENTURY 1

The Place of Liberalism in the 21st Century-

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The Place of Liberalism in the 21st Century 2

The Place of Liberalism in the 21st Century

Introduction

Liberalism

It is not easy to define liberalism. Dictionaries and references books define it as the

quality of being liberal, or a socio-political philosophy which advocates an individual's freedom

where the government becomes the custodian of this individual right. The use of liberalism

originated in the early 1820's. There are many conflicting variations of it as a philosophy but in

politics its designation is contextual (Deveaux M, 2006). Sometimes a liberal desires the least

government while at another time it helps augment rules and regulations of the government.

Mostly classical liberalism is like the 'Watchman State', where people’s liberty is safeguarded by

the government.

Liberalism and Conservativeness -Some Tensions

There have been considerable worries in the Western societies about such practices like

Clitoridectomy, arranged marriages, polygamy etc. In India a Hindu woman whose husband dies,

even when she is quite young, cannot marry again and the government can do nothing about it

(Saharso S, 2008). Susan Okin, Benhabib, some eminent scholars and authors have discussed in

details about liberalism, multiculturalism and have concluded that liberalism in the 21st century

is not gender neutral, yet intrinsic liberal groups should be given protection. It is imperative to

avoid conflict between liberalism and conservativeness (Benhabib S, 2002). On the topic of

liberalism, most contemporary ideologies exist. When speaking of multiculturalism, it means to

try and adapt to the cultural diversity that is offered by a liberal society. In the developed world,

most of the political parties are now liberal.

The Place of Liberalism in the 21st Century 3

But it is also said that liberals often live in self-contentment, with no sense of self

responsibility and they often show contempt to those who criticize them and call them

conservatives.

Liberalism should be balanced so as to avoid tension between liberals and non-liberals. In

societies which are too liberal there are tensions between the majority and minority groups which

demand protection from one another's type of liberalism (Okin S, 1999). "The capacity for a

conception of the good: the capacity to have, to revise, and rationally pursue a conception of the

good” (John R 1971). As per Rawls, the requisite of any liberal society are two moral powers, it

is due to this reason that the distinction between public and private helps facilitate a liberal

situation. In the era of absolutism, classical liberalism was born and at that time there people had

a great suspicion of government policies. But modern liberalism was challenged by problems

that arose after industrialization. Today the concept of social welfare and socio-economic

intervention has been accepted by the developed countries. Johan Rawls, in his famous 'Theory

of Justice' recommends two major concepts in order to justify redistribution. Equal principle, the

first principle says that equal rights to basic liberty is the right of every one. The second concept

is different and says that sometime inequality is good, provided it enhances the well-being of the

downtrodden. (John R, 1971).

Conclusion

Modern Liberals believe that freedom is not equivalent to be left in seclusion as it makes

one weaker thus more prone to be poorer, hungry, sick and defenseless. It is therefore the duty of

the government to give welfare to such liberals.

The 1930s Great Depression added by two world wars proved that the ideals of the

classical liberals were inadequate and hence the laissez-faire capitalism was turned down by the

The Place of Liberalism in the 21st Century 4

new liberals. The Neoliberals believe that any intervention by the government is bad and it is

better to go for self-help and entrepreneurialism. This way it would also become coherent to

safeguard non-liberals from the argument of liberals which is the every-one should be

intrinsically liberal (Cohen GA, 1997). After the great recession of the 2008, which nearly broke

down the financial system of United States, was due to de-regulation, or liberalization practices.

It was then the President Obama had to re-regulate the banks. For the last two hundred years and

concisely after the 70s, it is liberalism that has become the dominating force in all sphere of

concepts and ideals, the political and socioeconomic superiority of liberalism has been proved

thus making other ideologies fade into background.

The Place of Liberalism in the 21st Century 5

References

Gerald Allan Cohen, “Where the Action Is: On the Site of Distributive Justice”. Philosophy and

Public Affairs, Vol. 26, 1997.

John Rawls, Justice as fairness in a Theory of Justice. Harvard University Press. 1971

Monique Deveaux, Gender and Justice in Multicultural Liberal States. Oxford University Press.

New York. 2006

Sawitri Saharso, “Multicultural Feminism: Finding our way between universalism and

antiessentialism”. IPW Working Paper 3/2008. Institut fü Politikwissenschaft, Vienna.

Seyla Benhabib, The claims of culture: Equality and Diversity in the Global Era. Princeton

University Press. Princeton, 2002.

Susan Okin, “Is multiculturalism bad for women?” Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 1999

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The Place of Liberalism in the 21st Century 7