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Postliberalism is an emergent political philosophy that critiques and seeks to move beyond the dominant liberal paradigm of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Proponents argue that liberalism, with its emphasis on individual rights, free markets, and limited government, has failed to adequately address societal challenges such as economic inequality, environmental degradation, social alienation, family breakdown, and a perceived loss of community and social cohesion.
Postliberals advocate for a more communitarian approach that prioritizes the common good, social solidarity, and the cultivation of virtue, often drawing on traditional moral and religious frameworks. They tend to be skeptical of unconstrained individualism, instead seeing individuals as more tightly bound up in networks of obligations in families, communities, tribes and faiths, and argue for a greater role for the state in shaping culture and promoting shared values. Postliberal thinkers come from both the left and the right, and the movement is associated with a diverse range of ideas, including economic nationalism, localism, and a critique of liberal democracy itself. [1]
Postliberalism has adherents on both the political left and right.
It first developed in the United Kingdom out of a movement within the Labour Party called Blue Labour. [2] [3] Early British theorists included John Gray, Maurice Glasman, Phillip Blond, Adrian Pabst, John Milbank, and Jon Cruddas. [3] [4]
British postliberalism remains a broadly centre-left ideology which grew out of Christian Socialism, however in recent years some factions within the Conservative Party have adopted elements of postliberalism and National Conservatism. [5]
In the United States, postliberalism has been more influential among conservatives critical of the fusionist synthesis of free markets and traditional values which developed in the 1950s such as Patrick Deneen, Rod Dreher and Adrian Vermeule, as well as the Israeli conservative philosopher Yoram Hazony. [6] [7] [8]
The postliberal critique contends that liberalism, in both its economic and cultural forms, undermines the social and communal bonds on which human flourishing depends. Central to postliberal thought is the idea that human beings are not purely autonomous individuals but are shaped by their social and cultural contexts. Postliberals argue that the liberal focus on individual rights and freedoms has undermined the importance of community, family, and tradition in providing a sense of meaning and belonging. They maintain that a healthy society requires a shared sense of purpose and a commitment to the common good, which liberalism has failed to provide.
Drawing on a reading of social contract theorists like Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, as well as J. S. Mill and John Rawls, postliberals argue liberalism promotes an atomized individualism at odds with human sociability. [9] Patrick Deneen claims that Liberalism, while claiming neutrality, influences people to approach commitments and relationships with flexibility, treating them as interchangeable and open to renegotiation, thereby encouraging loose connections. [10]
Some postliberal feminists such as Louise Perry, Nina Power, Christine Emba, and Mary Harrington argue that the sexual revolution of the 1960s gave rise to a set of sexual ethics and norms which prioritised individual autonomy, reproductive rights, and sexual libertinism, and that this has proved harmful to women. [3] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Postliberals also challenge the liberal conception of the state as a neutral arbiter between competing interests. They argue that the state should actively promote a particular vision of the good life, based on the values and traditions of the community it serves. This may involve measures to protect and promote traditional institutions such as the family, religion, and local associations, as well as a more restrictive approach to issues such as immigration and cultural diversity. “Postliberals reject the fiction of a purely neutral state, instead suggesting that the state should play an active role in promoting the common good and ensuring social cohesion.” [15]
Liberal philosophers such as John Rawls have characterised Liberalism as a political regime in which the state is (or should seek to be) neutral with regards to personal values and conceptions of the good life. Criticising this claim, Patrick Deneen argues that any society "ultimately can't be neutral on questions about what it is we value as society. If we're going to be a society in any sense, if we're going to be a kind of order in any sense, there are always going to be fundamental beliefs and fundamental commitments that are going to be predominant”. [16]
As an alternative, postliberals advocate a politics oriented towards the common good, seeking to balance individual rights with social responsibilities. Others focus on economic issues, critiquing the outcomes of liberal capitalism and proposing alternative models that are more regulated and socially embedded. Some postliberals also emphasize the importance of cultural traditions, national identity, and environmental conservation.
In the economic realm, postliberals criticize the liberal commitment to free markets, arguing that it has led to the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few, while leaving many people behind, fostering stratification between cosmopolitan elites and rooted working classes. They advocate for a more interventionist role for the state in managing the economy, including protectionist policies, and measures to reduce economic inequality, protect workers' rights, and promote the development of local communities.
English philosopher John Gray has argued that “the unfettered free market and globalisation undermined the very foundations of a modern open market economy”. Patrick Deneen similarly claims that,
The expansion of liberalism rests upon a vicious and reinforcing cycle in which state expansion secures the end of individual fragmentation, in turn requiring further state expansion to control a society without shared norms, practices, or beliefs. Liberalism thus increasingly requires a legal and administrative regime, driven by the imperative of replacing all nonliberal forms of support for human flourishing (such as schools, medicine and charity), and hollowing any deeply held sense of shared future or fate among the citizenry. [16]
Postliberal approaches to international relations and global politics have been most fully developed by John Milbank, Adrian Pabst, and Patrick J. Deneen. [3]
Postliberalism attributes the crisis in international relations to an intensifying liberalism that it argues undermines itself. Unlike John Ikenberry’s perspective, which posits that the liberal international order is threatened by illiberal forces and requires more liberalism to counteract this threat, postliberals perceive the rise of illiberal forces as a response to what they view as liberalism's inherent contradictions. [3] Pabst suggests that the emergence of populism and civilization states reflects a reaction against global politics that, in their view, neglects national and local concerns, idealizes utopian visions over real places, and emphasizes individual identity at the expense of shared belonging. They argue that liberalism, which no longer promotes a substantive good, becomes ambiguous, fostering individual freedoms while failing to manage the resulting forces both internationally and nationally. [9] According to this viewpoint, liberalism lacks an inherent, preordained purpose.
The United States-led liberal order established after World War II is seen by some scholars as mirroring the trajectory of domestic liberalism. Milbank and Pabst contend that US hegemony treats nation-states as large-scale liberal egos, grounded in American individualism and voluntarism, and disseminated through imperial means to achieve national goals. Since the 1970s, they argue, global governance has strengthened state power, expanded individual freedoms domestically, while diminishing local decision-making and distancing authority from national democratic forums. According to their analysis, "Enlightenment liberalism ironically threatens to turn war into an unlimited action against an enemy of civilization as such", which resonates with the ideas of German jurist Carl Schmitt. [3] [9] They believe this expansionist liberal universalism has contributed to the rise of civilizational blocs. [3] [9]
Critics argue that specifying the content of the common good in presently pluralistic societies presents challenges. Liberal critics argue that more statist versions of postliberalism risk excessively curtailing individual liberty in their visions of using state power to enforce a substantive conception of the good, while other postliberals point to a more pluralistic understanding. [17]
Critics on the left have claimed that postliberalism endorses socially reactionary attitudes and that this is morally objectionable. One critic has claimed that “because of its alleged interest in the public good but its conservative (Republican) orientation, postliberalism is ultimately incoherent.” [18] Socialist critic J. J. Porter has accused postliberalism of ultimately undermining its own conditions of possibility: “it wants to preserve many of the fruits of liberalism while doing away with the structure from which they grow.” [19]
Critics on the free-market right have claimed that postliberalism’s embrace of economic planning and regulation and skepticism of the free market risks damaging economic growth. [20] Other conservative critics have argued that postliberalism undervalues the importance of individual freedom and the economic benefits of free market capitalism. [21]
Elements of postliberal political ideas have been integral to the development of Blue Labour and, more recently, National Conservatism and factions within the British Conservative Party. [22] [23]
Many analysts have also identified the substantial influence of Catholic Social Teaching on postliberalism itself. [24] [25]
Some scholars have noted the influence of American historian and cultural critic Christopher Lasch on postliberalism. [3] [18]
Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán and his political party, Fidesz, has been considered by many to be postliberal or national conservative in character. [24] [26] In a speech given by Orbán on 14 September 2023, he said “The postliberal era we look forward to, which will replace the current progressive-liberal era, will not come automatically. Someone has to make it happen. And who will make it happen, if not us?” [27]
In the United Kingdom, many members of the New Conservatives faction of the Conservative Party, such as Danny Kruger and Miriam Cates, have either self-identified with postliberalism or been considered by others to be aligned with it. On the British left, the Blue Labour tradition has featured a number of Members of Parliament or life peers in the House of Lords including Jon Cruddas and Lord Maurice Glasman, while postliberal writers Adrian Pabst and Sebastian Milbank has claimed that the leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, has shown some interest in policies advocated by Blue Labour thinkers. [28] [29]
In the United States, a number of Republican politicians have been identified with postliberal and national conservative ideas, particularly Senators J. D. Vance, Josh Hawley, and Marco Rubio. [30] [31] [32]
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilisation in which it appears. In Western culture, depending on the particular nation, conservatives seek to promote and preserve a range of institutions, such as the nuclear family, organised religion, the military, the nation-state, property rights, rule of law, aristocracy, and monarchy. Conservatives tend to favour institutions and practices that enhance social order and historical continuity.
Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics and civil liberties under the rule of law, with special emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, economic freedom, political freedom and freedom of speech. Classical liberalism, contrary to liberal branches like social liberalism, looks more negatively on social policies, taxation and the state involvement in the lives of individuals, and it advocates deregulation.
Communitarianism is a philosophy that emphasizes the connection between the individual and the community. Its overriding philosophy is based on the belief that a person's social identity and personality are largely molded by community relationships, with a smaller degree of development being placed on individualism. Although the community might be a family, communitarianism usually is understood, in the wider, philosophical sense, as a collection of interactions, among a community of people in a given place, or among a community who share an interest or who share a history. Communitarianism usually opposes extreme individualism and rejects extreme laissez-faire policies that deprioritize the stability of the overall community.
Thatcherism is a form of British conservative ideology named after Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher that relates to not just her political platform and particular policies but also her personal character and style of management while in office. Proponents of Thatcherism are referred to as Thatcherites. The term has been used to describe the principles of the British government under Thatcher from the 1979 general election to her resignation in 1990. In international terms, Thatcherites have been described as a part of the general socio-economic movement known as neoliberalism, with different countries besides the United Kingdom sharing similar policies around expansionary capitalism.
Postliberal theology is a Christian theological movement that focuses on a narrative presentation of the Christian faith as regulative for the development of a coherent systematic theology. Thus, Christianity is an overarching story, with its own embedded culture, grammar, and practices, which can be understood only with reference to Christianity's own internal logic.
Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalism. Conservative and liberal centre-right parties have historically been more successful in the Anglosphere, while Christian democracy has been the primary centre-right ideology in Europe.
Conservatism in the United States is based on a belief in individualism, traditionalism, republicanism, and limited federal governmental power in relation to U.S. states. It is one of two major political ideologies of the United States. Conservative and Christian media organizations and American conservative figures are influential, and American conservatism is a large and mainstream ideology in the Republican Party and nation. As of 2021, 36 percent of Americans consider themselves conservative, according to polling by Gallup, Inc.
Conservative liberalism, also referred to as right-liberalism, is a variant of liberalism combining liberal values and policies with conservative stances, or simply representing the right wing of the liberal movement. In the case of modern conservative liberalism, scholars sometimes see it as a more positive and less radical variant of classical liberalism; it is also referred to as an individual tradition that distinguishes it from classical liberalism and social liberalism. Conservative liberal parties tend to combine economically liberal policies with more traditional stances and personal beliefs on social and ethical issues. Ordoliberalism is an influential component of conservative-liberal thought, particularly in its German, British, French, Italian, and American manifestations.
National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national, cultural identity, communitarianism, and the public role of religion. It shares aspects of traditionalist conservatism and social conservatism, while departing from economic liberalism and libertarianism, as well as taking a more pragmatic approach to regulatory economics and protectionism. National conservatives usually combine conservatism with nationalist stances, emphasizing cultural conservatism, family values and opposition to illegal immigration or opposition to immigration per se. National conservative parties often have roots in environments with a rural, traditionalist or peripheral basis, contrasting with the more urban support base of liberal conservative parties.
In American political theory, fiscal conservatism or economic conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, and laissez-faire economics. Fiscal conservatives advocate tax cuts, reduced government spending, free markets, deregulation, privatization, free trade, and minimal government debt. Fiscal conservatism follows the same philosophical outlook as classical liberalism. This concept is derived from economic liberalism.
Conservatism in Australia refers to the political philosophy of conservatism as it has developed in Australia. Politics in Australia has, since at least the 1910s, been most predominantly a contest between the Australian labour movement and the combined forces of anti-Labour groups. The anti-Labour groups have at times identified themselves as "free trade", "nationalist", "anti-communist", "liberal", and "right of centre", among other labels; until the 1990s, the label "conservative" had rarely been used in Australia, and when used it tended to be used by pro-Labour forces as a term of disparagement against their opponents. Electorally, conservatism has been the most successful political brand in Australian history.
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, right to private property and equality before the law. Liberals espouse various and often mutually warring views depending on their understanding of these principles but generally support private property, market economies, individual rights, liberal democracy, secularism, rule of law, economic and political freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion, Liberalism is frequently cited as the dominant ideology of modern history.
Phillip Blond is an English political philosopher, Anglican theologian, and director of the ResPublica think tank.
Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism, and his writing is generally regarded as representing the economic expression of 19th-century liberalism up until the Great Depression and rise of Keynesianism in the 20th century. Historically, economic liberalism arose in response to feudalism and mercantilism.
Blue Labour is a British campaign group and political faction that seeks to promote blue-collar and culturally conservative values within the British Labour Party – particularly on immigration, crime, and community spirit – while remaining committed to labour rights and left-wing economic policies. It seeks to represent a traditional working-class approach to Labour politics.
Blue Labour: Forging a New Politics is a 2015 book edited by Maurice Glasman, Baron Glasman, and Adrian Pabst. The collection of chapters by different contributors attempts to further articulate the Blue Labour political tendency within the Labour Party and British politics more generally, building on previous books such as The Labour Tradition and the Politics of Paradox: The Oxford London Seminars, 2010–2011 and Tangled Up in Blue. In his foreword, Rowan Williams states that whilst contemporary academic thought is increasingly questioning the idea of a "solitary, speechless individual" with utilitarian aims as a theoretical starting-point, this has not been accompanied by an associated shift in public rhetoric and popular imagination. He expresses his belief that if people are to change politics in a positive manner, especially in light of the recent financial crisis, we must develop new communitarian approaches that start from civil society upwards. The remainder of the book is accordingly a development of this basic notion, arranged thematically.
Patrick J. Deneen is an American political theorist and author, known for his critical examination of liberalism and its impact on contemporary society. He is a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, where his work focuses on the intersection of political philosophy, culture, and religion.
Why Liberalism Failed is a 2018 book by Patrick Deneen, a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. It criticizes both forms of American liberalism – "classical liberalism", typically called in America "libertarianism"; and "progressive/modern liberalism", often simply called "liberal".
Compact is an American online magazine that began operating in March 2022. The magazine was co-founded by Edwin Aponte, a populist and founder of The Bellows, Matthew Schmitz, a former editor of the conservative ecumenical journal First Things, and conservative opinion journalist Sohrab Ahmari. When it was founded, The New York Times described the magazine's listed contributors and contributing editors as ideologically diverse, including religiously conservative Catholics, populists, and dissident Marxist feminists. The magazine's editorial line is critical of liberalism from both the left and the right.
Gladden Pappin is president of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs, Hungary's foreign policy research institute of state. A political theorist, he was formerly associate professor of politics at the University of Dallas. From 2021 to 2023 he was a visiting senior fellow at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium in Budapest, Hungary. He is cofounder and deputy editor of American Affairs, as well as cofounder of Postliberal Order.