Michael Oakeshott''s Cold War Liberalism

In this book, leading scholars from East Asia and beyond debate Michael Oakeshott's views on liberal democracy and totalitarianism and their implications for East Asia today. His ideas on rationality in politics, the nature of liberal democracy, and how democracy can defeat anti-liberal politics are explored in ten penetrating essays.

During the Cold War, political thinkers in the West debated the balance between the requirements of liberal democracy and national security. This debate resonates in today''s East Asia and especially Korea, where an ideological-military standoff between democracy and a totalitarian system persists. The thinkers often identified as ''Cold War liberals''-Isaiah Berlin, Karl Popper, Raymond Aron, Friedrich Hayek, and Michael Oakeshott-are worth revisiting in this context. Of these, Oakeshott is the least-well understood in East Asia and therefore particularly deserving of attention. Especially valuable are his ideas about the limits of rationalism in politics, the irrelevance of conventional views of liberalism and conservatism, and how constitutional democracy should be defined and defended against various forms of anti-liberal politics. In this book, leading Oakeshott scholars from around the world explore these ideas and their implications for East Asia in ten illuminating and readable essays.