The New Liberalism : Reconciling Liberty and Community

The 'new liberalism', a neglected strand of liberal thinking of the late nineteenth/early twentieth century, demonstrates that liberalism can accommodate community, as well as rights and liberty. These essays by leading scholars will be invaluable to students and scholars of political theory and the history of political thought.

The 'New Liberalism' of the late nineteenth/early twentieth century is an unjustifiably neglected strand of the liberal tradition. By emphasising community as well as rights and liberty, thinkers such as T. H. Green, J. A. Hobson and L. T. Hobhouse support, but in distinctive ways, recent challenges to the established dichotomy between communitarianism and liberalism. These essays examine new liberal thinking and conclude that liberal and communitarian concerns are compatible, even mutually reinforcing. The 'common good', the empowerment of individuals to exercise their freedom, and a regulated free market are among a new liberal 'basket of ideas' which, these essays argue, can revitalise the liberal tradition. This collection of essays by leading scholars provides exciting new insights into current debates within the liberal tradition, and will be of great interest to scholars of political theory and the history of political thought.