Liberalism

A short history of liberalism since the 1820s, one rooted in practical politics rather than abstract theorising. Liberalism is shown to be best understood as a political tradition that has been profoundly shaped by Britain’s unique and evolving political culture and by political realities.

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Jonathan Parry presents a history of liberalism that is rooted in practical politics rather than abstract theorising. Liberalism, he shows, is best understood as a political tradition that has been profoundly shaped by Britain’s unique and evolving political culture and by hardnosed political calculations of the day. The book is divided broadly into two parts. The first covers the period 1820–1920, during which the Liberal Party dominated British politics and the Liberal project was driven by a concern to adjust the British polity to the social and intellectual changes produced by the Industrial and French Revolutions. The idea that nineteenth-century Liberalism was centred around a defence of laissez-faire is shown to be an unhelpful false dichotomy. The second part considers the history of Liberalism since the decline of the Liberal Party in the 1920s and examines how it has responded to its political marginalization, the attempts by successive governments to update the liberal project, and the populist challenges it faces.