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Freedom's Power: The True Force of Liberalism
Author(s): Paul Starr (Author)
- Publisher: Basic Books
- Publication Date: 1 April 2007
- Language: English
- Print length: 288 pages
- ISBN-10: 046508186X
- ISBN-13: 9780465081868
Book Description
Liberalism in America is under siege. Conservatives now treat it as an epithet and even some progressives spurn it. But according to Paul Starr, liberalism is a sturdy public philosophy, deeply rooted in our traditions, capable of making America and the world more free and secure. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness remains as good and concise a definition of liberalisms aims today as it was when Thomas Jefferson borrowed the language of John Locke for the Declaration of Independence. What distinguishes liberalism, however, is not just high aspirations but strikingly effective principles for the creation and control of power. From its origins as constitutional liberalism in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the liberal project has provided the basis of the most prosperous and powerful states in the world. Modern democratic liberalism has carried forward the constitutional liberal tradition by favoring a more inclusive and egalitarian conception of liberty and opportunity. It has responded to threats to freedom and the public good from excessive concentrations of private power, while maintaining a dynamic market economy. And it has shown how government can respond to economic crisis and injusticeyet keep arbitrary power in checkby providing stronger guarantees of civil liberties and equal rights. At a time when conservative policies are weakening Americas long-term fiscal, economic, and international strength as well as its liberties, liberalism is more urgent than ever. Freedoms Power shows why liberalism worksand how it can work for America again.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“As an evocation of the central importance of liberalism to the modern world, and the shape it takes in democratic states (Freedom’s Power) will be very hard to beat.” The Financial Times –The Financial Times
“(Paul Starr) traces modern liberalism from its roots when it tried to limit arbitrary power in the 17th and 18th centuries, through the growth of liberal democracy to the disputed legacy of liberal ideas today… Freedom’s Power is worth reading for (the) first part alone.” The Economist –The Economist
About the Author
Paul Starr is Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University and its Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs. He is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Social Transformation of American Medicine and The Creation of the Media. Starr is the co-founder and editor of The American Prospect. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
