Philosophy, Law and Culture of Liberal Democracy and the Authoritarian Challenge

Book excerpt: Liberal democracy is the great legacy of the Enlightenment; it has reduced world poverty, increased life expectancy, enriched lives by every measure of wellbeing and enlarged our moral compass. Yet, external threats to liberal democracy are posed by totalitarian regimes and their allies seeking to remake the world in their image, and internal pressures arise from opposition to liberal principles from the extremities of the ideological spectrum: radicalism on the left and nativist populism on the right. The defence of liberal democracy requires understanding of its foundational principles, epistemological norms, institutional framework, cultural underpinnings and economic settings. This book argues that the defence of liberal democracy against rising authoritarianism is the great moral imperative of our time. This work combines extensive legal analysis with the history and philosophy of liberal constitutionalism, institutional economics and ethical reasoning. It engages with opposing schools of thought, including radical critical theory and authoritarian ideologies of the right. The book is highly instructive on administrative and constitutional law, the epistemology and ethics of political liberalism and the nature and immediacy of the domestic and external threats to liberal democracy and fundamental rights and freedoms.