Table Of Content“John Charvet’s Liberalism is lively, opinionated, full of examples, and always
admirably clear. The route from practices to values to theory takes the reader
from actual liberal societies to its inner architecture. Anyone wanting to know
what liberalism stands for and why, need look no further than this book.”
– Jonathan Seglow, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.
“This is a lively and original introduction to liberalism. Charvet articulates a
distinctive understanding of liberalism as set of practices embedded in mod-
ern social life and provides an engaging exploration of the role played by
liberal ideas in contemporary political controversies.”
– Cillian McBride, Queen’s University Belfast, UK.
LIBERALISM
Liberalism: The Basics is an engaging and accessible introduction to
liberalism. The author provides a comprehensive overview of liberal
practices, liberal values and critically analyses liberal theories, allowing
for a richer understanding of liberalism as a whole.
The book is divided into three parts:
• Liberal practices: the rule of law, free speech, freedom of asso-
ciation and movement, economic freedom and sexual freedom.
• Liberal values: freedom, autonomy, equality and the universal
values of political societies – the communal identity – and well-
being of their members.
• Liberal theories: natural rights, utilitarianism, Kant’s ration-
alism and the contemporary theories of John Rawls and the
post-Rawlsians.
Presented in a clear and concise way, this book will be an ideal intro-
duction for students and scholars of liberalism, political philosophy,
political theory and political ideology.
John Charvet is an Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the
London School of Economics, UK. He has also been a Visiting
Professor at Johns Hopkins University, USA, and a Visiting Fellow
of the Australian National University, Australia.
THE BASICS
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com/
The-Basics/book-series/B
LANGUAGE (SECOND EDITION)
R.L. TRASK
MEN AND MASCULINITIY
NIGEL EDLEY
MEDIEVAL LITERATURE
ANGELA JANE WEISL AND ANTHONY JOSEPH CUNDER
MODERNISM
LAURA WINKIEL
NARRATIVE
BRONWEN THOMAS
POETRY (THIRD EDITION)
JEFFREY WAINWRIGHT
THE QUR’AN (SECOND EDITION)
MASSIMO CAMPANINI
RESEARCH METHODS
NIGEL EDLEY
SEMIOTICS
DANIEL CHANDLER
SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITY (THIRD EDITION)
JANICE WEARMOUTH
SPORT MANAGEMENT
ROBERT WILSON AND MARK PIEKARZ
SPORTS COACHING
LAURA PURDY
TRANSLATION
JULIANE HOUSE
LIBERALISM
THE BASICS
JOHN CHARVET
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2019 John Charvet
The right of John Charvet to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Charvet, John, author.
Title: Liberalism : the basics / John Charvet.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2019. | Series: The Basics | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018036867| ISBN 9780815362913 (hardback) | ISBN
9780815362920 (paperback) | ISBN 9781351111034 (master ebook) |
ISBN 9781351111027 (web pdf) | ISBN 9781351111010 (ePub) | ISBN
9781351111003 (mobipocket/kindle)
Subjects: LCSH: Liberalism.
Classification: LCC JC574 .C488 2019 | DDC 320.51—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018036867
ISBN: 978-0-8153-6291-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-8153-6292-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-11103-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
This little book is dedicated to all those who have
contributed to bringing about and defending, through
their words and deeds, a liberal and democratic way of
life, as a precious thing not to be lightly discarded or
thoughtlessly despised.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements xi
General introduction xiii
PART I
Liberal practices 1
1 The idea of a practice and the initial distinction
between liberal and illiberal societies 3
2 The rule of law 7
3 Free speech 17
4 Freedom of association and movement 33
5 Economic freedom 41
6 Sexual freedom 55
PART II
Liberal values 61
7 The idea and value of freedom 65
8 The equality of the participants 79
