Liberalism After Communism

The Implications of the 1993 Elections to the Federal Assembly

Inbunden, Engelska, 1995

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This study is devoted to recent developments in Central European (especially Polish) political thought, and concentrates on the emergence of liberal ideas, a subject largely neglected by Western observers. It provides a clear account of protoliberal and liberal thinking in Central Europe both before and after 1989, a critical appraisal of the democratic opposition to communism, and an analysis of economic liberalism as its rival orientation. The author examines the changes which occur in classical liberal ideas when they are implemented in a region with practically no liberal tradition and no socioeconomic infrastructure, and shows how liberal ideas in Central Europe are becoming constructivist, functioning as the ideological justification for a new kind of Utopian social engineering that aims at constructing capitalism.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum1995-01-06
Mått159 x 234 x 22 mm
Vikt494 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor228
FörlagCentral European University Press
ISBN9781858660158
ÖversättareChester A. Kisiel, Chester A Kisiel

Tillhör följande kategorier

Liberalism och centerideologier inom Samhälle och politik

Acknowledgments I. Introduction 1. The discovery of liberalism in Eastern Europe 2. The actuality of liberalism 3. Has liberalism scored a victory? 4. Response to the challenge 5. The problem of the migration of ideas 6. What is this book about? II. Instead of a Definition of Liberalism 1. The difficulty of defining liberalism 2. Banalized liberalism 3. Who is a liberal in Eastern Europe? 4. A temperament or a philosophy of life? 5. The language of the rights of the individual 6. The problem of economic liberalism 7. A multitude of liberalism III. Historical Background 1. Eastern Europe vis-a-vis the West 2. The myth of the `golden freedom` of old Poland 3. Economic backwardness and the absence of a liberal tradition 4. Non-economic reasons for the weakness of liberalism 5. Liberal ideas in interwar Poland 6. Communism versus liberalism IV. Protoliberalism: Autonomy of the Individual and Civil Society 1. Liberalism as communism a rebours 2. A question about the `liberalism` of the democratic opposition 3. `Anti-political` politics 4. Autonomy of the individual and liberalism 5. Collective individualism 6. The private and the public 7. Towards a civil society 8. The problem of the theoretical tradition 9. What is civil society? 10. Civil society vis-a-vis the moral unity of citizens 11. A society without an economy 12. Limitations of the idea of civil society 13. Is this really protoliberalism? 14. The collectivism of Solidarity 15. Conclusion V. Economic Liberalism: `A Neglected Path of Anti-communism` 1. `Creative` versus `revolutionary` anti-communism 2. Direction of the reorientation 3. Various dimensions of the liberal reorientation 4. Capitalism in a communist state 5. How can communism be liquidated? 6. A different civil society 7. Liberalism as a whip against the left 8. Liberalism after 1989: the prespective of the big leap 9. Capitalism as an ideological project 10. The sin of constructivism 11. The allure of authoritarianism 12. Pragmatism or etatism 13.The legacy of socialist etatism 14. The political crossroads of applied liberalism 15. Conclusion VI. Does Political Liberalism Exist in Poland? 1. How far does liberalism reach? 2. Liberalism versus Christian values 3. The situational and doctrinal context 4. The line of division 5. Is dialogue possible? 6. The weakness of political liberalism VII. Epilogue Index of Names