That Broader Definition of Liberty

Brian Stipelman teaches American politics and political theory at Dowling College.

• Part I: IntroductionChapter 1: The Political Theory of the New Deal3Chapter 2: The Evolution of Reform: Populist and Progressive ForebearsPart II: EndsChapter 3: “Necessary First Lessons”: The Preconditions of the Welfare StateChapter 4: “That Broader Definition of Liberty:” The Social Contract of the New DealPart III: MeansChapter 5: “All Armed Prophets Have Conquered”: The New Deal’s Theory of AgencyChapter 6: The Third New Deal: The Institutional Context of ReformPart IV: ConclusionChapter 7: “A Living and Growing Thing:” Appropriating New Deal Liberalism

[This is a] unique work in the field that will garner much praise from scholars in political science, political theory, and history. . . . [Stipelman] presents a fresh, vigorous analysis of the theoretical and political underpinnings of the New Deal and assesses not only its roots and successes, but also its continued relevance for contemporary politics, policy, and theory.  For far too long, scholarship on the New Deal has been almost exclusively the domain of historians and historically-oriented political scientists. This study offers something unique and bold: a study of the political theory of the New Deal conceived not in abstract terms, but in terms of real politics while offering a compelling argument for the continued relevance of the theory of the New Deal for contemporary politics and political thought. Although the author focuses upon a set of thinkers—specifically Franklin Roosevelt, Henry Wallace, Thurman Arnold, and Eleanor Roosevelt—he escapes the typical trap of biography and the reduction of the New Deal to individual thinkers alone. This is an important, and timely work.