5 - Liberalism and the Problem of Polarization

Summary

Two influential contemporary critiques of liberalism call attention to important sources of political polarization. On the one hand we have the claim, most closely associated with the political right, that liberalism promotes an empty, anomic individualism. On the other hand we have the claim, most closely associated with the political left, that liberalism is complicit in the power structures of capitalism and imperialism. In each case a freedom-centered liberalism puts these critics on the horns of a dilemma: they either have to admit that they are also committed to striking an appropriate balance between republican and market freedom – albeit one that is substantially different from the status quo – or else embrace some form of authoritarian or utopianism. I conclude by considering whether and on what terms liberalism so understood can accommodate its contractarian counterpart.