Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Friedrich Naumann Stiftung für die Freiheit
- Foreword
- Preface
- 1 The Evolution of the Liberal Idea
- 2 The Fundamentals of Liberalism
- 3 Historical Roots of South Asian Liberalism
- 4 Liberalism and Constitutionalism: Parliament and the Judiciary
- 5 The Market Economy and Welfare: An Introductory Note
- 6 Grassroots Capitalism: A Glimpse of the Unrecognised India
- 7 Empowering the Poor: A Liberal Approach to Education Reforms
- 8 Not by Religion Alone: Aspects of Pakistani Society
- 9 An Appraisal of Economic Liberalisation in Pakistan
- 10 Religion and Culture in the Liberal State
- 11 Social Freedom in the Liberal State
- 12 The Future of Liberalism in South Asia
- Select Bibliography
- Notes on Contributors
1 - The Evolution of the Liberal Idea
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Friedrich Naumann Stiftung für die Freiheit
- Foreword
- Preface
- 1 The Evolution of the Liberal Idea
- 2 The Fundamentals of Liberalism
- 3 Historical Roots of South Asian Liberalism
- 4 Liberalism and Constitutionalism: Parliament and the Judiciary
- 5 The Market Economy and Welfare: An Introductory Note
- 6 Grassroots Capitalism: A Glimpse of the Unrecognised India
- 7 Empowering the Poor: A Liberal Approach to Education Reforms
- 8 Not by Religion Alone: Aspects of Pakistani Society
- 9 An Appraisal of Economic Liberalisation in Pakistan
- 10 Religion and Culture in the Liberal State
- 11 Social Freedom in the Liberal State
- 12 The Future of Liberalism in South Asia
- Select Bibliography
- Notes on Contributors
Summary
From reading Mill's political works the public is left in little doubt as to where he stands in relation to life, and in this lies part of his achievement as an ideologist. Indeed it is on account of their comprehensiveness and fundamentalism that we can derive a deeper understanding of Liberalism as an ideology from the writing of Mill, de Tocqueville and Hobhouse than we can glean from the political speeches of the liberal ministers – Gladstone, Cavour and Thiers. However, it is not the case that we find a complete expression of liberalism in the works of any one writer or group of writers.
D J Manning, LiberalismLike most things, liberalism has been subject to a process of evolution. Its emphases, its primary concerns and motivations have altered according to the age and other political and sociological conditions. An understanding of the evolution of liberalism is therefore useful in applying it to our present condition. Of even greater importance is a discovery of liberalism's ideological character, for we cannot consider the worth and the relevance of a political idea without coming to grips with its essential nature.
Those who take a sociological view of the evolution of political ideas, many of them influenced by Socialism and Marxism, see liberalism as the inevitable consequence of the transition of the feudal world into that of the early era of industrialisation.
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- Liberal Perspectives for South Asia , pp. 1 - 14Publisher: Foundation BooksPrint publication year: 2009