Liberalism in Dark Times: The Liberal Ethos in the Twentieth Century
By Joshua L. Cherniss
Reviewed by G. John Ikenberry
Cherniss explores the ideas of liberal thinkers from the World War II and Cold War eras. Read More
August 2022
Foreign Affairs Recommends: Books on the Crisis in Liberalism
Ten books on the successes and travails of liberalism, from its origins to its murky future.
What Was Liberalism? The Past, Present, and Promise of a Noble Idea
By James Traub
Reviewed by G. John Ikenberry
Traub turns to history and theory to reclaim liberalism’s principles.
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A Thousand Small Sanities: The Moral Adventure of Liberalism
By Adam Gopnik
Reviewed by G. John Ikenberry
In this spirited manifesto, Gopnik paints a sweeping portrait of modern liberalism’s founding principles and accomplishments.
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What explains today’s global disorder, when liberalism is under assault by violent extremism, populist nationalism, xenophobia, religious tribalism, and antiglobalization? In this ambitious portrait of the current moment, Mishra sees all these problems as rooted in liberalism itself. Read More
The liberal tradition has long had a deeply fraught relationship with imperialism. In the late nineteenth century, British liberals embraced free trade, individual liberty, and the rule of law, while also defending the United Kingdom’s empire. In recent decades, liberal internationalist ideas have found their way into arguments in favor of humanitarian intervention, preemptive war, and campaigns to spread democracy—all of which critics often deride as imperialism in new guises.
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The Triumph of Broken Promises: The End of the Cold War and the Rise of Neoliberalism
By Fritz Bartel
Reviewed by G. John Ikenberry
Bartel’s powerful new interpretation of the Cold War argues that the struggle between democracy and communism was fundamentally a contest over which system of government could best harness industrial modernity to improve the lives of its people. Read More
The Wrecking of the Liberal World Order
By Vittorio Emanuele Parsi. Translated by Malvina Parsi.
Reviewed by G. John Ikenberry
Parsi, one of Italy’s leading scholars of international relations, delivers a sweeping account of the rise and decline of the liberal world order. Read More
Pabst offers a searing indictment of pandemic-era liberal capitalist societies. Read More
A World After Liberalism: Philosophers of the Radical Right
By Matthew Rose
Reviewed by G. John Ikenberry
In this volume, Rose examines the intellectual foundations of the far right through profiles of historical thinkers. Read More
The Light That Failed: Why the West Is Losing the Fight for Democracy
By Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes
Reviewed by G. John Ikenberry
Krastev and Holmes argue that the retreat from liberal democracy in eastern Europe and elsewhere is rooted in liberalism’s post-1989 global triumph.
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