Liberal theory has been caricatured by its critics as an abstract, unworldly, trivial philosophical navel-gazing pursuit. This text counters this view by showing how liberalism can tackle wide-ranging practical concerns that urgently demand attention in 21st-century politics. Rather than presenting contemporary liberalism simply and narrowly as a survey of what its main academic protagonists have said over the past 30 years, the guiding principle of the volume is to conceptualize it primarily as a set of themes and approaches informed by the challenges to the practice of liberal politics. Issues such as human rights, citizenship, nationalism, feminism, international communities, supranational orders, post-communism and ecocentrism take their place alongside the more familiar and well-worked themes of justice and justification as topics for liberal theorizing. The reader is vividly shown the ways in which liberalism engages directly with the problems of practical political life today. This wide-ranging account of contemporary liberal thinking places the emphasis on agenda-setting, showing that contemporary liberalism is live - relevant, proactive, continuously engaged and adaptable - and that the problems faced by the liberal order are sufficiently complex and perplexing to demand the serious, rigorous philosophical reflection offered by contemporary liberal political theory. The Companion allows the reader to explore liberalism’s contemporary relevance and to look to its likely future developments. With contributors including Will Kymlicka, Michael Freeden, Richard Bellamy, Rex Martin, Margaret Canovan, Diana T. Meyers, and Kate Soper, this large, definitive edition should be a must-buy for all libraries and a key reference tool for all those with an interest in contemporary liberalism.
