Is liberalism dead? It is not surprising that some conservatives think so. It could be wishful thinking. But the atmosphere of doom and despair among liberals does not bode well. Some thinkers even speak of “post-liberalism.” There is, to be sure, a problem with all these “posts”: post-modern, post-Soviet, post-truth… “Posters” claim that a given phenomenon has passed, but they don’t know what is coming after it, or they can’t give it a name. In other words, we know that we have come to the end of an epoch, but we don’t know what comes next. Of course, we are assuming that history moves in a straight line.
In any case, if the liberal age is over, it could be bad news for Ukraine. For the Ukrainian project is essentially liberal.
What exactly is liberalism? It’s not a clear or distinct political doctrine. But it is generally agreed that its guiding principles are belief in the supreme value of the individual, in natural individual rights and in freedom. Liberalism can also entail a human-centered rather than God-centered world view, universalism (a belief that rights and duties are valid always and everywhere), and toleration in moral and religious matters. While classical liberalism favors the free market, some “left liberals” question it. (Roger Scruton, “A Dictionary of Political Thought,” 1982, s.v. “Liberalism”)
Thus, the ideals of freedom and independence, human rights and democracy that Ukrainians have long championed are liberal ideals. Although many Ukrainians join conservatives in supporting law, tradition, morality, religion and private property, they are less inclined, for historical reasons, to share their skepticism towards merely political solutions and their preference for the organic growth of institutions as opposed to revolutionary change. (see Scruton, op. cit., s.v. “Conservatism”)
The United States was founded on classic liberal principles. In the Progressive Era and New Deal, American liberalism was influenced by socialism. More recently, it has assigned a greater role to the state as the guarantor of civil rights, racial equality, and socio-economic justice. While contemporary American conservatism has its special concerns such as immigration, states’ rights, limited government and the right to bear arms, in its emphasis on freedom, its radical individualism and its belief in the free market it can be seen as a variant of liberalism.
Ukrainian liberalism is naturally of the European variety, with its Jacobin revolutionary roots and hostility to traditional institutions like Churches and empires. But the influence of contemporary American liberalism, particularly its advocacy of “free” markets, participatory grass-roots democracy and gender-based minority rights, is evident.
By the end of 1991, it seemed that liberal democracy had triumphed in most of the world. Francis Fukuyama even suggested that history had come to its glorious culmination. Today, it’s obvious he was wrong. It’s not just because both the U.S. and Russia now have rambunctiously anti-liberal presidents. Nor is it just because electoral revolts in Britain, Germany, Austria, Italy and elsewhere have brought a neo-nationalist, anti-immigrant Right back out of obscurity.
Even among Ukraine’s neighbors, which shared its struggle against Soviet Russian colonialism, there is an “illiberal” reaction: the Czech and Hungarian governments have responded to Vladimir Putin’s overtures, while the Poles have compromised the rule of law at home while picking a fight with Ukraine. Liberal pundits attribute this to Mr. Putin’s skill in bribing, cajoling and threatening foreign politicians, and to the success of populists like Marine Le Pen, Viktor Orban and Andrzej Duda with a gullible and easily manipulated citizenry.
But that is a superficial view. Obviously, the post-war liberal democratic order is in crisis. The European Union has alienated many in both East and West by its intrusive bureaucratic control and its imposition of a “post-national” and “post-Christian” ideology. In the United States, the Democratic Party’s shift of emphasis from socio-economic issues to identity politics has alienated some of its base and may have lost it the 2016 election. Stagnant or declining real wages, coupled with widespread male unemployment (much of it below the statistical radar), have demoralized and angered the working class.
Indeed, it is ironic that the sharpest criticism of global liberalism targets its allegedly anti-democratic nature. Patrick J. Deneen, author of “Why Liberalism Failed” (2018), writes, “While elites may suffer self-inflicted blindness to the nature of their position, the rest of society clearly sees what they are doing. The uprising among the working classes across the developed West arises from a perception of illegitimacy – of a gap between claims of the ruling class and reality as experienced by those who are ruled.” (“The Ignoble Lie,” First Things, April 2018, p. 30)
Some critics conclude that the liberal elite has betrayed its own ideals by favoring corporate capitalist globalism and waging the concomitant endless wars in the Middle East, with their countless civilian casualties (all in order to “combat terrorism” and “promote democracy”). Where are the 1960s anti-war protesters now?
Others allege that liberalism by its very nature must sooner or later contradict itself, because it lacks a coherent philosophical basis. Thus, for example, the pursuit of the rights of selected ethnic or gender-based groups entails the denial of the free-speech or conscience rights of those who disagree. Some observers, like Polish philosopher Ryszard Legutko, warn of liberalism’s totalitarian tendencies.
Meanwhile Ukraine, having struggled to overcome the aftereffects of communism and finally enter the post-war liberal order, must feel like a guest arriving at a party that is already breaking up. It has hardly even had time to work out the contradictions between nationalism and a liberalism that tends to dissolve ethno-cultural distinctions. Nor has it resolved the historical and philosophical tensions between liberalism and Christianity. Yet it has not developed a conservative alternative.
Will liberalism make a comeback? Or should we expect something else? For Ukraine, which in any case does not fit the Western template, some combination of liberal and conservative ideals seems to be in order. Ukrainians will need to do some fresh and imaginative thinking.