This document discusses the place of liberalism in the 21st century. It defines liberalism as a philosophy that advocates for individual freedom and views the government as protecting those freedoms. However, there are many variations of liberalism as a political philosophy. The document also discusses tensions that can arise between liberal and conservative views, such as on issues like cultural practices. It argues that liberalism needs to be balanced to avoid conflicts between majority and minority groups. The conclusion states that modern liberals believe freedom requires government welfare to support people, and that liberalism has become the dominant political and social ideology over the last two centuries.

1. Running Head: THE PLACE OF LIBERALISM IN THE 21ST CENTURY 1
The Place of Liberalism in the 21st Century-
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The Place of Liberalism in the 21st Century
Introduction
Liberalism
It is not easy to define liberalism. Dictionaries and references books define it as the
quality of being liberal, or a socio-political philosophy which advocates an individual's freedom
where the government becomes the custodian of this individual right. The use of liberalism
originated in the early 1820's. There are many conflicting variations of it as a philosophy but in
politics its designation is contextual (Deveaux M, 2006). Sometimes a liberal desires the least
government while at another time it helps augment rules and regulations of the government.
Mostly classical liberalism is like the 'Watchman State', where people’s liberty is safeguarded by
the government.
Liberalism and Conservativeness -Some Tensions
There have been considerable worries in the Western societies about such practices like
Clitoridectomy, arranged marriages, polygamy etc. In India a Hindu woman whose husband dies,
even when she is quite young, cannot marry again and the government can do nothing about it
(Saharso S, 2008). Susan Okin, Benhabib, some eminent scholars and authors have discussed in
details about liberalism, multiculturalism and have concluded that liberalism in the 21st century
is not gender neutral, yet intrinsic liberal groups should be given protection. It is imperative to
avoid conflict between liberalism and conservativeness (Benhabib S, 2002). On the topic of
liberalism, most contemporary ideologies exist. When speaking of multiculturalism, it means to
try and adapt to the cultural diversity that is offered by a liberal society. In the developed world,
most of the political parties are now liberal.

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But it is also said that liberals often live in self-contentment, with no sense of self
responsibility and they often show contempt to those who criticize them and call them
conservatives.
Liberalism should be balanced so as to avoid tension between liberals and non-liberals. In
societies which are too liberal there are tensions between the majority and minority groups which
demand protection from one another's type of liberalism (Okin S, 1999). "The capacity for a
conception of the good: the capacity to have, to revise, and rationally pursue a conception of the
good” (John R 1971). As per Rawls, the requisite of any liberal society are two moral powers, it
is due to this reason that the distinction between public and private helps facilitate a liberal
situation. In the era of absolutism, classical liberalism was born and at that time there people had
a great suspicion of government policies. But modern liberalism was challenged by problems
that arose after industrialization. Today the concept of social welfare and socio-economic
intervention has been accepted by the developed countries. Johan Rawls, in his famous 'Theory
of Justice' recommends two major concepts in order to justify redistribution. Equal principle, the
first principle says that equal rights to basic liberty is the right of every one. The second concept
is different and says that sometime inequality is good, provided it enhances the well-being of the
downtrodden. (John R, 1971).
Conclusion
Modern Liberals believe that freedom is not equivalent to be left in seclusion as it makes
one weaker thus more prone to be poorer, hungry, sick and defenseless. It is therefore the duty of
the government to give welfare to such liberals.
The 1930s Great Depression added by two world wars proved that the ideals of the
classical liberals were inadequate and hence the laissez-faire capitalism was turned down by the

4. The Place of Liberalism in the 21st Century 4
new liberals. The Neoliberals believe that any intervention by the government is bad and it is
better to go for self-help and entrepreneurialism. This way it would also become coherent to
safeguard non-liberals from the argument of liberals which is the every-one should be
intrinsically liberal (Cohen GA, 1997). After the great recession of the 2008, which nearly broke
down the financial system of United States, was due to de-regulation, or liberalization practices.
It was then the President Obama had to re-regulate the banks. For the last two hundred years and
concisely after the 70s, it is liberalism that has become the dominating force in all sphere of
concepts and ideals, the political and socioeconomic superiority of liberalism has been proved
thus making other ideologies fade into background.

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References
Gerald Allan Cohen, “Where the Action Is: On the Site of Distributive Justice”. Philosophy and
Public Affairs, Vol. 26, 1997.
John Rawls, Justice as fairness in a Theory of Justice. Harvard University Press. 1971
Monique Deveaux, Gender and Justice in Multicultural Liberal States. Oxford University Press.
New York. 2006
Sawitri Saharso, “Multicultural Feminism: Finding our way between universalism and
antiessentialism”. IPW Working Paper 3/2008. Institut fü Politikwissenschaft, Vienna.
Seyla Benhabib, The claims of culture: Equality and Diversity in the Global Era. Princeton
University Press. Princeton, 2002.
Susan Okin, “Is multiculturalism bad for women?” Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 1999

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