Liberal Principles Research Articles

Beyond the cleavage: differentiation of democratic values in Europe

ABSTRACT This study explores the relationship between the transnational cleavage and support for democratic values in six European countries (France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, and Spain). Drawing on original survey data, we investigate to what extent identities, migration attitudes, and voting behavior align with support for and opposition to three core democratic values: gender equality, judicial independence, and freedom of expression. Our findings reveal a nuanced landscape of value differentiation rather than strict polarization. While cosmopolitan identities and pro-immigration attitudes correlate with higher support for most democratic values, the communitarian side shows alignment with certain liberal principles, such as freedom of expression. Additionally, social media use emerges as a significant variable, amplifying the alignment of cleavage indicators with democratic values among politically active users. These results challenge the notion of clear-cut value polarization and highlight the complexity of democratic value alignment in contemporary Europe. The study underscores the importance of context-specific dynamics and the evolving role of digital media in shaping political and value-based divisions.

Civilizational Wilsonianism from Woodrow Wilson to Donald Trump

Abstract The foreign policy of Donald Trump in his first term of office is often understood to have represented a sharp break with ‘the Wilsonian tradition’, which in turn is taken to mean an American foreign policy based on liberal principles. By instead advancing an alternative understanding of the Wilsonian tradition that it terms ‘civilizational Wilsonianism’, this article argues that there were actually far greater continuities between Wilson and Trump than initially meet the eye. It argues that Wilson and Trump's foreign policies, whatever their other differences, were both premised on the perceived need to ensure the survival of a particular type of ‘civilization’ in a dangerous, globalized world. If ‘Wilsonianism’ means a tradition that follows from the career of the historical Wilson, then at its core is a set of propositions about civilization, international interconnection, hierarchy and American power. Reframing ‘Wilsonianism’ in this way increases the value that the concept can bring to understanding American foreign policy in our own time and into the future by directing us to also consider the illiberal features and continuities of American foreign policy, alongside the liberal.

‘We are not sheep, I believe it is my choice’: Vaccine hesitancy and institutional agency among middle-class mothers in Russia

Scholars frequently associate vaccine hesitancy with the effects of neoliberalism, including healthism culture, intensive mothering ideology, and a decrease in institutional trust. This article contributes to the discussion by exploring this link outside of established democracies, in a society that diverges from liberal principles on both political and institutional levels. Using qualitative interviews with middle-class Russian mothers, I trace how their doubts about vaccination reflect the specificities of neoliberal parenting in the contradictory post-socialist context. Research findings show that the mix of statist and neoliberal trends in Russian welfare translates into parents’ different perspectives on (state) institutions. This heterogeneity, in turn, leads to variation in their vaccine hesitancy, with parents oscillating between civic and consumerist critiques. Disunity of views and political restrictions on grassroots activism hinder mothers’ open opposition to vaccination. However, my interviewees still demonstrate institutional agency. They exercise it by developing informal workarounds and navigating paid healthcare options. As mothers repeatedly enact those diverse solutions, they routinize vaccine-hesitant parenting scripts and stimulate the development of organizational niches for unvaccinated children at the margins of the established welfare system.

The Three Principles of Classical Liberalism (from John Locke to John Tomasi): A Consequentialist Defence of the Limited Welfare State

The Three Principles of Classical Liberalism (from John Locke to John Tomasi): A Consequentialist Defence of the Limited Welfare State

Public Wrongs and Human Rights: An Orderly Approach?

AbstractCriminal law is a system for societal ordering, as much as it is for protection against interpersonal harm and wrongs. Whilst such laws can engage rights to privacy and freedoms of expression and movement, international human rights rarely feature in criminal theory. Using Duff’s public wrongs theory, a normative argument is made for recognition of international human rights within the national civil order, as well as through a proposed supra-national human rights polity. This is tested through identification of human rights criminalization principles from public ordering cases in the European Court of Human Rights. International human rights offers a formal route to recognition of liberal principles, as well as adding possible new boundary conditions within criminal theory.

Social Media, Misinformation, and Attitudes Towards Democracy in Germany During the Covid-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT Social media platforms are a double-edged sword, serving as sources of both critical information and harmful misinformation. This duality has sparked debates about their potential role in threatening democracy, boosting radical parties, and amplifying authoritarian and populist attitudes. While much research has focused on how misinformation and social media usage can influence voting for radical and populist parties, research on how diffuse and specific support for democracy are affected by the level of misinformation is more scarce. This study examines how satisfaction with democracy, democratic legitimacy, and adherence to liberal democratic principles are shaped by social media usage and citizens’ susceptibility to misinformation. Employing novel data from an online survey conducted in Germany in June 2021, we show that political information sources and misinformation exposure have a greater impact on perceptions of democratic functioning than on support for democracy as a political ideal. Furthermore, for citizens prone to believing misinformation, media consumption habits have no significant impact highlighting a critical blind spot in addressing democracy’s resilience in the digital age.

Back to the Future? The Electoral Breakthrough of Far-Right Parties

Abstract In contemporary Europe, far-right parties threaten liberal democratic principles such as pluralism, media freedom and minority rights. Despite the stigma they normally face, far-right parties have experienced electoral breakthroughs even in countries where they remained electorally marginal such as Germany, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. We advance the idea that this happened because the level of stigmatization faced by these parties decreased before their electoral breakthrough. Therefore, we form a theoretical framework based on a threefold mechanism: far-right parties manage to reduce the stigma they face because of a reputational shield or by moderating their message; the media help the far right gain visibility and legitimacy by accommodating its views; established parties accommodate far-right parties without ostracizing them. Then, we test the framework by looking at the electoral breakthroughs of four parties: the results confirm the expectations except for the role of established parties, which is inconclusive.

Hate-Speech Bans are at Odds with Central Principles of Liberalism

In line with my 2021 book Freedom of Expression as Self-Restraint – albeit in a much shorter compass – this essay will argue against the moral defensibility of hate-speech laws like those in the United Kingdom and Canada and the Antipodes and most countries of western Europe. Such laws contravene the moral principle of freedom of expression, and therefore contravene one of the central precepts of liberal democracy. Under that principle, a necessary condition for the moral permissibility of any law that proscribes some type or instance of communicative activity is that the activity in question is constitutive of serious communication-independent wrongdoing. Given the centrality of the notion of communication-independent wrongdoing to the principle of freedom of expression, we should begin here with an explication of that notion.

Liberal moralities and drug policy reform

Background While debates on drug policy express a range of ethical viewpoints, many are underpinned by core ideas drawn from liberal philosophy. Much recent analysis on the moral principles underpinning drug policy debates focuses on differences between reformers and supporters of the status quo. Less attention has been given to divergences among advocates for drug policy reform, which often hinge on the interpretation and application of liberal principles. Methods This paper examines three concepts from liberal philosophy in relation to drug policy debates: ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ freedom, rational autonomy, and social contract. The articulation of these ideas, and the extent to which they underpin different positions on policy reform, is explored with reference to three areas of advocacy: legal regulation; decriminalization; and harm reduction. Results Agreement on drug policy reforms does not necessarily imply shared views regarding concepts of freedom, rational autonomy, or social contract. Specific policy solutions may be supported by a range of ethical and political positions and can serve as points where divergent, and sometimes conflicting, philosophical perspectives converge. Conclusion Drug policy advocacy expresses a range of underpinning moral, political, and philosophical perspectives. Recognizing commonalities and differences among these perspectives is important for coalition-building and strategic planning.

Homeschooling as an extension of school choice in the Czech Republic after the COVID-19 pandemic?

ABSTRACT The aim of the study was to examine the homeschooling and its recent development in Czechia as part of the school choice debate. The study analyses the different attitudes towards homeschooling among different groups within the Czech population and the underlying demographic, socio-economic, and ideological factors that may be behind these differences, as well as analysing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on this form of education in Czech society. The analysis of the nationally representative data shows that public support for homeschooling increased significantly after the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching its highest level in 2023. We found that the typical supporter of homeschooling tends to be a younger, highly educated person who lives in the large city or in its suburbs, is committed to democratic and liberal principles, is critical of totalitarian systems, and sees the legal possibility of homeschooling as an extension of the existing school choice.

Minilateralism and the new Indo-Pacific order: theoretical ambitions and empirical realities

ABSTRACT The introductory paper sets the stage for the research essays in the special issue. It provides an overview of the concepts of minilateralism and the context in which minilateralism has become an alternative form of collective action by states in the international arena, in particular in the Indo-Pacific region that has emerged as the new centre of gravity in world politics. How has minilateralism become a prominent feature of inter-state cooperation in the early twenty-first century, and how is it often used to complement (and in some cases, even substitute for) traditional international organisations, which are based on more liberal and inclusive multilateral norms and principles, but suffering from functional deficits? In a world of more diffuse power, how can minilateralism offer states an expanded toolset for pursuing their policy preferences and advancing their interests? At the same time, the paper also highlights the potential negatives of (or challenges to) minilateralism, including difficulties emanating from a narrowly framed agenda that perpetuates certain narratives, a leadership vacuum that could emerge from non-hierarchical arrangements, and questions about how to achieve support and legitimacy with low institutionalisation.

Cultural Integrations for Organisational Performance: Synthesising Western Liberal, Sinocentric and Ubuntu Perspectives in South African Career Management Services

South African public organisations intrinsically integrate diverse cultural perspectives by embracing and promoting developmental state ideals, democratic principles of equality and fairness, and communitarianism in their governance frameworks. This embrace reveals the interplay of Western Liberal principles, Sino-centric values, and Ubuntu cultural perspectives in influencing organisational performance. This paper thus explored these dynamics by examining how conflicting and integrating perspectives affect and enhance career management practices for organisational performance. Key cultural themes, including individual autonomy, hierarchy, collaboration, societal order, and communitarianism, were reviewed at the North West Province Departments of Cooperative Governance, Traditional Affairs, and Human Settlements through mixed methods research. Findings revealed cultural conflicts culminating in unfairness in career management practices and a lack of collaborative efforts by role players involved. These findings underscored the necessity of weakening and integrating strong ontologies through panentheism to enhance economic and employee development, societal order, hierarchy, and communal well-being through structured governance, pluralist choice, collective fingers and societal order frameworks. This research offers practical implications for improving organisational performance in African multicultural contexts, which are valuable for career management and public administration professionals. Keywords: Ubuntu, Sino-centric Values, Liberalism, Organisational Performance, Integrative Governance.

By law or by justice: Deputies in the Spanish Congress of Deputies around the bill on dictatorship of 1848

In the article, the author analyses the discussions that took place in the Congress of Deputies in Madrid between 1 and 4 March 1848 regarding a bill that would transfer extraordinary powers to the government of General Narváez. He situates them within the broader context of the events that transpired in Spain during the spring of 1848, subsequently analysing the principal arguments advanced by the various parties. Those of the progressive persuasion who assailed the bill called for action in strict accordance with the law, but in essence sought to deny the government the right to resist what it regarded as the revolutionary threat. The Moderados, who represented the party in power, defended the government’s right, among other things, to take preventive measures to protect against the revolution. The author underscores that in Spain, there were merely two remaining parties, with varying specifics but similar overarching tenets. Both the Moderados and the progressives represented a central position within the political spectrum, aligning with the principles of liberalism. Some of them were of the opinion that large-scale reforms were necessary, while others preferred a gradual approach to innovation. However, neither of these perspectives envisioned Spain without a constitutional monarchy, particularly without the monarchy established by Isabella II. Radicals on both sides, both right and left, were expelled from the country with the assistance of French and British military forces. Consequently, the author characterises Spain under Isabella II as a state with limited sovereignty.

Opposition and resistance: how judges and professional associations in Poland, Hungary, and Romania defend their independence

ABSTRACT This article investigates how governmental measures aimed at dismantling core liberal democracy principles prompt judges and their professional associations to action. In what ways do they express dissent, if any? Drawing on the cases of Hungary, Romania and Poland, the article shows that the dismantling of core pillars of liberal democracy prompts judges and their professional associations to go beyond judicial dialogue to express forms of opposition and resistance. When the expression of dissent is allowed, judges resort to opposition. When the expression of dissent is limited, judges resort to resistance. Both opposition and resistance can take different forms, conceptualized and illustrated in this article.

‘Where is the Justice?’ Unauthorized Migrants’ Perceptions of the Legitimacy of the Dutch Immigration System

Abstract The legitimacy of immigration systems in a globalized world is questioned since individuals without legal status are excluded from states’ liberal political projects and presumed to hold beliefs different from those of the state. Drawing on ethnographic research with 105 unauthorized migrants in the Netherlands, this contribution demonstrates that these migrants may consider immigration systems to be legitimate if states lawfully enact them and provide access to their human rights. Yet, they believe that the Dutch authorities currently neglect these obligations, resulting in perceived legitimacy deficits. While some scholars advocate for new vocabulary to better understand these systems, I argue that the focus should be on changing these systems to ensure legitimacy and uphold the liberal principles of democracy.

Democracy Amid Pandemic: A Survey Experiment on How Covid‐19 Affectedness Influences Support for Anti‐Liberal Policies

Do people support ostensibly effective policy measures that curtail liberal rights and civil liberties or instead stick to liberal principles when confronted with an unprecedented crisis? This article examines the relationship between individuals’ perceptions of the Covid-19 pandemic and their attitudes toward democracy as they consider effective countermeasures. It asks (a) whether individuals’ sense of being affected by the pandemic shapes their attitudes toward democratic policymaking and (b) whether this relationship is moderated by trust and authoritarianism. The analysis builds on a customized survey in Austria that includes a conjoint experiment to test the acceptability of various illiberal policies. It shows that while feeling affected by Covid-19 does not have the hypothesized effect, there are strong interactions with respondents’ political attitudes. Citizens’ willingness to sacrifice democracy for more effective policies depends both on whether they perceive the pandemic as a personal problem and on their attitudes toward government and democracy.

Politicization of the Jewish and Muslim minorities in Poland

With Poland’s political transformation after 1989, religious minorities including Jews and Muslims gained more autonomy and support from the state authorities. At the same time, the liberal democracy principles of religious equality and the state’s neutrality have still not been fully implemented. The paper focuses on this problematic situation, using the concept of politicization to portray the situation of the Jews and Muslims in contemporary Poland, and their relations with the Polish state. It presents four instances of politicization of religious minorities (specifically, Muslims and/or Jews). The research is based on public surveys, interviews with members of the Jewish and Muslim communities, legal documents, and NGO reports. According to the hypothesis of the paper, Muslims and Jews are significantly politicized in the Polish public discourse, and both communities play significant roles in shaping the political identity of the Polish polity. Their roles differ in character due to historical factors and the contemporary international context.

Pairing Humanities With Technology to Combat Mis- and Disinformation

Over the last decade, the phenomenon of mis- and disinformation has come to the fore of popular, academic and political discourse. It is widely seen as a scourge to civil society and a challenge to democratic governance, but policy solutions seem as contentious as ever, showing no signs of broad agreement on what can be done to enhance cognitive and societal resilience, particularly without treading upon precious liberal principles like free speech. David V Gioe, Robin Brinkworth and Marina Miron offer a suite of policy options that are humanities-based to complement the more frequently researched technological approaches to combating mis- and disinformation. ◼

Negotiating autonomy, community, and divinity in urban Filipino young adults’ moral reasoning

Cultural approaches to examining the development of moral reasoning have been influential for decades. Still, gaps remain in understanding how individuals actively construct their moral reasoning within different sociocultural contexts and the period of young adulthood in the Filipino setting. Thus, this study examined the discourses used by urban Filipino young adults in reasoning about their moral conflicts and the ways they adopted and adapted these discourses in their reasoning. The study used a social constructionist perspective, informed by Shweder and colleagues’ ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity and Jensen’s cultural-developmental approach. We conducted thematic analysis with attention to discourse on interviews with 12 urban young adults aged 21 to 29, producing three major discursive themes: harm and welfare, rules and roles, and liberal principles. The specific appropriation of these discourses suggests the dominance of the ethic of Autonomy. However, this often co-occurred with expressions of Community and Divinity, and the extent and manner of appropriation of these discourses varied according to individuals’ characteristics and experiences. By examining young adults’ negotiation of moral discourses in the Philippines, this research enriches understanding of moral reasoning in a sociohistorical context where young people increasingly contend with conflicts between traditional and global values.

Concept and Varieties of Illiberalism

This article discusses various conceptualizations of illiberalism and adopts a definition that equates the concept with the negation of three liberal democratic principles: limited power, a neutral state, and an open society. The second part of the article explores the implications of this definitional strategy for empirical research, describes the relationship between populism, authoritarianism, and illiberalism, and identifies nine distinct routes to illiberalism: authoritarian, traditionalist, religious, libertarian, nativist-nationalist, populist, paternalist, materialist-technocratic, and left-wing.