Awaiting the Demise of the Liberal Order: Historicising the Crisis of Liberalism

Abstract

This review article analyses the merits and shortcomings of three recent works by Matthew Rose, Peter Turchin, and Krishnan Nayar about the crisis in Western liberal democracies and liberalism. By exploring the intellectual and economic causes of the crisis, these authors are trying to establish a historical model that would explain the current crisis through a comprehensive account of the development of Western societies. In doing so, they identify the detrimental role of the elites and the growing inequalities as the major factor that historically contributes to the demise of liberal values, endangering democratic rule of law. Therefore, the three books are a warning that the demise of the liberal order will bring about the resurgence of right-wing authoritarianism. However, all three authors avoid discussing the nature of liberalism as the dominant ideology in the West. This article presents a criticism of such models, arguing that any discussion of the crisis of liberalism which avoids considerations about liberalism itself and liberal ideologies, necessarily fails to encapsulate the actual experience of the crisis. In addition, these models limit history’s usefulness in interpreting the causes of the crisis and preventing its consequences.

Ovaj pregledni članak analizira prednosti i nedostatke nedavno objavljenih dela Metju Rouza, Petera Turčina i Krišnana Najara o krizi zapadnih liberalnih demokratija i liberalizma. Ispitujući intelektualne i ekonomske uzroke krize, ovi autori pokušavaju da ustanove istorijski model koji bi objasnio trenutnu krizu kroz sveobuhvatno shvatanje razvoja zapadnih društava. Kroz to, oni identifikuju negativnu ulogu elita i rastućih nejednakosti kao glavnih faktora koji kroz istoriju doprinose padu liberalnih vrednosti i ugrožavanju demokratske vladavine prava. Stoga, ove tri knjige predstavljaju upozorenje da će propast liberalnog poretka dovesti do vraćanja desnog autoritarizma. Međutim, sva tri autora izbegavaju raspravu o prirodi liberalizma kao dominantne ideologije Zapada. Ovaj članak kritikuje takave modele, tvrdeći da svaka diskusija o krizi liberalizma koja izbegava rasprave o samom liberalizmu, kao i o liberalnim ideologijama nužno ne uspeva da predoči samo iskustvo te krize. Takođe, ovi modeli ograničavaju korisnost istorije za razumevanje uzroka krize i sprečavanje njenih posledica.