Liberal Responses to Populism

Populism has taken root almost everywhere in the West. It is crucial to understand how it has come about, where its antagonistic worldview, its nativism, its illiberalism and its anti-pluralism will take us, and how we should seek to fend off this threat to liberal democracy. In particular, what could liberal answers look like?

This book is a collection of essays written by young and senior scholars in various fields from philosophy to economics. Part I explores populism’s nature and causes, shedding light on the lure of sovereignty, the perceived representation gap and the process of radicalization, and human psychology. Part II is dedicated to observations inside the political arena, pitting liberalism and populism in a historical perspective, analyzing the risk of democratic backsliding, and asking how liberals should navigate the political need to make compromises. In Part III, the focus turns to liberal responses such as rules-based public deliberation, a liberal ethics attending to civic virtues, improved representation through the blockchain, and polycentric migration policies. Part IV, finally, houses critical engagements with influential relevant authors such as Foucault, Laclau, Berlin, and Harrington.

Liberal Responses to Populism is a rich and thought-provoking read for scholars and students in political economy, political science, and political philosophy.

Karen Horn is a honorary professor of economics at the University of Erfurt (Germany), where she teaches the history of economic thought and economic journalism. She is particularly interested in the work of Adam Smith, Friedrich A. Hayek, Walter Eucken, and James M. Buchanan, and in the tradition of liberalism generally, with a special focus on ordoliberalism. At the Verein für Socialpolitik, the association of German-speaking economists, she is a member of the committee for the history of economic thought. She serves as an editor of Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, one of the two academic journals of the Verein, and is the co-chair of the NOUS network. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland).

Stefan Kolev is the academic director of the Ludwig Erhard Forum for Economy and Society in Berlin and a professor of political economy at the University of Applied Sciences Zwickau (Germany). His research centers on the history of economic thought, especially ordoliberalism and Austrian economics, constitutional economics, and the future of the Social Market Economy. He is a co-editor of the ORDO Yearbook for the Order of Economy and Society and of the Journal of Contextual Economics – Schmollers Jahrbuch. He spent his last sabbatical at the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University (USA). He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Hamburg (Germany).

Julian F. Müller is a professor of political philosophy at the department of philosophy at the University of Graz (Austria). Prior to that, he was a postdoctoral research associate at the Institute of Philosophy at University of Hamburg (Germany) and at the Political Theory Project at Brown University (USA). His research interest resides at the intersection of political philosophy and economics, with one specific focus on epistemic democracy and populism. Currently, he is working on what it means to have a liberal spirit. He also worked on various topics in applied ethics, such as migration ethics and the ethics of AI.