Contending Liberalisms:

Abstract

The claim that the ending of the Cold War signifies the triumph of Western liberalism — irrespective of whether this is celebrated or deplored — overlooks the extent to which the liberal tradition, as commonly understood, incorporated radical differences within it. These often shaped the major political cleavages of the time — between Whigs and radicals, Girondins and Jacobins, the liberalism of privilege versus the liberalism of egalitarian democracy. Similar tensions can be identified today — between the liberalisms of `globalization from above' and `globalization from below', the liberalism of international business and finance and that of radical social movements, the liberalism of privilege and that of human rights in the full sense. Not all these espouse the same liberal principles, but they can be seen as contending over which of the rival liberalisms should be accorded legitimacy in the post-Cold War world.

Responding to Crises: The Problematic Relationship between Security and Justice in The Responsibility to Protect

“…Hilary Charlesworth comments that ‘using crises as our focus means that what we generally take for “fundamental” questions and enquiries are very restricted’ (Charlesworth, , p. 377), arguing that this focus ‘diverts attention from structural issues of global justice’ (Charlesworth, , p. 382) such as global poverty and health inequality. Similarly, James Richardson contrasts the ‘negative’ political rights, such as freedom from torture, with ‘[a]rbitrary acts of violence against the underprivileged, or acts of omission such as the dispossession without restitution of those who inadvertently stand in the way of “development”, [which] are passed over with silence’ (Richardson, , p. 25). Alex Bellamy contrasts ‘death by politics’ (state‐sponsored killing) with ‘death by economics’ (such as starvation), and argues that the latter is somehow seen as being outside the interest or responsibility of international law and the ‘international community’ (Bellamy, , p. 332).…”

Counseling in Singapore

“…Singapore was a British colony from 1819 to 1963 and then merged with Malaya for 2 years before achieving national independence in 1965. Since then, the nation has been lauded throughout the world for its remarkable and rapid transition from third‐world status to developed nation in just 3 decades (Chang, 2003; Richardson, 1995). This transformation is largely credited to the foresight, daring, and will of its leadership as well as to the tremendous work ethic of its people.…”

The liberal renaissance and the end(s) of history

“…For example, (1) the language used to justify the application of state violence (not to mention other practices of intervention) in non-liberal political communities by the United States (U.S.) and other leading countries has been almost exclusively liberal, and (2) despite a relatively synchronised global economic crisis in 2008, the leading lights of the global political economy continue to work towards a more liberalised, commodified world order, yet one that is ecologically unsustainable given looming energy cost constraints and global climatic changes. 2 This renaissance, of course, has not been without its critical appraisals (Gill 1995;Richardson 1997;Jenkins 2002: 87-171: Puchala 2003Bowden 2004;Jahn 2007a, b). 3 By drawing and expanding upon earlier critical evaluations of liberal IR and liberal state practices, my own contribution is couched within what has been called the 'historical turn' in IR with a specific focus on the discourse of liberalism (Roberts 2006).…”