» Yeh “Liberal Agenda” kya hai? . || Satyameva Jayate ||

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Yeh “Liberal Agenda” kya hai?

7 April 2009 129 views 8 Comments

Last Friday (27th), we had the third meeting of a small group of politically active friends here in London.

I shared a few slides on “Liberalism” at the meeting as introduction to a discussion we had about FTI.

Do have a look and do share your thoughts/comments. Rohit has already raised some (very good and valid) points on this and I hope he will share them in the comments section below.

Liberalism Presentation at LBS Mar 09

View more presentations from Shantanu.

Look forward to hearing from many of you,

Jai Hind, jai Bharat!

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8 Comments »

1. Sanjeev Sabhlok said:

Thanks Shantanu

What is liberalism? I suggest it it is not ‘maximum freedom’ nor ‘minimal government’. It would be better to stick to a simple formulation: maximal equal freedom subject to accountability. That ensures it is not misrepresented. I’ve noted a strong tendency among the public to misread liberalism as libertarianism, or reckless freedom. I think your reference to my article on unbridled capitalism helps clarify what this means.

I’ve also had this experience with a recent review of my book: http://www.sanjeev.sabhlokcity.com/book1/indialink.html and to clarify to the reviewer as follows:
http://tinyurl.com/dlxg2l

People constantly misunderstand the language. So we’ve got to be very clear to repeat (endlessly!) that we are talking about people being accountable for their actions.

Also it may be useful to classify government functions into core (first order) functions (law and order, justice, defence), second order ones (e.g. equal opportunity, public goods), and then the third order ones (rarely justifiable). Neither the words minimal government or strong government, in themselves, explain what we mean.

Regards

Sanjeev

8 April 2009

2. B Shantanu (author) said:

Sanjeev: Very good point…I should be careful while trying to simplify concepts!

The slides are continuing work in progress…I may be speaking to another group of students soon (at Oxford – thanks to Dipinder) and will use a more refined version for that audience.

8 April 2009

3. Kaffir said:

Shantanu,

Can I ask what’s the philosophical basis/framework of “liberal agenda” and how and why that was chosen? Were other philosophical frameworks considered?

9 April 2009

4. B Shantanu said:

Kaffir: Thanks…The basic framework (assuming I have understood your question correctly) of this is “Individual Liberty”…

Sanjeev may be able to articulate this better…I hope he responds to your question too.

Re. how and why this was chosen: The slides were meant to introduce FTI – whose philosophy is closely tied to Liberty and Liberalism.

Hope that answers your question?

11 April 2009

5. B Shantanu (author) said:

As an aside, Minimum government, maximum governance by Mukul G Asher

Excerpts here

16 September 2009

6. AAryan said:

Award-winning journalist, P.Sainath, examines the impact of corporate globalization on Indian society. He argues that neoliberal policies have increased inequality and have had devastating affects on the poor, including farmers.

http://www.tvo.org/TVO/WebObjects/TVO.woa?videoid?82638401001

Please provide critics on this.

||namO Bhaartam, namO Sanskritam ||

19 June 2011

7. AAryan said:

Q&A session with P.Sainath:
http://apnabhaarat.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/inequalities-in-india/

19 June 2011

8. B Shantanu (author) said:

Pl read two excellent posts by Sanjeev on the distinction between Liberalism and Liberal Anarchism:

The absurd dreams of libertarian anarchists and

Libertarian anarchy as an example of “blind” reason

10 July 2011