Fudan-LSE Lecture Series No.43

Title: 

Liberal political theory after populism - the challenge to the liberal order

Speaker:

Professor Paul Kelly, LSE

Host: 

Professor Yijia Jing, IGPP, Fudan University

Discussant: 

Professor Xi Lin, IAS, Fudan University

Time: 

13:40-15:10 (Beijing Time), May 22th

Venue: 

Room 805E, 8th Floor, West Sub-building of Guanghua Towers

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The Speaker：

Paul Kelly is Professor of Political Theory in the Department of Government at LSE. He has published on a broad range of topics in political philosophy and the history of political thought. His most recent book is Conflict, War and Revolution 2022 and he is currently completing a book entitled Against Post-Liberalism which is the subject of the seminar. Prof. Kelly is the head of the Department of Government and was once a Pro-Director (Vice President) of Teaching and Learning of LSE.

Abstract:

The rise of populism in western democracies is primarily an empirical phenomenon that has impacted on how some major democracies function both domestically and internationally, but it is not solely an empirical phenomenon. Increasingly political theorists, commentators and public intellectuals have speculated about the rise of populism as a failure of liberal-democratic ideology that requires a new ideological settlement beyond the confines of liberal ideas. In this lecture I will explore three different phases of that post-liberal movement that is growing in importance in the US and UK and explore the ideas and values that underly a post liberal approach to political authority. As the implications of this post liberal movement inform both electoral politics and increasingly international order the importance of this challenge to the reigning ideas of liberal democracy have implications far beyond the domestic politics of Britain and the United States.