Liberal thought and thinkers
Intelligent Liberalism
Review of Conrad Russell, An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Liberalism (Duckworth, 1999).
The origins of community politics
How did the Liberal Party come to adopt a strategy of community politics in 1970? This article traces the origins of the concept from the New, or Social, Liberalism of Thomas Hill Green, through Jo Grimond’s leadership of the Liberal Party, to the counter-culture of the 1960s. To access this content, you must purchase Annual…
David Ricardo, 1772-1823
Less well-known than Adam Smith, Ricardo is nevertheless his intellectual and philosophical equal. He is credited alongside Smith with founding the classical school of economics. Inspired by Smith and driven by his friend, James Mill (father of John Stuart Mill), Ricardo provides an historical bridge between the economic and political liberals, although his own writings…
Thomas Paine, 1737-1809
Thomas Paine was born on 29 January 1737 at Thetford in Norfolk and was educated at the local grammar school. His father was a stay-maker, and this was Paine’s first occupation. In 1759, he married Mary Lambert, the daughter of a customs officer, but she died within a few months. This may have determined him…
Ramsay Muir, 1872-1941
Ramsay Muir was a leading figure in the Liberal Summer School movement and the National Liberal Federation in the 1920s and 1930s. He was briefly a Liberal MP, but, more importantly, he was one of the most prominent Liberal thinkers in inter-war Britain, and had a marked influence on party policy. After his death, Muir…
Think Liberal: The Dictionary of Liberal Thought
‘If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.’ Locke, Bentham, Mill, Hobhouse, Keynes, Rawls … Liberalism has been built on more than three centuries work of political thinkers and writers, and the aspirations of countless human beings who have fought for freedom, democracy, the rule of law and open…
John Stuart Mill and the Liberal Party
Analysis of the impact of the Victorian Liberal philosopher on his party. To access this content, you must purchase Annual subscription (digital) – unwaged rate or Annual subscription (digital) – standard rate.
Bentham on Utilitarianism
Extract from Principles of the civil code in Theory of Legislation, trans R Hildreth, 8th edn, London, 1894.
John Atkinson Hobson, 1858-1940
John Atkinson Hobson, the economic writer and radical journalist most associated (along with L. T. Hobhouse) with Edwardian New Liberalism was born in Derby on 6 July 1858, the second son of William and Josephine (ne Atkinson) Hobson. William Hobson was the proprietor of the Derbyshire Advertiser, to which his son later contributed, and was…