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Since the Enlightenment, liberalism as a concept has been foundational for European identity and politics, even as it has been increasingly interrogated and contested. This comprehensive study takes a fresh look at the diverse understandings and interpretations of the idea of liberalism in Europe, encompassing not just the familiar movements, doctrines, and political parties that fall under the heading of “liberal” but also the intertwined historical currents of thought behind them. Here we find not an abstract, universalized liberalism, but a complex and overlapping configuration of liberalisms tied to diverse linguistic, temporal, and political contexts.
“The essays in this volume, all written by eminent students of European history, demonstrate the great strengths of the conceptual history approach. The book makes an important and illuminating contribution to the history of liberalism in Europe, and its extensive and diverse cases provide much rich material for reflecting on the varied legacies and trajectories of liberalism, both in the past and the present. It will be of tremendous use to scholars and students of European history and the history of liberalism, as well as those wanting to see how the methods of conceptual history can be put to productive use in the exploration of political ideologies.” • History: Review of New Books
“The initiative behind the book—to sketch a history of European liberalism using the conceptual history approach—is an important one for the field. Its diverse contributions are extremely valuable, making available research and perspectives not widely known in English-language scholarship.” • Jonathan Kwan, University of Nottingham
List of Figures
Introduction: European Liberal Discourses: Conceptual Affinities and Disparities
Michael Freeden and Javier Fernández-Sebastián
Chapter 1. Habsburg Liberalisms and the Enlightenment Past, 1790–1848
Franz Leander Fillafer
Chapter 2. Formulating and Reformulating ‘Liberalism’: Germany in European Comparison
Jörn Leonhard
Chapter 3. ‘Friends of Freedom.’ First Liberalisms in Spain and Beyond
Javier Fernández-Sebastián
Chapter 4. Liberalism in Portugal in the Nineteenth Century
Nuno Gonçalo Monteiro and Rui Ramos
Chapter 5. The Rise and Fall of ‘Liberalism’ in France
Helena Rosenblatt
Chapter 6. Nordic Liberalisms. Sweden and Denmark in Comparison
Jussi Kurunmäki and Jeppe Nevers
Chapter 7. ‘Liberalism’ and ‘Liberality’. The Liberal Tradition in the Netherlands
Henk te Velde
Chapter 8. A Conceptual Scheme of Polish Liberalism: Six Pillars
Maciej Janowski
Chapter 9. Liberal Politics without Liberal Thought? The Strange Career of Italian Liberalism
Paolo Pombeni
Chapter 10. Encounters with Liberalism in Post-Soviet Russia
Olga Malinova
Chapter 11. Temporal Evolution and Morphological Complexity: The Multiple Layers of British Liberalism
Michael Freeden
Conclusion
Michael Freeden
Index