Post-Liberal Synthesis

Contextual Quote

"What is the Post-Liberal Synthesis?

That is, the direction of history forces us to consider the looming failure of liberalism, and the need for a graceful restructuring that salvages its strengths. We think this can take the form of a coherent post-liberal synthesis, which is an actual philosophical advance, not simply the chronological sequent.

The uncertain nature of the moment is the chaotic process of different historical possibilities vying for substantiation. Without the development of a coherent post-liberal synthesis, this chaotic movement away from liberalism will be entirely negative. But with careful philosophical advancement, much more positive outcomes are viable."

- Jonah Bennett [1]

Context

Jonah Bennet:

"liberalism is flawed, but can be upgraded or replaced in an orderly fashion. If somehow we can identify the key flaws with more certainty before the possible moment of crisis, we could begin the theoretical, philosophical, and organizational work to gracefully transition from liberalism to some post-liberal synthesis.

Such a synthesis must preserve most of the value and key practical victories of liberalism, and would have to follow in the liberal intellectual tradition. But it would also have to resolve liberalism’s systemic flaws, to be able to pick up the slack, and make headway on the key problems which have stalled its progress.

This is not to be underestimated as a serious philosophical challenge, but it also seems solvable given a correct recognition of the problem and a coordinated, first-rate intellectual effort.

The major dimension of the problem is that liberalism is the unchallenged dominant paradigm of Western thought. It is nearly impossible to escape its ontologies and framings. It is thus very difficult to critique or replace.

As a longstanding dominant paradigm, liberalism’s defenses and rationalizations are many, its flaws obscured not just by redirection of attention, but by the sheer intellectual difficulty of thought outside the paradigm. As such, the vast majority of claimed flaws advanced by critics of liberalism are merely half-baked phantasms, perhaps inspired by some truth, but so twisted by imprecision and bad motives that they become mostly useless for locating the necessary insights.

We have our suspicions about the true flaws in liberalism, and what might be the key insights and ways of thinking of a new paradigm. But the above concerns demand that any treatment of these subjects be made in a more careful and rigorous way than would fit in this essay. Here we are simply introducing our questions and our program of investigation, rather than attempting to come forth with a full critique and alternative to liberal thought." (https://palladiummag.com/2018/09/29/towards-the-post-liberal-synthesis/)

Description

See below, under "Features of the Post-Liberal Synthesis"

Liberalism

"Liberalism is generally defined as a political ideology that emphasizes a synthesis of individual rights, free markets, free speech, freedom of culture and religion, primacy of the individual over society, democracy, limited government, division of powers, checks and balances, and separation of church and state.

The modern mainstream consensus includes additional elements, like social justice, social and economic equality, deconstruction of old-fashioned social structures, and so on.

To make this more concrete, we are talking not just about these ideas, but the current liberal international order and the entire body of social and political practice they legitimate.

Since its victories in the Second World War, the late 1960s, and the Cold War, this liberal order has increasingly dominated the international scene, using soft power and international institutions, backed by more aggressive diplomatic and military interventions, to push its preferred ideology.

But with the quagmire of the War on Terror, the rise of extremist and nationalist ideologies, stagnation of the economy, the deep politicization and sclerosis of institutions, the rise of China as a world power, the resurgence of Russia, and the move of other countries away from liberalism, the liberal order is looking shaky. Even its proponents are talking and acting as if it’s in crisis." (https://palladiummag.com/2018/09/29/towards-the-post-liberal-synthesis/)

Characteristics

Jonah Bennett:

"Features of the Post-Liberal Synthesis

So, what will this post-liberal synthesis look like? We have some ideas:

First of all, it will not be an attempt to create the One True Ideology. It will self-consciously be an incremental improvement in how we think about how to organize society. It will be an upgrade of liberalism, which throws out and replaces many key assumptions and concepts, but does not abandon its key realized victories. It will be built in the understanding that it, too, will have problems, and will need to be replaced with a new and again superior synthesis in the future.

Second, to be properly post-liberal, as opposed to just illiberal, it must be based on a serious and deep engagement with the liberal tradition. It will have to understand and salvage as much of the good of liberalism and progressivism as possible. It will have to engage with and address the rationales for liberalism, only some of which are explicitly stated.

Third, the most obvious source of relevant critique of liberalism, where we will find the most important problems to fix and address, will be in the current opposition. From both left and right, the post-liberal synthesis must integrate the critiques of capitalism, systems of oppression, democracy, fake and controlled public discourse, valueless secularism, government overgrowth, fiat money, etc. Even if currently frustrating and destructive, the opponents of liberalism have many legitimate concerns and insights to offer, which should be incorporated into the synthesis.

Fourth, instead of being based on unattainable ideals and thought experiments about states of nature that never happened, it should be thoroughly rooted in a clear examination of how power and governance and social control actually work, and are actually experienced, and in the real processes of how political order actually comes about.

Finally, while being a self-consciously temporary and pragmatic mashup of ideas, the post-liberal synthesis must be something new, unique, and coherent in its own right, capable of inspiring real belief, especially among the elite. It can’t be just a mashup of ideas that don’t fit together; it must be the most coherent worldview we can produce, a real philosophical advance over liberalism, while fitting the constraints and opportunities of the current historical moment." (https://palladiummag.com/2018/09/29/towards-the-post-liberal-synthesis/)