Passions and constraint

by Holmes, Stephen

In this collection of essays on the core values of liberalism, Stephen Holmes - nationally noted for his scathing reviews of books by liberalism's opponents - challenges commonly held assumptions about liberal theory. By placing it into its original historical context, Passions and Constraint presents an interconnected argument meant to change fundamentally the way we conceive of liberalism. According to Holmes, three elements of classical liberal theory are commonly used to attack contemporary liberalism as antagonistic to democracy and the welfare state: constitutional constraints on majority rule, the identification of individual freedom with an absence of government involvement, and a strong emphasis on the principle of self-interest. Through insightful essays on Hobbes's analysis of the English Civil War, Bodin's writings on the strategic benefits of limited government, and Mill's views on science and politics, Holmes convincingly shows that liberalism's basic principles provide,