Abstract

Ebbs and flows of liberalism: In choosing this subject, I have subscribed to the assumption that political history takes turns, not unlike the alternating rhythms of social change. It turns from faith to the mirage of earthly salvation; from an eschatological war to the susceptibility toward acquiescence; and from ideological animation to the cynical contests for power and one’s own self‑seeking interests. According to this premise, the ideo‑political construction of a liberal micro‑history is curtailed by the growth and withering — the ebb and flow — of the proclivity to freedom.