Abstract

The paper seeks to detect the most recent trends in identifying of social, political and cultural dimensions of liberal thought. Two such ways of theorizing are discussed. On one hand, the conventional conception of liberalism as a language of individuals' entitlement is presented. Liberal theory is associated here with general socio-cultural discourses of pluralism, individual rights, rule of law, constitutionalism, liberty, free market and human rights. On the other hand, a critical stance by I. Wallerstein is analysed. Wallerstein conceives the liberal proposal as a sophisticated project directed towards a development of modern geoculture, an ideological basis for the unequal, worldwide distribution of wealth and power, and baptises it as The Modern World-System. According to Wallerstein – and the author of this paper shares this view – evolution of structures of the World-System is far from completion, and the recent ,,triumph'' of capitalism and liberalism must be seen as one of the many stages of the evolution, and not as its peak and/or the ,,end of history''.Key words LIBERALISM, PLURALISM, CONSTITUTIONALISM