Liberal democracy is the dominant political ideology in the West today. Taken at face value it suggests an equivalency between its two central components--liberalism and democracy--but as Fred Dallmayr argues here, the two operate in very different registers. The two frequently conflict, endangering our public life.This is evident in the rise of self-centered neo-liberalism as well as autocratic movements in our world today.More specifically, the conflict within liberal democracy is between the pursuit of individual or coporate interest, on the one hand, and a "people" increasingly fractured by economic and cultural clashes, on the other. Dallmayr asks whether there is still room for genuine privacy and authentic democracy when all public goods, from schools to parks, police, and armies, have been made the target of privatization. In this book, Dallmayr sets out to rescue democracy as a shared public and post-liberal regime. Nonetheless, "post-liberalism" does not involve the denial of human freedom nor does it suggest the endorsement of illiberal collectivism or nationalism. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary political, religious, and secular thought, Dallmayr charts a possible path to a liberal socialism that is devoid of egalitarian imperatives and a private sphere free from acquisitiveness.

Preface iv1. Introduction:Liberalism and Democracy2. Beyond Autistic Politics:Narcissism and Public AgencyInterlude A: Public Space as Property?Thinking at the Edge of the Cave3. Virtue in Social and Public Life:Aristotle and His Heirs4. Between Life and Violent Death:Is there a Natural Right(ness)?5. Socialism as Democratic Justice:A Concrete UtopiaInterlude B: The Politics of Virtue?A Post-Liberal Agenda6. Contesting Globalization:Reflections on "Glocalism"7. Nationalism and BeyondWorld History and Redemption8. Self-Will and All-Will:Schelling and Heidegger on Freedom9. Chaosmos:Maintaining the World-Under Heaven10. Concluding Comments:Learning to be HumanNotesReferencesIndex