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A call to arms
OVER the past four centuries liberalism has been so successful that it has
driven all its opponents off the battlefield. Now it is disintegrating,
destroyed by a mix of hubris and internal contradictions, according to
Patrick Deneen, a professor of politics at the University of Notre Dame.
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His book has two fatal flaws. The first lies in his definition of liberalism.
J.H. Hexter, an American academic, believed his fellow historians could
be divided into two camps: “splitters” (who were forever making
distinctions) and “lumpers” (who make sweeping generalisations by
lumping things together). Mr Deneen is an extreme lumper. He argues
that the essence of liberalism lies in freeing individuals from
constraints.