Liberalism and Other Writings

L. T. Hobhouse’s Liberalism (1911), which has acquired the status of a modern classic, is the most enduring statement of the political principles which animated British liberal social reformers in the early years of the twentieth century. While written in a popular style, it is actually a theoretical work of some subtlety, combining an historical analysis of the evolution of liberal doctrine with a philosophical discussion of the character of liberal belief, and proposing a reformulation of liberalism which emphasises community, individual welfare rights, and an activist state. This new edition of the work includes a number of his other writings from the same period, and will be of interest to a broad range of students and scholars in politics and the history of political thought.

• A new edition of a text which has acquired the status of a modern classic • Includes other contemporaneous writings to provide a context for the central text • With analysis and discussion of the roles of the individual and the state, this edition has contemporary relevance as well as historical interest

Part I. Liberalism: 1. Before liberalism; 2. The elements of liberalism; 3. The movement of theory; 4. \'Laissez-faire\'; 5. Gladstone and Mill; 6. The heart of liberalism; 7. The state and the individual; 8. Economic liberalism; 9. The future of liberalism; Part II. Other Writings: 10. Government by the people; 11. The growth of the state; 12. The individual and the state; 13. Irish nationalism and liberal principle; 14. The historical evolution of property, in fact and in idea.