Rethinking Liberalism for the 21st Century

Giunia Gatta is an adjunct professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Public Management of Bocconi University, Italy. Her research interests span the history of political thought, continental political theory, liberalism, and existentialism. She is particularly interested in how certain political experiences defy state boundaries, so her work frequently crosses over into research on international relations, especially international ethics, international political theory, and human rights.

'Giunia Gatta's book uncovers the intellectual foundation on which Shklar built her distinctive understanding of liberalism: a chastened, but unapologetic defense of Enlightenment individualism. It is especially good at drawing out the broader theoretical insights of Shklar's studies of earlier thinkers.' - Bernard Yack, Lerman Neubauer Professor of Democracy and Public Policy, Brandeis University'Judith Shklar was a committed liberal in a time in which victory over Fascism had made liberalism confident of being on the right side of history. Shklar’s adventurous escape from a continent that had created extermination camps is an important chapter in the history of Europe and "liberalism of fear." Yet Giunia Gatta’s excellent book does not lock Shklar’s political thought into the heroic past in which it was forged, but tests Shklar’s distinctive liberalism in relation to our contemporary problems. Gatta brings to life Shklar’s unique blend of skepticism and commitment, she outlines a radical and even "agonistic" understanding of liberalism that has the lives of the individuals, especially those at the margins, at the core of its political vocation.' - Nadia Urbinati, Kyriakos Tsakopoulos Professor of Political Theory, Columbia University'Giunia Gatta's book digs deep among the folds of Judith Shklar's thought, bringing to light its radical, in many ways heretical, elements. Gatta masterfully rolls out Shklar's unconventional path: her 'passionate skepticism', her struggle against political cruelty that marks the distance of "Liberalism of fear" from mainstream liberalism, only abstractly attentive to injustice and pluralism, but in reality deaf to the voices coming from outside its own margins. Rethinking Liberalism for the 21st Century questions theoretical fences and conceptual oppositions, returning to us the legacy of a thus far neglected author – Shklar – who manage

• Introduction 1. Stage-Setting: A Brief Biography of Judith Shklar Part 1: On Modernity 2. Skepticism And Modernity 3. Putting Flesh on A Bony Everyman: The Long 18th Century Against "Modernity" Part 2: Skeptic And Radical: Liberalism for the 21st Century 4. Skepticism, Cruelty, and Moral Minefields 5. The Liberalism of Fear as Agonistic Liberalism 6. Politics Unbounded. Justice and Citizenship from The Margins Conclusion