The Crisis of Liberalism: The Origin and Destiny of Freedom

by Michael R J Bonner

The Cold War struggle against Soviet communism is over, but a new conflict ― one within liberal democracy itself ― has taken its place.

Contemporary liberalism is in a bad way. But most advanced thinkers misdiagnose the problem. Few can see that liberalism, like any other ideology, suffers from tensions and contradictions that threaten it from within.

While malign actors attack liberalism from the outside, the real conflict, full of antithetical freedoms and individualities, has turned into a kind of liberal civil war. Liberals today struggle to maintain cohesiveness within the party and to effectively communicate their value proposition to voters. A large part of the problem is that the origin of liberalism and the main assumptions about human freedom that nourished it have been obscured or forgotten over time.

In The Crisis of Liberalism, Michael R.J. Bonner proposes that a renewed understanding of freedom ― its philosophical and theological foundations ― can point the way out of the present mess and give voters and liberal adherents overall a stronger understanding of what they’re fighting for.

Genres: Politics, History

222 pages, Paperback

Published May 26, 2026

Reviews

[Sasha Maniaci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suchhh a comprehensive book that covers a ton in 168 pages. The main argument basically boils down to the idea that a stronger emphasis on personal freedom over nationalism/interests of the community as a whole erode the sense of community and social bonds. I’m not 100% convinced that emphasis on personal freedom implies a lack of community - I think the takeaway just needs to be that liberals have to do a better job emphasizing community/rallying around common interests WHILE promoting individual freedoms. But like yeah I guess what’s the cause to rally around then… fair enough seems like a crisis to me. Also intriguing that the separation of church and state came from the church not the state that was crazy.

[A Y · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful, intelligent book. My subtitle (which the publisher would surely dislike) would be: a therapeutic epistemology for liberalism. The diagnosis is well argued, several levels of abstraction above the cultural fog of war. The author’s genealogy of the various, load-bearing concepts underpinning liberalism presents a salient argument of where ground has been lost, and where it must be regained.