Barry Hindess, professor of political science, addressed the contemporary label of liberalism in a lecture entitled "Liberalism: What's in a Name?" Wednesday night. He addressed the question by exploring the implications of liberalism in a political and historical context, aiming to dismantle the traditional academic definitions of liberalism.
The lecture was part of the Hinkley lecture series, which was established in 1951 by the estate of John Hinkley, a senior partner of the firm of Hinkley and Singley. Hinkley, an 1884 Hopkins graduate, died in 1940.
Hindess began by saying: "My title recalls the moment from the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet when Juliet briefly imagines that Romeo could be separated from his name, that he could be appreciated for what he is rather than for what he is called: "Tis but thy name,' she laments, "that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague'.
"The unfolding tragedy of Shakespeare's play presents a very different view, showing that some names have substantial social and political significance."
Hindess is a professor of political science in the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University. He is widely published in the areas of social and political theory. He has published numerous papers on democracy, liberalism and neo-liberalism.
Hindess focused on the connection between states and their subjects in the sphere of liberalism. He said, "The great majority of political theorists today focus primarily on relations between the state and its subjects and on relations among the subjects themselves. Many ignore the international sphere altogether." According to Hindess, this view has proved far to narrow.
The speaker also spoke about the links between individual liberty and liberalism. He said, "Liberalism is most commonly regarded as a normative political doctrine or ideology which treats the maintenance of individual liberty as an end in itself."
What is required for the liberal government of populations, then, is a capacity to distinguish between what can be governed through the promotion of liberty and what must be governed in other ways, Hindess said.
The final point that Hindess made was that liberalism and and free markets are inherently connected. He argued that good governance also includes implementing basic human rights.
"Liberalism has often been seen as particularly committed to the promotion of markets and property rights, at least of the kind that are thought to be necessary to their efficient functioning," he said.
"Liberalism should be seen as focusing both on the field of intrastate relations and on the larger field of international relations in which the internal affairs of individual states are located. It should be seen, secondly, as concerned with the government of populations -- both within the territories of individual states and more generally. There is no singular unity to which the name "liberalism' refers."
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