How To Be A Liberal

How to be a Liberal is a non-exhaustive (by Dunt's own admission) but thorough exploration of liberalism's journey from early thinkers such as Rene Descartes and Benjamin Constant all the way through to 21st century liberalism and the urgent crisis it now faces in its battle with nationalism and populism. The beauty of this book not only stems from the intrinsic beauty of the ideals of liberalism, but from Dunt's presentation of the logical progression of the history of ideas in a way that makes this book accessible to anyone who wishes to apply liberal principles to the rather mad world in which we currently live... As one moves through the book, Dunt's political philosophy becomes increasingly clear. His ability to write on issues of the day was clear before this book, but when this is combined with the intellectual force of the previous chapters, the final chapters become a devastating polemic of the current success of nationalism across Europe and America. Targets of this polemic include Viktor Orban, Boris Johnson and the pushers of identity politics. His criticism of both nationalists and those who play the game of identity politics is fundamentally the same – they reject the importance of the individual and instead rely on homogenous and rigid assumptions about the nature of particular groups (in spite of the good intentions of those on the left). These assumptions fail to consider the complexity of human relationships and thus, according to Dunt, ultimately fail. There is also pointed, and perhaps surprising given Dunt's political history, criticism of the EU. One gets the sense that this criticism stems from Dunt's disappointment at the EU in failing to stand up to nationalism (Libyan refugee crisis and Hungary) and the institutionally liberal principles upon which it was created (Eurozone Crisis). This book is an urgent restatement of principles that have been missing from political discourse in the UK, Europe and the USA over the last few decades. At the heart of these principles is the importance of individual liberty and how all rights flow from this. Although the picture may not currently be overly bright, Dunt strikes a fundamentally optimistic tone about the strength of institutional politics (particularly in the UK) and the ability to push back against the dark wave of nationalism currently flooding through Europe. Essential reading.

The Day Today

Dunt, editor of the website politics.co.uk, counterposes liberalism and nationalism, the latter of which, he writes, is based on a sixfold lie. Among its elements are the thought that we can have only one identity at a time, which makes us "part of the mass: an undifferentiated component of the whole," and the contention that any difference from that mass is bad. We see the sixth component, "there is no such thing as truth," enacted with every Trump tweet. As Orwell knew, when politicians can get away with lies, lie they will; if the concepts of truth and falsehood disappear, then they will do as they please. Having established this sixfold premise, Dunt examines the evolution of the idea of liberalism, at least some of which he traces back to Descartes and his obsession with the "gap between dream and reality, the thin line between being awake and…the crazed world of dreaming"—i.e., the foundational stuff of truth and lies. While Descartes is seldom pressed into political work, Dunt makes a good case for doing so. Other figures in the battle against authoritarianism include some of the usual suspects, such as John Locke and John Stuart Mill—who was careful to give credit to his partner, Harriet Taylor, a woman who even so "was erased" from the historical record. The paucity of intellectualism on the far right, an ideology "pumped into the heart and pursued with the fist," is as evident now as it was a century ago. In a book that makes a good companion to Adam Gopnik's A Thousand Small Sanities, Dunt takes down a few politically correct absurdities, but most of his fire is aimed squarely at Trump, Theresa May, Marine Le Pen, and other enemies of freedom. When in the course of human events it falls on us to resist, this makes a welcome guidebook.

Kirkus Reviews

Ian Dunt's ambitious new book, How To Be a Liberal, takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of the historical movements, ideas and philosophies that make up this venerable political tradition. From René Descartes to John Stuart Mill and Isaiah Berlin, from the English Civil War to the American Revolution and modern globalisation, Dunt comments on what he argues are the key moments in the development of that "beautiful and world-changing idea, of individual freedom." At times, there appears to be a disconnect in the book between its ostensible subject matter—"liberalism"—and, for example, Dunt's lengthy explanation of the origins of the 2008 banking crash and the subprime mortgage crisis. That sometimes makes for an incongruous mix. The most compelling chapters are those that step away from the chronological narrative, charting the dawn of the age of science through to Trump and Brexit, and analyse particular aspects of liberalism. The chapter on current battles over identity offers a brilliant overview of tricky turf for liberals. A journalist who has come to prominence on Twitter as a staunch critic of Brexit, Dunt has delved into heavy academic theory and interpreted it in an accessible manner for the ordinary reader. He describes liberalism as "an enormous, boisterous, confounding bloody thing," and writes passionately in its favour, as a counterweight to ignorance and populism. This book is required reading for anyone interested in politics and philosophy.

Prospect