Rethinking Liberty before Liberalism

Professor of Modern Political History Annelien de Dijn has published a new book titled 'Rethinking Liberty before Liberalism'. Assistant professor of Modern European History René Koekkoek has also contributed to the volume.

Building on the book Liberty before Liberalism by Quentin Skinner, published some twenty five years ago, Rethinking Liberty before Liberalism offers new histories of freedom and republicanism. In this volume a number of leading political historians reassess the works of important thinkers such as Locke and Montaigne, using Skinner's neo-Romanist conception of liberty. Furthermore, the book rethinks liberty in structures beyond the boundaries of citizen and state, instead bringing in gender, slavery and democracy as areas of interest. In doing so, it brings the neo-Romanist conception of liberty into conversation with other strains of political thought, such as conservatism, socialism and the human rights tradition.