Two "briefs" by
The Economist magazine (or newspaper, for the Brits) are free right now at the Economist store. One is 23 pages and the other is 16 pages, so they are short. Both relate to "liberalism", but in the classic economic sense of the word, as you'd expect from
The Economist, not in the divisive political sense of "liberal vs. conservative" politics today. Unfortunately, the briefs come in PDF format only. But they are free!
link to website showing both titles:
https://shop.economist.com/collections/liberalism-pdfs
Philosophy Briefs: Liberalism's greatest thinkers
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A collection of briefs on liberalism's greatest thinkers and why they still matter
TO MARK The Economist’s 175th anniversary, our writers and our audience have collaborated on a collection of briefs called “Liberalism’s greatest thinkers”.
Liberals are in the market for new ideas. For roughly 30 years, they ran the world. Starting in the early 1980s, free markets, globalisation and individual freedoms flourished. Liberalism—in this broad, classical sense, rather than the narrow, American, left-of-centre one—saw off communism as well as social conservatism.
Then, in the crash of 2008, it all fell apart. The financial crisis unleashed economic austerity and the rise of populism. Liberals, in charge of government and the banks, got the blame. They have been paralysed ever since.
One source of new ideas is the past. The offerings of old liberal thinkers still hold lessons; it is the job of this collection of briefs to highlight them.
Our writers have produced six essays on the great liberal thinkers of yesteryear, from libertarians such as Robert Nozick to interventionists such as John Maynard Keynes. To supplement these pieces we share a reading list of 11 more liberal thinkers and their most important works, which has been augmented by the suggestions of our readers. In six weeks, we received nearly 900 responses, suggesting over 300 different thinkers, from readers all around the world. The most popular names ranged from philosophers and politicians, to columnists and poets.
John Stuart Mill: Tyranny of the majority
Alexis de Toqueville The French exception
John Maynard Keynes Was he a liberal?
Schumpeter, Popper and Hayek The exiles fight back
Berlin, Rawls and Nozick Rawls rules
Rousseau, Marx and Nietzsche The prophets of illiberal progress
Reading list Great liberal thinkers
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A Manifesto for Liberalism
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WHEN The Economist was founded 175 years ago our first editor, James Wilson, promised “a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress”.
We renew our pledge to that contest in “A manifesto for liberalism”
Liberalism made the modern world, but the modern world is turning against it. Europe and America are in the throes of a popular rebellion against liberal elites, who are seen as self-serving and unable, or unwilling, to solve the problems of ordinary people. Elsewhere a 25-year shift towards freedom and open markets has gone into reverse, even as China, soon to be the world’s largest economy, shows that dictatorships can thrive.
For The Economist this is profoundly worrying. We were created 175 years ago to campaign for liberalism—not the leftish “progressivism” of American university campuses or the rightish “ultraliberalism” conjured up by the French commentariat, but a universal commitment to individual dignity, open markets, limited government and a faith in human progress brought about by debate and reform.
In “A manifesto for liberalism” we ask liberals everywhere to join us, and we show them how.
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To "buy" these, you do have to have or set up an Economist store account (different than an
Economist subscription account), but do not have to give them any credit card info.