Will the Twenty-First Century Be Illiberal?

At the dawn of the 21st century the negative legacies of the 20th century are being intensified and expand. Although a misleading speech proclaims that what is politically and economically correct is positive fundamental freedoms and above all the freedom from want and fear are cruelly violated all over the world. Public and private debt and poverty increased enormously under the so-called neoliberal economy which expresses in fact an illiberal capitalism and establishes the ‘freedom of fear’ according to the astute words of Judith Shklar. The reference to fear concerns not only the economic situation but also the freedoms of expression and worship which are endangered by terrorist acts of various origins and indirectly offended by the ‘politically correct’ ideology. These statements justify the question mark in the title of the book and refer not only to small countries as Greece and countries of the third world but also to highly developed States such as USA and regional institutions such as European Union which suffers an acute crisis.