Introduction: reconstructing liberalism.

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Author: Ward, Cynthia V.
• Date: 01 March 1999

However bruised by the continuous attacks of its radical critics, "liberal legalism" has so far survived the critical onslaught. But like all battles between powerful opponents the fight has produced casualties on both sides. Liberal theorists have responded to radical attacks by re-examining certain facile assumptions about the priority of individual autonomy, the nature of rationality, and the possibility of state neutrality, and replacing them with a rich and provocative literature that affirmatively defends liberal values and celebrates liberal legal institutions as the best--perhaps the only--way of respecting and encouraging human "difference" while also maximizing freedom and equality

On the other side, the work of radical critics of liberalism has begun to reflect the idea that liberal values--appropriately modified--are worth examining in a reconstructive light. Without losing sight of the injustices that have been inflicted on vulnerable groups under the liberal American Constitution, at least some radical theorists seem...