The End of Liberalism

If you follow The BREAK—DOWN, chances are you’re living in a political system that could be defined as “liberal”. But what does “liberalism” really mean? Is it about democracy? Free markets? The protection of individual freedom? Ask ten different people, and you’re likely to get ten different answers.

According to Chris Shaw, liberalism can boiled down to a system oriented around the “bourgeoisie” or, to put it more simply, the “middle classes”, in which technocratic governance is preferred to the messiness of politics, in which the individual takes precedence over the collective, and in which the protection of markets and private enterprise takes priority.

In this episode, Chris breaks down the stranglehold liberalism has over our political imaginations; why this is so important when it comes to the climate crisis; and what a climate politics that takes class seriously would look like.