The Future of Liberalism

On April 16, Brookings Senior Fellow William Galston moderated a discussion with Alan Wolfe, author of The Future of Liberalism (Knopf, 2009), on how the liberal tradition can influence and illuminate contemporary debates on issues such as immigration, abortion, executive power, religious freedom and free speech. E.J. Dionne, Jr., Brookings senior fellow and author of They Only Look Dead: Why Progressives will Dominate the Next Political Era (Simon & Schuster, 1997), and Ross Douthat, senior editor at The Atlantic and newly appointed columnist for The New York Times, offered their thoughts on liberalism’s roots and how it can be applied to today’s problems.

This event is part of the Governing Ideas series intended to broaden the discussion of governance issues through forums on timely and relevant books on history, culture, legal norms and practices, values and religion.

After the program, panelists took audience questions.