Patrick J. Deneen

Has liberalism failed because it has succeeded? "Why Liberalism Failed offers cogent insights into the loss of meaning and community that many in the West feel, issues that liberal democracies ignore at their own peril." — President Barack Obama "Deneen's book is valuable because it focuses on today's central issue. The important debates now are not about policy. They are about the basic values and structures of our social order." — David Brooks, New York Times Of the three dominant ideologies of the twentieth century—fascism, communism, and liberalism—only the last remains. This has created a peculiar situation in which liberalism’s proponents tend to forget that it is an ideology and not the natural end-state of human political evolution. As Patrick Deneen argues in this provocative book, liberalism is built on a foundation of it trumpets equal rights while fostering incomparable material inequality; its legitimacy rests on consent, yet it discourages civic commitments in favor of privatism; and in its pursuit of individual autonomy, it has given rise to the most far-reaching, comprehensive state system in human history. Here, Deneen offers an astringent warning that the centripetal forces now at work on our political culture are not superficial flaws but inherent features of a system whose success is generating its own failure.

From Notre Dame professor and author of Why Liberalism Failed comes a provocative call for replacing the tyranny of the self-serving liberal elite with conservative leaders aligned with the interests of the working classClassical liberalism promised to overthrow the old aristocracy, creating an order in which individuals could create their own identities and futures. To some extent it did—but it has also demolished the traditions and institutions that nourished ordinary people and created a new and exploitative ruling class. This class’s economic libertarianism, progressive values, and technocratic commitments have led them to rule for the benefit of the “few” at the expense of the “many,” precipitating our current political crises. In Regime Change, Patrick Deneen proposes a bold plan for replacing the liberal elite and the ideology that created and empowered them. Grass-roots populist efforts to destroy the ruling class altogether are naive; what’s needed is the strategic formation of a new elite devoted to a “pre-postmodern conservatism” and aligned with the interest of the “many.” Their top-down efforts to form a new governing philosophy, ethos, and class could transform our broken regime from one that serves only the so-called meritocrats. Drawing on the oldest lessons of the western tradition but recognizing the changed conditions that arise in liberal modernity, Deneen offers a roadmap for these changes, offering hope for progress after “progress” and liberty after liberalism.

"Opinions about America have taken a decisive turn in the early part of the 21st century. Some 70% of Americans believe that the country is moving in the wrong direction, and half the country thinks that its best days are behind it. Most believe that their children will be less prosperous and have fewer opportunities than previous generations. Evident to all is that the political system is broken and social fabric is fraying, particularly as a growing gap between wealthy haves and left-behind have-nots increases, a hostile divide widens between faithful and secular, and deep disagreement persists over America's role in the world. Wealthy Americans continue to build gated enclaves in and around select cities where they congregate, while growing numbers ofChristians compare our times to those of the late Roman empire, and ponder a fundamental withdrawal from wider American society into updated forms of Benedictine monastic communities. The signs of the times suggest that much is wrong with America. This collection of thematic essays by Notre Dame political theorist and public intellectual Patrick Deneen addresses the questions, is there something worth conserving in America, and if so, is America capable of conservation? Can a nation founded in a revolutionary moment that led to the founding of the first liberal nation be thought capable of sustaining and passing on virtues and practices that ennoble? Or is America inherently a nation that idolizes the new over the old, license over ordered liberty, and hedonism over self-rule? Can America conserve what is worth keeping for it to remain--or even become--a Republic?"--

The American political reformer Herbert Croly wrote, "For better or worse, democracy cannot be disentangled from an aspiration toward human perfectibility." Democratic Faith is at once a trenchant analysis and a powerful critique of this underlying assumption that informs democratic theory. Patrick Deneen argues that among democracy's most ardent supporters there is an oft-expressed belief in the need to transform human beings in order to reconcile the sometimes disappointing reality of human self-interest with the democratic ideal of selfless commitment. This transformative impulse is frequently couched in religious language, such as the need for political redemption. This is all the more striking given the frequent accompanying condemnation of traditional religious belief that informs the democratic faith?At the same time, because so often this democratic ideal fails to materialize, democratic faith is often subject to a particularly intense form of disappointment. A mutually reinforcing cycle of faith and disillusionment is frequently exhibited by those who profess a democratic faith--in effect imperiling democratic commitments due to the cynicism of its most fervent erstwhile supporters.Deneen argues that democracy is ill-served by such faith. Instead, he proposes a form of democratic realism that recognizes democracy not as a regime with aspirations to perfection, but that justifies democracy as the regime most appropriate for imperfect humans. If democratic faith aspires to transformation, democratic realism insists on the central importance of humility, hope, and charity.

This path-breaking and eloquent analysis of The Odyssey, and the way it has been interpreted by political philosophers throughout the centuries, has dramatic implications for the current state of political thought. This important book offers readers original insights into The Odyssey and it provides a new understanding of the classic works of Plato, Rousseau, Vico, Horkheimer, and Adorno. Through his analysis Patrick J. Deneen requires readers to rethink the issues that are truly at the heart of our contemporary 'Culture Wars,' and he encourages us to reassess our assumptions about the Western canon's virtues or viciousness. Deneen's penetrating exploration of Odysseus's and our own enduring battles between the dual temptations of homecoming and exploration, patriotism and cosmopolitanism, and relativism and universality provides an original perspective on contentious debates at the center of modern political theory and philosophy.

Der Liberalismus ist gescheitert, weil er gesiegt hat. Das ist Patrick J. Deneens wichtigste These. Je erfolgreicher der Liberalismus wurde, desto stärker hat er seine Selbstwidersprüche Er war angetreten für größere Gleichheit, für kulturellen Pluralismus, den Schutz der menschlichen Würde und die Erweiterung der Freiheit. In Wahrheit hat er nun zu titanischer Ungleichheit geführt, zu materiellem und geistigem Verfall und der Unterhöhlung der Freiheit. Diese Symptome mit noch mehr Liberalismus bekämpfen wollen, vertieft nur die politische, soziale, ökonomische und moralische Krise. Die Atomisierung der Gesellschaft, die den Menschen aus seinen traditionellen Bindungen herauslöst, lässt sich durch weitere Deregulierung nicht aufhalten. Daher stehen wir heute vor der paradoxen Die Bürger der digitalmodernen Demokratien dürfen sich freier denn je fühlen und erleben sich zugleich als machtlos. Und dies kommt den rechten Rebellen zugute…

This book explores the ambivalence that Americans feel toward the theme of escape, first through a brief examination of its role in American political and cultural thought, and then through an examination of several popular films, both American and international, including The Wizard of Oz , It's a Wonderful Life , and Notting Hill . While escape plays a key role in America's origins, it also has drawbacks, such as civic isolation and the loss of community. This attraction to and suspicion of escape is a frequent subtext of many popular American films, and through globalization, the theme now appears in international films as well, often with the same implicit ambivalence toward the promises and costs of escape.

El liberalismo clásico prometió derrocar a la vieja aristocracia, creando un orden en el que las personas pudieran decidir su propio futuro. hasta cierto punto lo hizo, pero también terminó con las tradiciones e instituciones comunes y creó una nueva clase dirigente explotadora. El libertarismo y los valores progresistas de esta clase la han llevado a gobernar en beneficio de «los pocos» a expensas de «los muchos», precipitando las actuales crisis políticas.El autor de ¿Por qué ha fracasado el liberalismo? lanza un provocador llamamiento a sustituir la tiranía de la egoísta élite actual por líderes conservadores alineados con los interesas de la clase trabajadora.Patrick J. Deneen (1964) es licenciado en Literatura inglesa y doctor en Ciencias Políticas por la Universidad de Rutgers. Entre 1995 y 1997 fue redactor de discursos y asesor del Director de la Agencia de Información de Estados Unidos. De 1997 a 2005 fue Profesor Adjunto de Gobierno en la Universidad de Princeton y, entre 2005 y 2012, Profesor Asociado de Gobierno en la Universidad de Georgetown, antes de incorporarse a la Facultad de Notre Dame en otoño de 2012. Es autor y editor de varios libros y numerosos artículos y reseñas, y ha pronunciado conferencias como invitado en todo el mundo. Fue galardonado con el premio Leo Strauss de la A.P.S.A. a la Mejor Disertación en Teoría Política en 1995, y con una mención honorífica para el Premio al Mejor Primer Libro de la A.P.S.A. en 2000. Ha recibido becas de investigación de la Universidad de Princeton, la Fundación Earhart y el Instituto de Estudios Avanzados de la Universidad de Virginia. Sus intereses se centran en la historia del pensamiento político, el pensamiento político estadounidense, el liberalismo, el conservadurismo y el constitucionalismo. Cambio de régimen es su segunda obra traducida al español, tras el éxito editorial ¿Por qué ha fracasado el liberalismo? (2018).