Abstract
The book "Liberáli a tí druhí" (Liberals and the Others) aims to cover the philosophical bases of liberal thought from Central European (and, more specifically, Slovak) perspective. The first part offers a theoretical analysis of key liberal ideas and their genesis.
It identifies four basic liberal values (individual freedom, political freedom, respect and equality) and makes a crucial distinction between two conceptions of liberalism. "Liberalism in a wider sense" covers the basic tenets of liberal-democratic regimes, while "liberalism in a narrow sense" consists of a series of positions on important social and economic issues that center around non-discrimination and solidarity. The second part of the book focuses on liberalism in a narrow sense.
It identifies and spells out key arguments for liberal positions with regards to multiculturalism, LGBT rights, feminism, economic solidarity (connected with the "Roma problem" in Central and Eastern Europe) and, finally, nationalism. The third part looks at the situation of liberal democracies more broadly and aims to (partially) revive the well-known argument by Francis Fukuyama that this type of regime does not have true alternatives anymore.
There are deep structural reasons why liberal democracies outperform other regimes in quality of life, institutional stability and economic prosperity. That is why they will continue to be attractive.
There is, however, a more important theoretical argument that the book makes. It is centered around the concept of recognition and the main claim is that regimes other than liberal democracy are unable to provide recognition for citizens of modern societies, because they rely on concepts that necessarily misconceive the way how these citizens view themselves.
That is why illiberal regimes must rely on oppression and violence to stay in power. Liberal democracies do not have this problem and, as a result, are presently the only morally acceptable type of political regime.