Liberalism and the International Problem

Abstract

This paper is in the nature of an inquest — an inquest on the inadequacy of an idea. Most men of my age, at any rate in the English-speaking world, were brought up against a background of nineteenth-century liberalism. Whatever party we supported in general elections, the general system of thought deriving from this period informed our ideas. Much of the political speculation of our own age has been a revision or reformulation of its aims. It has therefore occurred to me that it would be a suitable subject for this lecture, to enquire a little what was the liberal outlook in relation to the problem of international relations and to what extent it has proved adequate. This is not a theme which I would regard as appropriate to all audiences outside my own country. But in the land of Mazzini and Croce, I trust that I may be understood.

This is the substance of an address delivered before the Società Italiana per la Organizzazione Internazionale at Rome in the spring of 1960.