Novara Media Downstream: Is Liberalism Finally Waking Up to the Crises it has Caused? w/ Adrian Wooldridge
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Apr 6, 2026 
Adrian Wooldridge, veteran journalist and author who wrote on liberalism for The Economist, discusses whether liberalism must reinvent itself. He explores liberalism’s origins and blind spots, its ties to imperialism and slavery, the rise of a detached ‘Bobo’ elite, tech’s threat to individuality, and policy fixes like antitrust and targeted regulation.
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Liberalism Is Individualism Not A Single Policy
- Liberalism's essence is individualism, tolerance, and constraints on power rather than a fixed state size or economic program.
- Adrian Wooldridge locates its decisive emergence mid-18th century tied to mobility, trade growth, Adam Smith and the 1776 liberal milestones.
Center Collapse Pushes Property Owners Toward The Right
- When the political center collapses, property-owning liberals often pivot right to defend assets, enabling fascist or authoritarian alternatives.
- Wooldridge contrasts Britain/US reform (new liberalism) with Italy/Germany where the center failed and fascism rose.
Liberal Ideas Enabled Both Empire And Anti‑Empire
- Liberalism historically contained both imperialist defenders and abolitionist reformers; its ideas were used to justify empire but also to challenge it.
- Wooldridge highlights John Stuart Mill's family ties to the East India Company and how liberal arguments fueled Indian independence demands.
