THE rIGHT IS THE lEFT:

The book, while addressing substantive issue areas, is simultaneously (and just as crucially to the overall project) an exercise in political moderation and a vindication of moderate political theorizing. Atanassow sees this present moment as an "illiberal moment," though illiberalism is not the exclusive province of any one party. Right and Left alike "draw on current dissatisfactions with the political status quo" to contest both concrete public policies and the principles undergirding liberalism, each "[appealing] to democratic ideals" as they go. 

Atanassow argues that "a programmatic resistance to seeing the world through a Manichaean lens of stark binaries distinguishes liberal democracy from illiberal variants." However, is it only liberal democracy and liberal democrats that are capable of a politics of prudence that requires "[weighing] competing, often incommensurable goods and corresponding dangers"? I imagine she would answer no. Therefore, what she ventures as a defense of liberal democracy well-understood is at times something broader. It is a vindication of a certain kind of politics she considers to be under threat. This politics is principled yet admits "the lack of ready-to-hand ideological answers." It understands the trade-offs and "careful consideration and balanced judgment" required to bring theories into contact with political reality. 

Tweet   @brothersjudd