Through a detailed historical analysis of political discourse in both France and the UK, this open access book examines how the concept of ‘liberal democracy’ has come to be so ubiquitous. Rather than treating liberal democracy as an enduring ideal rooted in the revolutions of the eighteenth century, it argues that its current popularity is a remarkably recent phenomenon. For much of the nineteenth century, liberalism and democracy remained antagonistic traditions. It was only in the second half of the twentieth century that ‘liberal democracy’ emerged as a dominant political category: first as an academic and geopolitical concept in the 1950s; then as a domestic rallying cry from the 1970s; and finally as common currency across the political spectrum following 1989. By reconstructing this intellectual history, the author invites readers to engage more critically with one of the most contested concepts of our time.

Hugo Bonin is a researcher specialising in the practices and theories of democracy, currently based at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK. In the past, he has held positions at Queen Mary, University of London, UK and the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.