Liberal ideals have been distorted by both Left and Right

One plainly visible fact about our times is that liberalism, and the liberal democratic order, are embattled and defensive. In popular use, ‘liberal’ is most often wielded as an accusation from the Right, to tar all those left of itself. Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin has called it an ‘obsolete doctrine’, and many other world leaders seem to agree.

But even as liberalism is buffeted from the Right and Left today, it is more necessary than ever to keep diverse societies together, argues Francis Fukuyama in his new book Liberalism and Its Discontents.