Introduction: Some Insights from Western Social Theory
Author(s)
Whitehead, Laurence
Abstract
This introductory paper surveys a variety of Western analyses of the emergence of a liberal social order, ranging from the Scottish enlightenment, through responses to the French Revolution, and discussions of American exceptionalism, to various Central European reactions to the traumas of the interwar period, to “dependency” theory and Christian Democracy. It identifies a number of central issues that are reappearing, in somewhat modified form, in the analysis of contemporary economic liberalization and political democratization issues in the South and East. Contrary to some recent triumphalism, most Western social theory has been deeply preoccupied with the fragility and reversibility of economic cum political liberalization processes.
