Javier Milei’s victory in the Argentinian presidential elections surprised the world and at the same time inspired a wave of interest in this South American country, about which not much is known in the Czech Republic or Europe in general. What was the political and economic situation in Argentina in recent years that allowed someone with such radical proposals to be elected President, while acting more like a carnival entertainer than a politician?
In order to survive the winter better, we decided to try something new this time, a weekend-long urban seminar. We debated with students about economics and liberalism. We were originally inspired to do this idea years ago by an analyst at the Institute of Economic Affairs, but we never got around to implementing it. Until now, thanks to a generous grant from the Atlas Network.
Liberals in Europe should learn from Trump and Beeblebrox how to run campaigns, to be more out of the box, to dare to disrupt, and promise a change in “the system.”
Populism poses a threat to liberty, free markets, and open society on all continents. How can this development be explained and what can be done about it? These are the two first sentences of the new book written by Nils Karlson titled “Reviving Classical Liberalism Against Populism”.
Europe has been built on the liberal values of democracy, rule of law, liberty, tolerance, and free markets. Yet it seems Europeans are forgetting what these values mean. “Know thyself” is a famous ancient Greek maxim, which Europeans do not seem to take to heart. A series of aggressive actions from Russia over the past decade were not enough for the EU to properly distance itself from Russian energy, until it invaded Ukraine.
Liberalism is a political philosophy based on the principles of peace. However, this fact has been very often generously interpreted by detaching liberalism from events beyond the borders of liberal states, no matter how anti-liberal, and thus threatening to freedom they might be.
Liberals are notoriously skeptical about the state’s ability to generate innovation. A new study on the potential of national innovation agencies puts these concerns into perspective – and makes the case for limited state activity. Liberalism’s success is not simply based on its philosophical persuasiveness but on its economic power. By inextricably interlinking political with economic freedom, liberalism paves the ground for a dynamic market economy that generates wealth and innovation.
Hungarians are eager to eradicate mosquitoes, but it seems that the government is reluctant to collaborate with its citizens in doing so. Mosquitoes are a big problem everywhere. Not only do they annoy people with their hums and the itchiness of their bites, but also spread a lot of diseases. Therefore, when I visited rural Hungary, I inadvertently served as an open buffet for a cloud of these pests while conversing with someone from a small Hungarian village.
In early August 2022, Viktor Orbán flew to the United States to attend C-PAC. The main star of the event was Donald Trump, the former president, but Orbán was easily amongst the main attractions. Trump is not the only admirer of Orbán in America: his potentially greatest challenger for 2024, Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida is also a devotee.
In this episode we talk about contemporary liberalism and discuss what can each and every one of us do to promote it and make it stronger in the current geopolitical situation.
