ABSTRACT

The Routledge Handbook of Classical Liberalism provides a comprehensive analysis of classical liberal theory including a survey of the theory’s central ideas and arguments, and the application of these ideas to contemporary issues.

Chapters providing theoretical analyses are interwoven with coverage of wide‑ranging, concrete applications such as public health and healthcare, technology, policing, taxation and wealth, constitutional structures, and more. Across these areas, this handbook demonstrates how classical liberalism provides a unified approach over a divergent set of problems, providing a statement of modern classical liberalism serving as a research tool for a wide variety of individuals across the ideological spectrum. Classical liberalism is a systematic effort to ensure that the existence of the state does not abridge the fundamental rights and liberties of individuals, especially including property and contract rights. It holds that laws must satisfy the criteria of the Rule of Law so that stable relations between the individual and the state may develop.

The Routledge Handbook of Classical Liberalism is an authoritative and key reference text for students, academics, and researchers engaged in the study of political ideologies, political science, political economy, economics, law, social policy, and related fields.

1. An Introduction to Classical Liberal Thought  2. Historical Influences on Classical Liberalism from Religion and Natural Law  3. Foundations of Classical Liberalism  4. The Birds and the Bees: Classical Liberalism(s) in Relation to Other Schools of Thought  5. Examining the Ordoliberal Tradition in Classical Liberal Thought  6. The Austrian Economists and Classical Liberalism  7. Classical Liberalism and Property  8. Rights and Classical Liberalism  9. Liberalism, Rights, and Welfare  10. Classical Liberal Constitutionalism  11. The Structure of Government  12. Public Administration and the Classical Liberal Tradition: Governance Principles and Processes  13. Coordination, Collective Action, and Voluntary Governance in the Classical Liberal Tradition: In Search of Civil Society  14. Classical Liberalism and Taxation  15. Fiscal Policy  16. Classically Liberal Monetary Policy: Rules, Not Discretion  17. Competition and Competition Law in the Classical Liberal Tradition  18. Price Controls from a Classical Liberal Perspective  19. Classical Liberal Perspectives on Banking and Financial Regulation  20. Data and Privacy  21. Classical Liberalism and Intellectual Property Rights: A Critical Reassessment  22. Environmental Policy and Regulation  23. Land‑Use Regulation  24. Classical Liberalism and Corporate Law  25. Contemporary Welfare Policies  26. A Classical Liberal Approach to U.S. Health care  27. The Classical Liberal Account of Public Health  28. Education  29. On Paternalism  30. Classical Liberalism and Crime Prevention  31. Policing and Imprisonment: Is Classical Liberalism Complicit in Systemic Racism?  32. Gender in Classical Liberal Thought  33. Classical Liberalism in Native America  34. Foreign Policy, Defense, and War  35. Immigration and Citizenship in a Classically Liberal State: Principles and Policies  36. Liberalism and Trade  37. Economic Development and Classical Liberalism  38. The Future of Liberalism