ABSTRACT
There is something very different about claiming the moral superiority of a liberal system based on rejection of a different ideology, as opposed to differentiating it from rogue or failed states’ barbarianism and lack of respect for basic human rights. These two distinctive manners entail two irreconcilable ways of thinking about the organisation of politics and the dynamic between rulers and citizens, with the latter being inherently favourable to the implementation of liberticidal measures. This is what this chapter explore, specifically by discussing more at length the Cold War ‘liberalism of fear’ compared to its post-1991 variant. Locke famously stated that ‘Wherever law ends, tyranny begins’. The Hobbesian view of society is, for its, part completely different from the Lockean one. As indicated by its name, this view derives from Thomas Hobbes’ philosophy and interpretation of why men agree to depart from the state of nature and unite socially and politically within a commonwealth.
