Contributions. We Liberals / 2

Testo disponibile solo in lingua inglese.
  After World War II, save for members of the small Italian Liberal Party, very few Italians were prepared to describe themselves as liberals. Over the last three or four years, though, there was suddenly something of a surfeit of liberals. Now the fashion has faded, liberals are few and far between again. So who is liberal in Italy today? Over the last 30 years and more, we at Biblioteca della libertà and the Centro Einaudi have had the chance to collaborate with the vast majority of intellectuals who declare or declared themselves liberals. In an attempt to trace the principles underpinning the identity of liberals in Italy today, we thought it might be interesting to ask some of our contributors to explain the reasons for their liberalism. For some autobiographical motives prevailed, while others were inspired by more recent factual reflections and considerations. We believe that the wealth and diversity of the positions which emerge from these contributions – the first set of which was published in the last issue – constitute one of liberalism’s outstanding strengths. Liberalism itself, in fact, would only be weakened and impoverished by a reductio ad unum.