THE GOOD LIFE STATE
Around the world, liberal democracy’s rivals are making a bold claim: politics should not be neutral about the good life. From Hungary’s family state and India’s Hindu nationalism to China’s civilisational harmony, Israel’s sacred nationhood and America’s post-liberal right, states and movements are using public power to promote ideals of flourishing, virtue, belonging and national renewal.
It is tempting to dismiss these projects as nothing more than authoritarianism, propaganda, corruption or resentment. But that misses what makes them so powerful. Their appeal lies partly in their promise to recover human goods that liberal societies often struggle to sustain: order, loyalty, courage, sacrifice, piety, shared purpose and love of one’s own. The harder question is whether liberalism can defend its own excellences – freedom, fairness, tolerance and life with difference – without becoming a good-life state itself.
Melissa Chan [HK/TWN/US]
Melissa Chan is an Emmy-nominated Hong Kong and Taiwanese American journalist based between Los Angeles and Berlin. Previously posted in China, she became the first journalist in over a decade to be expelled by authorities. She has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and The Guardian, and reported for VICE News and Al Jazeera. You Must Take Part in Revolution is her debut graphic novel.
Alexandre Lefebvre
Alexandre Lefebvre is Professor of Politics and Philosophy at the University of Sydney. He is author and editor of many books, most recently, Liberalism as a Way of Life (Princeton University Press, 2024). He is currently working on a new book, The Good Life State: Politics After Liberalism.
Ussama Makdisi [PAL/USA]
Ussama Makdisi is the inaugural May Ziadeh Chair in Palestinian and Arab Studies, Professor of History and Chancellor’s Professor at the University of California Berkeley. He previously taught at Rice University in Houston. He is currently serving as President of the Middle East Studies Association. His most recent book Age of Coexistence: The Ecumenical Frame and the Making of the Modern Arab World was published in 2019 and he is the co-author of a forthcoming book, AntiPalestinianism.
We acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation - the custodians of the country on which we meet - and acknowledge their Elders, past and present.
The views and opinions expressed by the Festival participants are not necessarily the views of The Ethics Centre and our partners.