The Houston Centre is dedicated to examining models of human identity and their social implications. In this lecture, we focus on political ideals and structures of Western societies that are considered foundational to human flourishing: individual liberty and democracy.

Individual liberty is the seminal achievement of Western civilization. Yet modern democratic states have become liberty’s leading threat. They are rife with paradoxes that imperil freedom, prosperity and human flourishing instead of protecting them. What are these paradoxes, and can they be resolved? What would such a constitutional order look like? Is it necessary to leave liberalism behind and start again?

In this lecture, Prof. Bruce Pardy, Professor of Law at Queen’s University, will discuss how to protect liberty and foster human flourishing by resolving the paradoxes of the liberal democratic state.