ABSTRACT. This paper examines the relationship between liberalism as a form of government and capitalism as an economic system to inquire whether this tight evolving historical connection is beginning to dissolve. It provides a brief history of the relationship to suggest that there are good reasons that it might be waning. Capitalism and democracy, once seen as mutually reinforcing, are now at a crossroads: the global financial crisis, the rise of digital economies, the exacerbation of economic inequalities, and the influence of autocratic capitalism present formidable challenges to the liberal democratic order. The historic alliance of these two systems seems to be coming apart with the challenge to this privileged relationship by the rise of autocratic capitalism that suggests liberal democracy represents only one of several potential models for organizing political and economic life in the modern world.

Keywords: liberalism; capitalism; liberal capitalism; autocratic capitalism; compatibility of political and economic systems

How to cite: Peters, M. A. (2024). “The Waning of Liberal Capitalism?,” Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice 16(1): 9–24. doi: 10.22381/CRLSJ16120241.

Received 12 January 2024 • Received in revised form 14 March 2024
Accepted 16 March 2024 • Available online 25 March 2024