WEBVTT 00:00:00.615 --> 00:00:02.760 align:middle line:84% In a recent interview with the Financial Times, 00:00:02.760 --> 00:00:07.950 align:middle line:84% Vladimir Putin, Russia's leader, argued, indeed insisted, 00:00:07.950 --> 00:00:10.080 align:middle line:90% that liberalism is dead. 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:14.010 align:middle line:84% That the western ideas of multiculturalism 00:00:14.010 --> 00:00:16.200 align:middle line:84% which he associates with liberalism 00:00:16.200 --> 00:00:19.050 align:middle line:84% have proved absolutely unsuccessful. 00:00:19.050 --> 00:00:22.180 align:middle line:84% Migration has been a catastrophe. 00:00:22.180 --> 00:00:24.570 align:middle line:84% And we have to reject liberalism. 00:00:24.570 --> 00:00:25.950 align:middle line:90% Is he right? 00:00:25.950 --> 00:00:27.660 align:middle line:90% No. 00:00:27.660 --> 00:00:30.030 align:middle line:90% Liberalism is not over. 00:00:30.030 --> 00:00:32.820 align:middle line:84% The fundamental idea of liberalism 00:00:32.820 --> 00:00:36.780 align:middle line:84% is individual agency - that people have rights, 00:00:36.780 --> 00:00:39.360 align:middle line:84% above all rights, to manage their own lives, 00:00:39.360 --> 00:00:41.430 align:middle line:90% to pursue their own goals. 00:00:41.430 --> 00:00:44.700 align:middle line:84% And at the same time to share in public life 00:00:44.700 --> 00:00:48.090 align:middle line:84% through the rights of democracy, to have a free media, 00:00:48.090 --> 00:00:51.630 align:middle line:84% to have freedom of opinion, and to vote and organise 00:00:51.630 --> 00:00:52.570 align:middle line:90% political parties. 00:00:52.570 --> 00:00:55.530 align:middle line:84% These are fundamental liberal ideas. 00:00:55.530 --> 00:00:59.370 align:middle line:84% These ideas are of course to some degree in tension. 00:00:59.370 --> 00:01:03.150 align:middle line:84% Individual economic freedom and the collective voice 00:01:03.150 --> 00:01:07.560 align:middle line:84% in politics can be, and often are, in opposition. 00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:11.370 align:middle line:84% But societies that have been built around those ideas 00:01:11.370 --> 00:01:15.660 align:middle line:84% have been and are today the most successful in world history. 00:01:15.660 --> 00:01:20.370 align:middle line:84% Nearly all, and certainly all the large countries that 00:01:20.370 --> 00:01:23.880 align:middle line:90% are prosperous are also liberal. 00:01:23.880 --> 00:01:27.210 align:middle line:84% Economically, they have relatively free markets. 00:01:27.210 --> 00:01:29.760 align:middle line:84% And they are politically democratic. 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:32.850 align:middle line:84% So when Mr Putin says these ideas are dead, 00:01:32.850 --> 00:01:33.900 align:middle line:90% that's completely absurd. 00:01:33.900 --> 00:01:36.420 align:middle line:84% They're obviously incredibly powerful because they 00:01:36.420 --> 00:01:38.020 align:middle line:90% have succeeded so well. 00:01:38.020 --> 00:01:40.570 align:middle line:84% And that's been true in other parts of the world. 00:01:40.570 --> 00:01:42.960 align:middle line:84% China has succeeded, certainly not a liberal society 00:01:42.960 --> 00:01:46.080 align:middle line:84% politically, but it's liberalised economically. 00:01:46.080 --> 00:01:47.950 align:middle line:84% Mr Putin's regime, on the other hand, 00:01:47.950 --> 00:01:49.560 align:middle line:90% has clearly been a failure. 00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:52.200 align:middle line:84% Politically it succeeded, but economically, Russia 00:01:52.200 --> 00:01:53.460 align:middle line:90% hasn't caught up. 00:01:53.460 --> 00:01:55.960 align:middle line:90% It's more or less stagnant now. 00:01:55.960 --> 00:02:01.680 align:middle line:84% Its politics are those of corruption and fraud. 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:03.180 align:middle line:84% And it really hasn't done very well. 00:02:03.180 --> 00:02:06.450 align:middle line:84% And he's pointed to the west because of the failures 00:02:06.450 --> 00:02:07.500 align:middle line:90% at home. 00:02:07.500 --> 00:02:10.050 align:middle line:84% Nonetheless, democratic and liberal regimes 00:02:10.050 --> 00:02:11.880 align:middle line:90% are showing serious weaknesses. 00:02:11.880 --> 00:02:15.330 align:middle line:84% We can see that in the politics of protest, 00:02:15.330 --> 00:02:19.380 align:middle line:84% the nationalism, Brexit, the protectionism of Mr Trump. 00:02:19.380 --> 00:02:23.220 align:middle line:84% So we have to recreate the social compact that 00:02:23.220 --> 00:02:25.330 align:middle line:90% underpins liberal societies. 00:02:25.330 --> 00:02:28.290 align:middle line:84% We have to balance individuals against the collective. 00:02:28.290 --> 00:02:32.130 align:middle line:84% We have to balance the economic against the political to create 00:02:32.130 --> 00:02:36.000 align:middle line:84% a new form of liberal, democratic society. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:39.750 align:middle line:84% It's through recreating itself that liberalism has always 00:02:39.750 --> 00:02:40.770 align:middle line:90% succeeded. 00:02:40.770 --> 00:02:43.800 align:middle line:84% And it is the way, in my view, that it will succeed again. 00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:46.080 align:middle line:90% Mr Putin is wrong. 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:47.530 align:middle line:90% He must be wrong. 00:02:47.530 --> 00:02:52.190 align:middle line:84% But we have to prove he's wrong by changing ourselves.