Max Beloff Centre for the Study of Liberty

The Max Beloff Centre for the Study of Liberty is a think tank operating from the University of Buckingham. It was created in January 2005 in memory of Max Beloff, the founder of the University of Buckingham. The rationale behind the think tank is that:

'Liberty has underpinned the Judeo-Christian ideal for millennia, and it was the idea of liberty that moulded Europe. Britain, too, was forged by liberty, and British leadership in commerce and politics flowed out of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 which established the Bill of Rights and the rule of law'

'liberty is constantly under threat from governments and their apologists who seek to over-tax and over-regulate'.

The centre has therefore been created in order to 'create a countervailing institution that will reinforce the value of liberty'

2009 Conference: Classical Liberalism in the 21st century: A Symposium in the honour of Norman P Barry

In March 2009 a conference was held at the Max Beloff Centre entitled 'Classical Liberalism in the 21st century: A Symposium in the honour of Norman P Barry'. The aim of the conference was 'to consider the sustainability of the classical liberal position in the early 21st century and to discuss the contribution of the late Professor Norman Barry's life and work to the defence of this position.

Barry had been Professor of Social and Political Theory at the University since 1984. 'Originally planned for his retirement, the symposium became a fitting commemoration for him following his death in October 2008.

Norman P. Barry 1844 to 2008 was Professor of Social and Political Theory at the University of Buckingham. He played a significant part in the revival of classical liberal ideas in Britain since the 1970s. A political theorist by training, he was well-equipped to explore and expound the origins of the classical liberal tradition in the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as the philosophical foundations of the modern classical liberal agenda of limited government, the rule of law and free markets. His earlier publications include Hayek s Social and Economic Philosophy 1979, On Classical Liberalism and Libertarianism 1986 and The New Right 1987. In the later years his focus on applying classical liberal principles to a range of public policy issues resulted in a number of publications including Welfare 1990 and Business Ethics 1998. As a political theorist engaging with economics, he was an effective expositor of the Austrian School of economics and of the public choice analysis of government. His An Introduction to Modern Political Theory, first published in 1981, appeared in its fourth edition in 2000. Norman Barry was a lucid and engaging writer and teacher who used his talent for wit and irony to good effect in communicating often difficult or dry ideas to a wide and appreciative audience. About the Author Michael James is a Visiting Fellow at the Max Beloff Centre for the Study of Liberty at the University of Buckingham. He has been a full-time editor since 1989, after a 20 year career as a lecturer in politics at universities in the UK and Australia. From 1994 to 1998 he was the founding editor of Agenda, the policy journal of the Australian National Universitys College of Business and Economics.

The papers from the conference were published in a book edited by Michael James and published by the [[University of Buckingham Press] in 2010. Contributors included Norman Barry, Stephen Davies, Mustafa Erdogan, David Henderson, Terence Kealey, Julian Morris, Alan Peacock, Mark Pennington, Martin Ricketts, Colin Robinson, Charles Rowley, Nathanael Smith, Elaine Sternberg. | Micheal James |

Affiliations

University of Buckingham