Event Announcement: Pusey House Oxford, "A Geneology of Post-Liberalism" (4 March 2026)

 

 

I am delighted to pass along this notice of a mini colloquium hosted at Pusey House, Oxford and co-sponsored by the Telos-Paul Piccone Institute:

This afternoon mini-colloquium will consider the following questions:

--What is “post-liberalism”?
--What is the origin of this idea?
--And how can we better understand our own political moment by grasping the genealogy of this idea?

Overview:

“Liberalism is in crisis. Or so it seems. In the aftermath of Brexit and Trump’s election, a plethora of books and articles reporting the end of liberalism emerged from both ends of the political spectrum. While the majority of voices from the American left and mainstream right mourned this perceived decline, a new faction within the right saw it as an opening for envisioning a fresh political paradigm beyond the constraints of liberalism. Many of these right-wing thinkers and activists, with whom U.S. Vice-President J. D. Vance publicly identifies, call themselves postliberals. Yet the early uses of the term ‘postliberal’ were strikingly different, denoting communitarian attempts to transcend liberal individualism rather than the illiberal rejection of liberal-democratic norms.”

— Jacob Williams and João Pinheiro da Silva, “Postliberalism: A Genealogy,” Telos 212 (Fall 2025)

Timetable

2 - 2.45 pm: João Pinheiro da Silva (University of St. Andrews) and Jacob Williams (Oxford) will introduce their essay “Postliberalism: A Genealogy” (Telos 212, Fall 2025), why they wrote it, and what its thesis is.

2.45 - 3.30 pm: First response will be given by Professor John Milbank (Emeritus, Nottingham).

3.30 - 4 pm: Break for tea and coffee.

4 - 4.30 pm: Second response will be given by Professor Paul Kelly (London School of Economics), author of Against Postliberalism: Why 'Family, Faith and Flag' is a Dead End for the Left (Polity, 2025).

4.30 - 5.20 pm: Panel discussion with all of the speakers, moderated by a chair, and Q&A with the audience.

Speakers

Professor Paul Kelly (London School of Economics)
Professor John Milbank (Nottingham, Emeritus)
Mr João Pinheiro da Silva (St. Andrews)
Mr Jacob Williams (Oxford)

Tickets

Attendance is free, but registration is required. For tickets and other information, please visit the event website at Pusey House Oxford.

The essay was one of a number of quite interesting contributions published in Telos 212 (Fall 2025): Debating Postliberalism.