The course revisits liberalism in terms of its crises. It focuses on the main theories of liberal crisis and examines the politico debates on three major historical crises of liberal democracy. Two from the last century and one still actual: the interwar crisis of the 1920s and 1930s; the postwar crisis of the 1960s and 1970s; and the current crisis that originated in the global financial collapse of 2008 and is connected with a growing polarization, the weakening of the political center, the historical defeat of the left, the persistent radicalization of the right and its successive electoral victories, and the autocratic and authoritarian mutations of the liberal constitutional state. In short, this last crisis is associated with the rise of what is commonly described as authoritarian or right-wing populism in the age of neoliberal globalization. The course will treat these three liberal crises as cases to explore in relation to the democratic dilemmas of the liberal project, its historical possibilities and limitations, and the tension between its normative promises and its commitment to capital. We will seek to understand the ways these crises have reconfigured democratic life, questioned liberal assumptions and certainties, and mobilized, on the one hand, revolutionary and emancipatory desires, mostly in the past, and on the other hand, authoritarian, conservative, and reactionary fears and anxieties, as is the case presently. Readings include selections from the following authors: Karl Marx and Frederick Engels; Max Weber, Carl Schmitt, Harold J. Laski, and Antonio Gramsci; Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas, Claus Offe, Samuel Huntington, Nikos Poulantzas, and Rainhart Koselleck; Wolfgang Streeck, Chantal Mouffe, Nancy Fraser, Pierre Rosanvallon, Levitsky and Ziblatt, Wendy Brown, and Nadia Urbinati.