Pascal Salin is honorary professor at the Université Paris-Dauphine, a specialist in monetary theory.
Can one be liberal in France? Which episodes in our political history have seen the liberal project triumph? And how can that project be defined? Looking back on 40 years of political life (1981-2019), Pascal Salin comes to a frank conclusion: for him, the Left and the Right have more or less carried out the same politics, instilled with the same collectivist and egalitarian ideal. In other words, the alternative has only served to reproduce the errors of the past. And Emmanuel Macron, who is easily considered liberal, has completely lacked ambition in his reforms, and in reality is carrying out Leftist policies along the lines of the preceding five-year term.

This work is both a book of political history and of economic history. Assailing received notions – no, unique thinking is not neo-liberal; yes, one can be liberal and Leftist – he explains clearly and simply the fundamentals of liberal theory and reveals its unexpected strength.