Liberalism in a post-liberal society: The Israeli case of redemptive politics and avant-garde liberalism

Abstract How can liberalism survive and perhaps even thrive in a post-liberal society? Liberal political theories have generally failed to address this question, in the belief that liberal values and institutions offer a sufficient solution to the problem of value diversity and political disagreement. Modous vivendi theories are better suited to meet the challenge, but the emphasis on political stability hinders their ability to address inherently turbulent political constellations. Taking Israeli politics as its case study, this Article offers “avant-garde liberalism” as an alternative conceptual framework, which is simultaneously more modest and more ambitious than mainstream liberal approaches. Avant-garde liberalism concedes that liberal values are not the rules of the political game, but precisely for this reason it “frees” liberalism to advance a more ambitious vision of freedom and equality. The Article places “avant-garde liberalism” within the broader frame of “redemptive politics” in which radically divergent ideologies are committed to promoting competing eschatologies, even as they recognize their inability to fully realize their commitments in the foreseeable future. The Article concludes by examining the implications of avant-garde liberalism in the post-October 7 reality as well as its relevance outside the Israeli context.