Podcasts · Global Roaming with Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald

Has liberalism stopped working? Waleed Aly on a world of 'monsters'

30 Oct 2026 · 29 min

Populists are rising. Traditional parties are struggling. Trust in institutions is falling.

So what if these aren't separate crises at all?

In this special live edition of Global Roaming, taken from Hamish Macdonald and Waleed Aly's conversation for Roaring Stories at Balmain's Red Mill Distillery, the two sit down to discuss Waleed's Quarterly Essay entitled Time of Monsters: What Future for Liberalism?

Waleed argues that many of the political movements reshaping the world, from Trumpism and nationalist conservatism to parts of the progressive left, are reacting against the same underlying system: the liberal order that has dominated Western democracies for generations.

Drawing on thinkers from Hobbes and John Stuart Mill to contemporary debates about social media, artificial intelligence and identity politics, he explores why so many people feel dislocated, dissatisfied and unconvinced that the promises of modern politics still hold.

The conversation ranges across democracy, meaning, technology, community and the surprising ways seemingly opposing political movements can end up challenging the same assumptions.

If liberalism shaped the modern world, what happens if people decide they no longer want it?

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The episode on the publisher’s site ↗ (opens in a new tab)