Liberalism versus Democracy? Abraham Kuyper and Carl Schmitt as Critics of Liberalism

This chapter compares Abraham Kuyper and Carl Schmitt as critics of liberalism. Both thinkers rejected the liberal ambition to neutralize religious and ideological conflict in public life, but they drew opposite political conclusions: where Schmitt turned his critique of liberalism against parliamentary democracy itself, Kuyper defended a pluralistic democracy rooted in Calvinist principles. The comparison suggests that criticism of liberalism need not entail hostility to democracy.