Libertarianism rests on a powerful idea: individuals should be free to live their own lives, so long as they respect the equal rights of others. Historically, this tradition has fostered a deep suspicion of concentrated political power and provided a formidable critique of the modern administrative state. However, its 20th-century assumptions often overlook modern institutional realities. In this seminar, Prof. Randy E. Barnett argues that classical libertarianism has reached a critical turning point and must be theoretically reconstructed.
Barnett contends that the framework can no longer afford to treat rights as self-defining or liberty as self-justifying. Rather than abandoning its core tenets, Barnett explores how libertarianism can systematically address these limitations. By offering a refined defense of private property, freedom of contract, and the "presumption of liberty" in constitutional construction, he demonstrates that the theory can evolve without losing its identity. The seminar will critically examine these conceptual adjustments and their broader implications for contemporary legal and political philosophy.
Guest speaker: Randy E. Barnett is the Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at the Georgetown University Law Center and is the Faculty Director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. A prominent legal theorist specializing in originalist interpretation, his work advocates for a "presumption of liberty" rather than popular sovereignty as the foundation of constitutional construction.
Date: 6 June 2026, 10:00 am
Venue: Budapest, 1113 Tas vezér utca 3-7.
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MCC students can earn credit for actively participating in the event, provided they read the required chapters and paper(s) and prepare three questions for the Q&A session of the research seminar.
Questions related to the required reading must be submitted to Kálmán Pócza at pocza.kalman@mcc.hu by 11:00 PM on 10 June 2026.
Required Reading: Please contact Kálmán Pócza to obtain the electronic version of the paper.
Submission Deadline: 10 June 2026, 11:00 PM
Previous Research Seminars:
- Martin Loughlin (London School of Economics): Against Constitutionalism
- Nigel Biggar (Univeristy of Oxford): What’s Wrong with Rights?
- Asanga Welikala (University of Edinburgh): The Common Good and Comparative Constitutional Laws
- John Wyatt (Faraday Institute Cambridge): Right To Die?
- John Larkin (former Attorney General for Northern Ireland): Judicial Power in the United Kingdom
- Michael Freeden (University of Oxford): Concealed Silences and Inaudible Voices in Political Thinking
- Lee J. Strang (Ohio State University): Originalism's Promise: A Natural Law Account of the American Constitution
- Gonzalo Candia (Catholic University of Chile): The Constitution-Making Process in Chile 2019-2024
- Sergio Verdugo (IE University of Madrid): Is it time to abandon the theory of constituent power?
- Aileen Kavanagh (Trinity College Dublin): The Collaborative Constitution
- Scott L. Cummings (University of California Los Angeles): Lawyers and Movements
- Stephen Tierney (University of Edinburgh): Constituent Power in Federal States
- Stefan Auer (University of Hong Kong): European Disunion: Democracy, Sovereignty and the Politics of Emergency
- Dieter Grimm (Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin): A View from the Bench: Personal Reflections on the Practice of Constitutional Adjudication
- Yuan Yi Zhu (University of Leiden): Revisiting the British Origins of the European Convention on Human Rights
- David Edmonds (University of Oxford): Effective Altruism: A Philosophical Reckoning
- Alexandre Lefebvre (University of Sydney): The Politics of the Good Life
- Anna Lukina (London School of Economics and Political Science): The Society of Angels and the Coordinative Function of Law
- Jacob Williams (University of Oxford): Post-liberalism: A Genealogy
- Natasha Wheatley (Princeton University): The Life and Death of States
- Frane Staničić (University of Zagreb): A View from the Bench: Frane Staničić
- Marc Bossuyt (University of Antwerp): A View from the Bench: Marc Bossuyt
- Jesse Smith (Ohio State University): The Need for a Conservative Paradigm in Social Sciences
June 12, 2026 at 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
