What ore can be said about individualism? It has been the subject of intense analysis and debate for a very long time. Indeed, individualism has been the topic of literally hundreds of volumes in political philosophy, social theory, moral psychology, and intellectual history. So what more can be added at this point?
At the start of the twenty-first century, we are witnesses to massive changes in the political economy of the global order. The power of new communications technologies, the expansion of market economies, the weakening of nation-states along with the rise of new nationalisms, and the re-emergence of international religious conflict and violence—together form a backdrop for questions about the rights and autonomy of the individual in relation to the need for solidarity around commonly-held moral goods.