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KP
Modern Era
Karl Popper
1902–1994 · Open society
The open society is the one that can remove its rulers without bloodshed.
The Open Society and Its Enemies attacked the idea that history has a plan that rulers may enforce, and defended a society that allows its errors to be corrected without violence. Popper argued for piecemeal reform over utopian redesign, and for institutions that permit the governed to get rid of a bad government without revolution. That is a liberal argument at its most durable.
Why it matters for freedom
His open society is one where rulers can be removed without bloodshed, the minimum test of any free order.
Who they stood against
historicism: the belief that history has a plan and someone should enforce it