After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, many people assumed that socialism was dead and that liberal democratic capitalism was to be the unchallenged way of the future. Now, however, the world financial system is in turmoil, socialist governments are in power across most of Eurpoe, and the philosophy of the free market seems to be constantly uner attack. What has happened?

Antonio Martino argues that socialism in the old sense is indeed dead. Liberalism is now understood and accepted better than ever before. But he believes that the Socialist challenge has taken on new forms, such as the push for uniform regulations on tax matters, the environment, public health, and so on. He warns that there is no such thing as permanent victory or defeat, and that new challenges will always arise. While he cautions against excessive optimism, Professior Martino maintains that ‘From the point of view of the ideological confrontation, … we live in one of the happiest times in the contemporary history of mankind’.