You are here

Academy | Overton Window of political possibilities

Imagine that all policies are arranged on a line from absolute government tyranny on the left to pure liberty on the right. At any one time, there is only a narrow "window" on the scale of policies that is considered politically possible or desirable. This is the area within which today's parties argue for more or less control. The goal of CCS Academy is not so much to influence the politics of today, which might move policy in a marginally more liberal direction, but to move the whole window of political possibilities in the liberal direction. Our hope is that in the future, what will be considered the "least liberal" option in political debates will be far more liberal than what is considered the "most liberal" option of today.

(For more about the practical success of Hayek's ideas, see John Blundell's Waging the War of Ideas)