James M. Buchanan's Contractarianism and Modern Liberalism

The title I have been asked to comment on requires me, I suppose, to answer two questions. First, what distinguishes Buchanan’s contractarian liberalism from other branches of the classical liberal tradition? And, second, in what sense is the distinctiveness of Buchanan’s contractarianism relevant for a ‘modern ’ liberalism? Before I address these questions directly, a few introductory remarks are in order to prepare the ground for the arguments I want to develop.- I presume all varieties of liberalism that may be legitimately counted within the classical liberal tradition to share as their common core o the emphasis on individual liberty as the foundational principle of a desirable social order, and o a prima facie preference for markets as institutional arrangements within which voluntary contracts are the principal means by which individuals coordinate their activities.- In contrasting Buchanan’s contractarianism with other branches within the classical liberal tradition I need to be selective. I shall concentrate my comparison on Murray Rothbard’s free-market libertarianism as the extreme counterpart to Buchanan’s contractarian liberalism and on F.A. Hayek’s evolutionary liberalis