New Leviathans

John Gray's 2023 essay collection arguing that liberal universalism has produced new forms of tyranny — that the attempt to impose liberal values globally creates illiberal results — and that the future belongs to competing power centers rather than a unified liberal world order.

Provides the pessimist's account of liberal overreach — Gray argues that Hobbes's Leviathan (the powerful state that creates peace through force) is being replaced by ideological Leviathans (woke corporations, identity movements) that enforce conformity without providing security — and that the world is reverting to multipolar power competition.