Lea Ypi

And also obscuring that social democracy is the result of that socialist tradition.

So I think the socialist critique of capitalism in the 20th century has two children.

One is social democracy, the other is state socialism.

Both of them have limitations.

They both have their flaws, and there is critique that one can make to both of them.

But it's mistaken to think that equality was...

For en professor av politisk teori som deg selv, er det lett å definere og tenke med konsepter som frihet og demokrati?

Well, at one level it's hard because they're abstract concepts.

And so if you speak of them only as abstract concepts, and if you think of them as part of philosophical traditions that seem very difficult and very remote from people's concerns, it might look difficult.

But I also think that these ideas make us, and we are the result of traditions that are inspired by these ideas, that our personal histories are the result of macro history.

And so in the individual, in one individual life, you can see the influence on people

Not just ideas, but also the negotiation of ideas, the compromises made around ideas, the way in which ideas feature into politics.

And in that sense it's not that hard because you can really, with one life, with one biography or with one family history, you can actually explain very complex ideas or ideas that seem very complex to a lot of people and you can really see how they play out.

Jeg tror at frihet er kanskje det viktigste ordet i det vestlige politiske vokabulariet, fordi av hvordan det har blitt brukt.

Både på grunn av den nasjonale soverenitetens frihet, som vi feiretter på våre nasjonale helgårder, som er 17. mai, Independence Day, men også kanskje ideen om individuelt frihet.

Du nevnte at det er mulig å tenke på dette i historien om en persons liv og familie.

Dette er akkurat hva du gjør, fordi du forteller oss om for eksempel din mors forståelse av frihet, din fars forståelse av frihet.

Vi kan begynne der.

Hva var måten din mor forstod frihet?

Ja, så i min første bok, i Free, var det i alle fall tre ideer om frihet som spiller.