In his book ‘The New Leviathans Thoughts After Liberalism’, the philosopher John Gray explains the death of liberalism in the 21st century with reference to an essay called ‘Leviathan’ written by Thomas Hobbes in 1651. Gray’s book is about the decay of liberal democracy during the 21st century, where democracies and authoritarian states alike are becoming the new Leviathans. The idea of the Leviathan originally came from the ‘Book of Job’ as a mythical monster, which much later was used by Thomas Hobbes to represent the idea of a powerful sovereign state, that could bring order to an anarchic, chaotic, and violent world where everyone was against everyone. For anyone who lived in the violent lawless world prior to the coming of the Leviathan: it was irrelevant whether the new sovereign state was ruled by a king, president, parliament, or autocrat, as long as it could bring peace and security to the country, so the inhabitants could go about their lives without being attacked by each other. The Leviathan offered unlimited government, and the force of law and order, as a means of doing that. However, the problem arises when the Leviathan and those that rule it themselves become corrupt. Gray points out that one of the mistakes made by liberals in the West – shortly after the collapse of Soviet Union – was to believe that the cycles of history had come to an end. Authors such as Francis Fukuyama believed that: “democratic capitalism would be the final form of government.” Likewise, those who believed in the ideology of pure free-market capitalism thought that their system would last for eternity. Gray says: “The Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992), one of the most influential late-twentieth-century ideologues, believed that market capitalism spread through an evolutionary process. The most productive economic system was the free market, which would win out in Darwinian fashion over all others.” Gray quotes the words ‘shock therapy’ to describe the free-market economic reforms imposed on Russians by Boris Yeltsin’s government in the 1990s. This period is documented in more detail in other books such as ‘Londongrad: From Russia with Cash; the Inside Story of the Oligarchs’ by Mark Hollingsworth and Stewart Lansley; and ‘The Shock Doctrine’ by Naomi Klein, which can be found in Waterstones. The Yeltsin government at that time was being advised by American economists who followed Hayek’s ideology, and that of another neo-liberal, Milton Friedman. The consequences of these economic reforms led to the impoverishment of millions of Russians, as many workers were not paid for months and their savings became worthless. Although employees were given shares when state industries were privatized, many people had to sell all their shares to buy food. Russia became a lawless landscape of chaos, where everyone was against everyone, as criminal gangs fought for control of Russia’s oil, gas, and metal wealth. By the late 1990s a small group of powerful oligarchs had taken control of these assets worth billions of dollars. The cycle of history turned again when Vladimir Putin became president of Russia in 2000. The Russian state under Putin is one of the 21st century Leviathans, which first gained support from Russia’s people in the hope Putin would end the anarchy, reign in the oligarchs so the state could protect the people. However, since then Putin has become the latest in a long line of autocrats, that have ruled Russia over the centuries, where the direction is towards war and destruction. Gray is referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when he says: “Then beginning in March 2022 another way of life disappeared, as Putin closed down the relative freedom and posterity that had prevailed under his authoritarian rule.” Much of Gray’s book critically charts ideas that don’t work, and the horrors that happen when they are put into practice. The idea of the perfectibility of the human animal rejects our understanding of human nature. During the 20th century totalitarian states of the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and Maoist China put into practice their own plans for creating perfect people, which led to the mass murder of those people who couldn’t fit in with the totalitarian ideologue’s view of perfect humans. Those totalitarian states were the Leviathans created out of war and revolutions during the last century. Gray challenges the liberals’ faith in science and technology, as a means of solving all of humanities problems. He says: “Their belief in the liberating power of science is more contrary to reason than any traditional faith, for it ignores the well attested fact that science can just as well serve oppression as freedom.” Reading ‘The New Leviathans’ has helped the reviewer trace the historical journey, from 20th century totalitarian surveillance states to the 21st century surveillance capitalists’ business model. The technology of the smartphone combined with social media allows anyone to become their own spy, watching everyone and everything in their own environment. This is our present-day world of everyone against everyone. ©Jolyon Gumbrell 2026