The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom

Individual freedom is the dream of our age. It's what our leaders promise to give us, it defines how we think of ourselves and, repeatedly, we have gone to war to impose freedom around the world. But if you step back and look at what freedom actually means for us today, it's a strange and limited kind of freedom.

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Created By
Status	Ended
Original Name	The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom
First Air Date	March 11, 2007
Last Air Date	March 25, 2007
Seasons	1
Episodes	3
Episode Runtime	1h 0min
Language	English
Original Language	English
Production Countries	—
Production Companies	BBC
Networks	BBC Two

S01E03

We Will Force You To Be Free

The final program focused on the concepts of positive and negative liberty introduced in the 1950s by Isaiah Berlin. Curtis briefly explained how negative liberty could be defined as freedom from coercion and positive liberty as the opportunity to strive to fulfill one's potential. Tony Blair had read Berlin's essays on the topic and wrote to him in the late 1990s, arguing that positive and negative liberty could be mutually compatible. He never received a reply, as Berlin was on his death bed.

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