Uncivil Liberalism studies how ideas of liberty from the colonized South claimed universality in the North. Recovering the political theory of Dadabhai Naoroji, India's pre-eminent liberal, this book offers an original global history of this process by focussing on Naoroji's pre-occupation with social interdependence and civil peace in an age of growing cultural diversity and economic inequality. It shows how Naoroji used political economy to critique British liberalism's incapacity for civil peace by linking periods of communal rioting in colonial Bombay with the Parsi minority's economic decline. He responded by innovating his own liberalism, characterized by labour rights, economic republicanism and social interdependence maintained by freely contracting workers. Significantly, the author draws attention to how Naoroji seeded 'Western' thinkers with his ideas as well as influencing numerous ideologies in colonial and post-colonial India. In doing so, the book offers a compelling argument which reframes Indian 'nationalists' as global thinkers.

Shortlist, 2023 Gladstone Book Prize, Royal Historical Society

‘This important book brings to us a new Dadabhai Naoroji by taking him out of the confining narrative of economic nationalism and showing him as a global figure who redefined liberalism by putting the question of labour and labour rights at its very heart. The author offers us an opening towards a new history of global economic thought that could transform how we understand the remit of political philosophy today.'

Prathama Banerjee - Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi

‘By far the most sophisticated study of Naoroji's career, Visana's book is also an account of the making of Indian liberalism in its most universal form – that defined by political economy. Rather than being derived from a dialogue with European ideas, however, he explores the paradox of how this universal form emerged within the lifeworld of one of India's smallest communities, the Parsis of Bombay.'

Faisal Devji - University of Oxford

‘Uncivil liberalism is a fascinating and innovative analysis of one of the most perceptive liberal thinkers of the nineteenth century. In this impressive monograph, Visana unpacks the sophisticated and multi-layered political philosophy of ‘the Grand Old Man of India', places it in its historical context and explains its relevance and long-term significance.'

Eugenio F. Biagini - University of Cambridge

‘Uncivil Liberalism recovers Dadabhai Naoroji's radical liberalism in all its complexity. The author's rich and engaging account sets in its global context Naoroji's famous argument that imperial monopoly capitalism was draining India of its wealth and its moral resources. Visana takes us from Naoroji's roots in the Parsi social reform movements of 1840s Bombay to his encounters with Irish republicans, Fabians, and his own working-class constituents in Britain to explore Naoroji's capacious political vision of a diverse commercial society grounded in labour rights.'

Jennifer Pitts - University of Chicago