Brian Barry Boeken

The book offers a groundbreaking analysis of political values, introducing key concepts such as the distinction between "ideal-regarding" and "want-regarding" principles, as well as categorizing principles into aggregative and distributive. Its exploration of trade-off relations among political values and the concept of public interest has significantly influenced Anglo-American political philosophy since its 1965 publication, establishing a lasting impact on the field.

He proposes a number of policies to achieve a more equal society and argues that they are economically feasible.

All major western countries today contain groups that differ in their religious beliefs, customary practices or ideas abou the right way in which to live. How should public policy respond to this diversity? Barry challenges the currently popular answer and develops a powerful restatement of an egalitarian liberalism for the 21st century.