The concept of freedom is often invoked in political life. Many policies and broader political agendas are justified in its name. But what, exactly, does freedom mean? Is freedom best understood in terms of absence of interference or in terms of non-domination? How does patriarchy make women unfree? Does poverty constitute a constraint on freedom? Can citizens of an authoritarian regime be described as free? These are some of the questions addressed in this module. Depending on the particular year in which the module is taught, the approach taken may be either historical or contemporary-analytic or a combination of the two. Consequently, authors discussed may include key historical thinkers such as Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Kant, as well as contemporary scholars such as Isaiah Berlin, Charles Taylor, Philip Pettit, Quentin Skinner, Amartya Sen and others. The overall aim of the course is to enable students to assess the quality and strength of different theorists' conceptions of freedom and to deploy those conceptions in the analysis and justification of some core institutions within the liberal state.