Thomas Axworthy

Liberals today must go beyond their traditional role of making sure wealth is fairly distributed, and begin to find ways of creating new wealth in a contracting economy, says Thomas Axworthy, the ex-chief of staff to former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau who is now leading a Harvard study group.

"Interest in liberalism is not dead," says the 37-year-old Axworthy, a political science professor whose course on the future of liberalism in Canada, England and the United States is one of 15 on world sociopolitical issues offered to undergraduate and graduate students by the Kennedy School of Government's Institute of Politics. "People have not turned against liberalism as a philosophy--maybe against some liberals, but not against liberal objectives."

For liberals to reassert the dominance they had in the '70s--Trudeau, a progressive who supported social programs, held office for all but a few months from 1968 to 1984--they will have to rebuild their connection with organized labor and come up with more money to advertise on television, which Axworthy says is now the dominant arena of political battle

Although he found advising Trudeau and coordinating the operation of the government rewarding, Axworthy says he is happy teaching undergraduates. "When in government there is no time to think," he says. "My intellectual batteries were running down."

Axworthy's study group ends in December He says he is undecided about future plans, which could include returning to politics or teaching full-time. In the meantime, the energetic Minnesota native says he will catch up on his leisure reading and spend time with his wife and four-month old daughter.