Lea Ypi, author of Free: Coming of Age at the End of History

The concept of freedom undergoes rigorous examination through the personal history of Lea Ypi, a professor of political theory at the London School of Economics. Growing up in Albania during the 1980s and 1990s, Ypi experienced the abrupt shift from a rigid, isolated communist state to a volatile, neoliberal capitalist society. This transition exposed the limitations of both systems, as neither adequately protected human dignity or fostered genuine institutional autonomy. Ypi identifies her grandmother’s insistence on moral agency as the true foundation of freedom, arguing that dignity remains the essential benchmark for social critique. By reflecting on the 1997 collapse of Albanian pyramid schemes and the subsequent civil unrest, the discussion highlights how both local and global forces often prioritize abstract development models over the actual well-being and democratic participation of citizens.