Freedom is one of our most important political ideals. But what exactly does it mean to be free? In her lecture, Annelien de Dijn sheds new light on this question, from a historical perspective. She shows that Western thinking about freedom has changed radically over the course of history. In the olden days, ‘being free’ was mainly a battle for self-rule, but American, French and Dutch counter-revolutionaries in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries came up with a new concept of freedom. For fear of the masses who were claiming their rights ever more resolutely, ‘being free’ suddenly became ‘being free of government interference’. The more democratic and inclusive the state, the louder the cry among conservative thinkers to protect the privileged minority against the state – in the name of freedom.