What is Freedom? <p> Freedom has becomeperhaps the most central value in current political debate. America,for example, promises ‘freedom to the Iraqipeople’. But what exactly is the content of this promise?The lecture tries to clarify what is involved in invoking freedom as ajustification. <p> Quentin Skinner is Regius Professorof Modern History and a Fellow of Christ’s College. Hisinterests lie in the intellectual history of early-modern Europe, andhe specialises in the Renaissance and in seventeenth-century politicalphilosophy - in particular the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, onwhich he has published two books and numerous articles.