Liberal conservatism: concept, definition, main features and history of formation

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:42

Liberal conservatism includes the classic liberal view of minimal state intervention in the economy, according to which people should be free, participate in the market and gain we alth without government intervention. However, people cannot be completely autonomous in other areas of life, which is why liberal conservatives believe that a strong state is necessary to provide the rule of law and social institutions necessary to strengthen a sense of duty and responsibility to the nation. This is a political stance that also supports civil liberties along with some social conservative stances and is generally seen as centre-right. In Western Europe, especially Northern Europe, liberal conservatism is the dominant form of modern conservatism and also adopts some socialliberal positions.

The essence of the term

The terminology is quite curious. Since "conservatism" and "liberalism" had different meanings depending on the era and the particular country, the term "liberal conservatism" was used in quite different ways. It usually contrasts with aristocratic conservatism, which rejects the principle of equality as something that is in conflict with human nature and emphasizes instead the idea of natural inequality. As conservatives in democracies have adopted typical liberal institutions such as the rule of law, private property, market economy, and constitutional representative government, the liberal element in liberal conservatism has become a consensus among conservatives. In some countries (such as the United Kingdom and the United States), the term has become synonymous with "conservatism" in popular culture, leading other hard-line rightists to identify themselves as either reactionary, libertarian, or altright to disassociate themselves from the mainstream right. (Alt Right).

Liberal conservatism and conservative liberalism

However, in the United States, conservatives often combine the economic individualism of classical liberals with a moderate form of conservatism that emphasizes the natural inequality between people, the irrationality of human behavior as the basisstriving for order and stability and rejecting natural rights as the basis for government. However, on the other hand, the American right-wing agenda (as a hybrid of conservatism and classical liberalism) adopted the three principles of bourgeois reactionism, namely uncertainty in the power of the state, the preference for freedom over equality and patriotism, rejecting the remaining three principles, namely loy alty to traditional institutions and hierarchies, skepticism about progress and elitism. Consequently, in the United States the term "liberal conservatism" is not used, and the American term "liberalism", which occupies the left center of the political spectrum, is very different from the European idea of this ideology. But not everywhere things are like in the USA. In Latin America, for example, there is a somewhat opposite understanding of both ideologies, because there economically liberal conservatism is often understood as neoliberalism - both in popular culture and in academic discourse.

Far right and moderate right

European liberal (moderate) right is clearly different from those conservatives who adopted nationalist views, sometimes reaching far-right populism. In much of central and northwestern Europe, especially in Germanic and traditionally Protestant countries, the distinction between conservatives (including Christian Democrats) and liberals persists.

Differences between European countries

On the other hand, in countries where the moderate rightmovements have recently entered the political mainstream, such as Italy and Spain, the terms "liberal" and "conservative" can be understood as synonymous. That is, right-centrism and liberal conservatism have essentially become one entity there. And this is not only the case in the European Union. It should not be forgotten that European parliamentary democracy is a role model for many countries. On the other hand, some countries neighboring the European Union have their own understanding of many ideological issues. For example, liberal conservatism in Russia, represented by the ruling United Russia party, is a much tougher, reactionary and authoritarian political force than is common in the EU countries.

Features

Supporters of the ideology in question, with rare exceptions, advocate the need for a free market economy and personal civic responsibility. They often oppose any form of socialism and the "welfare state". Compared to traditional centre-right politics, such as the Christian Democrats, liberal conservatists (who often differ on many issues) are less traditional and more liberal in financial matters, preferring low taxes and minimal government intervention in the economy.

EU countries

In modern European discourse, this ideology usually implies center-right politicalviews that at least partially reject social conservatism. This position is also associated with support for moderate forms of social protection and ecology. In this sense, "liberal conservatism" has been supported, for example, by Scandinavian conservative parties (the Moderate Party in Sweden, the Conservative Party in Norway and the National Coalition Party in Finland).

Former British Prime Minister Cameron said in an interview in 2010 that he has always described himself as a "liberal conservative". In his first speech at a Conservative Party conference in 2006, he defined this stance as a belief in individual freedom and human rights, but was skeptical of "grand schemes to reshape the world" (meaning leftist ideologies).

History

Historically, in the 18th and 19th centuries, "conservatism" included a number of principles based on concern for established tradition, respect for authority and religious values. This form of traditionalist or classical conservatism is often seen as the basis for the writings of Joseph de Maistre in the post-Enlightenment era. The then "liberalism", which is now called classical liberalism, advocated political freedom for individuals and a free market in the economic sphere. Ideas of this kind were promulgated by John Locke, Montesquieu, Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham, and John Stuart Mill, who are respectively remembered as the fathers of classical liberalism, who advocated the division of the church andstates, economic freedoms, utilitarianism, etc. Based on these ideas, liberal conservatism emerged at the end of the last century.

Other Features

According to scholar Andrew Vincent, the principle of this ideology is "economics before politics". Others emphasize an openness to historical change and distrust of majority rule while upholding individual freedoms and traditional virtues. However, there is general agreement that the original liberal conservatives were those who combined a purely right-wing view of social relations with economically liberal positions, adapting the previous aristocratic understanding of the natural inequality between people to the rule of meritocracy.