Liberalism is a kind of socio-political movement that expresses and promotes human freedom. This approach to understanding the human essence gave complete freedom in choice and behavior. But, in addition to views on human life and society, this movement had its own attitudes in the economic sphere. Let's take a closer look at what liberalism is.
Economy and politics
Liberalism in the economy assumed non-intervention of the state, the absence of a regulatory function. Representatives of this movement believed that the state should exist solely to protect people from various kinds of aggression and, if possible, expand human rights and freedom. Liberalists promoted freedom of enterprise, they always advocated free competition and open trade between different countries.
Private enterprise in their view was a stronghold of freedom and independence. According to liberalists, an open and free internation altrade helped reduce political tensions between countries, thereby preventing military conflicts. All the aspirations and desires of an individual, in the presence of free competition, contribute to the development of trade and the country as a whole. The same is happening at the international level. Given the condition that all people live in equal conditions, having the same access to the same resources, free trade is the link, uniting all the countries of the world into one big market. What is liberalism? This is, first of all, freedom, equality and integral development of society and the economy. On the political side, such a movement is defined as a reaction that arose in response to authoritarian regimes. Liberals tried to minimize hereditary rights to power, create parliamentary governments, increase the number of people who would have the right to vote and elect, and of course, guarantee full civil freedom.
XIX and XX centuries - the differences are obvious
Answering the question of what liberalism is, one cannot but say that in the 20th century this word acquired a somewhat new meaning. In particular, the United States was greatly affected. Liberals of the 20th century, when choosing a centralized and decentralized political system, would have preferred the first option, guided by the fact that much more useful to the people can be done in this way.
19th century liberals would support local governments. In addition, the new liberalsadvocate full state intervention in the regulation of the economy. As you can see, liberalism has undergone dramatic changes in just one century. Russian liberalism was no less controversial. It gained its greatest scope during the reign of Peter I, who considered it important to focus on Western Europe. The whole point here was that for a faster and more efficient development of society and the economy, Russian liberalists proposed to "copy" the images and foundations of the European leading countries. The whole problem was that, as a rule, all Russian realities and the mentality of the Russian people of that time were not taken into account. What is liberalism - freedom or control? In the period of the XIX-XX centuries, this movement was divided into 2 parts: old and new liberalists. The former promoted freedom and non-intervention of the state, while the latter advocated complete control.
