Liberalism

For other uses, see Liberal (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Libertarianism.

Part of a series on
Liberalism
Schools
Principles
History
Philosophers
Politicians
Organizations
Regional variants
Related topics
Part of the Politics series
Party politics
Political Spectrum
Left-Wing
Centre
Right-Wing
Major Ideologies
Types
Leaders and organization
Internal elections
Party discipline
Party systems
Coalitions between parties
Lists of political parties
icon Politics portal

Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, right to private property and equality before the law.[1][2] Liberals espouse various and often mutually warring views depending on their understanding of these principles but generally support private property, market economies, individual rights (including civil rights and human rights), liberal democracy, secularism, rule of law, economic and political freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion.[3] Liberalism is frequently cited as the dominant ideology of modern history.[4][5]: 11 

Liberalism became a distinct movement in the Age of Enlightenment, gaining popularity among Western philosophers and economists. Liberalism sought to replace the norms of hereditary privilege, state religion, absolute monarchy, the divine right of kings and traditional conservatism with representative democracy, rule of law, and equality under the law. Liberals also ended mercantilist policies, royal monopolies, and other trade barriers, instead promoting free trade and marketization.[6] Philosopher John Locke is often credited with founding liberalism as a distinct tradition based on the social contract, arguing that each man has a natural right to life, liberty and property, and governments must not violate these rights.[7] While the British liberal tradition has emphasized expanding democracy, French liberalism has emphasized rejecting authoritarianism and is linked to nation-building.[8]

Leaders in the British Glorious Revolution of 1688,[9] the American Revolution of 1776, and the French Revolution of 1789 used liberal philosophy to justify the armed overthrow of royal sovereignty. The 19th century saw liberal governments established in Europe and South America, and it was well-established alongside republicanism in the United States.[10] In Victorian Britain, it was used to critique the political establishment, appealing to science and reason on behalf of the people.[11] During the 19th and early 20th centuries, liberalism in the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East influenced periods of reform, such as the Tanzimat and Al-Nahda, and the rise of constitutionalism, nationalism, and secularism. These changes, along with other factors, helped to create a sense of crisis within Islam, which continues to this day, leading to Islamic revivalism. Before 1920, the main ideological opponents of liberalism were communism, conservatism, and socialism;[12] liberalism then faced major ideological challenges from fascism and Marxism–Leninism as new opponents. During the 20th century, liberal ideas spread even further, especially in Western Europe, as liberal democracies found themselves as the winners in both world wars[13] and the Cold War.[14][15]

Liberals sought and established a constitutional order that prized important individual freedoms, such as freedom of speech and freedom of association; an independent judiciary and public trial by jury; and the abolition of aristocratic privileges.[6] Later waves of modern liberal thought and struggle were strongly influenced by the need to expand civil rights.[16] Liberals have advocated gender and racial equality in their drive to promote civil rights, and global civil rights movements in the 20th century achieved several objectives towards both goals. Other goals often accepted by liberals include universal suffrage and universal access to education. In Europe and North America, the establishment of social liberalism (often called simply liberalism in the United States) became a key component in expanding the welfare state.[17] Today, liberal parties continue to wield power and influence throughout the world. The fundamental elements of contemporary society have liberal roots. The early waves of liberalism popularised economic individualism while expanding constitutional government and parliamentary authority.[6]

  1. ^ "liberalism In general, the belief that it is the aim of politics to preserve individual rights and to maximize freedom of choice." Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics, Iain McLean and Alistair McMillan, Third edition 2009, ISBN 978-0-19-920516-5.
  2. ^ Dunn, John (1993). Western Political Theory in the Face of the Future. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-43755-4. political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for conservatism and for tradition in general, tolerance, and ... individualism.
  3. ^ Generally support:
  4. ^ Wolfe, p. 23.
  5. ^ Adams, Ian (2001). "2: Liberalism and democracy". Political Ideology Today. Politics Today (Second ed.). Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-6019-2.
  6. ^ a b c Gould, p. 3.
  7. ^ Locke, John. Second Treatise of Government. All mankind ... being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions
  8. ^ Kirchner, p. 3.
  9. ^ Pincus, Steven (2009). 1688: The First Modern Revolution. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-15605-8. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  10. ^ Zafirovski, Milan (2007). Liberal Modernity and Its Adversaries: Freedom, Liberalism and Anti-Liberalism in the 21st Century. Brill. p. 237. ISBN 978-90-04-16052-1 – via Google Books.
  11. ^ Eddy, Matthew Daniel (2017). "The Politics of Cognition: Liberalism and the Evolutionary Origins of Victorian Education". British Journal for the History of Science. 50 (4): 677–699. doi:10.1017/S0007087417000863. ISSN 0007-0874. PMID 29019300.
  12. ^ Koerner, Kirk F. (1985). Liberalism and Its Critics. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-27957-7 – via Google Books.
  13. ^ Conway, Martin (2014). "The Limits of an Anti-liberal Europe". In Gosewinkel, Dieter (ed.). Anti-liberal Europe: A Neglected Story of Europeanization. Berghahn Books. p. 184. ISBN 978-1-78238-426-7 – via Google Books. Liberalism, liberal values and liberal institutions formed an integral part of that process of European consolidation. Fifteen years after the end of the Second World War, the liberal and democratic identity of Western Europe had been reinforced on almost all sides by the definition of the West as a place of freedom. Set against the oppression in the Communist East, by the slow development of a greater understanding of the moral horror of Nazism, and by the engagement of intellectuals and others with the new states (and social and political systems) emerging in the non-European world to the South.
  14. ^ Stern, Sol (Winter, 2010) "The Ramparts I Watched." City Journal.
  15. ^ Fukuyama, Francis (1989). "The End of History?". The National Interest (16): 3–18. ISSN 0884-9382. JSTOR 24027184.
  16. ^ Worell, Judith. Encyclopedia of women and gender, Volume I. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2001. ISBN 0-12-227246-3
  17. ^ "Liberalism in America: A Note for Europeans" Archived 12 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (1956) from: The Politics of Hope (Boston: Riverside Press, 1962). "Liberalism in the U.S. usage has little in common with the word as used in the politics of any other country, save possibly Britain."