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Introduction

Liberalism, historically, may be used to describe one of several ideologies that claims defence of individual liberty as the purpose of government. It typically favours the right to dissent from orthodox tenets or established authorities in political or religious matters, and is held in contrast to conservatism.

The word "liberal" derives from the Latin "liber" ("free") and liberals of all stripes tend to see themselves as friends of freedom, particularly freedom from the shackles of tradition. The origins of liberalism in the Enlightenment era contrasted this philosophy to feudalism and mercantilism. Later, as more radical philosophies articulated themselves in the course of the French Revolution and through the Nineteenth Century, liberalism equally defined itself against socialism and communism, although some adherents of American liberalism might overlap with social democrats in embracing some or all of the ideas of social democracy.

Usage of the word Liberalism

Different meanings

Political liberalism

A broad usage is to denote the political tradition of various liberal parties (in that way it can be called Political liberalism. However, though said liberal parties were originally founded on the Enlightenment tradition, they significantly diverged from it since they came to power in the 19th century, and "liberal" parties around the world are now based on a variety of loosely related ideologies. Some would therefore claim that the ideological content of the word depends on the geographical context. Many of these liberal parties are affiliated to Liberal International.

Classical liberalism

Another broad usage of the term is for a philosophical tradition of thought that tries to circumscribe the limits of political power, and to define and support individual rights. This could also be called political liberalism, but what is meant here is classical liberalism. For some, liberalism is synonymous with classical liberalism or with libertarianism. Sometimes the liberalism also includes classical liberalism.
See also: Libertarianism and Classical liberalism.

Economic liberalism

What can be called "economic liberalism" insists upon the necessity of free trade, is outraged by cartels and monopolies, and sees no merit in a government that meddles in the marketplace.
See: Capitalism.

New liberalism/modern liberalism (US)

Another, common usage in the United States, is used as a shorthand for the ideology of "new" or "modern" liberalism, with values similar to European social democracy. Left politics exemplify "new liberalism."

Neoliberalism

[Neoliberalism]] borrows from some of the ideas of classic liberalism, but departs significantly in other ways. Neoliberalism rejects the New Deal welfarism and its popularity is typically ascribed to Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.
See: Neoliberalism.

Non-political usages

In addition to the political usages above, the term "liberal" is also used in theology to refer to people who hold to views which depart from their religion's orthodoxy.
See: liberal theology, Modernism (Roman Catholicism).
The term liberalism is also used for a major theory of international relations, typically to support international governing bodies like the United Nations and multilateral action.

Usage of the term around the world, some examples

  1. Liberal and liberal: In most countries Liberal is used to label the members of sympathizers of a Liberal Party, liberal is used to label the adherents of liberalism.
  2. Europe: Generally in Europe the word liberal is used in mostly according to sense 1. In northern European countries it is also used to describe somebody who emphasizes individual liberty outside economics and the free market. Then it has noting to do with a more general progressive political approach. E.g. the leader of the Dutch Greens labels herself as a liberal In southern Europe the word is used either to refer to the traditional liberal anti-clericalism or to economic liberalism. In France the word is used by minarchists, where liberals in sense 1 are labeled Radicals. Political liberals in these countries tend not to use the word liberal.
  3. Australia: In Australia the situation is complicated by the fact that the Liberal Party of Australia is a right-of-centre party, encompassing thought from both conservative and classical liberal traditions (although currently the conservative wing, represented by John Howard, is dominant). The special term "small-l liberal" has evolved; its meaning is not clearly defined but is generally closest to sense 1 and 2 (in that it champions civil liberties, and progressive causes such as the Republic and Aboriginal reconciliation, while maintaining a non-interventionist approach in economics). Some "small-l liberals", such as Malcolm Turnbull, may find a home among the Liberal Party, but many, such as Greg Barns, have moved to the Democrats.
  4. Canada: In Canada liberal is used according to sense 1. Liberal means an adherent to the ideas of the Liberal Party of Canada, one of the most largest liberal parties around the world.
  5. New Zealand: In New Zealand the term liberalism is used almost exclusively according to sense 1. It is normal to find the term used with a reference to a particular policy area, such as "market liberalism" or "social liberalism". Unqualified liberalism is less common and in its extreme form is described as libertarianism.
  6. Russia: The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia names itself despite of its nationalist and right-wing populist positions liberal. Liberals agree that this party has noting to do with liberalism. Russian liberals are organised into the Yabloko and Union of Right Forces parties.
  7. United Kingdom: In the UK, meanings 1, 2, 3 and 4 coexist. Liberalism as an ideology will be understood by some scholars as classical liberalism. At the other hand there is an active political party named Liberal Democrats, and meaning 4 is imported from the US, including the derogatory usage by conservatives. However, the derogatory connotation is weak, and social liberals from both the left- and right-wing continue to use "liberal" and "illiberal" to describe themselves and their opponents.
  8. United States: The common meaning of terms evolved. The word "liberal" was clearly associated to meaning 2 (classical liberalism) in the 19th century. It has come to commonly have meaning 4 (new liberalism) in the US after World War II, and particularly as McCarthyism made the word socialism difficult to bear, and left-wingers massively adopted the name "liberal". For this reason, US classical liberals adopted the name "libertarian". Recently, the word "liberal" has been so much used as a derogatory term by US conservatives that some US liberals (meaning 4) prefer to shun the word "liberal" and call themselves "progressive".

Political liberalism

An introduction

Political liberals vary considerably in what they consider are the "liberties" they defend, and they do not generally refer to any consistent theory of it. Depending on countries, political liberalism may refer to some form of minarchism (see in France "liberals"), although often with a more or less deeply marked evolution toward more government responsibility (see UK "[[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats"). In the USA, some of the "liberals" have gone all the way to forms of social-democracy (even some socialist name themselves liberal). Liberal democrats tend to equally consider as part of their tradition many classical authors of contrasted opinions such as John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Immanuel Kant, although with a slight preference for classical liberal authors, in as much as they tend to more consistently claim to defend liberty; they often consider John Stuart Mill (who was also MP) as a great author very representative of their ideas. They tend to identify to great leaders of liberal parties, particularly in Great Britain (e.g. Gladstone or Lloyd George). Historically, political liberalism has opposed political conservatism; later evolutions of political liberals views around the world depend completely on national specificities of liberal parties.

The term refers in this way to the traditions of any of a number of Liberal parties around the world, although some of these have only a tenuous connection to any tradition that would usually be called "liberal". European liberalism is a broad political current, which includes both free market liberals and social liberals. Both emphasise individual liberty, the role and power of the individual in social life, but social liberalism promotes a more active role for the state. The term liberal is also used to refer to certain U.S. political philosophies, such as that of John Rawls. Some considered these philosophies to be more social democratic. But the ideas of John Rawls influenced the political thinking in liberal parties in Europe too, even of parties that are considered free market liberal. Generally one could say that the difference between social democracy and (social) liberalism is the liberal emphasis on the individual.

Both European liberalism and American liberalism trace their roots back to thinkers such as John Locke and to the Enlightenment. Both see their tradition continuing in the American War of Independence and in some of the more moderate bourgeois elements of the French Revolution, but little by little over the centuries, the two political traditions parted ways. The political point of view known in the United States as Libertarianism also claims the early portion of this tradition, but diverges strongly from the American liberal tradition over economic matters ans is more radical in its opposition to government than the European liberals. See classical liberalism.

Political positions

A caveat is in order: as with any other political philosophy, an abstract explanation of liberalism refers to an ideal. In practice, politicians make pragmatic compromises (cf centrism), have personal interests, and may pander to voters, so that the ideal is never a perfect description of any one individual's politics. Further, as with any other political philosophy, liberalism in any of its forms is defined somewhat differently by its proponents and its opponents. Those who adhere precisely to a well-defined set of principles are often those who are far removed from contention for power.

In general, liberals favour constitutional government and some form of representative democracy. Liberals at various times have embraced both constitutional monarchy and republican government. They are generally opposed to any but the milder forms of nationalism, and generally stand in contrast to conservatives by their tolerance and in more readily embracing multiculturalism. Furthermore they generally favour freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and other civil liberties, human rights in general. Though the degree of their commitment to this is not necessarily absolute: for example, many liberals accept, or even support, limits on hate speech, in order not to be tolerant towards intolerance. Nineteenth-century liberals nearly all believed in free markets and limited government intervention in the economy. Liberal parties differ now in the degree they stay close to this tradition, but even American liberals tend to believe in a smaller role for government than would be supported by most social democrats. All liberal parties are secular, but they differ on anti-clericalism. In most latin countries, liberal parties tend to be very anti-clerical.

Some basic history

At the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century in opposition to conservative, clerical and absolutist forces, citizens started to organise themselves in loose organisations and/or political parties, striving after the emancipation of citizens and the middle class. As late as 1848 in Europe, liberalism is generally seen as a revolutionary force, and in those parts of the world where feudalism or other highly traditionalist (or merely socially rigid) societies remain, it still has revolutionary aspects. When liberals realised their first reforms, one often sees a divergence inside liberals:

The specifics of liberal agendas vary considerably from country to country and over time.

Economic liberalism

There are three recognized forms of economic liberalism.

Classical liberalism

Classical liberals have an identified theory of liberty, that insist on notions of spontaneous order, natural law, property rights, and individual responsibility. They tend to strongly differentiate genuine classical liberal authors from their contemporaries, and recognise among them John Locke (as opposed to Hobbes), David Hume (as opposed to Kant), Adam Smith (as opposed to Rousseau); they consider John Stuart Mill as an author who wrote quite interesting things but missed essential points and does not quality as a genuine classical liberal; they much prefer Frederic Bastiat as a contemporary. They favour Free Market Economy and reject any kind of government influence in society. They thus tend to be defiant to any kind of politics, including politics done by liberal politicians. Historically, classical liberalism has opposed mercantilism and socialism (as well as any form of collectivism).

New liberalism

The second, known as New liberalism, but by some named social democracy, modern liberalism, or even socialism, is the variety that advocates a form of mixed or control economy in order to reach the goals of "social justice." The political roots of it can be found in the Liberal Party in Britain, particularly since Lloyd George's People's Budget. It is with this background that Keynes, though influenced by Fabianism, claimed to be liberal in the 1930s. One example of a document that represents this form of liberalism is The Oxford Liberal Manifesto of 1947. The influence of Keynesianism on the New Deal has led liberalism to be identified with the welfare state in the United States.
See: new liberalism or modern liberalism.

Neoliberalism

The third, known as neoliberalism, is simply a modern revival of classical liberalism and is exemplified in the administrative efforts of Ronald Reagan and, to a lesser extent, Bill Clinton of the United States, and of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair of the United Kingdom.

Comparing Political Liberalism with Classical Liberalism

These two traditions have in common that they claim to defend individual liberty against the arbitrary power of government, and there has been some influence of the philosophy on the politics at specific points in history, but they are quite distinct.

Historically, both traditions see part of their roots in the seventeenth century English movement that has opposed (absolute) monarchism, mercantilism, and various kind of religious fundamentalism, preaching liberty and tolerance; but even then, they have different interpretations of this heritage. John Stuart Mill, a paradigmatic political liberal, was mostly a classical liberal, but had socialist influences from his wife that some political liberals embrace whereas classical liberals reject them. Gladstone, a political liberal, was influenced by his correspondance with Lord Acton, a classical liberal.

Since late nineteenth century, English political liberals – but also other European liberals – see the necesity of social reforms and government responsibility to fight poverty and ignorance. They are influenced by moderate forms of social democracy and want to be an alternative for conservatism and socialism. In the Europe, especially in the United Kingdom, liberalism is generally connected with the history of the and the "moderation" sense of the word liberal.

In the United States, starting with the increase in size of government with the Great Depression during the 1930s, political liberals advocated government programs as a solution to many economic and societal problems. This makes it sometimes difficult to differ between American liberalism and forms of social democracy, or even to socialism.

Attempts to fit the evolutions of political liberalism as an extension of the classic tradition of liberal thought has led such political liberal thinkers to invent new liberalism in the 1930s. Classical liberals consider that the amends to liberal doctrines to allow for extended government intervention in economic matters are actually utter negation of basic liberal tenets, and rather call that revisionist liberalism. Recently, many social-democrats have tried to find within classical liberalism a separation between political liberalism and economic liberalism, so as to be able to agree with one and disagree with the other. Classical liberals reject such a division, because they assert their tradition is based neither on an economic nor on a political doctrine, but rather on a theory of law. In any case, modern political liberal thinkers tend to not claim any particular affiliation with the classical liberal school of thought, and rather to insist on their endorsement of political liberals governments of the nineteenth century.

Finally, in some countries, particularly European countries, where historical liberal parties suffered complete demise or interdiction by a communist regime, some of the renewed liberal parties that emerged tended to return to the classical liberal influence stripped of most of the social-democrat influence. The political programmes of liberal parties are thus some forms of minarchism that classical liberals view as much friendlier to their ideas than what proposes any other party, but doesn't match either the diversity of their opinions (see anarcho-capitalism) or the strictness of their anti-political claims (see libertarianism).

Worldwide liberalism

Information on worldwide liberalism and liberal parties around the world can be found at the article Worldwide liberalism

For further reading

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