It defined itself as striving to maximize individual liberty through a democratic system of rights under law. Under Classical Liberalism, societies were determined by the outcome of open competitive process, including economic competition, freedom of thought, and political declaration. This idea was first proposed by John Locke in 1690. An English philosopher who wrote
To what extent is Liberalism the dominant ideology in British politics? The term liberalism is generally associated with ideas such as liberty and equal rights. Associated with it are ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections and human rights. The UK government incorporates all the key aspects of liberalism in to their own organisation such as the fact that Britain comes from a constitution and the laws and rights of citizens are drawn from it. Liberalism was drawn from the age of enlightenment in which many religious restrictions were broken in order for meritocracy to strive which allowed individuals to strive on their own basis.
Liberalism v. Fascism Shawna Sirianni Hawaii Pacific University Abstract On the surface, few political ideals could be further apart than liberalism and fascism. One is centered upon a totalitarian government that controls nearly every aspect of life, while the other seeks to edify the individual and provide equal opportunity for all. Looking deeper however, we find that the motivations for each ideal are similar, even though their means of achieving their desired outcomes are quite different. Liberals and fascists seem to have little in common. Liberalism promotes equity and opportunity for the individual while fascism is all about the greater good and support of the establishment.
In this respect, the main goal of liberalism is to promote a laissez-faire society and their main goal is preservation of human rights and freedoms. Secondly, liberalism aimed at ensuring that there is democracy in the society whereby the power of the monarchs and the other political class is limited. To achieve their goals, liberals enlightened members of the society about their rights and freedoms and in countries like France, Germany, and Italy liberals organized for revolutions that removed those leaders who were dictators in these countries. In addition to this, liberals championed for the rights of the minority in the society. A good example of a liberal government is the federal government of the United States of America (Jayapalan, 2009).
The nation is therefore key to political organisation. Liberal nationalism has followed the political nationalist agenda of seeking national self-determination and thus the creation of a nation-state. The ultimate goal of liberal nationalism is a world of independent nation-states. All nations are seen to have an equal right to freedom and self-determination. For Woodrow Wilson, only a democratic republic could be a genuine nation-state.
In fact Conservatism has often been described as chameleon like, in that it changes its appearance according to the dominant political environment at a given time. In the 19th century, when liberalism was its main opponent, conservatism adopted an organic vision of society, seeing it as a living entity and expecting people to demonstrate a sense of responsibility towards each other. When socialism came to the forefront, conservative changed course and began to emphasise the virtues of free markets and individualism to combat collectivist ideas. Such an adaptable movement cannot be described as ideological in nature. It is common to view conservatives as two strands of government the ‘wets’ and the ‘dry’s’, wets are seen to be more collectivist and believe in a greater role of government, such as planning or intervention, whereas dry’s are more neo-liberal,
The thoughtful voter may sometimes vote for the conservative, sometimes for the liberal and sometimes just abstain. The classical liberal perspective will not solve this problem, but it will help us better understand it. Classical Liberalism as an Ideology Classical liberalism was the political philosophy of the Founding Fathers. It permeates the Constitution, the Federalist Papers and many
Ideals such as a focus on the individual, individual rights and equality, a social contract based on government by consent, free market, and minimum government intervention and maximum freedom. I will concentrate on the works of other prominent ‘liberals’ of the same period of classical liberalism, such as Locke and Mill as a comparison to Hobbes in an attempt to establish if Hobbes can be regarded as a liberal. Perhaps the most important and fundamental principle of liberalism is that it centres around the individual and their rights. Mill in ‘On Liberty’ states that the cultivation of individuality produces humans who are ‘noble and beautiful objects of contemplation’ (Hampsher-monk, 2000). He holds the value of individuals as the highest in human life and in the role of promoting a development of civilisation.
Seen in social contract theory; government is the solution to problem of disorder. Example: Woodrow Wilson’s support for first world government ‘the League of Nations in 1919. Liberals recognise that law must be enforced, endorsing the principle of collective security between a number of states. Second stems from Liberal commitment to individual and individualism (equal moral worth). Although they endorse idea of self-determination, does not mean they entitle nations to treat people however they choose.
Liberalism as an ideology has a long and complex history in politics as well as philosophy. In essence the liberal tradition refers to a system of thought or ideology which emphasizes the concept of freedom and personal liberty as the purpose of government. This also implies the ability to desist and the right of opposition to established systems and rules and governance which may be seen to infringe on the ethos of freedom that forms the kernel of liberal ideologies. A simple definition of the idea of the liberal tradition is as follows. Liberalism is a political current embracing several historical and present-day ideologies that claim defense of individual liberty as the purpose of government.