Misplaced Pages

Liberal International

Headquarters of Liberal International, London
Abbreviation	LI Libintern
Formation	April 1947, constituted with the Oxford Manifesto
Type	International non-governmental organization Political international
Purpose	World federation of liberal political parties and organisations
Headquarters	National Liberal Club
Location	London, SW1A United Kingdom
Region served	Worldwide
Membership	90 political parties and 21 international organizations (as of May 2022)
President	Hakima El Haite
Main organ	Congress of Liberal International
Website	liberal-international.org

Part of a series on
Liberalism
History Age of Enlightenment List of liberal theorists (contributions to liberal theory)
Principles Consent of the governed Due process Democracy Economic liberalism Economic globalization Equality Gender Legal Federalism Freedom Economic Market Trade Press Religion Speech Harm principle Internationalism Invisible hand Labor theory of property Laissez-faire Liberty Negative Positive Limited government Market economy Natural monopoly Open society Permissive society Popular sovereignty Property Private Public Rights Civil and political Natural and legal To own property To bear arms Rule of law Secularism Secular humanism Separation of church and state Separation of powers Social contract Social justice Social services Welfare state Whig history
Philosophers Milton Locke Spinoza Montesquieu Voltaire Rousseau Smith Kant Turgot Burke Priestley Paine Beccaria Condorcet Bentham Korais De Gouges Wollstonecraft Staël Say Humboldt Constant Ricardo Guizot List Bastiat Martineau Emerson Tocqueville Mill Spencer Arnold Acton Weber Hobhouse Croce Cassirer Mises Ortega Keynes Collingwood Čapek Hu Hayek Popper Aron Berlin Friedman Rawls Sen Nozick Kymlicka Badawi
Politicians Jefferson Kołłątaj Madison Artigas Bolívar Broglie Lamartine Macaulay Kossuth Deák Cobden Mazzini Juárez Lincoln Gladstone Cavour Sarmiento Mommsen Naoroji Itagaki Levski Kemal Deakin Milyukov Lloyd George Venizelos Ståhlberg Gokhale Rathenau Madero Einaudi King Roosevelt Pearson Ohlin Kennedy Jenkins Balcerowicz Verhofstadt Obama Macron
Organizations Africa Liberal Network Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party Arab Liberal Federation Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats European Democratic Party European Liberal Youth International Alliance of Libertarian Parties International Federation of Liberal Youth Liberal International Liberal Network for Latin America Liberal parties Liberal South East European Network
Regional variants Europe Latin America Albania Armenia Australia Austria Belgium Bolivia Brazil Bulgaria Canada Chile China Hong Kong Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia Denmark Ecuador Egypt Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Venizelism Honduras Hungary India Iran Israel Italy Liberism Japan Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Mexico Moldova Montenegro Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Nigeria North Macedonia Norway Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Cracovian Portugal Romania Russia Senegal Serbia Slovakia Slovenia South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Tunisia Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Cobdenism Gladstonian Manchester Whiggism United States Arizona School Classical Jeffersonian Modern Uruguay Venezuela Zimbabwe
Related topics Anti-authoritarianism Anti-communism Bias in American academia Bias in the media Capitalism Democratic Centrism Radical centrism Economic freedom Egalitarianism Empiricism Humanism Individualism Anarchist Land value tax Libertarianism Left Right Pirate Party Progressivism Sexually liberal feminism Utilitarianism
Schools Classical Conservative Cultural Feminist Equity Green Internationalist Muscular National Neoclassical Neo Ordo Radical Religious Christian Catholic Islamic Jewish Secular Social Techno Third Way
Liberalism portal Politics portal
v t e

Liberal International (LI or Libintern) is a worldwide organization of liberal political parties. The political international was founded in Oxford in 1947 and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal and progressive democratic parties aiming to strengthen liberalism and democratic values around the world. Its headquarters are at 1 Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2HD, within the National Liberal Club. The Oxford Manifesto describes the basic political principles of the Liberal International, which is currently made up of 111 parties and organizations.

Aims

The Liberal International Constitution (2005) gives its purposes as:

to win general acceptance of Liberal principles which are international in their nature throughout the world, and to foster the growth of a free society based on personal liberty, personal responsibility and social justice, and to provide the means of co-operation and interchange of information between the member organisations, and between men and women of all countries who accept these principles.

The principles that unite member parties from Africa, America, Asia and Europe are respect for human rights, free and fair elections and multi-party democracy, social justice, tolerance, market economy, free trade, environmental sustainability and a strong sense of international solidarity.

The aims of Liberal International are also set out in a series of seven manifestos, written between 1946 and 1997, and are furthered by a variety of bodies including a near-yearly conference for liberal parties and individuals from around the world.

Bureau

The bureau of Liberal International is elected every 18 months by the delegates of the congress.

The 14th president of Liberal International is Hakima el Haite of the Mouvement Populaire (Morocco), is a former Minister of Environment, UN climate champion, and climate scientist. Madam El Haite succeeded Dr Juli Minoves, formerly Andorra's foreign minister and representative to the United Nations.

Former Presidents include Hans Van Baalen MEP, John, Lord Alderdice, Dutch politician and former European Commissioner Frits Bolkestein, German politician Otto Graf Lambsdorff, and Spain's first democratically elected prime minister after Francoist Spain, Adolfo Suárez.

The secretary-general of Liberal International is Gordon Mackay, a former Member of the National Assembly of South Africa. Other members of the bureau include Deputy President Prof. Karl-Heinz Paque; and Vice Presidents Cellou Dalein Diallo (Guinea), Kitty Monterrey (Nicaragua), Abir al-Sahlani (Sweden), Kiat Sittheamorn (Thailand) and Robert Woodthorpe Browne (United Kingdom). There are two elected treasurers, Judith Pallares MP (Andorra) and Minister Omar Youm (Senegal).

Awards

Liberal International awards prizes to individuals in the areas of human rights and liberalism.

Prize for Freedom:

The Liberal International Prize for Freedom is LI's most prestigious human rights award. Conveyed annually since 1984 to an individual of liberal conviction who has made outstanding efforts for the defence of freedom and human rights, recipients include Maria Corina Machado of Venezuela, Senator Leila de Lima of the Philippines, Raif Badawi of Saudi Arabia, Waris Dirie of Somalia and Václav Havel of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic.

Medal of Liberalism:

The Liberal International Medal of Liberalism is awarded to individuals who have worked to advance liberal values on a local, national and international level. Recipients include President Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel of Luxembourg, President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan and Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe leader Sir Graham Watson of the United Kingdom.

Publications

The LI Human Rights Bulletin is published three times per year and consists of opinion articles, video interviews and digest of the work of the LI human rights committee.

Thematic publications are published online and in print on an ad hoc basis. Recent texts have offered a liberal perspective on issues ranging from freedom of belief to the responsibility to protect.

History

Before establishment

Because inter-war International Entente of Radical and Similar Democratic Parties ceased to operate in the beginning of the World War II, on 16 June 1946 representatives of the Liberal Party of Belgium, British Liberal Party, French Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party, Danish Social Liberal Party, Freedom Party of the Netherlands, Free Democratic Party of Switzerland, People's Party of Sweden, Italian Liberal Party and the representatives of Spanish Liberals in exile assembled in Brussels and adopted the Declaration of Brussels, which called for creation of world liberal organization.

Oxford Manifesto

The Oxford Manifesto, drawn up in April 1947 at Wadham College in Oxford by representatives from 19 liberal political parties from South Africa, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Spain, Estonia, United Kingdom, United States, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and Turkey is a document describing the basic political principles of the Liberal International. Creation of its main principles were led by Salvador de Madariaga.

The Oxford Manifesto was inspired by the ideas of William Beveridge and is regarded as one of the defining political documents of the 20th century.

Fifty years on, in 1997, Liberal International returned to Oxford and issued a supplement to the original manifesto, The Liberal Agenda for the 21st century, describing Liberal policies in greater detail. The second Oxford Manifesto was adopted by the 48th Congress of Liberal International, which was held on 27–30 November 1997 in the Oxford Town Hall. In 2017, the global federation marked its 70th anniversary with the adoption of the Andorra Liberal Manifesto for the twenty-first century (ALM). A three-year project across numerous continents initiated by then president Juli Minoves, the ALM embodied the widest consultation of views undertaken by Liberal International in order to compile a policy document.

Organisation

Presidents

N°	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Country	Presidency		Membership
1		Salvador de Madariaga (1886–1978)	United Kingdom Spain (exiled)	20 April 1948	18 April 1952	Association Mont Pelerin Society
2		Roger Motz (1904–1964)	Belgium	18 April 1952	20 April 1958	Liberal Party
3		Giovanni Malagodi (1904–1991)	Italy	20 April 1958	15 April 1966	Italian Liberal Party
4		Edzo Toxopeus (1918–2009)	Netherlands	15 April 1966	25 April 1970	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
5		Gaston Thorn (1928–2007)	Luxembourg	25 April 1970	18 April 1982	Democratic Party
(3)		Giovanni Malagodi (1904–1991)	Italy	18 April 1982	26 April 1989	Italian Liberal Party
6		Adolfo Suárez (1932–2014)	Spain	26 April 1989	22 April 1992	Democratic and Social Centre
7		Otto Graf Lambsdorff (1926–2009)	Germany	22 April 1992	25 April 1994	Free Democratic Party
8		David Steel (1938–)	United Kingdom	25 April 1994	15 April 1996	Liberal Democrats
9		Frits Bolkestein (1933–)	Netherlands	15 April 1996	18 April 2000	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
10		Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck (1944–)	Belgium	18 April 2000	25 April 2005	Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten
11		John Alderdice (1955–)	United Kingdom	25 April 2005	20 April 2009	Liberal Democrats and Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
12		Hans van Baalen (1960–2021)	Netherlands	20 April 2009	26 April 2014	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
13		Juli Minoves (1969–)	Andorra	26 April 2014	30 November 2018	Liberal Party of Andorra
14		Hakima El Haite (1963–)	Morocco	30 November 2018	Incumbent	Popular Movement

Members

Incumbent heads of state and government

• Justin Trudeau
   Canada
• Alexander De Croo
   Belgium
• Kristen Michal
   Estonia
• Alassane Ouattara
   Ivory Coast
• Lai Ching-te
   Taiwan
• Charles Michel
   European Union

Full members

LI has 90 political parties.

Country/Region	Name	Government	Joined
Belgium	Reform Movement	Government	2002
	Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats	Government	1992
Bulgaria	Movement for Rights and Freedoms	Opposition	2003
Burkina Faso	Alliance for Democracy and Federation – African Democratic Rally	Opposition	2006
Burundi	Alliance démocratique pour le renouveau [fr]	Opposition	2009
Cambodia	Cambodia National Rescue Movement	Extra-parliamentary	2006
Canada	Liberal Party of Canada	Government	1947
Chile	Evópoli	Opposition	2023
	Liberal Party of Chile	Government	2014
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Together for the Republic	Opposition	2008
Côte d'Ivoire	Rally of the Republicans	Government	2003
Croatia	Istrian Democratic Assembly	Opposition	2014
Cuba	Cuban Liberal Union	In exile	1992
	Democratic Solidarity Party	Opposition
	National Liberal Party	Opposition
Denmark	Danish Social Liberal Party	Opposition	1948
	Liberal Party	Government	1947
Estonia	Estonian Reform Party	Government	1994
EU	ALDE Group	—
	ALDE Party	—
Finland	Centre Party	Opposition	1983
	Swedish People's Party	Government	1983
Georgia	Republican Party of Georgia	Opposition	2006
Germany	German Group of the LI	—	1947
	Free Democratic Party	Opposition	1947
Gibraltar	Liberal Party	Government	1997
Guinea	Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea	Opposition	2012
	Union of Republican Forces	Opposition	2012
Honduras	Liberal Party	Opposition	1986
Iceland	Progressive Party	Government	1983
Ireland	Fianna Fáil	Government	2014
Kenya	Orange Democratic Movement	Opposition	2015
Kosovo	Independent Liberal Party	Extra-parliamentary	2009
	Democratic Party of Kosovo	Opposition	2023
Lebanon	Future Movement	Extra-parliamentary	2012
Luxembourg	Democratic Party	Government
Madagascar	Movement for the Progress of Madagascar	Extra-parliamentary	1994
	Arche de la Nation	Extra-parliamentary	2017
Mexico	New Alliance Party	Opposition	2006
Mongolia	Civil Will-Green Party	Opposition	2009
Montenegro	Liberal Party of Montenegro	Government	2014
Morocco	Constitutional Union	Opposition	2003
	Popular Movement	Opposition	2003
Netherlands	Democrats 66	Opposition	1986
	Dutch Group of LI	—
	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	Government	1960
Nicaragua	Ciudadanos por la Libertad	Opposition
North Macedonia	Liberal Democratic Party	Government	1994
Norway	Liberal Party	Opposition	1947
Paraguay	Authentic Radical Liberal Party	Opposition	2001
Philippines	Liberal Party	Opposition	1989
Portugal	Iniciativa Liberal	Opposition
Romania	National Liberal Party	Government	1994
Russia	Yabloko	Extra-parliamentary	2002
Senegal	Alliance pour la République	Government	2018
	Rewmi	Government	2015
	Senegalese Democratic Party	Opposition	1980
Slovenia	Concretely	Extra-parliamentary
Somalia	CAHDI Party	Opposition	2017
South Africa	Democratic Alliance	Government	1984
Spain	Fundació Llibertat i Democràcia	—
Sweden	Liberals	Government	1947
	Centre Party	Opposition	2006
Serbia	Movement of Free Citizens	Opposition	2022
Switzerland	FDP.The Liberals	Government	2009
Taiwan	Democratic Progressive Party	Government	1994
Tanzania	Civic United Front	Opposition / in coalition in autonomous region of Zanzibar	1997
Thailand	Democrat Party	Government
United Kingdom	Alliance Party of Northern Ireland	In coalition government in Northern Irish Assembly, in opposition at national level	1991
	Liberal International British Group	—
	Liberal Democrats	Opposition	1989
Worldwide	International Federation of Liberal Youth	—
	International Network of Liberal Women	—

Observer parties

Country/Region	Name	Government
Austria	NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum	Opposition
Burkina Faso	Union pour le Progrès et le Changement	Opposition
Comoros	Alliance Nationale pour les Comores	Extra-parliamentary
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Union pour la reconstruction du Congo [fr]	Opposition
Republic of the Congo	Union des Democrates Humanistes (UDH-YUKI)	—
Cyprus	United Democrats	Extra-parliamentary
Ghana	Progressive People's Party	Opposition
Hungary	Momentum Movement	Opposition
Israel	Yesh Atid	Opposition
Italy	Italian Group of Liberal International	—
Malaysia	Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia	In opposition
Mali	Citizens' Party for the Renewal of Mali	Extra-parliamentary
	Union pour la République et la Démocratie (URD)	—
Mauritania	Rally for Mauritania	Opposition
Moldova	Liberal Reformist Party	Extra-parliamentary
Morocco	Moroccan Liberal Party	Extra-parliamentary
Singapore	Singapore Democratic Party	Extra-parliamentary
Suriname	Democratic Alternative '91	Extra-parliamentary
Syria	Syrian Liberal Party	In exile
Tunisia	Afek Tounes	Extra-parliamentary
Ukraine	Holos	Opposition
Venezuela	Vente Venezuela	Extra-parliamentary

Individual member

Country	Name	Government
Hong Kong	Mr Martin Lee – founding chairman of Democratic Party	Extra-parliamentary

Cooperating organizations

Cooperating and regional organisations are groups with a recognised status in the constitution of Liberal International as bodies that share the values and objectives of LI but do not operate as a political party. Co-operating organisations have the right of representation but in no case the right to vote at statutory events. LI has 12 cooperating organizations.

Liberal think tanks and foundations

The International is also in a loose association with the following 10 organisations:

See also

• Liberalism by country
• Prize For Freedom
• Alliance of Democrats (defunct)
• European Democratic Party

References

1. "Constitution – Politics – Liberalism". Liberal-international.org. Archived from the original on 25 November 2010. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
2. "Bureau Members". Liberal International. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
3. "Oxford Manifesto 1947 – Manifesto – Politics – Liberalism". Liberal-international.org. Archived from the original on 11 February 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
4. "Oxford Manifesto 1997 – Manifesto – Politics – Liberalism". Liberal-international.org. 30 November 1997. Archived from the original on 7 February 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
5. "Andorra Liberal Manifesto - 2017". Liberal International. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
6. ^ "Europe - Liberal International". Liberal International. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
7. "Liberal Party of Canada Welcomes Liberal International to 2009 Convention". Liberal Party of Canada. 6 March 2009. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
8. "North America - Liberal International". Liberal International. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
9. Web, Editor (4 May 2023). "Evolución Política se incorpora como miembro pleno de la Internacional Liberal". Evópoli (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 May 2023. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
10. "VVD is a member of LI". Archived from the original on 28 September 2011.
11. Hoffman, Gil (3 October 2021). "Yesh Atid joins Liberal International". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
12. "Livres se torna única organização brasileira na Liberal Internacional • LIVRES".
13. "63rd Liberal International Congress (75th Anniversary) in Sofia, Bulgaria 2022". Liberal International. Retrieved 25 January 2023.

External links

• Liberal International official site

• Liberal International
• International conferences
• International liberal organizations
• Political internationals
• Political organisations based in London
• Organizations established in 1947
• 1947 establishments in England