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| '''Liberalism''' may be used to describe any ideology |
'''Liberalism''' may be used to describe any ideology | ||
| that claims individual liberty to dissent | |||
| from orthodox tenets or established authorities | |||
| in political or religious matters, | |||
| in contrast to ]. | |||
| 1. One usage of the term is for a tradition of thought, | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| that tries to circumscribe the limits of political power, | |||
| and to define inalienable individual rights. | |||
| This usage is more common in continental Europe. | |||
| See ] or ]. | |||
| 2. Another, less common usage, is to denote the tradition | |||
| 2. An alternate usage denotes a particular class of sociopolitical ideologies. | |||
| of various ''liberal parties''. | |||
| However, though said liberal parties were originally founded | |||
| on the tradition above, they significantly diverged from it | |||
| since they came to power in the XIXth century, and liberal parties around | |||
| the world are now based on a variety of unrelated ideologies, | |||
| so the ideological content of the word depends on the geographical context. | |||
| See ]. | |||
| 3. Another, common usage, denotes the ideology of ], | |||
| '''Liberalism''' is rooted in the Enlightenment, the central developer of which is seventeenth century English political philosopher ]. Liberalism is the view that the autonomy and dignity of the individual should be protected and not infringed by the state. Consequently, liberalism holds, we have certain civil and political liberties and rights that it is the duty of the government to uphold, and ] derives its authority to govern by law by the consent of the governed. In Locke's day, liberalism was contrasted with ], ], and various kind of religious ]; since then, it has developed in many ways and been contrasted with many different other political theories, especially ] and various forms of ]. | |||
| as defended by the liberal party in UK since the early XXth century, | |||
| under the influence of ]. | |||
| It is with this background that ] claimed to be ] | |||
| in the 1930s, and that many american left-wingers claimed to be liberal. | |||
| This usage is very popular in the ]. | |||
| See ]. | |||
| 4. A limited usage is to denote the tradition shared by the above: | |||
| ], ], ], and ] developed the concept of the "]", though the writings of Hobbes and Rousseau include many illiberalisms. Also ], ]. | |||
| authors like ] or ], | |||
| up to the mid XIXth century. | |||
| 5. Some commentators try to distinguish in the "liberal philosophy" | |||
| Early liberals believed in individual rights and limited government. This is now, in the United States anyway, called "]." The word "liberal" still has this meaning in ], but not in the ], where it more closely describes the ideology known as "]" or an alternative purely political doctrine known as ]. | |||
| (which meaning between 1, 3, or 4 remaining unspecified) | |||
| a "political liberalism" from an "economical liberalism". | |||
| These dichotomies reflect more about the ideology | |||
| of those who make such a dichotomy, than about the ideology of anyone else. | |||
| 6. An unrelated usage denotes | |||
| Modern liberal thought may be distinguished into ] and ] (also "revisionist liberalism"). | |||
| ⚫ | a nineteenth-century movement in ]; | ||
| see ]. | |||
| ⚫ | ---- | ||
| At present in the U.K. and Europe, liberalism is a political current which regards freedom as the most important thing and as such rejects large ] influences. Ethically, liberals prefer to have the person decide his or her ethics himself or herself, without government influence. Government should only forbid behaviours that have a substantial negative impact on others. Economically, liberals are in favor of a ], again with as little influence from government as possible. In their opinion, everyone doing what (s)he thinks is best, is the best way to ensure that the total outcome is best for all. The opponents of liberals are ] in the ethical range and ] in the economical. | |||
| The common meaning of terms evolve: | |||
| whereas the word "liberal" was clearly associated to meaning 1 | |||
| (]) in the XIXth century, | |||
| it has come to commonly have meaning 3 (]) | |||
| in the US after ], | |||
| and particularly as ] | |||
| made the word ] difficult to bear, | |||
| and left-wingers massively adopted the name "liberal". | |||
| For this reason, US classical liberals adopted the name | |||
| "]", | |||
| which leads to other confusion with european connotations of the term. | |||
| Recently, the word "liberal" has been so much used as a derogatory term | |||
| by US conservatives that many US liberals (meaning 3) | |||
| prefer to shun the word "]" | |||
| and call themselves "]". | |||
| In the UK, meanings 1, 2, 3 coexist, | |||
| since liberalism as an ideology | |||
| will be understood by scholars as ], | |||
| whereas there is an active political party named | |||
| ], | |||
| and meaning 3 is imported from the US, | |||
| including the derogatory usage by conservatives. | |||
| In the ], starting with the increase in size of government with the ] during the 1930s, liberals advocated government programs as a solution to many economic and societal problems. | |||
| Often in the United States, the term ] can carry negative connotations. In its place, ] is often used as a less ''charged'' label that better defines philosophies that are the political opposite of ]. An early use of the term "liberal" as a negative connotation was during the ] US Presidential election campaign. ] applied the term to his opponent ], and Dukakis' failure to respond to the charge is believed to have contributed (among other factors) to Bush's electoral victory. | |||
| In Europe, liberalism usually means ]; while in the U.S., it refers to ]. The usage in countries in other parts of the world varies; some use it in the European sense, others in the U.S. sense. | |||
| In the ] liberalism is generally connected with the history of the ] and the "moderation" sense of the word liberal. Attempts to use this term in the UK in the American sense by the right as a derisory term for people they don't like has caused a fair degree of confusion. See . | |||
| Minarchists in the U.S. are known as ], but this in turn causes confusion in other countries, where the word libertarian was traditionally used to denote some kind of ]. | |||
| Minarchists also lay claim to the term "]". | |||
| Some separate liberalism into ] and ], so as to be able to agree with one and disagree with the other. Minarchists reject such a division, because they believe liberalism to be neither an economic nor a political doctrine, but rather a theory of law. | |||
| Finally, it can mean a nineteenth-century movement in ]; see ]. | |||
| ⚫ | ---- | ||
| === External Links and References === | === External Links and References === | ||
| , |
* , by Gerald F. Gaus | ||
Revision as of 02:24, 25 April 2003
Liberalism may be used to describe any ideology that claims individual liberty to dissent from orthodox tenets or established authorities in political or religious matters, in contrast to conservatism.
1. One usage of the term is for a tradition of thought, that tries to circumscribe the limits of political power, and to define inalienable individual rights. This usage is more common in continental Europe. See classical liberalism or libertarianism.
2. Another, less common usage, is to denote the tradition of various liberal parties. However, though said liberal parties were originally founded on the tradition above, they significantly diverged from it since they came to power in the XIXth century, and liberal parties around the world are now based on a variety of unrelated ideologies, so the ideological content of the word depends on the geographical context. See political liberalism.
3. Another, common usage, denotes the ideology of social-democracy, as defended by the liberal party in UK since the early XXth century, under the influence of Fabianism. It is with this background that Keynes claimed to be liberal in the 1930s, and that many american left-wingers claimed to be liberal. This usage is very popular in the United States. See new liberalism.
4. A limited usage is to denote the tradition shared by the above: authors like John Locke or John Stuart Mill, up to the mid XIXth century.
5. Some commentators try to distinguish in the "liberal philosophy" (which meaning between 1, 3, or 4 remaining unspecified) a "political liberalism" from an "economical liberalism". These dichotomies reflect more about the ideology of those who make such a dichotomy, than about the ideology of anyone else.
6. An unrelated usage denotes a nineteenth-century movement in Christianity; see religious liberalism.
The common meaning of terms evolve: whereas the word "liberal" was clearly associated to meaning 1 (classical liberalism) in the XIXth century, it has come to commonly have meaning 3 (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", which leads to other confusion with european connotations of the term. Recently, the word "liberal" has been so much used as a derogatory term by US conservatives that many US liberals (meaning 3) prefer to shun the word "liberal" and call themselves "progressive". In the UK, meanings 1, 2, 3 coexist, since liberalism as an ideology will be understood by scholars as classical liberalism, whereas there is an active political party named the Liberal Democrat Party, and meaning 3 is imported from the US, including the derogatory usage by conservatives.
External Links and References
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Liberalism, by Gerald F. Gaus