Liberalism

:This article discusses liberalism as a major political ideology, not the usage of the term in specific countries. For links to articles about varieties of liberalism and liberal parties around the world, see Liberalism in various countries, below.

Comparison of liberalism with related ideologies

As explained in the preceding sections, there are a number of ideologies and philosophies that influence liberals and liberal theory, or that share many common points with one or more branches of liberalism. Social democracy can be considered liberalism's closest "neighbor" on the left, while conservativism is liberalism's closest "neighbor" on the right. Neoliberalism is a certain type of pro-market economic policy that arguably rose from the liberal tradition. It is often adopted by conservative, christian-democratic and social democratic politicians, not necessarily combining this with a liberal agenda outside politics. Libertarianism, which developed out of classical liberalism, is sometimes considered a branch of liberalism and sometimes a separate ideology in its own right.

Related Topics:
Social democracy - Conservativism - Neoliberalism - Christian-democratic - Libertarianism

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Neoliberalism

See main article Neoliberalism.

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Neoliberalism is an economic ideology rather than a broader political ideology. The swing away from government action in the 1970s led to the introduction of this term, which refers to a program of reducing trade barriers and internal market restrictions as a way towards a more free market capitalist system. It does accept a certain degree of government involvement in the economy, particularly the acceptance of the need for a central bank and a capable national defense, but it seeks to reduce government regulation (and particularly taxes) as much as possible. While neoliberalism is sometimes described as overlapping with Thatcherism, economists as diverse as Joseph Stiglitz and Milton Friedman have been described — by others — as "neoliberal". As said before, this economic agenda is not necessarily combined with a liberal agenda in politics: neoliberals often do not subscribe to individual liberty on ethical issues or in sexual mores. An extreme example was the Pinochet regime in Chile, but some will also classify Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair or Gerhard Schröder as being neo-liberal.

Related Topics:
Free market - Thatcherism - Joseph Stiglitz - Milton Friedman - Chile - Ronald Reagan - Margaret Thatcher - Tony Blair - Gerhard Schröder

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Liberalism vs. social democracy

Liberalism shares many basic goals and methods with social democracy, but in some places diverges.

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The fundamental difference between liberalism and social democracy, besides their different origins, is the role of the state in the economy. Social democracy seeks to achieve some minimum equality of outcome, and upholds egalitarianism as the source of its moral values. Social democrats support a large public sector and the nationalization of utilities such as gas and electricity in order to avoid private monopolies, to achieve social justice and to raise the standard of living. Liberalism prefers much less state intervention, choosing for example subsidies and regulation rather than outright state ownership.

Related Topics:
Equality of outcome - Egalitarianism - Public sector - Nationalization - Social justice - Subsidies

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It should be noted that, in the 1990s, many social democratic parties adopted neoliberal economic policies such as extensive privatization and open markets, much to the dismay of many of their own voters. This has led these parties to become de facto neoliberal, and has often resulted in a drastic loss of popular support. For example, critics to the left of the German Social Democratic Party and the British Labour Party accuse them of pursuing neoliberal policies. This last case has led to the odd situation where the Labour Party is seen by many as being to the right of the Liberal Democrats.

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Libertarianism and classical liberalism

The modern tradition of libertarianism claims the ideological inheritance of classical liberalism. However, many object to this blending of what they see as two separate, opposing philosophies.

Related Topics:
Libertarianism - Classical liberalism

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Those who emphasize the distinction between classical liberalism and libertarianism point out that even Adam Smith believed a free market could not satisfy all the demands of a society. Furthermore, some (Haworth, 1994, pp. 27) argue that libertarianism and liberalism are fundamentally incompatible because the checks and balances provided by liberal institutions conflict with the support by most libertarians of complete economic deregulation. It may be argued,

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however, that minarchists (at least for those allowing for taxation and/or similar means to support

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a government) are not necessarily in favor of complete economic deregulation in the first place.

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Conservatism and classical liberalism

Some conservatives see themselves as the true inheritors of classical liberalism. Jonah Goldberg of National Review argues that "most conservatives are closer to classical liberals than a lot of Reason (magazine)-libertarians" because conservatives want to preserve some institutions that they see as needed for liberty.http://www.nationalreview.com/goldberg/goldberg121801.shtml Further confusing the classification of liberalism and conservatism is that some conservatives claim liberal values as their own.

Related Topics:
Jonah Goldberg - National Review - ''Reason'' (magazine)

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