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.

Etymology

The word "liberal" derives from the Latin "liber" ("free") and all liberals present themselves as friends of freedom. Early Enlightenment thinkers contrasted this freedom to the Ancien Regime, to feudalism and to mercantilism. Later, as more radical philosophies articulated their thoughts in the course of the French Revolution and through the nineteenth century, liberalism defined itself in contrast to socialism and communism, although modern European liberal parties have often formed coalitions with social-democratic parties. Liberalism now defines itself in opposition to totalitarianism and collectivism, examples of the former including fascism, monarchism and bureaucratic collectivism, and the latter, Marxist socialism. In advocating the nation-state as a process-based solution to solving conflict, liberalism has had to define itself in contrast with anarchism. Many liberals adhere at the same time to internationalism.

Related Topics:
Latin - Enlightenment - Ancien Regime - Feudalism - Mercantilism - French Revolution - Socialism - Communism - Social-democratic - Totalitarianism - Collectivism - Fascism - Monarchism - Bureaucratic collectivism - Marxist - Anarchism - Internationalism

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Classification in a consistent manner is made difficult by the tendency of the dominant strain of liberalism in a region to refer to itself simply as "liberalism" and reject that identification for other minority positions. Since the word "liberalism" can not only refer to a variety of distinct political positions in different countries but can also range from being highly complimentary to being a term of abuse, the connotations of the word in different political cultures can be starkly different.

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The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) indicates that the word liberal has long been in the English language with the meanings of "befitting free men, noble, generous" as in liberal arts; also with the meaning "free from restraint in speech or action", as in liberal with the purse, or liberal tongue, usually as a term of reproach but, beginning 1776–88 imbued with a more favorable sense by Edward Gibbon and others to mean "free from prejudice, tolerant."

Related Topics:
Oxford English Dictionary - English - Noble - Liberal arts - Edward Gibbon

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The first English language use to mean "tending in favor of freedom and democracy" according to the OED dates from about 1801 and comes from the French libéral, "originally applied in English by its opponents (often in Fr. form and with suggestions of foreign lawlessness)". They give early English language citation, "1801 Hel. M. WILLIAMS, Sk. Fr. Rep. I. xi. 113," presumably Helen Maria Williams, Sketches of the State of Manners and Opinions in the French Republic: "The extinction of every vestige of freedom, and of every liberal idea with which they are associated."

Related Topics:
Democracy - 1801 - French - Helen Maria Williams

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The editors of the Spanish Constitution of 1812, drafted in that year in Cádiz, may have been the first to use the word liberal in a political sense as a noun. They named themselves the Liberales, to state that they opposed the absolutist power of the Spanish monarchy.

Related Topics:
Spanish Constitution of 1812 - Cádiz - Monarchy

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