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.

Liberalism today

Political positions

A caveat is in order: as with any other political philosophy, an abstract explanation of liberalism refers to an ideal. In practice, politicians make pragmatic compromises (see centrism), have personal interests, and may pander to voters, so that the ideal is never a perfect description of any one individual's politics. Further, as with any other political philosophy, liberalism in any of its forms is defined somewhat differently by its proponents and its opponents. Those who adhere precisely to a well-defined set of principles are often those who are far removed from contention for political power. That said, the policies of liberal parties are always more or less based on the right to self determination of the individual, and the reciprocal responsibility of the state to protect and promote the individual citizens which make it up.

Related Topics:
Centrism - Power

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In general, liberals favor constitutional government, representative democracy and the rule of law. Liberals at various times have embraced both constitutional monarchy and republican government. They are generally opposed to any but the milder forms of nationalism, and usually stand in contrast to conservatives by their broader tolerance and in more readily embracing multiculturalism. Furthermore, they generally favor human rights and civil liberties, especially freedom of speech and freedom of the press (while disagreeing on the degree to which people have the right of economic wellbeing). However, the liberal commitment to unrestricted individual liberty is not necessarily absolute: as Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. said, "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre?," and liberal parties support restrictions on incitement to violence. In the penal system, liberals in most countries oppose capital punishment.

Related Topics:
Constitution - Representative democracy - Rule of law - Constitutional monarchy - Republic - Nationalism - Tolerance - Multiculturalism - Human rights - Civil liberties - Freedom of speech - Freedom of the press - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. - Capital punishment

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Liberals believe in a free market and free trade, but they differ in the degree of limited government intervention in the economy which they advocate. In general, government responsibility for health, education and alleviating poverty fits into the policies of most liberal parties. But virtually all of them tend to believe in a far smaller role for the state than would be supported by most social democrats, let alone socialists or communists.

Related Topics:
Government intervention - Economy - Social democrats - Socialists - Communists

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Liberals generally believe in a neutral government, in the sense that it is not for the state to determine how individuals can pursue happiness. This self-determination gives way to an open mind in ethical questions. Most liberal parties support the 'pro choice' movement and advocate equal rights for women and for homosexuals. Equality before the law is crucial in liberal policies, and racism is incompatible with liberalism. All liberal parties are secular, but they differ on the issue of anti-clericalism. Liberal parties in Latin countries tend to be very anti-clerical.

Related Topics:
Racism - Secular - Anti-clericalism - Anti-clerical

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Liberals agree on the idea that society should have very limited interests in the private behavior of its citizens in the areas of private sexual relations, free speech, personal conscience or religious beliefs, as well as political association. Assurance of personal liberties and freedom, particularly in the case of individual expression, is highly important to liberalism. As John Rawls put it, "The state has no right to determine a particular conception of the good life". Liberals expect society to support equal opportunity for its citizens. In general, liberals do not believe that the government should directly control any industrial production through state owned enterprises, which places them in opposition to social democrats.

Related Topics:
John Rawls - State owned enterprise - Social democrat

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Since liberalism is broad, and generally pragmatic in its orientation, there is no hard and fast list of policy prescriptions which can be universally assumed to be "liberal". In some circumstances there will be tax increases, in others tax decreases. In some cases there will be the creation of a quasi-public entity to perform a function, in other cases privatization or the creation of a government program. Sometimes liberalism emphasizes financial aid to poorer citizens (e.g. as unemployment benefits or negative income tax or basic income, guaranteed minimum income or citizen's dividend). Most liberal parties argue that the government should provide some form of health services and basic education. Also, most liberals believe that social security benefits should be financed from taxes, whereas perks must be purchased by private insurances. In order to provide fuller choice for individuals, they may sometimes support vouchers in utilization of government-paid benefits, such as education or senior care.

Related Topics:
Unemployment benefit - Negative income tax - Guaranteed minimum income - Citizen's dividend

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Liberalism in various countries

The word liberalism and its cognates have different (albeit related) meanings in various countries. In most countries, capital-"L" Liberal is used to label the members or sympathizers of a Liberal Party, while small-"l" liberal is used to label the adherents of liberalism as an ideology or simply a political stance.

Related Topics:
Liberal Party - Liberalism - Ideology

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• On the European continent, liberal generally refers to a broad tradition of individual liberties as well as democratically accountable government. This usually encompasses the belief that government should act to alleviate poverty and other social problems, but not through radical changes to the structure of society. European liberals are divided on the degree of government intervention in economy, but generally they favor limited intervention. In Southern Europe, the word "liberal" can refer either to traditional liberal anti-clericalism or to economic liberalism. However, in recent years in France, the word is being increasingly used by proponents of laissez-faire capitalism and minarchists to describe themselves; in reaction, ultra-libéral is a pejorative term aimed by a large section of the French left-wing against those whom they regard as having extreme capitalist views. The progressive wing of European liberalism, e.g. in France, often uses the label "radical", (see also Liberalism in Germany, Liberalism in the Netherlands, Liberalism in France, Liberalism in the United Kingdom).
• In Australia (main article Liberalism in Australia): the Liberal Party is a party of the centre-right. Within the Liberal Party of Australia, conservatism and monetarist economics are both are in a position of dominance. The term small-l liberal generally refers to someone who champions civil liberties and progressive causes such as Australian republicanism and Aboriginal reconciliation, as in parties such as the Australian Democrats, which began its life a split-off from the Liberal Party. Small-l liberals are becoming less and less visible members of the Liberal Party.
• Canada (main article: Liberalism in Canada): In Canada, Liberal refers mainly to the policies and ideas of the Liberal Party of Canada, the most frequent governing party of Canada for the last century and one of the largest liberal parties in the world. The Liberal Party of Canada has generally supported a welfare state and, in the latter half of the 20th Century was regarded as a party of the center left. During the 1990s, the Liberal Party moved to the neoliberal right on economic issues, although it continues to espouse left-of-center policies on some social issues, .
• New Zealand (main article Liberalism in New Zealand): In New Zealand liberalism refers to a support for individual liberties and limited government. The term is generally used with a reference to a particular policy area, e.g. "market liberalism" or "social liberalism". Unqualified liberalism is less common; in its extreme form it is known by the American term libertarianism.
• Russia (main article Liberalism in Russia: The so-called Liberal Democratic Party of Russia is not at all liberal; it is a nationalist, right-wing populist party. Russian liberals are organised into the Yabloko and Union of Right Forces parties).
• United Kingdom (main article Liberalism in the United Kingdom): The Liberal Democrats in Great Britain generally support social liberalism, while taking a centrist, largely pragmatic view on economics, supporting economic freedom and market competition in principle but often advocating more state/government provision or regulation to support particular policy objectives. Generally identified with the term 'Liberal' in current UK politics, they are the third largest political party, taking 22% of the vote in the last election, but due to the First Past the Post electoral system their representation in parliament is much smaller. Generally therefore, in the contemporary UK, 'Liberal' refers to an ideology advocating broad social freedoms, but less attached to economic liberalism.
• United States (main article: Liberalism in the United States) The primary use of the term liberal in the United States is at some variance with European and British usage. In the 19th century it was not a common term in American philosophy or politics, partially because the two main parties were a mixture of populist and nationalist elements. The Democratic Party was the party of free trade, low tariffs and laissez-faire entrepreneurialism, while the Republican Party advocated national citizenship, transparency and a stable currency. Liberalism in the United States was primarily defined by the self-proclaimed liberal presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt. While the emphasis on mutual collaboration through liberal institutions as an alternative to the threat and use of force remained consistent with international liberalism, United States liberals also claimed that individuals have a right to expect the government to guarantee social justice. This was in part a consequence of the influence of the ideas of British economist John Maynard Keynes on Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. The New Deal had the effect of stealing the thunder of social democratic forces and the necessity to prevent social unrest strengthened this development. As McCarthyism gave the terms socialism and even social democracy a meaning synonymous with treason in the U.S., many to the left of center moderated their views, aligning with the New Deal liberals. Since approximately the Reagan era, the word liberal has been so much used as a derogatory term by U.S. conservatives that it led to an ever increasing number of critics of conservatism to identify with progressivism, a left-wing political philosophy that places less emphasis on democratic consensus, rather than turning to liberalism.
• Latin America: In many Latin American countries, liberalism has been associated with generally left-of-center political movements such as Colombia's Liberal Party, historically concerned mostly with effecting government decentralization and regional autonomy (liberals were influential in the total dissolution of at least two defunct countries, the United Provinces of Central America and Gran Colombia) and separation of church and state. At times, ironically enough, the anti-clerical and secularist stances promoted by Latin American liberals have resulted in limitations on the civil rights of clergy or others associated with the Church (as in Mexico,where law still prohibits priests from public office).

Contemporary European liberal politics

What do liberals in fact advocate? Liberal political parties have specific policies, which the social scientist can either read from party manifestos, or infer from actual actions and laws passed by ostensibly liberal parties. The sources listed below serve to illustrate some of the current liberal attitudes in Europe.

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• the policies of liberal parties in government, including those in coalition arrangements (taking into mind that coalition partners make compromises), since they show what liberals are prepared to ??accept?? as well as the policies of liberal parties in opposition
• the positions of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe faction in the European Parliamenthttp://alde.europarl.eu.int/ and the Election Manifesto of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party.
• the forum of the German FDP http://forum.fdp-bundesverband.de/index.php?22, which is relatively unmoderated, and illustrates grassroots liberal concerns local to that area as well as the sites of all other Liberal parties, e.g. the British Liberal Democrats and the Democrats 66 from the Netherlands.
• the Belgian website / think tank Liberales.be http://www.liberales.be which has longer essays on new liberal policies
• the views and policies of the Open Society Institute, since they explicitly claim to derive from the principles of a major liberal philosopher, Karl Popper.
• the Lisbon Strategy of the European Union, since it is strongly supported by the liberal parties, and sets out a vision of a future Europe.

Out of these sources and other sources on can derive policies of liberal parties.

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