Liberal conservatism
political ideology within conservatism
Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by liberalism.
The ideology incorporates the classical liberal view of minimal government intervention in the economy, according to which individuals should be free to participate in the market and generate wealth without government interference. However, liberal conservatives also hold that individuals cannot be thoroughly depended on to act responsibly in other spheres of life; therefore, they believe that a strong state is necessary to ensure law and order and that social institutions are needed to nurture a sense of duty and responsibility to the nation. Liberal conservatives also support civil liberties, and they differ on social issues; some are socially conservative and others socially liberal, though all liberal conservatives broadly support the rule of law regarding civil rights, social equality and the environment. This is equated with the creation of a cohesive and tolerant society with increased levels of individual responsibility and less inequality.
Liberal conservatism shares the classical liberal tenets of a commitment to individualism, belief in negative freedom, a lightly regulated free market, and a minimal rule of law state. A number of commentators have stated that many conservative currents in the 1980s, such as Thatcherism, were rejuvenated classical liberals in all but name. However, in contrast to classical liberalism, there is a stronger social agenda and support for a greater degree of state intervention, especially in those areas of social life which liberal conservatives believe should not be subject to market forces. Particularly with regard to the family, sexuality, health and education, these should either always be periodically regulated or minimally protected by the state.
Overview, definitions and usage
Both conservatism and liberalism have had different meanings over time in different centuries.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Liberal conservatism” is political ideology within conservatism. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Liberal, conservatism and political, not as a finished interpretation.
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This entry incorporates text from “Liberal conservatism” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.