LIBERALISM We are beginning with liberalism as it

LIBERALISM

We are beginning with liberalism as it is the dominant ideology in Western Europe However, that dominance makes it difficult to identify – as so much of what we consider to be “common sense” is actually liberalism – as we have been brought up and socialised into thinking this way.

Liberalism can be made even more confusing by the fact that so many political parties call themselves “liberal” when they quite often are not “liberal” at all. For example, the Liberal Party in Australia is actually pretty conservative – whereas, on the other hand, people labelled as “liberal” in America are generally people that would be on the left of the political spectrum.

The birth of liberalism really came in the struggle for religious toleration after the Reformation. There was a whole lot of people getting burned at the stake or decapitated for having different religious beliefs within Christianity. For these wars – and essentially the terrorist attacks taking place against the two groups (Protestants and Catholics) to end – a new ideology had to be adopted – one of toleration

TOLERATION Toleration is one of the core beliefs of liberalism, and essentially comes from a contradiction. Some people might think that it sounds quite negative these days, because it suggests when you “tolerate” something or someone, you are only grudgingly accepting them. Basically toleration requires a person to be able to approve and disapprove simultaneously. For example, person A Is a Roman Catholic who believes that the only way a person can be saved is through the Church But in a tolerant society they also have to accept that person B has the right to different religious views, and is justified in not seeking salvation through the Church.

This can be quite a difficult position for a religious person to be in, but it is this contradiction which is required if we are going to live in a multicultural, liberal society. Tim Farron, who used to be the leader of the Liberal Democrat Party found himself in a difficult position He is a practicing Christian, and his personal beliefs about homosexuality and abortion etc are in conflict with the beliefs of a tolerant society

THE INDIVIDUAL The individual is an idea which is central to individualism In the dark ages people were seen mostly as collectives – viewed according to their status – eg peasant, and seen as the property of another, usually the landlord or potentially the Monarch – hence people were “subjects”. The birth of liberalism coincided with a new type of thinking about the place of humans in the world – to be seen as people who are rational and free and able to make choices for oneself.

PROPERTY Liberals are all very much in favour of the idea of private property, liberals believe that property is a symbol of merit – people who work hard can and should achieve wealth, and this can be shown in the ownership of stuff Liberals believe in having a market economy where property and ideas can be traded freely.

REASON Liberalism and scientific advancements went hand in hand – science required the philosophy of liberalism to say that individual humans could achieve stuff, and it wasn’t all about God, and liberals required the scientists to make things like spinning jennies and steam engines for the industrial revolution to happen. A core idea of liberalism is the belief that humans are able to understand the world – rationalism and the need for evidence. A key part f this way of thinking is the belief that humans should not go to war – we all have the power to reason and negotiate

SOCIAL CONTRACTS Much of liberal thought is based on the idea of a social contract – and this is because we are all born free, and we are all reasonable Many liberals believe that the justification for having a government lies in the fact that we are all free, but we must choose to give up some of our freedom in order to protect ourselves from other people. Therefore if we give up our freedom to hurt other people and steal their property, we do so in the understanding that they have also given up their freedom to hurt us and steal our property. Basically we have a contract with each other – we both understand that if we break this contract, we will be punished.

RIGHTS Liberals believe that human beings have natural rights �we have the duty to protect ourselves, �we are equal and nobody has the right to subordinate another.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE The USA was controlled by the British Empire – until the Founding Fathers declared independence from the UK in 1776. Thomas Jefferson write the document which is now referred to as the “declaration of independence” and it is regarded as one of the most important documents in the history of liberalism “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”

CLASSICAL LIBERALISM This is old style liberalism, and basically is linked with a guy called John Locke This branch of liberalism tends to believe that the state should do as little as possible, and we should give up as little as possible to the state. The state should be a nightwatchman, and this means that it is there to provide physical protection from theft and war – but not much else – so there should be a police force, courts and prisons in order to protect people from those who want to physically hurt them or steal their stuff – but the state has no business getting involved in education or health or any of that stuff.

JOHN LOCKE 1632 -1704 Locke is regarded as a key thinker in early liberalism – a “classical liberal”. He believed in humans having natural rights – and it is his thinking which is most clear in the US Declaration of Independence and the constitution. Locke believed that we have to give consent to the government if it is to be a legitimate government – this means that we also have the right to take consent away from the government, if we disagree with it. He believed that we all give tacit consent when we go along with what the government is telling us to do – ie paying taxes, following the rules.

LIBERAL VIEW ON EQUALITY John Locke and Adam Smith are key liberal thinkers Their view was that people in the state of nature are equal in their rights, but not in their talents or their wealth. Economic inequality is not necessarily unfair, since it is based on people’s free choices. Freedom to make choices is worth more to humanity than equality

CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT Although liberals like Locke believe that we do need government – they also believe that there is a danger that government can oppress and dominate the people if given too much power. Power corrupts people, and so anyone given too much power will naturally go mad with it and start limiting the freedom of people. Government must live by the same rules as the people, there must be rule of law, and the people must know that there a set of rules. Different branches of the government should act as checks and balances to prevent any part of the government from over stretching itself.

EVOLUTION OF LIBERALISM The result was laissez faire capitalism. Terrible economic & social conditions for workers, including children. The government seemed powerless to act Led to rethinking liberalism. A good society might need more than right procedures in government. It also needed certain outcomes like decent quality of living for its citizens.

MODERN LIBERALISM This came about in response to some of the horrors of the industrial revolution, and the condition of Britain following all those wars we kept getting into Modern liberalism is not fearful of government power. Instead, government power can be a force for good, limiting the worst conditions of poverty, illiteracy, racism, exploitation, etc. The basis of progressive or liberal politics in the UK. We can see modern liberalism at work in the development of a universal education system during the 20 th century, and in the adoption of human rights laws, and equality legislation for women, ethnic minorities and disabled people.

A NEW VIEW OF FREEDOM Modern Liberalism was all about creating a new idea of what freedom could be. In the past, classical liberalism had been all about negative freedom – this means freedom from government control. Modern Liberalism became about positive freedom, this means that for a person to be truly free then the government has to help them to create the circumstances of their freedom – so the government needs to help them to get an education, and give them the opportunity to make healthy choices – this is the idea of Equality of Opportunity

JOHN STUART MILL & HARRIET TAYLOR MILL Were the husband wife partnership who revolutionised liberalism – their thinking became the bridge between classical liberalism and modern liberalism They wrote much together on the importance of women’s rights.

FREEDOM OF THOUGHT AND BELIEF John Stuart Mill writes in “On Liberty”: diversity in ideas and in conduct is a good thing, one that society ought to encourage, not discourage. He especially defends freedom of thought and discussion. "We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavouring to stifle is a false opinion, and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still. "

THE VALUE OF FREEDOM OF THOUGHT The opinion may be true. We are not infallible. The opinion may be partly true, and the truth can only emerge after free and full debate. The opinion may be false, but debate is still valuable because it keeps our views from becoming dead dogma or rigid biases.

TYRANNY OF THE MASSES John Stuart Mill warned that majority opinion can be damaging to society, and can cause those who are different to be bullied into changing, or to be socially excluded. This is the opposite of what a liberal society should look like – so sometimes, democracy can be dangerous for liberalism and the individual. “The tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling, . . . the tendency of society to impose. . . its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them, . . . to prevent the formation of any individuality not in harmony with its ways. ”

COMPLEX PROBLEM However, again this leads to a difficult question within liberalism, when is it ok for society to interfere in the lives of others Mill argues that the only time that society should interfere is in the prevention of harm But this is also a difficult rule, as there are so many different types of harm.

FROM “ON LIBERTY” Society can interfere, but for one reason only: to stop harm to others. Society may protect itself and other individuals. But society may NOT interfere in order to protect us from our own bad choices. So, does a behaviour affect others? Or only ourselves? This leads to questions on issues like drugs and prostitution which different liberal societies have approached in different ways.

ACTIVITY Research prostitution laws in Sweden and the Netherlands www. bayswan. org/swed_index. html Read and take notes from Introduction to Political Theory – Hoffman and Graham – pages 175 and 191 -2 Explain how the two countries have taken a different approach, and yet both can claim to be liberal

MERITOCRACY Liberals believe that although we may all be born with equal rights, we are not all necessarily equal – some have greater talents, abilities etc. People who work hard should be awarded with greater opportunity to amass wealth and property This is called a meritocracy – it basically means rule by people who deserve it

ACTIVITY Comparing Classical Liberalism and Modern Liberalism Try to draw up a Venn diagram – or something like that – to show the areas where Classical Liberalism and Modern Liberalism coincide and differ Writing a 12 mark essay

TENSIONS WITHIN LIBERALISM Classical Liberalism Modern Liberalism Negative freedom Strict meritocracy Individual responsibility Minimal state Rights based justice Positive freedom Concern for the poor Social responsibility Enabling state Justice as fairness