Liberal Conservatism

Liberal Conservatism

As both "conservatism" and "liberalism" have had different meanings over time and across countries, the term "liberal conservatism" has been used in quite different senses. In political science, the term is used to refer to ideologies that combine the advocacy of laissez-faire economic principles, such as respect for contracts, defense of private property and free markets with the belief in notions such as natural inequality, the importance of religion and the value of traditional morality through a framework of limited, constitutional, representative government. It contrasts with classical liberalism and aristocratic conservatism, rejecting both the principle of equality as something in discordance with human nature, and instead, emphasizing the idea of natural inequality.

As the conservative ideology in democratic countries embraced typical liberal institutions such as the rule of law, private property, market economy and constitutional representative government, the liberal element of liberal conservatism became consensual outside of the socialist camp. This consensus has been so complete in some countries (e.g. the United States) that the term liberal conservatism came to be understood simply as conservatism in popular culture, prompting some conservatives who embraced more strongly classical liberal values to call themselves libertarians. Nevertheless, the liberal conservative tradition in the United States often combines the economic individualism of the classical liberals with a Burkean form of conservatism that emphasizes the natural inequalities between men, the irrationality of human behavior as the basis for the embrace of traditional ethics, the human drive for order and stability, and the rejection of natural rights as the basis for government.

In other countries where liberal conservative movements have more recently entered the political mainstream, such as Italy and Spain, the terms liberal and conservative may be understood as synonymous, while in Latin America, economically liberal conservatism is often labelled under the rubric of neoliberalism both in popular culture and academic discourse. Often this involves stressing free-market economics and belief in individual responsibility together with the defense of civil rights, environmentalism and support for a limited welfare state. Compared to traditional centre-right politics, such as those proposed by Christian democratic parties, liberal conservatism is less traditionalist and more right-libertarian economically, favouring low-taxes and minimal state intervention in the economy.