National conservatism is a political term used primarily in Europe to describe a variant of conservatism which concentrates more on national interests than standard conservatism as well as upholding cultural and ethnic identity, while not being outspokenly nationalist or supporting a far-right approach. In Europe, national conservatives are usually eurosceptics.
National conservatism is related to social conservatism: national conservative parties are "socially traditional", i.e. they support traditional family and social stability. According to one Sieglinde Rosenberger, "national conservatism praises the family as a home and a centre of identity, solidarity and emotion." Many national conservatives are thus social conservatives, as well as in favour of limiting immigration and enacting law-and-order policies.
According to V.C. Mandal, "besides those common elements, national conservatives may hold different views in different countries, depending on local factors. This is particularly true in the case of economic issues, where the views of national conservatives can range anywhere between support for a planned economy to advocating a centrist mixed economy to upholding a laissez-faire economy." In the first, more common, case, national conservatives can be distinguished from economic/fiscal conservatives, for whom free market economic policies, deregulation and fiscal conservatism are the main priorities. Some commentators have indeed identified a growing gap between national and economic conservatism: "most parties of the Right are run by economic conservatives who, in varying degrees, have marginalized social, cultural, and national conservatives."
National conservatism is also related to traditionalist conservatism.
Read more about National Conservatism: National Conservative Parties
Famous quotes containing the words national and/or conservatism:
“Let him [the President] once win the admiration and confidence of the country, and no other single force can withstand him, no combination of forces will easily overpower him.... If he rightly interpret the national thought and boldly insist upon it, he is irresistible; and the country never feels the zest of action so much as when the President is of such insight and caliber.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“There is such a thing as caste, even in the West; but it is comparatively faint; it is conservatism here. It says, forsake not your calling, outrage no institution, use no violence, rend no bonds; the State is thy parent. Its virtue or manhood is wholly filial.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)