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Ideologies - The liberal tradition - Classical liberalism and modern liberalism

8 important questions on Ideologies - The liberal tradition - Classical liberalism and modern liberalism

Liberalism was originally built mainly around two principles. Name these two.

- a defense of individual political liberties
- advocacy of open markets

Liberalism first arose in early modern Europe, where aristocracy held special privileges. What is aristocracy?

A group of people, usually hereditary, with special legal status that gives them privileges not extended to others.

Liberal thinkers emphasized protection from aristocratic and religious abuse (separation of church and state), but also representation. This is:

Processes in which people select others to speak for them in collective decision making.

John Locke rejected aristocracy. His solution was for free individuals to agree on a social contract to create a government that guaranteed the natural rights. What are these rights?

The idea that people are endowed with certain rights simply by virtue of beng human beings.

From the broad liberal tradition arose six variants. Name these.

- Classical liberalism
- Modern liberalism
- Burkean conservatism
- The religious Right
- Libertarianism
- Neoconservatism

Once the liberals were dominant, they began to disagree about whether they had reached their goals or not. The classical liberals thought they did, the modern liberals thought they did not. Define their ideas.

- Classical liberalism: The aristocrats privileges were gone, democracy was operating and markets were unleashed. These liberals had now shifted to conserving the status quo, become in effect 'conservatives'.
- Modern liberalism: the liberal program thus far had established negative liberty (freedom centered on protection from abuse of restraint). They saw the real goal of liberalism as positive liberty (liberty centered on the capacity and opportunity to develop one's talents).

Today, opponents of government activism form a political movements since the 1970s to decrease government intervention in market economies. This movement is called:

Neoliberalism

Whereas the term 'liberal' has different meaning inside and outside the US, there is a parallel vocabulary that has worked somewhat some similarly. These labels first formed during the French Revolution. Name and explain these.

- 'left' = progressive groups that advocate social and political reform, usually through government action, to improve society
- 'right' = conservative groups that seek to defend current or past political and social practices.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Introduction to Political Science | 9780134319193 | Craig Parsons

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Ideologies - The liberal tradition - Classical liberalism and modern liberalism

8 important questions on Ideologies - The liberal tradition - Classical liberalism and modern liberalism

Liberalism was originally built mainly around two principles. Name these two.

Liberalism first arose in early modern Europe, where aristocracy held special privileges. What is aristocracy?

Liberal thinkers emphasized protection from aristocratic and religious abuse (separation of church and state), but also representation. This is:

John Locke rejected aristocracy. His solution was for free individuals to agree on a social contract to create a government that guaranteed the natural rights. What are these rights?

From the broad liberal tradition arose six variants. Name these.

Once the liberals were dominant, they began to disagree about whether they had reached their goals or not. The classical liberals thought they did, the modern liberals thought they did not. Define their ideas.

Today, opponents of government activism form a political movements since the 1970s to decrease government intervention in market economies. This movement is called:

Whereas the term 'liberal' has different meaning inside and outside the US, there is a parallel vocabulary that has worked somewhat some similarly. These labels first formed during the French Revolution. Name and explain these.

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