1.5: Conservatism

Question 1

What is Conservatism?

Answer 1

CONSERVATISM

• Seeking to conserve society as it is suspicious of change.
• Value pragmatism over ideological thinking to adapt its values over time (incremental) in accordance to change in society.
• Evolution over revolution.

Question 2

What are the different strands of Conservatism?

Answer 2

CONSERVATISM

1. Traditional Conservatism
   a) Emerged in reaction to the rational principles of the Enlightenment in the 18th century.
   b) Argued that pragmatism (a practical attitude), empiricism (evidence and experience). and tradition was vital in maintaining society.
2. One Nation Conservatism
   a) Developed in the late 19th century and evolved further in the 20th century.
   b) Advocated more state interference in both society and the economy to preserve society.
3. The New Right
   a) Emerged as a force in the 1970s.
   b) A marriage between:
   - Neo-liberalism.
   - Neo-conservatism.
   c) Argued that one-nation conservatism had sanctioned too many changes to the role of the state in its interactions with society and the economy.
   - This had lost its true value with conservative values.

Question 3

What are the 6 core ideas and principles of Conservatism?

Answer 3

6 CORE IDEAS AND PRINCIPLES OF CONSERVATISM

1. Pragmatism
2. Tradition
3. Human Imperfection
4. Organic Society/State
5. Paternalism
6. Libertarianism

Question 4

What is the principle of Pragmatism?

Answer 4

PRAGMATISM PRINCIPLE

1. Pragmatic thinkers are informed by empiricism and have a deep distrust of the abstract theories favoured by political ideas such as liberalism and socialism.
   a) Favours practical experiences as decisions on society should be flexible on the basis of what works.
   b) Ensures that society is more stable by continuing what is acceptable to the public in supporting social stability and cohesion.
   c) Linked to Conservatives view on human rationality as humans lack the intellectual ability and powers of reasoning to fully comprehend the complex realities of the world.
   - Due to this Conservative dismiss abstract theories that claim to ‘explain’ or ‘improve’ human life.
   - Human rights, a classless society and equality are dangerous as they promote a radical reordering of society that leads to worse conditions.
   d) Critics argue that pragmatism reveals the lack of political principle and encourages politicians to follow rather than lead public opinion.
2. Origins
   a) Traditional Conservatism
   - EXAMPLE. For Edmund Burke, pragmatism was an essential element in facilitating ‘natural’ or inevitable change within society. Therefore ‘cautious pragmatism’ would bring change to conserve (society should adapt to changing circumstances by moderate reforms) to preserve features such as order, property, tradition and institutions.
   - EXAMPLE. Robert Peel’s ‘Tamworth Manifesto (1834)’ argued that Conservatism must be pragmatic and not reactionary. He demonstrated this in his acceptance of the Great Reform Act of 1832, which game middle-class men the vote for the first time, pragmatically accepting that this emerging class of the Industrial Revolution must be integrated into the political system.
   b) One-nation Conservatism
   - EXAMPLE. Benjamin Disraeli approached the Artisan Dwellings Act 1875, which dealt with slum clearance, in a similar pragmatic fashion.
   - EXAMPLE. One-nation Conservatism, embodied by Tory Governments (1951 - 1964) pragmatically accepted and continued the radical changes made to British society by Attlee’s 1945/51 Labour government, such as state intervention in the economy, the creation of the welfare state and nationalisation of British industry as they were popular and successful.

Question 5

What is the principle of Tradition?

Answer 5

TRADITION PRINCIPLE

1. Tradition is the accumulated wisdom of the past that underpin society.
   a) Religion is the most important tradition.
   - The world was created by a divine being, with institutions as ‘god-given’.
   - Religious traditions bind society together so atheism must be suppressed as it is destabilising.
   - EXAMPLE. Edmund Burke perceived religion as ‘our comfort, and one great source of civilisation’.
   b) Rationalistic ideas of the enlightenment and the rise of the secular state have weakened Judaeo-Christian religion.
   - Enllighnet thinking on anti-clericalism in the 18th century.
   - EXAMPLE. Michael Oakeshott argued that with the decline in religion, people will be more inclined to abstract ideas and potentially harmful rationalist thinking as an intellectual replacement.
2. Secular arguments for the value of tradition.
   a) EXAMPLE. Edmund Burke and G.K. Chesterton draw on the fact that society is a ‘partnership between those who are living, those who are dead and those who are to be born’.
   - Each generation has a solemn duty to safeguard and pass on the tradition for the future benefit.
   b) Accumulated wisdom is found within long-standing institutions such as the monarchy, ancient schools/universities and religion.
   - Humans should trust traditions to guide them as they have survived the test of time.
   - Edmund Burke called this ‘wisdom without reflection’.
   - Traditions allow individuals to feel belonging, a sense of identity reinforces the social cohesion of society.
   c) Abandoning traditions is dangerous.
   - By seeking to destroy all traditional political and social institutions, as the French did in 1789 and the Bolsheviks in Russia in 1917, they are cutting themselves off from their past and paving the way for regimes that were more tyrannical (the Terror of 1793-94, the Napoleonic Empire and the Stalinist dictatorship).
   - EXAMPLE. Michael Oakeshott argued that ‘what has stood the test of time is good and must not be lightly cast aside’.
   - Neo-conservatives are pro-religion even though they may be unbelievers, because of the societal function that it serves.

Question 6

What is the principle of Human Imperfection?

Answer 6

HUMAN IMPERFECTION PRINCIPLE

1. Conservatives have a pessimistic view of human nature, arguing that people are flawed and incapable of reaching a state of perfection.
   a) Human nature is immutable (remains constant).
   - Human imperfection has to be kept in check due to the human capacity for evil.
   b) EXAMPLE. In Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan as humans are imperfect and ruthlessly self-interested
   c) Therefore there should be:
   - A tough stance on law and order.
   - Foreign policy must be based on national security rather than liberal notions of international co-operation and harmony.
   - Human behaviour is competitive, so any successful political system will recognise that self-interest is a more powerful motivator than altruism.
2. Noel O’Sullivan argues that traditional conservatism views human imperfection in 3 categories:
   a) Morally imperfect = Humans are selfish creatures motivated by base impulses.
   b) Intellectually imperfect = Reality is beyond rational understanding. Consequently, abstract ideas or theories will always be flawed.
   c) Psychologically imperfect = Humans are security-driven and socially dependent. We rely on tradition, familiarity and culture for identity.
3. Thomas Hobbes
   a) Humans desire power and material gratification and are distrustful of others.
   - This is our species’ natural state, which Hobbes calls the ‘state of nature’ = a violent, fearful place where humans are in never-ending conflict as they pursue their selfish desires.
   b) The ‘state of nature’ describes society before the existence of the state, where individuals live without laws.
   - Here life would be little more than a struggle for power, a ‘perpetual and restless desire for power’.
   - Existence would be bleak, violent anarchy where life would be ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’.
   c) Humans are not wholly irrational.
   - Humans would seek a social contract: surrendering individual autonomy to a sovereign monarch, who in return would provide order through his authority.
   - This would allow society to develop, and humans to live collectively and without fear.
4. Edmund Burke
   a) Burke agreed with Hobbes that humans are imperfect but disagreed on the extent.
   b) Burke did not think humans are ruthlessly individualistic.
   - Humans are naturally communal, as their imperfection compels them to band together in supportive communities.
   c) Burke agreed with Hobbes that humans are capable of making mistakes, but not to the same destructive levels.
   - The scope of human reason and understanding is poor, so people are more likely to fail than succeed.
   d) Burke thought that decision making based on rationalistic ideas of abstract thought is ill-advised and that change should only be cautiously and empirically considered.
5. Michael Oakeshott
   a) More in common with Burke than Hobbes.
   b) Humans are ‘fragile and fallible’ but that they are capable of benevolence.
   c) Society is organic and consists of intricate customs and traditions that provide consolation, comfort and happiness.
   d) The Nirvana promised by utopian societies is unattainable, as perfection cannot be created by imperfect creatures.
   e) Believes in the ‘Politics of faith’ where decisions making is grounded in empiricism and not rationalism.
   - Faith in rationalism is not misplaced and those who act on the authority of their ‘own reason’ rather than their experience, will fail.
   - ‘The politics of scepticism’ which concluded that the implementation of abstract ideas often leads to unattainable negative consequences.
   - Rationalists underestimate the complexity of reality, failing to comprehend that in attempting to improve society or the economy they make matters worse.
   - Oakshott remains mindful when rendering changes for betterment.

Question 7

What is the difference between Empiricism and Rationalism?

Answer 7

EMPIRICISM

1. If the state subscribes to empiricism, the changes it makes are informed by past experience.
   a) EXAMPLE. Robert Peel’s decision to remove the Corn Tariff in the Repeal of the Corn Laws 1846 put the good of society above tradition.
   - This was the time of the Irish potato famine and Peel saw from this that food must be made cheaper.
   - Peel was informed by Burke’s maxim of ‘change to conserve’.

RATIONALISM

1. If the state subscribes to rationalism, the change it makes are informed by abstract ideas.
   a) EXAMPLE. Harold Macmillan adopted Keynesian economics, which was based on the rational economic blueprint of state management rather than the long-standing tradition of laissez-faire limited government.

Question 8

What is the difference between Altruism and Atomism?

Answer 8

ALTRUISM
- The belief that humans are not born to be self-seeking but can display a fellow feeling, sympathy for others and an instinct to help and cooperate with others.

ATOMISM

• The idea that society is made up of self-interested and self-sufficient individuals (egoistical individualism).
• It can also describe increasing social breakdown and isolation.

Question 9

What is the principle of Organic Society/State?

Answer 9

ORGANIC STATE/SOCIETY PRINCIPLE

1. Society is not created but emerges and grows, developing like an organism (organicism).
   a) Edmund Burke wrote of ‘little platoons’ of localised communities that retain their identity and enable wider integration within the nation.
   - Such communities are bound by affection and cooperation and give structure and meaning to lives.
   b) The organic state, with its history, customs and tradition, is vitally important for informing both the present and the future.
   - The internal elements cannot be randomly reconfigured.
   - An organic society is based on natural needs and instincts rather than ideology.
2. Key thinkers
   a) Thomas Hobbes
   - Believes that the state recedes society.
   - Natural rights and laws favoured by John Locke are a rationalistic conceit, as individuals rights are dependent on the ability of the state to maintain them.
   - Ironically, as conservatism is grounded in empiricism, Hobbes’ idea of a social contract is rationalistic in origin.
   - Believed in an absolute monarchy where the sovereign (state) controlled every aspect of society as well as the economy.
   b) Edmund Burke
   - Individual rights are dependent upon the law and order and only the state has the authority to give individual rights a practical meaning.
   - Favoured societal ideas established during the 1688 Glorious Revolution (alongside traditional Conservatives including Oakeshott as well as one-nations and neo-conservatives).
   - The glorious revolution ideas limited the power of the monarch and established the principle of Parliamentary sovereignty with representative government.
   - John Locke claimed the purpose of ‘Two Treatises of Government (1689)’ was to justify William III’s ascension to the throne.
   c) Micheal Oakeshott
   - Agreed with other traditional conservatives (Hobbes and Burke) that once the state provides the necessary order, society will emerge organically.
3. Maintaining Society
   a) The multiple traditions, customs and institutions of an organic society give individuals a sense of ‘rootedness’ and belonging, and in return, individuals have duties and obligations to maintain society.
   b) EXAMPLE. Edmund Burke’s idea of ‘change to conserve’, where the state adapts to shifting circumstances by instigating small modifications to compensate rather than reject change outright will preserve the essence of society and allow the organism to evolve.
   - This has influenced all strands of Conservatism in the practicalities of statecraft.
   c) The past is to be revered and ancient institutions should not be tampered with.
   - If there are defects or abuses which harm the workings of the organic society they must be removed.
   d) Inaction can damage organic society.
   - The French and Russian revolutions were the consequence of disorder in society.
4. An unequal society
   a) Organic society is hierarchical: there is a natural order in where each individual has their place.
   - Individuals are of unequal talent and ability.
   b) One-nation Conservatives have accepted the concept of democracy.
   - Even them society remains hierarchical with paternalism and noblesse oblige in post-war Conservative governments.
   c) EXAMPLE. Key thinkers
   - Thomas Hobbes thought society was to be ruled by an absolute monarch governing a ‘commonwealth’ arranged by rank and influence.
   - Edmund Burke thought that the aristocracy should lead as they were wiser and stronger than their inferiors and they had a responsibility for the lower orders.
   - Micheal Oakshott championed tradition as a justification for defending established institutions, such as the House of Lords or the Electoral College, from reform.

Question 10

What is Noblesse Oblige?

Answer 10

NOBLESSE OBLIGE

- The duty of the society’s elite, the wealthy and privileged to look after those less fortunate.

Question 11

What is the principle of Paternalism?

Answer 11

PATERNALISM PRINCIPLE

1. Conservatives believe society is unequal and arranged in a natural hierarchy, in which the ruling class has a ‘noblesse oblige’ relationship to the weaker elements.
   a) Paternal responsibility is derived from a hierarchal position of rank to help those less fortunate and who cannot act in their own interests.
   b) It is a pragmatic belief as if the state fails to counter societal problems it risks upsetting the established order of the organic society.
2. Can take two forms:
   a) Soft Paternalism
   - When those who are the recipients give their consent.
   b) Hard Paternalism
   - When paternalism is imposed, regardless of consent or opposition, in a more authoritarian manner.
3. History of Paternalism
   a) Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881) One Nation Conservatism
   - Served as Tory MP from 1874 - 1880.
   - In his novels ‘Coningsby (1844)’ and ‘Sybil (1845)’, he warned that Britain was dividing into 2 nations (the rich and the poor) with an increased likelihood of social revolution.
   - This could be averted if the privileged in society recognised their social obligation and duty to look after the less fortunate (as seen to the new industrial working class by enacting social reforms and limited welfarism).
   - They would preserve their advantages, but alleviate the hardships of the lower orders, strengthening social cohesion and stability.
   - Blended self-interest with principle.
   b) Post War One-nation Conservative Governments 1957 to 1963
   - EXAMPLE. Harold Macmillan’s combined state ownership and private enterprise, continuing socialist policies (mixed economy).
   c) Neo-conservatism
   - Argues that there are unintended consequences of paternalistic welfarism by creating a dependency culture.
   - Closure to parental tough love by narrowing the parameters and scale of assistance.
   d) Neo-liberalism
   - Completely rejects paternalism in favour of free-market economics.
   - State control undermines human initiative and enterprise, resulting in economic stagnation.

Question 12

What is the principle of Libertarianism?

Answer 12

LIBERTARIANISM PRINCIPLE

1. The political philosophy that emphasises negative freedom (freedom from interference), individual liberty and advocates minimal state intervention.
   a) The primary role of the state is to protect individuals rights.
   b) Rival value to paternalism.
2. Traditional Conservatism
   a) Edmund Burke supported Adam Smith’s arguments for economic liberalism and laissez-faire economics.
   - Burke advocated free trade and a market economy on the grounds that such arrangements were efficient, just and natural (due to human desire for wealth).
   b) Only with the growth of the state and welfare spending did income tax become in the UK become compulsory.
   - EXAMPLE. Robert Peel reintroduced income tax in 1842, it had existed from 1799 to 1802 to pay for the Napoleonic Wars.
   - EXAMPLE. In the USA, income tax had existed on and off from 1861 (when President Lincoln signed it into law to pay for the defeat of the Confederate states in the American Civil War. Only in 1913 with the 16th amendment did tax become a permanent feature.
3. Neo-Liberals (libertarianism)
   a) Believe in an atomistic society made up of self-interested and self-sufficient individuals.
   b) EXAMPLE. Ayn Rand is associated with the term ‘atomistic individualism’, where autonomous individuals seek rationalised self-fulfilment.
   - Society does not exist as we are but a loose collection of independent beings.
   - Objectivism as an individuals right to choose is paramount (abortion and homosexuality).
   c) Neo-liberals reject pessimistic human imperfection, preferring the rationalism of the Enlightenment.
   - This is that people are able to order their lives on a moral and logical basis.
   d) Robert Nozick and Ayn Rand both reject empiricism.
   e) Neo-liberals believe in egotistical individualism, whereby the rights of the individual are more important than those of the state.
   - Negative freedoms are positive.
   f) Neo-liberals believe that the paternalism of noblesse oblige restricts individuals’ development as it limits choice and prevents education from mistakes.
   g) Neo-liberals challenge traditional conservatives hierarchies and the legitimacy of the state with organic traditions.
   - Society is atomistic and should be organised on meritocratic terms.
   - The minimal state will allow the emergence and co-existence of voluntary-formed communities that individuals are free to interact with or ignore at their own discretion.
   h) The state is to serve as a nightwatchman.
   - Overseeing the rule of law.
   - Protecting the rights of individuals from criminals and foreign invaders.
   - The growth of the state is a negative development.
4. Neo-Liberal economics and welfarism
   a) EXAMPLE. Robert Nozick argued that ‘tax is theft’.
   - Neo-liberals argue for massive reductions in tax and state spending as an imperative for individual freedom.
   b) The state encroaches on the life of citizens and welfarism creates a dependency culture, with the state ‘owing’ individuals.
   c) EXAMPLE. Friedrich Hayek (economist) argued that expensive welfare states should be abolished as they will eventually bankrupt society.
   - Western economies run in deficit.
   d) Robert Nozick and Ayn Rand argue for radical deregulation and privatisation of services carried out by the state.
   e) Bodies regarded as obstructive to the free market (unions) should have their powers curtailed.

Question 13

What defines Traditional Conservatism?

Answer 13

TRADITIONAL CONSERVATISM

1. Understood as a set of political ideas that were worked out as a response to the French Revolution of 1789.
   a) This revolution challenged the hierarchical aristocracy of European society
   b) Strong belief in:
   - Organic society.
   - The negative view on human nature.
   - Strong defence of the country.
   - Law and order.
   - Protection of property.
   - Preserve and respect for institutions of power (monarch, church, parliament)
   - Love of tradition.
   - Noblesse oblige.
   - Hierarchial.
   c) Traditional conservatism had reactionary and pragmatic branches but can be seen as a psychological disposition within all.
2. Reactionary/Autocratic Traditional Conservatism (Thomas Hobbes)
   a) Believes in a feudal hierarchic order of society.
   - These were challenged by the ideas of the Enlightenment and the events of the French Revolution as well as the changing dynamics of the state and society caused by the consequences of the industrial revolution.
   b) A defensive ideology resisting the decline of aristocratic rule.
   - The aristocracy declined as did ‘reactionary traditional conservatism’.
   - EXAMPLE. The Romanov Royal Family, deposed in the Russian Revolution, are the last example of this kind of inflexible autocratic conservatism.
3. Non-reactionary/Pragmatic Traditional Conservatism (Edmund Burke)
   a) Conservatism must counter-Enlightenment ideas.
   - Rationalist delusions had led to the French Revolution.
   b) Conservative ideas had been undermined by the ideas of the Enlightenment and must be defended as they help maintain societal equilibrium.
   - Hierarchy, tradition, authority, empiricism.
   c) Unlike ‘reactionary traditional conservatism’, pragmatic/Non-reactionary conservatism was capable of change.
   - Pragmatism was an essential element in facilitating ‘natural’ or inevitable change within society.
   - Therefore ‘cautious pragmatism’ would bring change to conserve (society should adapt to changing circumstances by moderate reforms) to preserve features such as order, property, tradition and institutions.
   d) EXAMPLE. Robert Peel’s reforms were purposeful by careful empirical deliberation.
   - The Founding of the Metropolitan Police in 1829. The long-standing tradition of unpaid parish constables was failing in 1820s London. Home Secretary Robert Peel cautiously replaced an outmoded tradition, echoing the ideas of Burke. Peel argued that ‘without security, there can be no liberty’ - renewing Hobbes belief of authority bringing order in society.
   - The Repeal of the Corn Laws 1846. Traditional Conservatives placed the importance of the organic society above the free-market economy and therefore practised protectionism to preserve the interests of Britain’s landed aristocracy. This Corn law was a tariff issued on foreign corn which kept the price of corn high. However, high food prices were causing civil unrest with famines and protectionism was an outmoded tradition. Repealing the corn laws and adopting free trade secured societal stability and economic prosperity.
4. Natural Deposition Traditional Conservativism (Micheal Oakeshott)
   a) Greater focus on the psychological and intellectual aspects of human imperfection.
   - Conservatism is, therefore, a natural disposition rather than a political idea or ideology.
   b) Oakeshott’s politics of faith argue that humans’ intellectual inability to comprehend reality means that abstract thought, divorced from empiricism, will be flawed.
   - Explains why rationalistic blueprints of perfect societies and state planning fail.
   - Governments must rely on empirically informed pragmatism to govern.
   c) More pessimistic view of change as political philosophy should not be expected to provide success in political activity.
   - The trusted practised methods of imperfect institutions and traditions should not be lightly cast aside.
   - The reality of humankind’s intellectual limitations means that we should embrace the politics of scepticism and guided by experience.

Question 14

What defines One-nation Conservatism?

Answer 14

ONE-NATION CONSERVATISM

1. Early One-nation Conservatives (1850s - 1940s)
   a) Benjamin Disraeli loathed doctrines and abstract ideas supplanting empiricism.
   - Traditional Conservative policy had always been laissez-faire within the economy and society and has seen minimal state intervention.
   - Yet, mass industrialisation causes social inequality, which spelt revolution with new ideas such as socialism and anarchism as rational alternatives to Conservatism.
   - One-nation Conservatism was coined in Disraeli’s novels ‘Sybil or the Two Nations (1845)’, updating Conservatism to the emergence of capitalism.
   b) Benjamin Disraeli admired noblesse oblige from Edmund Burke with hierarchal aristocracy and organic society.
   - Traditions remained prevalent with institutions such as the monarchy and the Church of England underpinning society.
   c) Nationalism was used to make stabilise social polarisation between rich and poor whilst renewing a sense of national identity and community.
   - Nationalisation had been used successfully with revolutions (France in 1789 and across Europe during revolutionary upheavals of 1848).
   - Nationalism was based on organic conservatism, where all societal classes were part of a family that was ‘the nation’ with a focus on the success of the British Empire (identity).
   d) Reforms were influenced by empiricism and Edmund Burke’s idea that society must ‘change to conserve’.
   - EXAMPLE. Representation of the People Act 1867 enfranchised large parts of the urban male working class.
   - EXAMPLE. Artisans’ and Labourers’ Dwellings Improvement Act 1875 allowed councils to buy slum dwellings in order to clear and then rebuild them.
   - Conservatives are traditionally fearful of change as the consequences are unpredictable and can unintentionally make things worse.
2. Later One-nation Conservatives (1940s - 1979)
   a) Harold Macmillan revitalised One-nation Conservatism invoking the paternal ideas of Edmund Burke.
   - As Churchill’s housing minister, he oversaw the building of 300,000 houses in 1946.
   - As well as alleviating housing pressures, Macmillan hoped to create a ‘property-owning democracy’ sympathetic to traditional conservative values.
   b) As PM from 1957 to 1963, Macmillian championed Conservatism between traditional laissez-faire economics and socialist collectivism of state planning as mentioned in his books ‘The Middle Way (1938)’.
   - Agreed with Edmund Burke that preserving society was paramount, with unemployment a threat to stability.
   c) Macmillan rejected empiricism and chose the rationalistic ideas of economist John Maynard Keynes to combat this threat.
   - Received fear from traditional conservatives. Macmillan’s Chancellor, Selwyn Lloyd stated in 1961 that he was scared using rationalist state management.
   d) Macmillan abandoned tradition.
   - Inspired by modern liberalism.
   - EXAMPLE. The Life Peerage Act 1958 was radical in creating working ‘life peers’ (including female peers).
   e) Micheal Oakeshott disapproved Macmillan’s style of conservatism.
   - Believed that state management is rationally informed and ignores the limits of human reason.
3. Modern one-nation Conservatism (2000s - 2020s)
   a) Embraced social liberalism rather than traditional conservative values.
   - The legalisation of both homosexuality and abortion have been supported by this strand.
   - EXAMPLE. David Cameron passed the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013.
   b) Boris Johnson called for one-nation Conservatism following his election victory in 2019.

Question 15

What defines The New Right?

Answer 15

NEW RIGHT

1. Emerged in the 1960s and 1970s after economic state management based on John Maynard Keynes began to fail.
   a) The USA and UK economies were a mixture of high inflation, low economic growth (stagflation) with high unemployment plaguing Europe and America.
   b) This was not surprising for traditional Conservatives (Edmund Burke) who had advocated free trade and laissez-faire government.
   - Micheal Oakeshott was equally sceptical as to whether politicians and economists had the intellectual capacity to successfully manage a mixed economy.
   c) Commonly associated with the governments of Reagan and Thatcher. (Reaganism and Thatcherism).
2. The New Right is a marriage between neo-liberalism (draws inspiration from classical liberalism) and neo-conservatism (draws inspiration from traditional conservatism).
   a) Ideas are diverse yet commonly contradictory.
   - Ayn Rand and Robert Nozick thought rationalism and logic infinitely superior to empiricism and traditions favoured by Burke and Oakeshott.
   b) Share an enthusiasm for free markets and an antipathy for Keynesian state planning.
   c) Neither a neo-liberal or neo-conservative state has ever existed, but the ideas remain influential for governments.
   d) Advocated minimal state intervention in the economy.
   - Nozick’s ‘Anarchy, State and Utopia’ was a rebuttal to John Rawl’s modern liberal work: ‘A Theory of Justice’.
3. Contradictions between neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism.
   a) Neo-liberals believe in negative freedom and an atomistic society, so organic society is an infringement of individual liberty and autonomy.
   - Neo-conservatives will sanction the positive freedom of a limited welfare state for societal stability, whilst neo-liberals would not
   b) Neo-liberals wish to reduce the extent of state interference in society.
   - Neo-conservatives are willing to expand the state’s authority where this might preserve stability (via authoritarian law and order policies such as a war on drugs policy and hawkish foreign policy.
   - Robert Nozick’s neo-liberal ideas of individual freedom led him to advocate for the legalisation of hard drugs and prostitution, which offended the religious morality of neo-conservatives and contravened long-standing conservative traditions.
   c) Neo-conservatives are sympathetic to the rationalism inherent in free-market economics but are still informed by traditional conservative values of pragmatism.
   - This was demonstrated by neo-conservative President George Bush when he supported Keynesian style intervention during the economic crisis of 2008, that neo-liberals opposed.

Question 16

What defines The Neo-Liberalism?

Answer 16

NEO-LIBERALISM

1. Differs from other aspects of Conservatism as:
   a) It views society as being atomistic (not organic).
   b) It has a positive view of human nature, which posits that humans are capable of rational thought.
   c) Principally concerned with atomistic individualism and free-market economics.
2. Atomistic Individualism
   a) Neo-liberals have a deep antipathy towards the state and abhors interference.
   - Disagree with Hobbes’, Burke’s and Oakeshott’s core conservative belief that the state has the legitimacy to interfere in society via a social contract or noblesse oblige.
   - Instead, they believe that rather than reinforcing individual freedoms, state interference subverts freedom.
   - Robert Nozick argues that the state’s claim of legitimacy induces citizens the belief of duty to obey its edicts, pay its taxes, fight its battles.
   b) Neo-liberals argue for a miniaturist government, with a primary function to protect human rights by ‘rolling back the state’.
   - Robert Nozick argued for self-ownership, whereby individuals retained their bodies, talents, abilities and labour and were under minimal state obligation
   - Nozick was influenced by John Locke’s rationalism on the individual rights of men as well as Immanuel Kant’s belief that an individual in society cannot be used as a thing or a resource.
   - Neo-liberals fear the duties and obligations present in the organic state, perceiving them as a threat to freedom. Nozick and Rand both argue that an individual’s obligations should be to him - or herself rather than to state or society.
   c) Organic society is, for Ayn Rand, a construct that blunts the development of the individual.
   - An individual’s thinking is restricted, as it is absorbed into the dominant beliefs of society regardless of whether those beliefs are scientifically correct or morally right.
   - EXAMPLE. Society has demonstrated that it is capable of making individuals believe unquestioningly that ruthlessly discriminatory policies of the Nazi’s and Communists regimes were justifiable.
   - Rand believes that those who break such harmful groupthink and retain a capability for original rational thought that challenges the traditions and customs of so-called received wisdom.
   - Rand argues that only with atomistic individualism can individuals experience negative freedom, develop their full rational potential, comprehend the true nature of reality and achieve self-realisation.
   d) Robert Nozick believes that humans are ‘pack animals’ who enjoy and need social and economic interactions.
   - EXAMPLE. In ‘The Examined Life (1989)’ he retreated from the unambiguous libertarianism that he famously championed in ‘Anarchy, State and Utopia (1974)’.
   e) Ayn Rand called her theory ‘objectivism’, a philosophy based on the rationalism of reason and scientific fact.
   - Rand believed that the traditions that Burke and Oakeshott cherish are nonsense.
   - Objectivism argues that truth is found not in the collective beliefs of a society or the unproven myth of religion but in scientific fact.
   - Rand argues for a ‘virtue of selfishness’ and praises egoism. It is morally right for individuals to pursue their own dreams and objectives rather than those determined by state and society.
   - Religious, socialist, fascist and democratic organic societies all demand that the individual sacrifice their own personal values for some greater good. It is wong for any society to demand that individuals compromise their core values for collective truth.
   - Rand loathed Communism for its inherent collectivism.
   f) Ayn Rand argues that altruism is misrepresented in an organic society as it should not be duty dictated by the state but the rational action of an individual pursuing their own values.
   - If individuals choose to donate money to charity (voluntarism), this should be as an individual’s choice and not a state obligation.
   - Neo-liberals argue that state-sponsored welfare spending arrests the development of atomistic individualism by making individuals dependent on the state (dependency culture).
   - Nozick viewed welfare spending, funded by taxation, as an example of the state unfairly encroaching on individual liberty.
   - Abolishing state intervention would create make people more ‘self-sufficient’.
   - Selfishness is not a vice, but a virtue.
3. Free-market economics
   a) Keynesian state planning began to falter in the 1960s and 1970s.
   - Neo-liberals argue that the state was ill-equipped to plan or intervene in the economy.
   - Nationalised industries were inefficient, lacked free-market dynamism and were artificially protected from free-market competition, which in turn distorted the whole market.
   b) The role of the government should be made limited to controlling inflation via ‘monetarism’ which emphasises the need for governments to show restraint in their role as monopolists over the supply of money (‘supply-side economics).
   - Keynesian economics was inflationary, which in turn reduced economic activity.
   - State/government management would always lag behind and underperform the free market.
   - For monetarist economists like Milton Friedman, the state’s tendency to print money (as an easier alternative to raising revenue through taxes) led only to inflation, eroding the value of private citizens’ wages and savings.
   - EXAMPLE. Milton Friedman quipped ‘If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years time there’d be a shortage of sand’.
   c) Public services should be exposed to the competitive forces of the market economy as it is naturally efficient.
   - In the UK, Thatcher viewed nationalised industries as inefficient and she privatised gas, electricity, water and telecommunications so they could thrive in their natural habitat, the free market.
   - This reduced the role of the state and frustrated one-nation conservatives as it indirectly led to high unemployment.
   - But by overprotecting failing industries with subsidisation, this made products uncompetitive internationally.
   - Thatcher produced anti-union legislation and took on the coal mining industry when she sanctioned the closure of uneconomic state-owned coal mines.
   - This caused mass strikes and conflict between police and strikers.
   - She also injected market forces into the NHS and Education with the introduction of target settings and league tables (competition improves performance).

Question 17

What defines The Neo-Conservatism?

Answer 17

NEO-CONSERVATISM

1. Influenced by traditional conservatism with:
   a) Maintaining an organic society from social fragmentation.
   - Whereas neo-liberalism is concerned with reducing the involvement of the state to preserve individual liberty, neo-conservatives will increase state involvement and curtail individual freedom if they feel as if it is good for society.
   b) Upholding public morality and authoritarian law and order.
2. State and society: a fear of social fragmentation.
   a) Celebrate capitalism as a natural economic condition yet are critical of neo-liberal ideas which fragment society by failing to defend core conservatives values such as religion, institutions, tradition and societal responsibility.
   - The social and sexual revolution of the 1960s ushered an age of moral relativism that has fragmented society.
   - EXAMPLE. The secular rejection of religion in the West, Irving Kristol (1920 - 2009, the godfather of neo-conservatism) has argued that it has depleted the moral and spiritual stock that binds society.
   b) Value of organic society and reject neoliberal visions of atomistic individualism.
   - The preservation of society is sacrosanct.
   - Welfare reforms of the ‘Great Society’ in the USA and post-war consensus has created a dependency culture.
   - Share traditional conservatives doubts about the morality of human nature, arguing that anti-poverty programmes failed because they ignored human imperfection and that humans are not naturally moral or hard working.
   - Dismiss neo-liberal ideas of simply dismantling the welfare state as impractical and against the paternalism that is internet in Conservative thought.
   - The welfare state serves as a safety net for those who are genuinely struggling.
   - Unlike one-nation conservatives who allowed the welfare state to grow, neo-conservatives wish to shrink it whilst promoting conservatives ideals.
   c) EXAMPLES.
   - Thatcher’s ‘Right to Buy’ council houses was a neo-conservative attempt to remodel the welfare state, reduce state dependency and foster a conservative thinking, property-owning class.
   - In the USA and UK, neo-conservatives promote traditional family structures via taxation and means-tested benefit systems.
   - UK’s Welfare Reform Act 2012 was designed to ween benefit claimants off state reliance by incentivising them to go back to work. Iain Duncan Smith saw this policy as a way of ‘fixing broken Britain’ and reintegrating an underclass that had become dislocated from the rest of society.
3. Public morality and authoritarian law and order
   a) Underpinning the desire to reverse social fragmentation is the desire to uphold law and order, which declined in the 1960s and led to immorality, leading neo-conservatives to promote anti-permissiveness and more authoritarian policing.
   b) Critical of neo-liberalism’s atomistic individualism as it has led to the rejection of communal customs and values.
   - This has transformed Western society into a materialistic moral vacuum that ignores the ethical rights and wrongs of Christian society.
   - Neo-conservatives, especially in the USA are pro-religion, as it counters such moral nihilism.
   - Counteracts Rand’s idea that religion blunts rationality and infringes individual liberty.
   - Also counters neo-liberals who argue that homosexuality and abortion should be choices for the individual and not determined by the state.
   - EXAMPLE. Thatcher had a neo-conservative-inspired ‘war’ on recreational drug use and advocated strict prison sentences as a moral punishment and authoritarian deterrent.
   c) Neo-conservatism advocated hawkish foreign policy and military intervention to protect the security of the state.
   - EXAMPLE. Anti-soviet rhetoric in the Cold War of the ‘evil empire’.
   - EXAMPLE. George Bush and Tony Blair’s neo-conservative inspired foreign policy see the USA and UK involved in Iraq to combat terrorism against the ‘Axis of Evil’.
   - EXAMPLE. Hard-Wilsonianism after WW1 to create democracies in Europe.

Question 18

What are the features of Thatcherism?

Answer 18

THATHERISM FEATURES

1. Neo-liberal Features
   a) Tight control of money supply through monetarist policies to control inflation ad encourage economic activity and investment.
   b) Privatisation of state-controlled industries (gas, electricity, water) on grounds of freedom, competition and efficiency.
   c) Promotion of free-market through policies of deregulation affecting London’s financial sector - the ‘Big Bang’ (1986).
   d) The belief that trade union power was endangering the UK’s economic competitiveness led to anti-union legislation.
2. Neo-conservative Features
   a) Defence of traditional values including support for heterosexual marriage and the nuclear family.
   b) Strong law-and-order policies based on support for police and punitive criminal justice (victorian values).
   c) Opposition to permissive attitudes and ‘alternative’ lifestyles led to Section 28 (1988), a law prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality.
   d) Determination to protect public morality led to government regulation of the UK video market following concerns about ‘video nasty’ horror films.

Question 19

What is Anti-Permissiveness?

Answer 19

ANTI-PERMISSIVENESS

• A rejection, informed by Judaeo-Christian morality, that there is no right and wrong, which was dubbed ‘permissiveness’ by neo-conservatives.
• Neo-conservatives argue that sex before marriage, homosexuality, abortion and recreational drug taking is wrong.
• Modern one-nation Conservatives are more accepting of homosexuality, gay marriage and abortion.

Question 20

What is ‘The Road to Serfdom’?

Answer 20

THE ROAD TO SERFDOM

• By Friedrich von Hayek.
• Hayek believed that government intervention in markets would lead to a loss of freedom.
• Hayek is opposed to regulations that restrict the freedom to enter a trade, or to buy and sell at any price, or to control quantities.
• Centralised planning is inherently undemocratic.

Question 21

Who are the 5 key Conservative thinkers?

Answer 21

KEY CONSERVATIVE THINKERS

1. Thomas Hobbes
2. Edmund Burke
3. Michael Oakeshott
4. Ayn Rand
5. Robert Nozick

Question 22

What defines Thomas Hobbes?

Answer 22

THOMAS HOBBES (1588 - 1679)

1. Biography
   a) Linked to both Conservative and Liberal traditions.
   b) Main ideas were discussed in his key works ‘Leviathan (1651)’.
   - Here he argues for almost total obedience to absolute government, as the alternative is chaos.
2. Influence
   a) Reactionary traditional Conservative
   - His works and ideas were written in response to the anarchy associated with the English Civil War (1642 - 1651).
   - Believes in a feudal hierarchic order of society.
   b) Liberal thoughts
   - Natural rights and laws favoured by John Locke are a rationalistic conceit, as individuals rights are dependent on the ability of the state to maintain them.
   c) Reactionary traditional conservatism.
   - A defensive ideology resisting the decline of aristocratic rule.
   - The aristocracy declined as did ‘reactionary traditional conservatism’.
   - EXAMPLE. The Romanov Royal Family, deposed in the Russian Revolution, are the last example of this kind of inflexible autocratic conservatism.
3. Main Concepts
   a) Ideas are based on how he imagined state and society to have formed.
   b) Humans are imperfect, needy and selfish, with a relentless desire for the acquisition of goods and self-gratification.
   - In this state of nature, life would be ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’ and existence would be hellish chaos.
   - People would compete violently to get basic necessities and material gains.
   - Here life would be little more than a struggle for power, a ‘perpetual and restless desire for power’.
   c) Humans are rational enough to seek order.
   - The human capacity to reason is fragile and peoples attempts to interpret the world around them tends to be distorted by self-interest.
   - This can only be achieved by a social contract where individuals give up freedoms (which are meaningless in a chaotic ‘state of nature’) and consent to an all-powerful covering.
   - In return the sovereign grants freedoms and physical protection to his subjects.
   - This ordered society should balance the human need to lead a free life.
   d) The social contract between the people establishes a sovereign and when the contract is complete individual autonomy ceases and all power is transferred to the sovereign.
   - The sovereign is all-powerful and he alone determines the rights and laws of people.
   - Hobbes is clear that society cannot exist before the creation of the state.

Question 23

What defines Edmund Burke?

Answer 23

EDMUND BURKE (1728 - 1797)

1. Biography
   a) A Whig MP.
   b) Ideas have influenced both Liberals and Conservatives.
2. Influence
   a) Non-reactionary/Pragmatic Traditional Conservatism.
   - Seen as being the ‘father of Conservatism’.
   b) ‘Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)’ reflected on the French Revolution which significantly impacted his political thinking.
3. Main Concepts
   a) The organic society is not static and sometimes it must cautiously ‘change to conserve’ itself, guided by history, pragmatism and empiricism.
   - Pragmatism was an essential element in facilitating ‘natural’ or inevitable change within society with social continuity and stability.
   b) Traditional institutions such as religion are ‘our comfort and one great source of civilisation’.
   - Edmund Burke and G.K. Chesterton draw on the fact that society is a ‘partnership between those who are living, those who are dead and those who are to be born’.
   - Each generation has a solemn duty to safeguard and pass on the tradition for the future benefit.
   c) Burke’s belief in human imperfection led him to rebit the abstract ideas of Enlightenment thinkers and the rational through that informed their thinking on political and social issues.
   - Humans are naturally communal, as their imperfection compels them to band together in supportive communities.
   - They are capable of making mistakes, but not to the same destructive levels as Hobbes.
   - The scope of human reason and understanding is poor, so people are more likely to fail than succeed.
   d) The French Revolution, based on abstract principles, discarded empiricism and tradition for utopian idealism and ‘philosophical abstractions’ that quickly descend into violence and chaos.
   - They aimed to create a new society and system rather than principles from the past.
   e) EXAMPLE. The Jacobins’ quest for the ideal society failed because they sacrificed social order for abstract human rights of Rousseau and Paine.
   - The Jacobins were radical revolutionaries who plotted the downfall of the French Monarchy.
   - They were influenced by the Enlightenment ideas of Jean-Jacques Rosseau, whose work ‘The Social Contract’ argued against the divine right of Kings.
   - This is similar to Thomas Paine who argued for human/men’s rights in ‘Rights of Man’.
   f) Burke was sympathetic towards the American Revolution.
   - He believed that the colonies had been totally misgoverned by the British government and the actions of the republicans were justified,
   - In contrast to France, when America overturned British rule it did not abandon the values, culture and traditions of the pre-existing society.

Question 24

What defines Michael Oakeshott?

Answer 24

MICHAEL OAKESHOTT (1901 - 1990)

1. Biography
   a) British political philosopher.
   b) ‘On Being Conservative (1956)’, ‘Rationalism in Politics (1962)’ and ‘On Human Conduct (1975)’ focus on human imperfection and pragmatism.
2. Influence
   a) Natural Deposition Traditional Conservativism
   - Greater focus on the psychological and intellectual aspects of human imperfection.
   - Conservatism is, therefore, a natural disposition rather than a political idea or ideology.
   b) More pessimistic view of change as political philosophy should not be expected to provide success in political activity.
   - The trusted practised methods of imperfect institutions and traditions should not be lightly cast aside.
   - The reality of humankind’s intellectual limitations means that we should embrace the politics of scepticism and guided by experience.
3. Main Concepts
   a) Conservatism is as much a disposition as it is a set of political ideas.
   - The security of long-standing customs and traditions are at the core of Oakeshott’s Conservatism.
   b) ‘The politics of faith’.
   - Rationalism is beyond the ability of human beings because they are intellectually imperfect.
   - With the decline in religion, people will be more inclined to abstract ideas and potentially harmful rationalist thinking as an intellectual replacement.
   - The Nirvana promised by utopian societies is unattainable, as perfection cannot be created by imperfect creatures.
   c) Oakeshott explores the ‘politics of scepticism’ because rationalism and its doctrines are flawed, humans should put their faith in trusted tradition.
   - Modern society is unpredictable and multifaceted.
   - Rational theories often simplify complex situations and state management, based on such rationale, can make matters worse.
   - Sceptical as to whether politicians and economists had the intellectual capacity to successfully manage a mixed economy.
   d) The government should govern in the best interests of the people, grounded in pragmatism and empiricism and not guided by abstract concepts of what ‘should be’.
   - Agreed with other traditional conservatives (Hobbes and Burke) that once the state provides the necessary order, society will emerge organically.
   - Brutal fascist and communist regimes established in the 20th century were an example of misguided human rationalism in politics.
   - Politics can only be successfully conducted if it accommodates existing traditions, practices and prejudices.
   - This maintains social stability and cohesion by emphasising moderation, cautious change and a sense of historical continuity.

Question 25

What defines Ayn Rand?

Answer 25

AYN RAND (1905 - 1982)

1. Biography
   a) Russian born American philosopher.
   b) Many of her philosophical ideas are found in works of fiction.
   - Particularly ‘The Fountainhead (1943)’, ‘Atlas Shrugged (1957)’ and ‘The Virtue of Selfishness (1964)’.
2. Influence
   a) Neo-liberalist (New Right).
   - The rise of fascism and communism in the 20th century led many thinkers to reconsider the role of the state.
   - Rationalism and logic are infinitely superior to empiricism and traditions.
   b) Objectivism
   - A Libertarian philosophical system that advocates the virtues of rational self-interest and maintains that individual freedom supports a pure, laissez-faire capitalist economy.
   - Abolishing state intervention would create make people more ‘self-sufficient’.
   - Selfishness is not a vice, but a virtue.
3. Main Concepts
   a) Individuals are rational and their highest moral purpose is the achievement of personal happiness.
   - Rand rejected human imperfection and loathed any kind of collectivism as the obligations demanded from individuals erodes their freedom.
   - Society should be atomistic.
   - Rejected altruism as it created an ‘artificial’ sense of obligation and expectation.
   b) The only moral purpose of the society is to protect individual rights.
   - Society does not exist as we are but a loose collection of independent beings.
   - In an atomistic society, individuals have the right to maintain property and income without being taxed for welfare spending.
   - Individuals should maintain their lives through their own efforts; Rand opposed welfare provisions, favouring voluntarism.
   - Opposition to the external coercion of the individual are referred to as the ‘non-aggression principle’.
   c) Rand’s belief in negative liberty provided the philosophical justification for ‘rolling back the state’.
   - Rand argued for free-market economics (separating state and economy) and also a minimal role for the state in society (free from the traditional moral interference of traditional conservative).
   - Rand’s championing of the individual meant she supported homosexuality and abortion, which were still illegal in the USA at the time.
   d) Rand believed in ‘objectivism’ which is where individuals who experience negative freedom are best able to comprehend reality and achieve self-realisation and self-fulfilment.
   - The individual should, therefore, be guided by self-interest.
   - Rand argued that there is a logic and virtue in selfishness.
   e) Rand’s neo-liberalism, like Robert Nozick’s, should not be confused with individualistic anarchism (a complete loss of government), as both require a small state to maintain free markets and social freedoms and to defend borders.

Question 26

What defines Robert Nozick?

Answer 26

ROBERT NOZICK

1. Biography
   a) American academic.
   b) ‘Anarchy, State and Utopia (1974)’.
   - Argues for a rights-based libertarian system and a minimal state.
   c) ‘The Tale of a Slave’ from the latter book asks at which transition from case 1 to case 9 made it no longer the tale of a slave.
   - Argues against authoritarian society.
2. Influence
   a) Neo-liberalist (New Right).
   - Based on Immanuel Kant’s moral principle that humans should be treated ‘always as an end and never as a means only’.
   - By this, Kant meant that since humans are rational, self-aware beings with free will, they should not be treated as mere things, or used against their will as resources.
3. Main Concepts
   a) ‘Minarchist’ government with minimal interference in the lives of individuals makes for the best society.
   - Would allow communities to be free to practice their own particular moral codes rather than have political or religious values imposed upon them by the state.
   - Robert Nozick argues that the state’s claim of legitimacy induces citizens the belief of duty to obey its edicts, pay its taxes, fight its battles.
   b) Taxes levied to fund state welfare programmes are immoral.
   - This is as they amount to a type of forced labour imposed on the individual by the state.
   - They also treat individuals as a means or resource to further the goals of equality and social justice and, in so doing, violate the principle that humans should be seen as better ends in themselves.
   - In some sense, taxation is a form of slavery.
   c) The state’s primary function is to protect individual human rights.
   - The only type of state that can be morally justified is a minimal or ‘night watchman’ state. with powers limited to those necessary to protect people against violence, theft and fraud.
   d) Individual freedoms and liberty.
   - Advocates for the legalisation of hard drugs and prostitution, which offended the religious morality of neo-conservatives and contravened long-standing conservative traditions.
   e) Humans are ‘pack animals’ who enjoy and need social and economic interactions.
   - EXAMPLE. In ‘The Examined Life (1989)’ he retreated from the unambiguous libertarianism that he famously championed in ‘Anarchy, State and Utopia (1974)’.

Question 27

To what extent do Conservatives and key thinkers agree over the concept of Human Nature?

Answer 27

HUMAN NATURE

1. Traditional and One-nation Conservatives
   a) Pessimistic/negative view on human nature as people are imperfect, insecure and limited.
   - Human nature is immutable, so it cannot be altered by changing economic, social or political conditions.
   b) Without firm government and a tough criminal system, human behaviour would inevitably deteriorate.
   c) Contend that idealistic or utopian political schemes will never curb human’s aggressive instincts.
   - Capitalism is the only viable economic system because human nature is essentially competitive and self-interested.
2. New Right
   a) Neo-liberals adopted atomistic individualism, maintaining that human beings can be self-reliant and rational in their decision making.

KEY THINKERS ON HUMAN NATURE

1. Thomas Hobbes
   - Extremely negative: Selfish humans are individualistically driven by self-interest.
2. Edmund Burke
   - Somewhat negative: Humans are morally and intellectually fallible.
3. Michael Oakeshott
   - Somewhat negative: Focused on intellectual imperfection.
   - Decisions should be grounded in empiricism not rationalism.
4. Ayn Rand
   - Positive: Humans are capable of rational thought and should be ‘objectivist’ in pursuing self-interest.
5. Robert Nozick
   - Positive: Individuals are driven by the idea of self-ownership of their talent, abilities and labour.

Question 28

To what extent do Conservatives and key thinkers agree over the concept of The State?

Answer 28

THE STATE

1. Traditional and One-nation Conservatives
   a) The State is a neutral agency and its primary role is to preserve social order through welfare programmes, economic interventionism and the defence of traditional institutions and values (such as the family and respect for authority).
2. New Right
   a) Neo-liberals call for the rolling back of the state on the grounds that state intervention stifles economic initiative and growth and creates a debilitating dependency culture.
   b) Neo-conservatives agree that the state’s role in the economy needs to be reduced.
   - Yet they still call for a ‘strong state’ (based on increased police powers, tougher punishments and anti-permissive policies) to combat crime, anti-social behaviour and permissive attitudes.

KEY THINKERS ON THE STATE

1. Thomas Hobbes
   - The state arises from a ‘social contract’ between sovereign and subjects.
   - Subjects cede freedoms to an autocratic monarch to guarantee the rule of law and to avoid ‘a state of war’.
2. Edmund Burke
   - The state emerges and grows like an organism.
   - Hierarchal in nature, the hereditary elite rules with paternal noblesse oblige for the interests of all.
   - The state should ‘change to conserve’ society guided by empiricism.
3. Michael Oakeshott
   - The state should be guided by tradition and experience.
   - Sceptical of rationalist state action.
   - Change, if it must occur, should be guided by pragmatism and empiricism.
4. Ayn Rand
   - The state should play a minimal role in the life of an individual.
   - The state should secure a free market, law and order and national security.
5. Robert Nozick
   - A minarchist state: the state should be limited to law and order, enforcement of contract and defence of the realm.

Question 29

To what extent do Conservatives and key thinkers agree over the concept of Society?

Answer 29

SOCIETY

1. Traditional and One-nation Conservatives
   a) Have an organic view of society.
   - All parts work together harmoniously to ensure a healthy ‘social body’.
   - Any change to internal elements may jeopardise social stability by undermining tried and tested institutions.
   b) Rests on hierarchy and authority to give people the security of knowing their place and role in the social order.
   - Top-down control over social groups.
   - These privileges of the elite are balanced by a sense of social responsibility/paternalism towards the less fortunate.
2. New Right
   a) Neo-liberal Conservatives reject the assumptions underpinning an organic society such as a ‘natural’ hierarchy and paternalism.
   - Instead, they view society as composed of independent and rational individuals operating within a free market.
   - From this, society is based on individualism that releases human potential and establishes harmonious free relations between people.

KEY THINKERS ON SOCIETY

1. Thomas Hobbes
   - Society did not exist before the creation of the state.
   - The sovereign brings order and authority.
   - Before the creation of the state, life was ‘nasty, brutish and short’.
2. Edmund Burke
   - Society is like a multifaceted organism.
   - Communities, traditions, customs, etc… have a symbiotic relationship.
3. Michael Oakeshott
   - Society is like a multifaceted organism.
   - Communities, traditions, customs, etc… have a symbiotic relationship.
4. Ayn Rand
   - Society pursues atomistic individualism.
   - A collection of autonomous individuals motivated by self-fulfilment.
   - These individuals resist state or societal obligations as they restrict individual freedom.
   - No welfare state.
5. Robert Nozick
   - Society is essentially atomistic.
   - A collection of autonomous individuals with libertarian values.
   - These individuals resist state or societal obligations as they restrict individual freedom.
   - No welfare state.

Question 30

To what extent do Conservatives and key thinkers agree over the concept of The Economy?

Answer 30

THE ECONOMY

1. Traditional Conservatives
   a) Favours private enterprise.
   b) (ALL AGREE) It is the role of the state to defend economic contracts and private property.
   - Private property is a vitally important component of the economy as it provides psychological security for individuals within a society.
   - Private property reduces individuals’ dependency on the state.
2. One-nation Conservatives
   a) Endorse limited interventions economic management techniques to maintain high employment levels, a mixed economy of private and public concerns, and state welfare programmes.
   - They adopt this approach to avoid the perceived drawbacks of an unbridled free market and socialist collectivism, and prevent social instability.
   - Calls for higher taxation to cater for welfare programmes.
3. New Right
   a) Both neo-liberals and neo-conservatives argue that the state’s role in the economy has to be reduced.
   - Neo-liberals have called for a free-market economy on the grounds that it is the best mechanism to meet consumer demand, maximising the use of resources and generating prosperity.
   - Neo-conservatives are sympathetic to the free market yet are also informed by empirically based pragmatism and supported government intervention during the economic crisis of 2008 (which neo-liberals opposed).
   b) Neo-liberals would abolish tax.
   - Reduced welfarism in favour of an atomistic state.
   - Neo-conservatives argue for low taxation (alike traditional conservatives).

KEY THINKERS ON THE ECONOMY

1. Thomas Hobbes
   - Economic activity is only possible after the creation of the state.
   - The sovereign brings order and authority, allowing the economy to develop.
2. Edmund Burke
   - The free market is the natural organic state of the market and the state should protect laissez-faire capitalism.
3. Michael Oakeshott
   - The free market is the natural state of the market.
   - State involvement should be limited to pragmatic moderation.
   - State management or economic policies underpinned by rationalism should be avoided because of intellectual imperfection.
4. Ayn Rand
   - Free market capitalism with no state intervention and a privatised and deregulated economy.
5. Robert Nozick
   - A minarchist state will be one of free-market capitalism with a privatised and deregulated economy.