CONSERVATISM ESSAY PLANS Flashcards
HUMAN NATURE
Agreement
1a) Humans are imperfect psychologically and morally, in a self-seeking way
All conservative strands accept a more pessimistic view of human nature than socialists or liberals. Human beings are naturally often selfish and greedy, or even immoral.
Hobbes (Traditional) suggested that individuals are selfish driven by ruthless desire, creating conflict, so we need authority to maintain order.
Nozick (N.L) stated that individuals are egoistical, driven by quest for self-ownership, and need the state to maintain law to adjudicate over disputes.
HUMAN NATURE
Disagreement
1b) Rational + intellectually capable VS intellectually imperfect
The extent to which humans are intellectually limited is a point of disagreement.
Rand (N.L) stated that humans are guided by rational-self-interest and pursuit of individual self-fulfilment, so could rely on their own judgement. She called this ethical egoism ‘objectivism’.
Oakeshott (Trad + O.N), however, emphasised that the world was ‘boundless and bottomless’ –to a level beyond human understanding and rationality, and Burke (Trad) emphasised the need for guidance and some paternalism based on maintaining tradition.
HUMAN NATURE
Agreement
2a) Humans need authority to maintain social order but we must not abide by utopian schemes
All conservative strands accept that we need state authority to maintain law and order. But humanity is at its best when free from grand designs and utopian schemes for society.
Oakeshott said that humans are more focused on the routines of everyday present life and need some state guidance, but large social engineering schemes are counter-productive.
The New Right (particularly neoconservatives such as Irving Kristol), believe that liberty has its limits, and agrees that we need strong authority to maintain law, order, and stability in society.
HUMAN NATURE
Disagreement
2b) Selfishness is an imperfection VS selfishness is a virtue
There is disagreement between strands about the extent to which selfishness gives rise to undesirable behaviour or is a virtue to be promoted.
For One-nation conservatives like Disraeli, the selfish actions of individuals need to be tempered by some recognition of duty to others in society. E.g., the privileged should have a ‘noblesse oblige’ attitude), and modern One-nation policies included support for social welfare.
Rand and Nozick, however, strongly disagreed with this attitude. Rand went as far as suggesting that selfishness was the truly moral stance for an individual.
SOCIETY
Agreement
1a) Small community groups are fundamental in society
For traditional and one-nation conservatives, individuals are rooted in their local society and localised communities.
Burke’s ‘little platoons’, and Oakeshott’s ‘civil associations’ are important support for individuals in society.
This is even backed up by some thinking in the New Right e.g., whilst society should be geared to individual self-fulfilment, this may lead to a plethora of small variable communities reflecting their members’ diverse tastes and philosophies, that will give individuals support and outlets for their views (neo-liberals, Nozick).
SOCIETY
Disagreement
1b) Organic society V Atomistic society
Traditional, One-nation, and neoconservatives emphasise the interdependence of individuals in society, like parts of body, and society is more than just ‘the sum of the parts.
They recognise the need to prevent too much social fragmentation that can arise from unlimited individualism. As Disraeli said, ‘the palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy’, it is necessary to take action to ensure social stability.
For Rand and neoliberals, however, insofar as society exists at all, it is atomistic, merely the sum total of its individuals. The individual owes little if anything to society and cannot rely on society for support and welfare.
Charles Murray also agreed with these ideas about society. Margaret Thatcher, using the neoliberal ideas of the New Right, famously claimed that ‘there is no such thing as society’.
SOCIETY
Agreement
2a) Hierarchy and societal inequality
Most conservatives emphasise the importance of hierarchy and accept inequality in society as natural.
For traditional, one-nation, and neoconservatives, just as parts of a living body all have their own role, so do individuals in society.
There must be leaders and followers in society. As Burke notes ‘the wiser, the stronger, and the more opulent [richer]’ naturally establish a hierarchy of power and privilege. Absolute equality is a myth. Each individual is entitled to their own property.
From a New Right stance also, inequality is accepted. As Nozick famously asserts, ‘Individuals have rights, and there are things no person or group may do to them (without violating their rights)’, and ‘the right to do what they want with their own property is a key right’. Respect for property ownership is an important feature of society for all conservatives.
He maintains that the state has no right to try to impose equality on individuals in society.
SOCIETY
Disagreement
2b) Paternalism V Individual freedom
Burke favoured paternalism: the aristocracy should lead and rule society in the interests of all but maintain authority against revolutionary ideas.
For One-nation conservatives like Disraeli this leads to a need for the privileged to ensure some care for the poor, to prevent social fragmentation and disorder. (‘noblesse oblige’.)
Also, for neoconservatives, like Irving Kristol, state authority is necessary to protect society from internal and external threats. All stand for maintaining authority for the common good, even if this may sometimes restrict freedom.
The neoliberal part of the New Right, however, backs more individual freedom in society; society should be geared, above all, to individual self-fulfilment.
Rand suggested that any attempt to restrict individuals in the name of the common good of society should be challenged.
Even well-meaning paternalistic attempts to protect individuals from harming themselves are coercive, so, for example, she opposed any restrictions on drugs use for adults.
STATE
Agreement
1a) The state should promote patriotism and protect our national interests
All conservatives agree that the state has an important role in promoting patriotism and national identity. Whilst conservatives had always supported the monarchy and patriotism, Disraeli increased the emphasis that one-nation conservatives focused on the nation and the monarchy. Queen Victoria was elevated to ‘Empress of India’ and the British Empire was placed at the centre of conservative policy.
New Right conservatives from UK and USA have focused on nationalism and protecting national identity. In the US, from Reagan to Trump, the focus has been on these issues in the Cold War, the War on Terror, and the protection of American values against imported ideas from immigrants (think of Trump’s call to ‘Build the Wall’). In the UK this nationalism was seen in the Falklands conflict, the Eurosceptics of the Conservatives since Thatcher, and the aims to protect British sovereignty and identity from the EU and ‘excessive’ immigration.
STATE
Disagreement
1b) State intervention in the economy V minimal role of the state in the economy
There has however been continued disagreement about the extent of state intervention in the economy.
The one-nation conservatives from Disraeli onwards supported an increasing level of state intervention in the economy.
By the time of Harold Macmillan, they accepted a considerable level of state control through the use of Keynesian management techniques.
They even continued to accept nationalisation of the essential industries of the nation.
However, neoliberals of the New Right called for a reduction of intervention.
Hayek and Friedman called for an end to Keynesianism, and the introduction of a free-market economy. In the UK Margaret Thatcher privatised many of the nationalised industries, and Nozick claimed that this level of economic intervention made it harder to focus on the state’s true function of maintaining order and security.
STATE
Agreement
2a) State must maintain law + order
Following from the views of Hobbes and Burke that humans are flawed, conservatives agreed that the state had to have strong authority to maintain order, both threats within and from foreign threats.
Traditional conservatives like Burke proposed a somewhat paternalistic approach to prevent tyranny.
One-nation conservatives from Disraeli to Macmillan agreed that the state needed authority to prevent social disorder and possible revolution (or Macmillan’s case to counteract the appeal of socialism), so should rule with an even larger level of paternalism, to help prevent the poor from becoming alienated.
In the New Right, neoconservatives called for a return to the stronger, more authoritarian state that existed before Disraeli, and even the neoliberals of the New Right, such as Rand recognised that the state should be strong on law and order and national security.
STATE
Disagreement
2b) Minimal state V extensive state
Whilst it was agreed that the state needed authority to maintain law and order, conservatives differed on the extent to which the state should intervene with individuals in society to achieve this.
For one-nation conservatives since Disraeli, and modern traditional conservatives like Oakeshott, the state should be guided by tradition and pragmatic concerns, providing paternalistic welfare services where needed to prevent social fragmentation.
This, however, created a level of intervention in individuals’ lives that libertarian neoliberals found restricted individual rights.
Rand suggested that the state should confine itself to law, order, and national security, and leave matters of individual welfare to individuals.
So, she, and other libertarians like Nozick called for a ‘rolling back of the frontiers of the state’, to protect individuals from the infringements of their liberty that the extensive state services had generated.
ECONOMY
Agreement
1a) Capitalism
Capitalism is seen as the most effective form of economy by all conservatives, as the inequality of rewards reflects merit and hard work and acts as an incentive: a fully owned state economy as proposed by many socialists would remove these elements of competition and incentive.
Traditional and neoliberal conservatives, such as Burke and Hayek, agree with the theories of Adam Smith that show capitalism as the most productive form of economic management.
One-nation conservatives, such as Disraeli and Macmillan agree that although capitalism can produce some social disadvantages, these can be managed by some state regulation in a way that maintains the advantages of capitalist competition.
So, although their governments introduced some regulation, it was still strongly supportive of capitalism and private enterprise.
ECONOMY
Disagreement
1b) Laissez-faire V more intervention
Traditional and neoliberal New Right conservatives favour a free market with as little intervention by the state as possible.
Burke noted that trade should involve ‘organic’ free markets and ‘laissez-faire’ capitalism. Rand saw free market capitalism as an expression of ‘objectivist’ individualism and, therefore, it should not be hindered by the state.) This led to ‘deregulation’ and ‘privatization’ of commerce by Thatcher.
In contrast, Disraeli believed that some state regulation of capitalist enterprise was necessary to counteract the effects of too much emphasis on ‘laissez-faire’. Oakeshott also displayed a one-nation style of thinking when he envisaged a more extensive role for the state in the economy, as he considered that free markets were volatile and unpredictable, and so may require pragmatic moderation by the state.
Macmillan took this same approach of greater intervention and was prepared to use Keynesian economics to control demand and even maintained the state ownership of some British industry that had been introduced by Labour’s socialist policies, in what he described as a ‘middle way’.
ECONOMY
Agreement
2a) Support for extensive private property rights
Conservatives accept that inequality in the level of property ownership is a natural feature of society, therefore the economy and the state should infringe as little as possible on individual property rights.
Traditional conservatives like Burke accepted Adam Smith’s approach that was based on the high priority being given to individuals to choose how to use and dispose of their own property.
New Right conservative Nozick also emphasised the property rights in his ‘entitlement theory’. Thatcher showed her support for property ownership in her council house sales policy, ‘the right to buy’ scheme, selling much social housing to private ownership.
Even one-nation conservatives, such as Macmillan, accepted private ownership as the main basis of the economy (80% of the UK economy remained in private hands during one-nation post-war governments).
