Core ideas of conservatism - The state Flashcards
Order and authority…
Conservatism sees the state as having more of a disciplinary function. Put simply, the main goal of the conservative state is to provide order, security and authority.
Like Hobbes, conservatives believe that without order there could be no liberty, and there could be no order until the emergence of clear, undisputed laws backed by firm authority. All this connects to the fundamental conservative belief that the state precedes society. Indeed, as Hobbes insisted, the feasibility of individual rights is entirely dependent upon law and order - which only the state can provide.
Organic origins…
As an early Enlightenment thinker, Hobbes was heavily committed to ‘government by consent’ and the notion of a state being ‘rationally’ created by a ‘contract’ between the government and governed.
By contrast, conservatives are sceptical about states that arise momentously, from a formal ‘rational’ discussion. Such states, conservatives argue, are likely to be normative, not empirical, based on ideals rather than reality, and therefore likely to founder. Instead, conservatives prefer a state that emerges gradually, unpredictably and without fanfare: an ‘organic’ and pragmatic response to humanity’s needs. For this reason, conservatives are less likely than liberals to demand a ‘codified’ constitution and more tolerant of UK-style arrangements, where unwritten constitutions have evolved organically in response to changing circumstances.
A ruling class…
Conservatives have been much more comfortable with a state that is overtly hierarchical, reflecting the elitist society they also endorse. Furthermore, the traditional conservative state is one that implicitly acknowledges the notion of a ruling class, whose power will often be aristocratic and hereditary rather than democratic.
Traditional conservatives were therefore keen to signal the merits of a class that was born and trained to rule the state. For this reason, the traditional conservative state would again show pragmatic and empirical characteristics, legislating whenever there was evidence to show new laws were necessary and governing so as to ensure order and social cohesion. By such flexible means, the conservative state would avert social upheaval and revolution while maintaining traditional patterns of wealth and power in society.
The nation-state…
From the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, conservatives tended to emphasise a state based on nationhood. For all conservatives, the nation became a mega-community, one that enfolded all classes and therefore provided a ‘natural’ basis for the state.
For British and American conservatives, nation and state are more intertwined, with the state serving to define much of the nation itself - hence the importance of constitutions, monarchs and presidents as expressions of British and American identity. This would explain why British conservatives have had a much greater attachment to the nation-state than their continental counterparts, and much less enthusiasm for European political union.
New Right conservatives on the nation-state…
For New Right conservatives (found mainly in the USA and UK), the attitude to the state appears paradoxical: to strengthen the nation-state by ‘rolling back its frontiers’. Yet for Nozick and Rand, the paradox is easily explained: if the nation-state is burdened by nationalised industries and welfare states, it is then harder for it to focus on its ‘true’ function of order and stability.
