LIberalism

Question 1

Mary Wollstonecroft dates

Answer 1

1759-97

Question 2

Mary Wollstonecroft political context

Answer 2

-american war of independence
-french revolution
-Tom paines rights of men (1790)

Question 3

Mary Wollstonecroft books

Answer 3

the rights of women (1792)

Question 4

what type of liberal was Mary Wollstonecroft

Answer 4

classical liberal with feminist ideologies

Question 5

key ideas of Mary Wollstonecroft

Answer 5

-the enlightenments view of human nature should apply to every human being, man and women
- both society and the state implied that women weren’t rational and they were thus denied individual freedom and formal equality
-everyone should have access to education to remove illiberal principles

Question 6

quotes of Mary Wollstonecroft

Answer 6

such arrangements are not conditions where reason may prosper

Question 7

John Locke dates

Answer 7

1632-1704

Question 8

John locke political context

Answer 8

-english civil war (1642-1645), parliament took control

Question 9

John locke books

Answer 9

Two treatises of goverenment (1690)

Question 10

what type of liberal was John Locke

Answer 10

classical liberal

Question 11

key ideas of john locke

Answer 11

-denied that the state was apart of god’s creation
-education
-government
-religious tolerance
-you can’t make someone believe something through violence

Question 12

john locke quotes

Answer 12

• The people cannot delegate to government the power to do anything which would be unlawful for them to do themselves
• Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent

Question 13

betty friedan dates

Answer 13

1921-2006

Question 14

betty friedan political context

Answer 14

-world war 2
-vietnam and korean war
-great depression
-1968 revolutions

Question 15

betty friedan book

Answer 15

the feminine mystique (1963)

Question 16

what type of liberal was betty friedan

Answer 16

liberal feminism, the second wave

Question 17

key ideas of betty friedan

Answer 17

-all individuals should be free to seek control over their own lives and the full realisation of their potential
-gender roles was a hinderence to all those individuals who were females
-it was illiberal attitudes in society rather than human anture that condemed women to underachievement

Question 18

betty friedan quotes

Answer 18

a good women is one who loves passionately, has guts, seriousness and passionate convictions, takes responsibility and shapes society.

Question 19

John Rawls dates

Answer 19

1921-2002

Question 20

John Rawls political context

Answer 20

-ww1, born just after = aftermath
-Nazism
-greta depression, wall street crash
-ww2
-Nhs set up
-post war consensus between labour and conservative

Question 21

John Rawls books

Answer 21

Theroy of justice (1971)

Question 22

what type of liberal was John Rawls?

Answer 22

Modern liberals

Question 23

key ideas of John Rawls

Answer 23

-veil of ignorance - individuals would have new preconceptions about the sort of people they themselves might be in this new society
-redistribution of wealth
-foundational equality - meant individuals required not just formal equality under the law and constitution but also greater social and economic equality

Question 24

john rawls quotes

Answer 24

-the principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance
-justice is the virtue of social institution

Question 25

John stuart mill dates

Answer 25

1806-73

Question 26

John stuart mill political context

Answer 26

-great reform act of 1832
-industrial revolution

Question 27

John stuart mill books

Answer 27

on liberty (1859)

Question 28

John stuart mill type of liberal

Answer 28

a bridge between classical and modern liberalism - utilitarianism

Question 29

John stuart mill key ideas

Answer 29

-harm principle - individuals actions should be tolerated unless they will cause harm to others

Question 30

john stuart mill quotes

Answer 30

-better to be satisfied than a pig satisfied
-domestic slave - describes women

Question 31

origins of liberalism (reformation)

Answer 31

-reformation - protesters against the church
-martin luther - individuals could communicate with god without the need for a priest

Question 32

origins of liberalism (enlightenment)

Answer 32

-extended these ideas from religious life into secular and political spheres
-emerged from englis civil war, french revolution, american war of independence
-emphasised reason and logic and questioned everything that had been previously accepted such as divine right of kings -> john locke questioned the relationship between and government.

Question 33

human nature

Answer 33

-optimistic
-rational
-make your own path
-self interest

Question 34

society

Answer 34

-natural rights
-pleasant,civilised and long
-individualism
-peoples rights should not be impinged on

Question 35

economy

Answer 35

-private property
-capitalism
-invisible hand
-trickle down economics

Question 36

state

Answer 36

-resolving clashes between individuals
-gurantee and protect rights
-a government by consent - a social majority
-meritocracy
-equality of opportunity

Question 37

types of liberalism

Answer 37

-classical (late 17th to 19th)
-modern (late 19th to present)

Question 38

classical liberals (CL)

Answer 38

-john locke
-mary wollstonecroft
-J.S mill

Question 39

modern liberals (ML)

Answer 39

-T.H green
-John rawls
-Betty friedan

Question 40

Human Nature (CL)

Answer 40

-Egotistical individualism – people are primarily concerned with pursing their self-interest – they owe little or nothing to society –> john locke
-Utilitarianism – the most rational actions, laws etc, are those that produce the greatest happiness for the greatest number –> J.S mill
-Harm principle – it is not justifiable to interfere with self-regarding actions, even if they are harmful to the individual –> J.S mill

Question 41

Human Nature (ML)

Answer 41

-Developmental individualism – focuses on the extent to which all individuals are able to grow and achieve their potential –> betty friedan
-Higher and lower pleasures - the actions with the most utility are those that enable us to progress and develop our individuality –> J.S mill
-Enabling state / positive freedom – individuals might need help in identifying their real interests and pursing higher pleasures –> John Rawls

Question 42

Society (CL)

Answer 42

-Atomistic society – society is no more than collection of self-interested individuals, acting in their own, not society’s interest –> John Locke
-Negative freedom/rights – freedom from negative constraints – society only exists to limit the outside interference of others –> J.S Mill
-Formal equality of opportunity – jobs/offices should be open to all individuals – no one should be discriminated against –> J.S mill

Question 43

society (ML)

Answer 43

-Common good – self-realisation is not possible in isolation – our rights, freedom and growth depends on other people
-Positive freedom/rights –‘true’ freedom to grow and achieve our goals is not possible in isolation, it requires others –> TH green
-Fair / substantive equality of opportunity – those born with disadvantages should still have the same opportunities as others

Question 44

state (CL)

Answer 44

-Minimal state – the state should protect negative freedom, negative rights, and guarantee formal equality of opportunity
-Negative freedom – welfare and state intervention make individuals less self-reliant & more dependent on the state
-Negative rights- concerned by majoritarianism, and the threat that extending the franchise posed to property rights

Question 45

state (ML)

Answer 45

-Enabling state – the state should promote positive freedom, positive rights, & substantive equality of opportunity
-Positive freedom - if individuals are to be truly self-reliant, the state must ensure that they live in enabling conditions
-Developmental individualism – all individuals should engage in political debate, so that the can learn and express their views

Question 46

Economy (CL)

Answer 46

-Laissez-faire – if individuals are left to pursue self- interest then the market will be efficiently guided by an invisible hand
-Negative rights – property is a natural right – the private ownership of land, factories etc will enrich the the entire nation
-Taxation should be minimal – it punishes hard work and success and should only be used to fund a minimal, night watch-man state

Question 47

Economy (ML)

Answer 47

-Keynesian economics – the government should manage demand to keep unemployment low, and promote freedom
-Positive rights- redistribution is necessary to promote positive freedom and substantive equality of opportunity
-Society contributes much to wealth creation – taxation isn’t redistribution, it’s society taking its fair share for its contribution.

Question 48

Human nature 1

Answer 48

• One of the Enlightenment’s most important features had been the challenge it issued to the established, medieval notion of human nature - one that was strongly tied to the religious doctrine of original sin. This doctrine, rooted in the teachings of traditional Christianity, held that mankind was deeply flawed and imperfect, and that man’s only hope lay in him acknowledging
  his flaws and imperfections while praying for the grace and forgiveness of God.
• Drawing upon the writings of Locke and other
  Enlightenment philosophers, liberalism has always denied this bleak view, offering instead a more optimistic view of human nature. Liberalism duly argues that human nature has a huge
  capacity to bring about progress, and an unending ability to forge greater human happiness. At the heart of this optimistic
  view is a belief that individuals are guided principally by reason or rationalism, and thus are able to calculate answers to all sorts of problems.

Question 49

Human nature 2

Answer 49

• Liberals believe that mankind’s innate reason is manifested in debate, discussion, peaceful argument and the measured examination of ideas and opinions. Rather than meekly accepting whatever life offers - perhaps on the grounds that
  it is the ‘will of God’ or simply “fate’ - individuals have the capacity to plan their own future and effect a preconceived outcome. Indeed, the concepts of both planning and the subsequent ‘plan’ itself are central to the rationalist idea and the cheery liberal belief that human nature allows us to shape our own destiny.
  Consequently, for liberalism, human ‘problems’ are merely challenges awaiting reasoned solutions; on account of human nature, individuals who really want something can usually
  achieve it through reason plus determination. Furthermore, because liberals assume rationality is a universal feature of human nature, they usually assume that reasoned discussion leads to consensus.

Question 50

Individuals

Answer 50

For liberals, individuals are naturally self-seeking and self-serving - hence liberalism’s association with egotistical individualism - and naturally drawn to a situation where they are independent and in charge of their own destiny. Yet, according to liberalism, it is mankind’s innate rationality and virtue that stop this leading to destructive selfishness and competition. Individuals, liberals claim, are both egotistical and reasonable, making them sensitive to the perspectives of their fellow men and women. This ensures that, for liberals, the natural condition of human nature is one of self-aware individuals, living in peace, harmony and mutual understanding.

Question 51

John Locke - human nature

Answer 51

Human beings are rational, guided by the pursuit of self- interest, but mindful of others’ concerns.

Question 52

John Locke - the state

Answer 52

The state must be represenative, based on the consent of the governed.

Question 53

John Locke - society

Answer 53

Society predates the state: there were ‘natural’ societies with natural laws and rights

Question 54

John Locke - economy

Answer 54

State policy should respect the ‘natural right’ to private property and arbitrate effectively between individuals competitng for trade and resources.

Question 55

Mary Wollstonecraft

Answer 55

Rationalism defines both genders: intellectually, men and women are not very different

Question 56

Mary Wollstonecraft - the state

Answer 56

The monarchial state should be replaced by a republic which enshrines women’s rights

Question 57

Mary Wollstonecraft - society

Answer 57

Society ‘infantilised’ women and thus stifled female individualism

Question 58

Mary Wollstonecraft - the economy

Answer 58

A free-market economy would be energised by the enterprise of liberated women

Question 59

John Stuart Mill - Human Nature

Answer 59

Though fundamentally rational, human nature is not fixed. It is forever progressing to a higher level

Question 60

John Stuart Mill - The state

Answer 60

The state should proceed cautiously towards representative democracy, mindful of minority rights

Question 61

John Stuart Mill - society

Answer 61

The best society was one where ‘individuality’ co-existed with tolerance and self-improvement

Question 62

John Stuart Mill - the economy

Answer 62

laissez faire capitalism was vital to progress individual enterprise and individual initiative

Question 63

John Rawls - human nature

Answer 63

mankind is selfish yet empathetic valuing both indivdual liberty and the plight of those around them

Question 64

John rawls - the state

Answer 64

The state should enable less fortunate individauls to advance via public spending and public services.

Question 65

John Rawls - society

Answer 65

The society most individuals would choose would be one where the condition of the poorest is improved

Question 66

John Rawls - economy

Answer 66

Free-market capitalism should be tempered by
the state’s obligation to advance its poorest
citizens.

Question 67

Betty Friedan - human nature

Answer 67

Human nature has evolved in a way that discourages self advancement among women

Question 68

Betty Friedan - the state

Answer 68

the state should legislate to prevent continued discrimination against female individuals

Question 69

Betty Friedan - society

Answer 69

Society remained chauvinistic towards women, though women were complicit in their repression

Question 70

Betty Friedan - the economy

Answer 70

Free-market capitalism could be an ally of femal emanicipation, if allied to legislation precluding sexual discrimination

Question 71

Society related to human nature

Answer 71

• Liberalism’s optimistic view of human nature, particularly our capacity for reason, informs the liberal view about whether ‘society’ can ever exist without a state. In his classic work Leviathan (1651), Thomas Hobbes argued that human nature is so brutally selfish that no society could possibly arise, or survive, until human nature is restrained by a strong, formal authority - in short, a state. But early liberal philosophers like Locke offered a very different view, citing the existence of ‘natural’ society, with ‘natural laws’ and therefore natural rights (including the ‘right’ to life, liberty, property and happiness), all of which preceded the state. So, for liberals, life before the state was created was not ‘nasty, brutish and short’ (as Hobbes famouslv asserted) but potentially pleasant, civilised and long.

Question 72

Natural society

Answer 72

• This liberal belief in a ‘natural society’, where certain ‘natural rights’ are enjoyed, helps explain why liberals place so much importance upon the individual. Indeed, as John Stuart Mill emphasised during the mid-nineteenth century, the main purpose of any civilised society - ‘natural’ or manufactured - is to facilitate individualism. In making this claim, Mill and other liberals argued that each individual has a unique personality and peculiar talents; that individuals are rational in pursuit of their self-interest; and that individuals are egotistical, driven by a wish to fulfil their potential and a desire to be self-reliant and independent. In view of all this, each individual therefore seeks freedom. For Mill, in his critical work On Liberty (1859), this specifically meant freedom from any dependency on others and the freedom to live one’s life in a way that maximises self-reliance and self-fulfilment. For this reason, liberals believe that the ‘default setting’ of any society is a focus upon individual freedom and that any society which seeks to deny individualism is dysfunctional.

Question 73

right to property in relation to society

Answer 73

In this respect, the ‘right’ to property - defined by Locke as “that with which Man has mixed his labour’ - is regarded by liberals as particularly important, as it is seen as the tangible
expression of an individual within society. Furthermore, for later liberals like Mill, property is also the ‘prism’ through which individuals develop their potential, providing an opportunity, within civilised communities, for men and women to nurture their taste and judgement.

Question 74

Indivdualism

Answer 74

Individualism is a vital principle of liberal ideology. It means that individual needs should be at the heart of political thought, economic life and social organisation, and that society should
prioritise the improvement of diverse, individual lives. Its implications are that liberal politicians seek to:
- maximise the number of individuals achieving self-determination (control of their own lives)
- maximise the number of individuals achieving self-realisation (discovering their ‘true’ selves and potential)
- maximise the number of individuals attaining self-fulfilment (a sense of one’s ‘personal mission’ being achieved).

Question 75

Economy relating to society

Answer 75

In addition to shaping its view of society, liberalism’s devotion to private property informs its approach to the economy. Given its belief that property is a natural right, it is inevitable that liberalism should support an economy that puts private property at the heart of all economic arrangements. In short, it is inevitable that liberals should support capitalism.

Question 76

Economy

Answer 76

Ever since the liberal economist Adam Smith enunciated his theory of markets in his seminal work The Wealth of Nations (1776), liberalism has been strongly associated with private enterprise and private ownership of the economy. Indeed, this explains why capitalism is routinely described as economic liberalism, and provides a key difference between liberalism and many forms of socialism. Although liberals and socialists share many assumptions and objectives, and criticise many of the same things, liberals will still ultimately defend a market-based economy and stridently refute the anti-capitalist message of ‘fundamentalist’ socialism

Question 77

Individualism in relation to the economy

Answer 77

As with the stress on individualism, liberalism’s endorsement of capitalism is strongly linked to its positive view of human nature. In making the case for free-market economics, Adam Smith had asserted that if obstacles to free trade were swept
away, the ‘invisible hand’ of market forces would guide traders towards success, resulting wealth would ‘trickle down’ to everyone, and ‘the wealth of nations’ would be promoted globally. In making these confident assertions, Smith was clearly
reflecting the optimistic tone of liberalism’s core values - and, in the view of many non-liberals, being rather naive about the efficacy of market forces.

Question 78

The state

Answer 78

• Although individualism and capitalism are central to liberalism’s view of society and the economy, it is important to remember that this does not render liberalism unique among political
  ideologies - this also applies, for example, to several branches of anarchism (known as ‘individualist anarchism’).
• What makes liberalism distinctive is that whereas anarchists see the state - any state - as the eternal enemy of individualism, liberals, from John Locke and Adam Smith onwards, believe that individualism and capitalism work best when accompanied by a certain kind of state. But to understand why, it is necessary to explain how liberals think the ‘ideal’ state originates, what it seeks to achieve and how it should be structured.

Question 79

Origins of liberal state 1

Answer 79

To appreciate liberalism’s belief in a state, it is important to remember that, while liberalism takes an optimistic view of human nature, it still accepts that; within the state of nature,
there would have been clashes of interests between individuals pursuing their own, egocentric agendas. Locke was especially
worried that without the sort of formal structures only a state can provide, the resolution of such clashes - particularly clashes concerning property - might not always be swift and efficient. As a result, individualism in the state of nature could
have been impeded by stalemated disputes between competing individuals. So a mechanism - a state - was required, to arbitrate effectively between the competing claims of rational
individuals.

Question 80

Origins of the liberal state

Answer 80

To provide a sporting comparison, most footballers would accept that, in the absence of a referee, some kind of football match could still take place, with both teams self-regulating
on an ad hoc basis (think in terms of a ‘kick-around’ among friends). Yet, even though it would result in their restriction and occasional punishment, most footballers would also accept that the match would be fairer, more efficient and more rewarding for individual players if a referee was present - especially if the referee officiated according to pre-agreed rules. For liberals,
this is analogous to their argument that the state of nature, tolerable though it may be, is still inferior to the particular “formalised’ state liberals recommend.

Question 81

Objectives of the liberal state

Answer 81

Although their root justification for the ‘liberal state’ was that it allowed the more effective resolution of disputes between individuals, Locke and later liberals were also keen to show
that the kind of state they wanted embodied wider and grander principles. These principles were to be significantly developed by England’s Bill of Rights of 1689, the American Constitution of 1787 and the first French Republic of 1789.
From these historical events emerge various objectives, which are central to any understanding of what the liberal state

Question 82

Rejection of the traditional state

Answer 82

The liberal state is founded upon an explicit rejection of the type of state common in Europe prior to the Enlightenment a state marked by monarchical, absolutist and arbitrary rule.
In other words, the liberal state renounces the sort of state where power is concentrated in the hands of one individual and where that power is exercised randomly. The liberal state would
be especially contemptuous of any government that claimed a ‘divine right’ to govern, according to a subjective and thus irrational perception of God’s will.

Question 83

Government by consent

Answer 83

• Following on from its rejection of ‘the divine right of kings”’, liberalism insists that the state is legitimate only if those under its jurisdiction have effectively volunteered to be under its
  jurisdiction: in other words, governments must have the consent of the governed.
• This doctrine has a profound effect upon the relationship between politicians and people. Far from being the ‘subjects’ of the government - as the traditional state had asserted –the
  people in the state would now have ultimate control over it. As Locke maintained, ‘government should always be the servant, not master, of the people’.
• For this reason, ‘government by consent’ can be linked to the notion of ‘government by contract’.
  what Enlightenment theorists such as Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) later dubbed
  a social contract. In simple terms, individuals who ‘contract out’ of the state of nature and ‘contract in’ to the formal state of law agree to accept the latter’s authority and restrictions, but are promised something in return. But what are they promised in return? This leads us to the remaining objectives of the liberal.

Question 84

Promtion of natural rights

Answer 84

Liberals always assume that, before any formal state was created, individuals enjoyed ‘natural rights’ that enabled self-realisation, self-determination and - therefore - individualism. So it would be irrational for individuals to abandon both natural rights and individualism by submitting unconditionally to any state. The
only rational reason to submit to the state would be if it not only respected but promoted natural rights, ensuring they were more safely and easily exercised than in the state of nature.

Question 85

Harm principle

Answer 85

Within liberalism, these twin terms refer to the
belief that particular views and activities
particularly those we might frown upon - should be tolerated, just as long as they do not ‘harm’ the
freedom of others. Both concepts are strongly
linked to the liberal belief in individual freedom.

Question 86

Social Contract

Answer 86

Linked to Enlightenment philosophers such as Locke and Rousseau, this term denotes that the state should be a ‘deal’ between governments and governed. It states that in return for
submitting to the state’s laws, the governed should be guaranteed certain rights and that, if these rights are violated, so is the citizen’s obligation to obey the state’s laws.

Question 87

Promotion of tolerance 1

Answer 87

• Linked to its devotion to natural rights, the liberal state is also concerned to ensure tolerance towards all those individuals who exercise their natural rights in various ways. Obviously, tolerance was closely linked to individualism - how could an individual seek self-determination if his actions and opinions were to be forbidden by others? It was with this dilemma in mind that
  the French philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778) issued his famous clarion call for freedom, claiming ‘I detest what you say but will defend unto the death your right to say it.’
• This notion was to be developed a century or so later by John Stuart Mill, who insisted that the state should tolerate all actions and opinions unless they were shown to violate the harm principle - the principle that individuals should be
  free to do and say anything unless it could be proved that this “harmed’ the rights and freedoms of other individuals within the state.

Question 88

Promotion of tolerance 2

Answer 88

Although liberalism is an individualistic creed, it has usually recognised that individuals do not necessarily seek isolation and detachment from their fellow men and women (thus creating an ‘atomised’ environment) but are instead drawn
to societies that accommodate their individualism. So, when emphasising tolerance, for example, early liberals were aware
that individuals were inclined to congregate into religious communities. It was therefore important that the state should show tolerance towards such communities, especially those representing the religious views of a minority. So, in the wake
of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, which cemented the Protestant supremacy in England, Locke was particularly keen that the post-Revolution state should extend tolerance towards
Roman Catholics.

Question 89

Tolerance betty friedan

Answer 89

Since then, tolerating minorities has been an ongoing passion for those seeking to support and advance the liberal state. Since the mid-twentieth century, American liberals such as the feminist Betty Friedan (1921-2006) (see ‘Key thinker 5’ box) have sought to update Locke’s belief in the tolerance of minorities, campaigning for the state to improve the lot of individuals allegedly hindered by ethnicity, sexuality, physicality or (in the case of Friedan’s campaigns) gender.

Question 90

Meritocracy

Answer 90

• Given the liberal state’s stress on individualism, the next principle of a liberal state is that political power should be exercised only by those who show themselves worthy of it. In other words, government should be conducted by individuals who, through their own efforts and talents, have won the trust of the governed. Consequently, there is no guarantee that such responsibility will be conferred upon the descendants of those who govern - unless they, too, can demonstrate competence and integrity.
• In this respect, the meritocratic liberal state again stands in contrast to the traditional state. In pre-Enlightenment regimes, power was largely hereditary and aristocratic, with circumstances of birth trumping individual ability. As Thomas Paine (1737-1809) remarked, when justifying the French Revolution’s overthrow of the nobility in 1789, hereditary rule was “beyond equity, beyond reason and most certainly beyond wisdom’. Aristocracy thus had no place in the meritocratic
  liberal state commended by Locke, Mill and other liberal thinkers.

Question 91

Foundational equality

Answer 91

This refers to the liberal belief that every individual is born equal, with equal natural rights. Such individuals are therefore entitled to legal equality in a liberal state. This would involve equality before the law and an equal recognition of individual rights.

Question 92

Equality of opportunity

Answer 92

For liberals, it is an article of faith that all individuals are born equal, have equal natural rights and are of equal value - a belief often referred to as foundational equality. Within
the liberal state, all individuals must therefore have equal opportunity to develop their potential and achieve control of their own lives. If an individual fails to fulfil their potential, they
must be able to assume total responsibility for this failure and not somehow attribute it to the state.

Question 93

Equality of oppourtunity definition

Answer 93

Liberals believe that all individuals should be allowed similar opportunities to develop their potential. Unlike for socialism, however, equality of opportunity for liberalism does not necessarily exist alongside greater equality of outcome.

Question 94

Limited Government

Answer 94

This involves government being ‘limited’, in terms
of how it can act, by a constitution’s formal rules and procedures. It is therefore the opposite of
arbitrary rule, as practised in medieval, monarchial state.

Question 95

Justice

Answer 95

Linked to equality of opportunity is a belief that the state should embody justice: there must be an assumption that it will treat individuals fairly, or justly, without regard to their “identity’ (as defined, for example, by their occupation, religion, gender or ethnicity). As a result, individuals within the liberal state must
be able to assume a just outcome from any complaints they express and therefore a satisfactory resolution to any grievances
they have with other individuals.

Question 96

For liberals, the structure of the state must embody three features:

Answer 96

• constitutional/limited government
• fragmentaed
• formal equality

Question 97

Constitutional/limited government

Answer 97

Consistent with its faith in government by consent, liberalism holds that the ‘contract’ between government and governed should be cemented by a formal constitution. Furthermore, in keeping with its faith in rationalism, this constitution should be preceded by extensive discussion and consensus over what government should do and how it should do it. In this way, constitutional rule is in stark contrast to the arbitrary rule characteristic of monarchical states, where rulers often did whatever they pleased, using whatever methods they wished. For this reason, constitutional government may be described as limited government, with a liberal constitution imposing upon government two broad limitations. First, it ensures that governments must govern according to prearranged rules and procedures, and not in a random, ad hoc fashion. Second, a liberal constitution is designed to prevent governments from eroding the natural rights of their citizens - a restriction often brought about via mechanisms like a Bill of Rights

Question 98

The liberal state: how is power dispersed?

Answer 98

• A formal ‘separation of powers’, between the executive, legislature and judiciary.
• A separation of powers within the legislature itself, so as to produce a “bicameral’ (two-house)
  legislature.
• A Bill of Rights, immune to the short-term decisions of governments.
• A Supreme Court, to uphold any Bill of Rights, and whose decisions override those of elected governments.
• A federal system of government, whereby many of the state’s functions are delegated to various
  regional governments.

Question 99

Formal equality

Answer 99

• Given the liberal belief in foundational equality (that all individuals are born with equal rights), it would be illogical for a liberal state not to reflect this in its own structures. As such, the liberal state strives for formal equality, where all individuals have the same legal and political rights in society. It places significant emphasis on the doctrine of the ‘rule of law’, which holds that laws passed in a liberal state are applicable to everyone, with
  no exemptions granted on the basis of status. In short, no one should be outside the law, but no one should be above it either.
• Likewise, the procedures whereby the law takes its course - as prescribed by a liberal constitution - will apply to all citizens. Formal quality is also linked to the idea of equal political rights - for example, the equal right to petition a parliament,
  the equal right to invoke a Bill of Rights before the courts, or the equal right to criticise the state while exercising the ‘natural’ (and legally protected) right to freedom of speech and publication.
• As indicated at the start of this chapter, liberalism may be seen as an ambiguous ideology. To see why, and to understand how liberals can differ, it is helpful to look at its two principal strands: classical liberalism and modern liberalism. It is important to remember, however, that both strands uphold the core values of
  liberalism examined earlier in this chapter. The variations occur merely in respect of how these values might be applied.

Question 100

period of classic liberlaism

Answer 100

Late 17th - Late 19th

Question 101

Clasical liberalism

Answer 101

Given its timespan of two centuries, classical liberalism (or original liberalism) is itself somewhat ambiguous, and includes a diverse cast of politicians and philosophers. For this reason, it is helpful to divide it into two sections: early classical liberalism and later classical liberalism.

Question 102

period of early classical liberalism

Answer 102

late 17th - early 18th

Question 103

Early classical liberalism

Answer 103

Early classical liberalism represents the attempt, during the late seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, to relate the ideology’s core beliefs to the political and economic climate of the time.

Question 104

Four distinctive features of Early classical liberalism.

Answer 104

• revolutionary potential
• negative liberty
• minimal state
• laissez-faire capitalism.

Question 105

Revolutionary potential of revolutionary potential

Answer 105

As we have seen, Locke’s argument for government by consent, and the notion that a state should be driven by the representatives (not masters) of the people, is one of the most
important ‘core’ principles of liberalism; it therefore applies to all strands of liberal thinking. Yet, in the context of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it needs to be emphasised that such Lockean ideas - now commonplace in western democracies - required vigorous argument and sometimes revolutionary upheaval.
In repudiating the twin pillars of the traditional European state (absolute monarchical power and the ‘divine right of kings’), Locke’s philosophy became associated with England’s Glorious Revolution of 1688, which duly secured constitutional government and the end of concentrated political power. Locke’s blueprint for representative government also inspired both the
American revolt against the British crown after 1775 and the subsequent American Constitution of 1787 - both of which
reflected his insistence upon natural rights, the separation of powers and the principle of government by consent

Question 106

Core idea of revolution

Answer 106

That humanity’s prime characteristic was a capacity for reason and logic - was far from firmly accepted in the eighteenth century; neither was the central liberal idea that society should be geared to maximum individual freedom. Other key thinkers within classical liberalism, such as Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-97), argued that the treatment of women during this period was a general affront to reason and a particular affront to the individual liberty of half the adult population. Wollstonecraft duly contested that English society in the eighteenth century could only conceive of women as emotional creatures, suited to marriage and motherhood but little else. As Wollstonecraft observed, instead of developing their individual potential, Hanoverian society contrived to keep women in a state of
listless inactivity and stupid acquiescence’.
Wollstonecraft’s subsequent argument - that individual men and women required a formal education to release their innate powers of reason - would later be seen as indisputably liberal; yet during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, such arguments were considered dangerously radical by most in authority.

Question 107

Negative liberty

Answer 107

Early classical liberals, such as Voltaire (1694-1778) and Charles-Louis Montesquieu (1689-1755), were conscious that individual
liberty - a crucial ‘natural right’ - was vital to self-determination and self-reliance, as well as being the condition of government by consent. In England, early ‘liberal-feminists’, like Wollstonecraft, also tried to relate such ideas to the individual liberty of women. However, early classical liberals were also conscious that ‘liberty’
was a somewhat vague term, which needed clarification if individualism were to be protected. So what was meant by ‘liberty? The definition that emerged from classical liberal thinking would
later be termed negative liberty, one which saw freedom as the absence of restraint. Individuals should therefore assume that they were ‘naturally’ free until something or someone put a brake on their actions. According to this definition, therefore, a man alone on a desert island might be lonely, but he could still exercise a
high degree of personal freedom: an assumption complementing one of liberalism’s core beliefs that individuals were potentially autonomous, atomistic and self-reliant. For early classical liberals, this definition would have consequences for both the size of the state and the emerging ‘science’ of economics.

Question 108

Minimal state

Answer 108

The notion of negative freedom defined the answer to another key question facing early classical liberals: just how much governing should the new constitutional states undertake? Given that liberty was now seen as the absence of restraint, the answer became obvious: governments should not just be limited in terms of how they could act, but also limited in terms of what they would do. In other words, the limited state should co-exist with the minimal state.
The case for the minimal state was perhaps best summarised by Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), one of the USA’s Founding Fathers, who noted:
‘The government that is best is that which governs least… when government grows, our liberty withers. The notion of a minimal state also served to strengthen classical liberalism’s faith in the dispersal of political power: a state with assorted checks and balances, after all, would be
one where bold state action was fraught with difficulty - and therefore infrequent.

Question 109

Laissez-faire capitalism

Answer 109

Negative liberty and a belief in minimal government eventually led classical liberalism into the realms of economic activity. More specifically, it became linked to the issue of how the state should respond to the emergence of capitalism
in the eighteenth century. The most famous response, that of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations (1776), became one of the most important expressions of classical liberalism and, arguably, the original economics textbook. Smith duly argued that capitalism, via the ‘invisible hand’ of market forces, had a limitless capacity to
enrich society and the individuals within it. The wealth acquired by individuals would accordingly ‘trickle down’ to the rest of the population - just as long as the state took a laissez-faire (let-it-
happen) approach to the workings of a market economy. Smith therefore advocated the end of tariffs and duties, which had ‘protected’ domestic producers, and the spread of “free trade’ between nation-states and their commercial classes. In the UK, these ideas were radical in 1776, but became
orthodox in the century that followed.

Question 110

period of later classical liberalism

Answer 110

ealy - mid 19th

Question 111

Later classical liberalism by 1800s

Answer 111

countries like Britain and the USA looked
very different to the societies surveyed by Locke and the Founding Fathers. They had become more industrialised; most individuals now worked and lived in an urban environment; individuals had a growing sense of class consciousness; and, as a result, there was growing interest in
concepts like democracy and socialism.

Question 112

Changed environment - later classical liberals

Answer 112

classical liberals faced a serious challenge if their core ideas were to remain relevant. A response duly came, but it was far from uniform. The
ideas of four “late classical’ liberals provide an indication of how variable the response was.

Question 113

Jeremy Bentham

Answer 113

Known as the father of utilitarian philosophy, developed a supposedly scientific alternative to natural rights theory, based on the idea that
each individual would seek to maximise their own ‘utility’ by maximising personal pleasure and minimising personal pain. Yet Bentham also acknowledged that, in an industrialised society, this could produce more clashes between individuals than early classical liberals had envisaged. As a result, he suggested that the liberal state would need to be more proactive, using the algebraic formula of ‘the greatest
happiness of the greatest number’ to inform legislation and government policy. In the process Bentham laid the foundations of ‘political science’ and provided liberalism with one of its earliest justifications for democracy: as Bentham observed, governments were more likely to follow
the ‘greatest happiness of the greatest number’ if they were elected by and accountable to ‘the greatest number’ of voters.

Question 114

Samuel Smiles

Answer 114

fearing that individualism was threatened by the advent of socialism, with its related calls for more state provision, argued in his influential book
Self Help (1859) that self-reliance was still perfectly feasible for most individuals, including members of the new working class. Smiles acknowledged that industrialised societies
made it harder for individuals to be self-reliant: an increasing number were faceless employees in a bulging factory system. Yet Smiles argued that, in seeking to overcome the new obstacles, individuals would merely be challenged more rigorously and, in the process, become more fully developed. If ‘self-help were usurped by state help’, Smiles argued, ‘human beings would remain stunted, their talents unknown, and their liberty squandered’.

Question 115

Herbet spencer

Answer 115

a contemporary of Smiles, acknowledged the importance of self-help and echoed Smiles’ contempt for more state intervention. However, in Man Versus the State (1884), Spencer questioned Smiles’ belief that all individuals could rise to the challenge of self-help, noting the presence of “the feeble, the feckless and the failing’ in many Victorian cities. Fearing that this
“feeble’ minority could justify the extension of state power, and therefore (what he saw as) an erosion of the majority’s freedom, Spencer sought to apply the principles of ‘natural selection’, recently unveiled to science by Charles Darwin. In
what became known as ‘social Darwinism’, Spencer restated the classical liberal belief in a minimal state and negative freedom, claiming that this would lead to ‘the survival of the
fittest’ and the gradual elimination of those unable to enjoy the benefits of individualism. The eventual outcome would be a society where rational self-reliance was the norm and
where individual freedom could thrive.

Question 116

Long term importance of Bentham, Smiles and Spencer

Answer 116

Bentham, Smiles and Spencer were eclipsed by John Stuart Mill. Mill’s contribution to philosophy in general was immense. Indeed, some have suggested that Mill’s ideas represent
a separate strand of liberalism, known as transitional liberalism or developmental individualism. Mill’s contribution to liberalism and political thought was crucial, given that it
took place at a time - the mid-nineteenth century - when many liberals were struggling to work out how liberalism (with its stress upon individualism) could harness trends towards universal suffrage (with its capacity for what Mill himself termed ‘the tyranny of the majority’). Mill’s response to this dilemma would have a profound effect upon the way in which later liberals reconciled themselves to democratic Liberalism governance.

Question 117

Universal sufferage - classical liberals

Answer 117

Anticipating universal suffrage, Mill updated Locke’s case for representative government into a case for representative democracy. Under this model, the enlarged electorate would not make policy decisions themselves but elect liberally minded representatives to make decisions for
them. When making those decisions, such representatives would not simply side with the majority view, they would seek to aggregate the various opinions within society so as to produce the broad consent of all. In putting forward
this particular model of democracy, Mill also equipped later liberals to rebut alternative models - such as “direct’ democracy - which he claimed were much more conducive
to the ‘tyranny of the majority’.

Question 118

Developmental individualism classicals liberalism

Answer 118

Mill was still concerned, however, that during the mid-nineteenth century most would-be voters were ill-equipped to choose “intelligent’ representatives to act ‘rationally’ on their behalf. With that in mind, Mill argued that universal
suffrage must be preceded by universal education, hoping this would promote developmental individualism. By this,
Mill meant the advancement of individual potential, so as to produce a liberal consensus in society; this in turn would safeguard tolerance, reason and individualism. Meanwhile, a
vote would be withheld from the illiterate and unschooled, -while those with a university education (like Mill) would receive more than one vote.

Question 119

Education

Answer 119

Once widespread education had been secured, Mill argued, democracy could actually further liberal values promoting, for example, political education and opportunities for enlightening debate. Such a progressive society, Mill argued, could allow a pleasing refinement of Bentham’s utilitarianism: ‘the greatest happiness of the
greatest number’ could then be a calculation made by politicians and voters, thus encouraging ordinary citizens to consider and aggregate everyone’s interests, not just their own, when forming a political judgement. Despite his commitment to mass education, Mill remained
vague about how it would be provided. As someone wedded to the classical liberal ideas of a minimal state and negative freedom, he was reluctant to countenance extensive state
provision of schooling. But this key issue was one that his successors, the so-called modern liberals, were prepared to answer with more clarity and boldness - and not just in relation to education

Question 120

Liberal democracy: a contradiction in terms? NO

Answer 120

• Democracy complements individualism, allowing individuals to shape their lives via the ballot box
• Democracy complements ‘government by consent’
• Democracy helps avoid the concentration of political power
• Democracy is optimistic about human nature: it pre supposes an intelligent electorate , capable of rational decisions.
• John Stuart Mill thought democracy would have an ‘educative’ effect upon voters and thus abet developmental individualism

Question 121

Liberal democracy: a contradiction in terms? YES

Answer 121

• Democracy tends to be guided by majorities. It therefore threatens some individuals with the ‘tyranny of the majority’.
• Classical liberals favoured a limited electorate, so as to safeguard property rights.
• John Stuart Mill thought votes should be given only to those with appropriate, formal education political power.
• Modern liberals flirt with supranational bodies, like the european union where there is a “democratic deficit’.
• Liberals seek to mitigate democracy’s effects via assorted constitutional devices (e.g. Bill of Rights, Supreme Court).

Question 122

Period of Modern Liberalism

Answer 122

late 19th to present

Question 123

Modern Liberalism

Answer 123

Mill did not just offer solutions to the dilemmas of liberalism in the late nineteenth century; he also raised a number of possibilities that later liberals could develop. In particular, Mill’s notion of individuality began to prompt fresh questions about the precise nature of ‘liberty’. In order
to liberate an individual’s potential, was it really enough just to leave them alone (as supporters of negative freedom would argue)? Was it enough for the state simply to guarantee equal political rights and equality before the law? The answers to such questions would produce a new and
radical interpretation of what liberty involved, one that would lead to a very different form of liberalism. It was one that had a number of distinguishing characteristics.

Question 124

Positve liberty

Answer 124

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a number of English philosophers - later known as the ‘new liberals’ - re-examined the core principles of liberalism and reached radical conclusions about liberty, individualism and society. T.H. Green (1836-82), L.T. Hobhouse (1864-1929) and J.A. Hobson (1854-1940) were prepared to argue that modern, advanced societies made a mockery of the idea that individuals were innately autonomous. The nature
of modern economics and society, they argued, meant individuals were increasingly subject to socio-economic forces beyond their control. Such forces would then make it impossible for affected individuals to seek self-determination and self-realisation, even though they might not have caused the socio-economic problems now restricting their liberty. As a result, these new liberals argued that social justice, as well as legal justice, was now required if individuals were to
fulfil their potential.

Question 125

Results of positve liberty

Answer 125

• This led Green and others to revise the meaning of liberty, so as to make it a less ‘negative’ concept. In other words, instead of freedom being seen merely as the absence of restraint, it would now be interpreted as something more cooperative and altruistic, namely some individuals enabling or empowering other individuals. This approach - helping others to help themselves - would then allow certain individuals to act in a way that would have been impossible
  had they simply been left alone: a concept that became known as positive freedom.
  The new liberals thus asserted that individuals had to beenabled in order for them to be free from socio-economic problems (such as poor health care, unemployment or a lack of education) and for social justice to be secured. But this raised an obvious question: how might this ‘enabling’ take place? This leads to the second feature of modern liberalism.

Question 126

Positive freedom

Answer 126

A vital aspect of modern liberalism, this term
denotes the belief that individuals left alone are
often inhibited rather than “free!. Such individuals may need enabling so that they are “free’ to exercise their individual talents.

Question 127

Enlarged and enabling state

Answer 127

As we saw earlier in the chapter, classical liberalism was strongly associated with the idea of minimal government - one that was closely linked to a belief in ‘negative’ liberty. By contrast, modern liberalism had no qualms about claiming that only a larger state could repel the new, socio-economic threats to freedom and individualism.
Consequently, modern liberals like John Rawls (1921-2002) found themselves justifying a
substantial extension of the state in the name of individual liberty: more laws, more state spending, more taxation and more state bureaucracy. In short, this brand of liberalism
became strongly linked to collectivism. Having embraced collectivism, modern liberalism faced the charge (from liberal critics like Friedrich von Hayek) that it had betrayed the fundamental principles of classical liberalism and had seriously blurred the distinction between liberalism and
socialism. Later modern liberals, notably John Rawls, resisted such a suggestion, arguing that only an enlarged state could guarantee the
equality of opportunity necessary to enable individual freedom. Rawls insisted, however, that while an enlarged state would require some individuals to sacrifice more of their earnings to the state in the form of progressive taxation, those same individuals could still be persuaded that this was a good and necessary thing. That being so, Rawls argued, the enabling state was perfectly consistent with the liberal principle
of government by consent. Rawls also pointed out that, while modern liberalism wished to improve the lot of society’s least fortunate (via extensive state intervention), it remained indifferent to inequality of outcome. For modern liberals, this was the inevitable side effect of individual

Question 128

The quest for social justice: examples of modern liberal collectivism

Answer 128

• Liberal government 1906-1910: in the UK, it was a Liberal government, led by Herbert Asquith
  (1852-1928) and his chancellor David Lloyd-George (1863-1945), that provided one of the earliest instances of modern liberalism in action. The most important illustration of this was the ‘people’s budget’ of 1908, which introduced a state pension, designed to liberate people from the financial problems of old age and funded by increased taxation of property owners.
• The most influential liberal economist of the twentieth century, John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946), was a professed liberal, committed to the maintenance of a capitalist economy. But the economic depression of the 1920s and 1930s convinced him that neither individual freedom nor the survival of capitalist economies and constitutional states was served by the cyclical nature of laissez-faire capitalism. Mass unemployment, he feared, not only deprived millions of their individual freedom; it also paved the way for utterly illiberal doctrines such as fascism and communism.
• In his key work, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936), Keynes therefore argued that the state must constantly ‘steer the economy and manage demand so as to secure full employment, without which (according to Keynes) individual liberty would be difficult. Keynes’s brand of dirigisme, or state-directed capitalism, duly influenced a series of western governments in the mid-twentieth century, shaping President F.D. Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal’ in the USA in the 1930s and the economic strategy of every UK government between 1945 and 1979.
• The Beveridge Report: William Beveridge (1879- 1963) was a liberal social scientist whose 1942 report, ‘Social Insurance and Allied Services’, proved the bedrock of Britain’s post-war welfare state’. Developing the ideas first mooted by T.H. Green, Beveridge predicted that individuals in the post-war world faced ‘five giants’ threatening
  their freedom and individual potential: poverty, unemployment, poor education, poor housing and poor health care. In a powerful statement of modern liberal thinking, Beveridge argued that these threats could be overcome only through a major extension of state provision (such as a national health service).

Question 129

Society’s least fortunate - Rawls

Answer 129

Rawls also pointed out that, while modern liberalism wished to improve the lot of society’s least fortunate (via extensive state intervention), it remained indifferent to inequality of outcome. For
modern liberals, this was the inevitable side effect of individual freedom and was the key difference with socialism. The priority, Rawls insisted, was to ameliorate the social and economic condition of society’s most deprived members and thus enable them to exploit their individual potential and achieve control of their lives. As long as this occurred, Rawls contested, the gap between society’s poorest and most prosperous elements was of secondary concern (a claim most socialists would vigorously refute).

Question 130

Consitutional reform/liberal democracy

Answer 130

The third feature of modern liberalism has been a passion for ongoing, constitutional change. Put another way, precisely because it has sought to extend the state, modern
liberalism has also been keen to reform it. As Hobhouse
observed: ‘If the state is to be enlarged, it must also be
improved’
If only to secure the principle of government by consent,
modern liberalism has been associated with ongoing
constitutional reform, so as to update this key liberal principle.
In the UK, such liberal demands for reform have included
a written or codified constitution, devolution of power
from central government to regional government, electoral
reform (especially proportional representation), and a more
accountable House of Lords.

Question 131

Constitutional reform in relation to liberal democracy

Answer 131

• Yet the most important facet of modern liberalism’s interest in constitutional reform has been its support for liberal democracy - in other words, completing the link betweencore liberal values and universal adult suffrage. So, in the UK
  for example, it was a Liberal prime minister who (in 1918) oversaw the enfranchisement of most women and nearly all men, irrespective of property ownership. Likewise, since 1945,
  UK liberals have tended to champion a lowering of the voting age, first (in 1969) to 18 and more recently to 16.
• However, modern liberalism’s enthusiasm for democracy is not unqualified. It has shown little interest, for example, in direct democracy, fearing that referendums and initiatives threaten the
  “tyranny of the majority’, and has seemed willing to dilute even representative democracy in order to protect ‘liberal’ values. This has been demonstrated by modern liberals’ support for the UK’s Human Rights Act (which effectively transferred powers from elective representatives to unelected judges) and their widespread enthusiasm for supranational bodies like the
  European Union. Indeed, ‘Eurosceptics’ have often depicted the EU as a vehicle for ‘liberal bureaucrats’ afraid of democracy - allowing them, for example, to advance ‘liberal’ initiatives (such
  as tolerance and anti-xenophobia) without being hindered by accountability to voters. Meanwhile, many modern liberals certainly regarded the outcome of the UK’s EU referendum of
  2016 - in which 48 per cent of voters wished to ‘remain’ a particularly unfortunate example of ‘the tyranny of the majority’, and a vindication of Mill’s argument that such vital decisions were best left to a more liberally minded parliament.

Question 132

Has modern liberalism abandoned the principles of classical liberalism? YES

Answer 132

• Classical liberalism defined liberty as individuals being left alone (negative freedom). Modern liberals think individuals are not free unless they are actively ‘enabled’ via interference from others (positive freedom).
• Classical liberalism championed a minimal state.
  Modern liberals champion an enlarged, enabling state.
• Classical liberalism was inclined to see taxation
  as ‘theft’ and sought to restrict it. Modern liberals
  often see increased taxation as the key method for implementing positive freedom.
• Classical liberalism favoured laissez-faire capitalism from which the state is detached. Modern liberals favour Keynesian capitalism, where the state seeks to ‘manage’ market forces.
• Classical liberalism had an ambivalent view of
  democracy, prioritising instead the interests of
  property owners. Modern liberalism has championed representative democracy.

Question 133

Has modern liberalism abandoned the principles of classical liberalism? NO

Answer 133

• Both classical and modern liberalism have an optimistic view of human potential.
• Both classical and modern liberalism believe in rationalism and insist upon tolerance of minorities.
• Both classical and modern liberalism see individualism as the goal of politics and society - they differ merely about how to achieve it.
• Both classical and modern liberalism believe in capitalism and oppose state ownership of the economy.
• Both classical and modern liberalism believe in a constitutional (‘limited’) state and ‘government by
  consent.

Question 134

Social liberalism definition

Answer 134

This represents an updated version of the historic
liberal belief in tolerance. It involves legislation that may criminalise actions that discriminate against individuals on the grounds of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability and
religious persuasion.

Question 135

Social liberalism

Answer 135

From the mid-twentieth century onwards, modern liberalism became strongly linked with calls for greater racial and sexual toleration, arguing that too many individuals in western society were held back on account of innate factors such as ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and physical disability. Given their acceptance of positive liberty and an enlarged state, modern liberals like Friedan argued that the solutions to these problems lay in further
legislation, further state regulation and, sometimes, ‘positive discrimination’ (known in the USA as ‘affirmative action’). This involved the state and other employers correcting an historical
imbalance, by discriminating in favour of individuals from groups that were said to have been discriminated against previously, thus
securing greater equality of opportunity.
- From the 1960s onwards, modern liberalism thus became associated with initiatives like President Kennedy’ Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEC), which required
those managing projects financed by the state to take ‘affirmative action’ in respect of hiring employees from racial minorities. In the
UK, meanwhile, modern liberals gave strong backing to legislation like the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, which criminalised various forms of negative discrimination against ethnic minorities and women respectively.

Question 136

Betty Friedan’s importance to modern liberalism

Answer 136

Betty Friedan’s importance to modern liberalism lay in her insistence that such reforms were perfectly consistent in many ways with the liberal tradition. Citing Mill’s ‘harm principle’, Friedan
claimed that laws criminalising sexual discrimination, for example, were designed merely to prevent some female individuals having their freedoms “harmed by others. Consistent with modern liberalism’s support for an enlarged state, these laws were usually accompanied
by interventionist agencies like the EEC. Yet, as Friedan explained, these agencies were still consistent with the liberal state’s original aim, namely the protection and advancement of natural rights.

Question 137

Neo-liberalism : liberalism or conservatism 1

Answer 137

By the end of the twentieth century, neo-liberalism was a widely recognised branch of political ideology, and a term often used by
commentators to describe political thinking in countries like the UK and the lISA Vet there seems to be some contusion as to whether it is an expression of liberal or conservative thinking.
For neo-liberalism’s most distinguished exponent, Austrian philosopher Friedrich von Hayek (1899-1992), there was absolute certainty that neo-liberalism represented the ‘third strand’ of
liberal ideology. In his seminal work The Road to Serfdom (1944), Hayek was adamant that he was ‘not a conservative’, later arguing that he and like-minded philosophers such as Karl Popper, and
like-minded economists such as Milton Friedman, favoured radical change, not conservative stability - a choice, Hayek argued, based upon their boundless faith in human potential.

Question 138

Neo-liberalism : liberalism or conservatism 2

Answer 138

As a self-proclaimed liberal, Hayek also had little time for conservatism’s rigid defence of the constitutional status quo (especially when it involved a defence of hereditary influence),
and was as passionate as most other liberals in respect of constitutional reforms that checked executive power. Recent neo-liberals, such as those at the Adam Smith Institute, have also
opposed some of the social policies associated with conservatism. The Cameron government’s promotion of marriage via the tax system, for instance, has been attacked as an unwelcome example of state intrusion into people’s private lives (although neo-liberals would welcome the state’s promotion of social liberalism, via the
granting of equal status to gay couples).

Question 139

Neo-liberalism : liberalism or conservatism 3

Answer 139

So what makes neo-liberalism a distinctive branch of liberalism? First, it seeks to update the principles of classical liberalism within a twentieth- and twenty-first-century setting, aiming (for example) to reapply the ideas of Adam Smith and Thomas efferson to modern societies and modern, globalised economies. Second, it offers a liberal critique of modern liberalism, accusing it of a betrayal of individualism and a ‘sell-out’ to both socialism and conservatism. The Beveridge Report, for example, with its talk of the state supporting the people “from cradle to grave’, was
criticised by Hayek for fostering a form of ‘state paternalism’, or “dependency culture’, while legitimising an endless extension of state restraint upon individual initiative.

Question 140

Neo-liberalism : liberalism or conservatism 4

Answer 140

Spurred on by the crises of the 1970s - when the efficiency of both Keynesian economics and welfare spending were brought into question - neo-liberals have thus re-advertised the merits
of negative freedom and a minimal state, calling for politicians to ‘roll back the frontiers of the state’ and thereby ‘set the people free. Specifically, neo-liberals have demanded a reduction in public spending, often facilitated by the privatisation of public services, and much less state regulation of the economy. This, in turn, would allow lower rates of taxation and a gradual replacement of the ‘dependency culture’ with a new ethos of enterprising individualism.

Question 141

Neo-liberalism : liberalism or conservatism 5

Answer 141

Yet, despite their protestations of being ‘real’ liberals, neo- liberals have routinely been labelled as conservatives. This is partly because their views are thought to be reactionary rather than
progressive, seeking to restore the economic arrangements of the nineteenth century as opposed to promoting innovative and novel ideas for the future. It is also undeniable that neo-liberal ideas have played a key role in the development of New Right conservatism, via politicians like Margaret Thatcher and Ronald
Reagan.

Question 142

Tensions within liberalism: human nature

Answer 142

All liberals believe that individuals are generally rational, intelligent, keen to prioritise their individual happiness and fulfilment, and respectful of other individuals’
wish to do the same. However, early classical liberals like Locke, and neo-liberals like Hayek, believe that individuals are innately blessed with such qualities, while Mill and modern liberals like Rawls tend to think that such qualities are potential features of human nature, to be developed by enlightened liberal authorities. This is why modern liberals endorse Mill’s concept of individuality - one that refers to what individuals could become, once ‘enabled’
to fulfil their potential.

Question 143

Tensions within liberalism: Society

Answer 143

Classical liberals believe that human society predates the state, while all liberals see society as a collection of diverse and potentially autonomous individuals, seeking self-determination, self-realisation and self-fulfilment. Modern liberals like Rawls, however, believe that industrialised and urban societies are those where individuals are less autonomous and therefore require state support to be free (‘positive liberty’). Neo-liberals often see society as one where individuals have been stymied by ‘positive liberty’ and that the ‘dependency culture’ must now be corrected by a radical reduction of the state. Some neo-liberals might see the ideal situation as one where
“there is no such thing’ as society, just a collection of atomised individuals pursuing self-interest.

Question 144

Tensions within liberalism: State

Answer 144

All liberals believe that the state should function according to prearranged rules and procedures, with power fragmented and authority subject to the consent of the
governed. However, liberals vary on the extent of state activity. Classical liberals like Mill, in accordance with ‘negative’ liberty, believe state intervention should be minimal and individuals left unchecked (unless they hamper the freedom of others). Modern liberals
like Friedan, in accordance with the concept of ‘positive liberty’, believe state intervention should be much more extensive so as to ‘enable’ individuals to reach their potential. Liberals have also varied over how democratic the state should be. Modern liberals are satisfied that
representative democracy enhances constitutional government, whereas early classical liberals saw democracy as a threat to property rights.

Question 145

The economy

Answer 145

Following Locke’s assertion that property is a ‘natural right’, all liberals believe that the economy should be based on private property and private enterprise. However, while classical liberals and neo-liberals support Adam Smith’s thesis (that the state should adopt
a laissez-faire attitude to the economy), modern liberals have more sympathy for the view of John Maynard Keynes (that capitalism requires regular state management to ensure full employment). Modern liberalism’s belief in ‘managed’ capitalism also explains its support for supranational organisations like the European Union, which many neo-liberals see as an obstacle to global free trade.

Question 146

T.H green dates

Answer 146

1836 - 1882

Question 147

T.H green books

Answer 147

prolegomana to ethics (1883)

Question 148

T.H green type of liberal

Answer 148

Bridge between classical and modern, laissez faire