one nation conservatism

Question 1

what is one nation conservatism?

Answer 1

• emphasises social cohesion and national unity, advocating for policies that reduce economic inequality while maintaining traditional conservative values
  -stemmed from PM Disraeli’s ideas
  -idea of paternalism
  -one nation should unite to defend against socialism
  -Disraeli warned against divides between the rich and the poor

Question 2

how did Disraeli argue that ‘the nation’ was the essence of the status quo and not a form of ‘revolutionary’ politics?

Answer 2

-a society’s classes are all members of the same national ‘family’ - revolutionary politics on the other hand represented an attack on the nation itself

Question 3

how did one national conservatives update Burke’s idea of paternalism + noblesse oblige?

Answer 3

-the nation’s aristocracy has a paternalistic duty to ‘elevate the condition of the people’
-there’s an organic affinity between a nation’s richer and poorer classes

Question 4

why did one-nation conservatives support state-sponsored social reform?

Answer 4

-they regarded laissez-faire individualism as the enemy of one-nation
-one nation is engrained in human nature - idea of paternalism isn’t just giving charity to those who need it

Question 5

what 2 events in the 20th century shaped the development of traditional conservatism?

Answer 5

-spread of socialism and communism after WW1
-emergence of fascism prior ro WW2

Question 6

why did they see the soviet union as a threat?

Answer 6

-threat posed by egalitarianism (idea of everyone being equal) - challenged their belief in private property hierarchy and modest reform