Origins and Development Flashcards
What is the central theme of liberalism?
Commitment to the individual and the desire to construct a society in which people can satisfy their interests.
What are the two main strands of liberalism?
Classical liberalism and modern liberalism.
When did liberalism really begin to emerge as a political ideology?
End of feudalism and during the age of enlightenment.
What was the early liberal thought on the monarchy and absolutism?
Liberals challenged the absolute power of the monarchy, supposedly based on the doctrine of ‘divine right of kings’.
In place of absolutism, they advocated constitutional and later representative governments.
What was the early liberal thought on economics?
Markets should be completely free from government interference and countries should be free to trade with one another.
What made certain theorists such as Fukuyama pronounce the worldwide triumph of liberalism?
End of communism and the fall of the Berlin Wall made liberalism the most dominant ideology.
