Strands of Liberalism - (c.1700s)

Question 1

revolutionary potential

Answer 1

 Government by consent and state driven by representatives – required vigorous argument
and sometimes even revolutionary upheaval.
 Rejection of absolute monarchical power and divine right of kings.
 Locke’s philosophy associated with England’s Glorious Revolution 1688 and American
Revolution 1775.

Question 2

negative liberty

Answer 2

 Crucial ‘natural rights’ vital to self-determination and self-reliance.
 Freedom as the absence of restraint – individuals to assume they were naturally free to do
something until something or someone put a brake on their actions.
 Individuals were potentially autonomous, atomistic, and self-reliant.

Question 3

minimal state

Answer 3

 Limited state should co-exist with the minimal state.
 Governments should not just be limited in terms of how they can act but also in what they
would do.
 Dispersal of political power, separation of power, checks and balances.

Question 4

Laissez-faire capitalism

Answer 4

 Adam Smith argued that capitalism via the ‘invisible hand’ of market forces had limitless
capacity to enrich individuals and society as wealth would ‘trickle down’ with a laissez faire
approach.
 Advocated the end of tariffs and duties.