A Pervasive Ideology:
- Most commentators agree that liberalism is the most important and influential ideology in the world today
- According to the UN, 2/3rds of countries define themselves as a “liberal democracy” an increase of 7-fold since 1945
- Liberalism represents not just the prevailing ideology but the ‘end of history’ – the end goal for society and the politicians guiding us.
- In the UK and USA being liberal denotes being at odds with conservatism whilst being closer to socialism known as the ‘liberal-left’ whilst in Australia, liberals are more conservative.
Origins
Of Liberalism:
- The root of liberalism lies in the Reformation – a religious group affecting Europe in the late 15th century
- Martin Luther was an advocator of this and argued that Christians who follow Priests should instead take their own private prayers and follow God however they want.
- Enlightenment emerged as a result after the English Civil War and was defined by a belief rather than a movement
- They argued that each individual is someone with free will and that each individual is the best judge of their own interests and actions. John Locke began to question this.
- Whilst today this seems routine, it was revolutionary at the time as it was assumed that Kings and Queens had been chosen by God with the ‘divine rights of Kings’.
- The Enlightenment challenged this and destroyed this by allowing humans to be endowed with the power of logic. It seemed logical that human beings who create themselves for themselves a political system based upon reason known as the Mechanistic Theory.
- Mechanistic Theory: Linked to the writings of John Locke, this argues that mankind is rational and therefore capable of devising a state that reflects mankind’s needs. It was a pointed rebuff to the ‘divine rights of Kings’ which argued that the state reflected God’s will and that obeying it was a religious duty.
Key
Thinker 1: John Locke:
- Seen as the father of liberal philosophy and the creator of classic liberalism. His importance lies in the question he raised about human nature and the type of state that was appropriate.
- He denied the tradition principle that the state was part of God’s creation and he also opposed of the ‘divine rights of Kings’ whilst also opposing the fact that ordinary people were the subjects of the state.
- He thought the true state would be created by mankind to serve mankind’s interests and wold arise only from consent of those who would be governed by it.
- He thought that before the state as we know it came about, there was a natural society which served mankind’s interests well. He described this society as “state of nature”. He believed that it was guided by rationalism and was to be underpinned by natural laws and rights such as the right to buy property.
- The modern state was therefore created to improve an tolerable situation by resolving disputes between individuals more efficiently than would be the case under the state of nature.
- The state of law would only work if it was respected by rights and laws ensuring that people living under laws were never worse off than they had been before.
- His idea of the state would reflect the principal that its citizens had consented to accept to rule the states ruling.
- Because of its nature, the state would have to embody the principal of limited government – limited to representing the interests of the governed and requiring the consent of the governed. The branches of the state would be separate while its lawmakers should be separate (e.g executive, legislature, judiciary and parliamentarians should all be separate).