liberalism

What is foundational equality ?

• the core liberal belief that all people are born with equal moral worth and the same natural rights, which can’t be taken away

What is formal equality ?

• the principles that all people have the same legal and political rights and must be treated the same way by the law regardless of their background, race, gender or social status

What is equality of opportunity ?

• all individuals should be given a fair chance to succeed their talents regardless of their background, social class or identity

What is a social contact ?

• unwritten agreement between individuals and the state where some people accept laws and surrender some freedoms in exchange for security, rights, protection and social order

What is meritocracy ?

• individuals attain status, power and rewards based on personal merit, ability and hard work rather than inherited privilege e.g. social class

What is mechanistic theory ?

• core liberal idea that the state is a man made too, or machine created by individuals to serve their interests and protect their natural rights

  
  

What is tolerance ?

• principle of liberalism defined as the willingness to respect and permit beliefs, values and lifestyles which you disagree with

What is limited government ?

• the state’s power is restricted by law and a codified constitution (legal document which sets out powers of government and rights of citizens) to prevent tyranny and protect individual liberties

What is liberalism ?

• It’s a core political ideology that centres on individual freedom, limited government, and the belief that humans are rational

What are the core principles of liberalism ?

• individualism

• Freedom/liberty

• State

• Rationalism

• Equality/social justice

• Liberal democracy

Classical liberalism

• The ideas of classical liberalism are mostly associated with the Enlightenment in the 18th century - when science and philosophy challenged the traditional religious order and the divinely ordained monarchical government ( the divine right of kings )

• The main principles of liberalism include representative democracy and a guarantee of individual freedom

• Ideas: government by consent, guarantee of individual freedom, representative democracy, a limited role for the state within society and the economy, natural rights, negative freedom (less state intervention helps with self-reliance)

• Examples - 19TH century free trade and tariff reform

  
  

The enlightenment and liberalism

• liberalism emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries as thinkers began challenging absolute monarchy, religious authority and rigid social hierarchies - over time, liberalism has centred on protecting individual freedom and limiting state power

• The enlightenment directly created liberalism by replacing traditional religious authority and absolute monarchy with a belief in human reason, individualism and consent

• Themes of enlightenment ideas - a positive view of human nature, an expansion of knowledge, the application of reason and a dedication to scientific method

• Enlightenment concepts such as human rights and rationality were attributed to white Europeans while minority ethnic people were still seen as inferior and weren’t afforded these rights

Ways the enlightenment led to liberalism

• reason over faith - before the enlightenment society was governed by the church dogma and the divine right of kings - enlightenment thinkers argued that humans possess rationality and therefore don’t need an absolute monarch of church to tell them how to live

• Individualism - medieval society viewed people as part of a rigid social hierarchy tied to collective religious duties (e.g. clergy) - enlightenment placed the individual at the centre of political thought - every person is born with independent value and free will

• Social contract and government by consent - rulers held absolute power that subjects couldn’t question - Locke introduced the mechanistic theory. Gov is created through a social contract and is only legitimate if people give consent to being ruled - if gov breaks natural rights, citizens have the right to replace it

• Natural rights and toleration - gov enforced religious conformity and suppressed dissenting views - Locke argued that individuals have inalienable natural rights to “life, liberty, and property” - because reason showed that no single religion or viewpoint could be proven superior, liberals wanted tolerance and limited state interference in private life

What is classical liberalism ?

• Early liberals who believed that individual freedom would best be achieved with the state playing a minimal role

• 1660s - 1800s

• Original form of liberal thinking

• Locke, Wollstonecraft, Mill

What is modern liberalism ?

• emerged as a reaction against free- market capitalism, believing this had led to many individuals not being free. Freedom could no longer simply be defined as ‘being left alone’.

• Late 19th century

• Most powerful form of liberalism in the USA and Europe today

• Mill, Friedan and Rawls

• Ideas: believe in free market capitalism, enabling state (to allow for fair distribution of resources, supports individual and the economy), government may need to intervene (e.g. raise tax for welfare), positive freedom (state intervention can ensure freedom by reducing poverty)

• Examples - liberal reforms in early 1900s, the Beveridge report (1942) which led to the creation of the NHS

• Modern liberalism argued for an increased role of the state within society and the economy. For some, it enhanced individual freedom and was a logical continuation of the ideas of classical liberalism’s core ideas - liberalism in both its classical and modern forms is seen by many as the most influential ideology in the world today

What is individualism ?

Individualism is a social and political belief that puts the needs, rights, and freedom of the single person above the needs of a group or the government

What is egotistical individualism

• individuals act heavily in their own interest and should be left free from heavy state control

What is developmental individualism ?

• Individuals can grow and flourish with support from the state e.g. healthcare, education

Individualism (classical)

• individualism is the core belief that the human individual is of primary moral importance possessing supreme value, autonomy and rights that take precedence over any collective group, society or state

• Locks focused on the individual rights of man and beloved in foundational equality and believed that man’s natural state was one of freedom, and in particular freedom from unnecessary external interference by the state

• Locke and Mill perceived individuals as capable of intellectually informed ideas but as self interested and indifferent to each other

• Believe in egotistical individualism = the belief that individual freedom is associated with a rational sense of self-reliance and self-interest (classical liberals believe humans are selfish and seek only their own pleasure)

• Mill acts as the bridge between classical and modern - developmental individualism - differentiated between the idea of the rights of individuals and how they would develop as individuals

Individualism (modern)

• modern liberalism argues that classical liberalism underplays the inequality of society - some individuals have a distinct advantage over others - the idea that individuals are autonomous is overstated

• Rawls - argued that an individual’s societal position and particular circumstances (e.g. gender, class, innate intelligence) we’re important in determining whether an individual thrived or underachieved - therefore individuals can have both innate advantages and disadvantages that affect their individual fate - the negative freedom practised by classical liberalism only perpetuates these inequalities rather than addressing them - criticises egotistical individualism

• Developmental individualism = modern liberal idea that individuals must help themselves to improve and allow state interference as it can assist in individuals’ development (e.g. a state run education system) - (freedom means freedom to achieve your potential and it involves others so if some people aren’t free none of us are)

Individualism - classical vs modern

• classical liberals - an individual’s main motivation is for egotistical individualism, which is concerned with maximising their own utility (their personal worth or value) so that they can thrive to be the best of their ability

• Modern liberals - Green (1836-82) was an early advocate for modern liberalism and argued for positive freedom where the state practises a form of developmental individualism to help make society fairer - Mill agreed with this but described it as ‘individuality’

• Classical liberals - the freedom of an individual is sacrosanct (sacred) - society would be atomistic (a collection of autonomous and separate individuals)

• Modern liberals can broadly agree with classical liberals on the concept of self-reliance but argue that the state must offer a ‘hand up’ if every individual is to achieve this goal

Individualism - classical vs modern (2)

• Classical - the state should be small, limited to maintaining law and protecting society from invasion so that it does not infringe on individual freedom and respects equality - this limited interference is sometimes called negative freedom

• Modern - the influence of modern liberalism’s ideas of developmental individualism can be seen in the expansion of state involvement and welfare provision in western democracies after the Second World War

• Classical - influenced the American revolutionaries, who specifically refer to ‘life, liberty and pursuit of happiness’ in the US Declaration of Independence - these are human rights that the state must uphold and protect

• Modern - modern liberals would agree that ‘life, liberty and pursuit of happiness’ are human rights however, classical liberals believe that there should be a minimal state to ensure these values whilst modern believe that only interventionist state can guarantee such freedoms

Liberalism and individual tolerance

• Locke focused on respecting alternative religious and political views

• Mary Wollstonecraft and Betty Friedan argued for toleration of men towards women, calling for an end to sexual discrimination

• Tolerance is essential to individualism - If individuals want their freedoms protected, they must also allow others to live according to their own beliefs

• 21st century - individual tolerance has been extended towards gay and more recently transgender individuals, though trans still face lots of discrimination

what are the liberal ideas about freedom ?

• early liberals resented how authoritarian gov and absolute monarchies retained full legitimacy at the expense of their subject’s freedoms

• Freedom is connected with the law - Locke said “where there is no law there is no liberty”

• Freedom is a natural right - gov need to protect “life, liberty and estate” (Locke) - state is needed to mediate between competing individuals to enforce order, protect property rights and prevent a breach of contracts

• Locke argued for a state constructed by social contract - individuals are governed by consent - based on the rationalistic proposition - if the state broke the contract by not protecting or enhancing natural rights people,e had the right to withdraw consent and replace their government (e.g. of broken contract is American revolution (classical) )

• state should practise limited government - individual can enjoy maximum freedom within a legal framework - this freedom placed a strong focus on the economy and laissez faire capitalism (Adam Smith)

What is the social contract in detail ?

• Locke created his own social contract theory in Two Treatises of Government (1689) - his version of the ‘state of nature’ was guided by rational reason and had its own natural laws - argued that individuals would rationally conclude that they would best serve their own interests by contracting into a ‘state of law’ to reconcile the competing individuals interests

• Government would be limited to protecting the interests of the governed

• Locke - state is a necessary evil - individuals would exchange some natural rights to create a state with a government with separate legislative, executive and judicial branches - individuals have the right to dissolve the gov

The American War of Independence example

• liberals created a debate over whether the monarchy and aristocracy deserved to maintain power - the American war of independence demonstrated that the government could be challenged - this raised ideas of freedom and political independence - example of locke’s social contract in practice since the British government was no longer governing in the interests or consent of the American colonies - for conservatives it was a terrifying challenge to their legitimacy as rulers

• Locked influenced author of Declaration of Independence: Thomas Jefferson - entire declaration is said to have “succeeded admirably in condensing Locke’s fundamental argument”

  
  

The French Revolution example

• Overthrew absolute monarchy - furthered the ideas that men are fundamentally equal with the ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity - liberal thinker Thomas Paine published Rights of Man (1791) as a defence to the values of French Revolution - he criticised gov that failed to protect basic human rights and freedoms such as freedom of speech and liberty, and the fact that only a minority could vote in Britain

Mills and freedom

• Mills broadened what liberals meant by freedom:

• Advocating freedom of speech, thought and religion unless they pose a direct threat to others (idea became known as negative freedom)

• Individuals should be free from interference even if it means they’re harming themselves - suicide shouldn’t be a crime

Classical liberals and freedom

• classical liberalism’s conception of freedom is atomistic (made up of individuals with their own interests) - there isn’t a broader public interest or common good that individuals have to serve - people succeed and fail in society in their own efforts

• The state shouldn’t provide welfare as this will make individuals dependent on the state - this individualism makes individuals succeed in their own merit

Modern liberalism and freedom

• Mill began to believe that the state had a moral right to educate individuals - changed the way liberals thought about freedom

• Green broadened Mill’s ideas - argued society was organic and not atomistic, that there was a common good and that public interest coexisted with individual interest - limited state intervention was necessary for developmental individualism so that people could be free

• Green argued that negative freedom (focused on freedom from the state) didn’t recognise that freedom could be threatened by social and material disadvantages - supported positive freedom

• Rawls argued for a larger ‘enabling’ state in society and economy - ensure individual’s life chances weren’t determined from birth - levels of intervention would involve more taxation and state spending (ensures equality of opportunity via developmental individualism)

What is negative freedom ?

• A conception of freedom that defines itself as an absence of constraint

• Liberal philosopher Berlin - “freedom from” rather than “freedom to”

• Freedom from government interference wherever possible

• Classical liberals and neo liberals support this and a minimal state

What is positive freedom ?

• a conception of freedom that sees the state playing a positive role to assists individuals to achieve goals and develop as individuals

• A state funded educational system would be an example of positive freedom Rawls argued

• Modern liberals prefer this and an enabling state

Women and freedom

• Pateman (political writer) and others have criticised liberalism for having a conception of freedom that is male-centric - an exception to this criticism is Mill - in The Subjection of Women (1869) argued for votes for women decades before enfranchisement - mocked at this time

• Wollstonecraft - championed formal equality in terms of women pursuing a career, playing a role in the economy and having legal and property rights - argued women were equally as rational as men “the mind has no gender” - didn’t appear equal because women didn’t have same opportunities

• Friedan - championed equality of opportunity in a more explicit sense than Wollstonecraft

The state - classical liberalism

• believe that the state is a necessary evil - advocates for egotistical individualism and laissez faire but doesn’t go as far as anarchism in saying there should be no state

• the state must protect “life, liberty and estate” - the state must uphold the rule of law and protect society from foreign invasions - this requires police forces, armies, laws and a judiciary

• Locke disagreed with the rule of absolute monarchies and the idea that the sovereign received legitimacy (divine right of kings) and was ordained to rule by God - instead argued for government by consent - state was a result of a social contract - ensures gov is always the “servant” and not the “master”

How should the government be organised ? CL

• it should be based on rational rather than traditional ideas - a constitutional government would replace an arbitrary government and a traditional monarchy

• Government should be limited in its power and jurisdiction

  
  

Limiting the government’s power - CL

• power should be divided between different branches of government - separation of powers (Montesquieu) - legislative, executive and judiciary (3 branches) - each of these branches would have the ability to act as a check on the others

• State should be based on Locke’s principle of ‘government by consent’ - done through constitutional agreements and government that is constantly accountable to the people via regular elections

• This influenced creation of the US Constitution

Limiting government’s jurisdiction - CL

• individuals should be protected by law from actions that might harm their individual liberty

• Economically, the state should protect property rights, oversee enforcement of legal contracts by the law and regulate monopoly power that operates against the interests of consumers

• State should operate under the rule of law, whereby all citizens enjoy foundational equality

Limiting the electorate - CL

• Classical liberals were in favour of a representative democracy rather than a direct, popular democracy

• Mill believed that only those with an appropriate formal education should be allowed to vote

• Mill feared that a popular democracy might lead to a ‘tyrant of the majority’

What did Mill (modern liberal views) say about the state ?

• changed and advocated for state intervention to assist the poor who were experiencing injustice in society and economy

• Mill promoted developmental individualism so that people could continue to develop which would require a greater involvement of the state

• Advocated for mass education - advances individual potential and create a liberal consensus - vote should be withheld from the illiterate while university educated people receive multiple votes - leads to a progressive society

• Mill refined Bentham’s idea that the liberal state should aim for ‘the greatest happiness of the greatest number’ - Mill believed this could be achieved if politicians and educated voters considered everyone’s interests and not just their own

Modern liberals and the state

• Green - state should promote equality of opportunity through education and reduction in the influence of inherited privilege - the state should organise welfare to help people unable to defend themselves against deprivation such as the unemployed, chronically sick and elderly

• Keynes - key work = The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money - rational construct that argued against Smith’s laissez faire ideas - Keynes argued the state was capable of managing the economy to create full employment - wanted to fix the negative consequences of economic downturns - mass unemployment negates individual freedom - this is known as Keynesianism (an economic system where the gov intervenes to stimulate the economy to achieve full employment and economic growth).

• Recent liberals such as Rawls argue that the state should take a more proactive role in reducing inequality within society and preventing social injustice

• In The Feminine Mystique, Friedan argued that the state was the structure in which to guarantee societal and economic equality of opportunity for women - “a girl should not expect special privileges because of her sex, but neither should she “adjust” to prejudice and discrimination”

  
  

What is rationalism ?

• Rationalism is the philosophical view that reason and intellectual deduction—rather than sensory experience, faith, or tradition—are the primary sources and ultimate tests of knowledge

Rationalism and liberalism

• the enlightenment was an intellectual movement of the 18th century - inspired people such as Newton and Francis Bacon - united through their positive view of human nature (concerning rationality) - believed humans were capable of reason and logic - “Reason must be our last Judge and Guide in every Thing” - Locke

• Unlike conservatives who doubted humans, liberals believed that rationalism enabled individuals to define their best interests and make their own moral choices free from external authorities and the Church

• Conservatives cling to customs and tradition to guide them whilst liberals have more confidence in their intellectual ability to construct t theories to create a progressive society

Rationalism - classical liberalism

• Locke’s ideas of constitutional and representative government (instead of monarchical government) proved hugely influential to England’s Glorious Revolution of 1688, to the British Bill of Rights (1689) and the US Constitution

• Adam Smith’s ‘The Wealth of Nations’ is one of the most important expressions of economic theory within liberalism - Smith argued that capitalism functions best when the state takes a laissez faire approach - ideas resonate with Trump’s administration’s (2024) flirtation with tariffs and protected markets being criticised for contradicting Smith’s principles

• Mill’s concept of negative freedom was/is influential in countries such as UK and USA - determines the amount of state intervention, the autonomy of the individual and atomistic nature of the society

Rationalism - modern liberalism

• Green’s positive freedom (state intervention to assist individual freedom) was a key rationalistic updating of classical liberalism that informed the ideas of a state-sponsored welfare state

• Mill’s later ideas such as universal education reinforced Green’s positive freedom by arguing that the state must be enabling and must facilitate developmental individualism - modern still agree with classical on the desirability of free market economy

• Keynesian economics, although differing entirely from laissez faire, was equally rationalistic in its conception

• Rawls’ ideas of equality and social justice is a perfect example of abstract rational thought

Equality and social justice - liberalism

• Liberalism was initially focused on foundational equality and the rule of law so that no individual could be exempt from society’s strictures (severe restriction)

• Foundational equality is in practise today in the US Bill of Rights and the UK’s Human Rights Act - both legally protected what liberals consider to be the natural and inalienable rights

• Classical liberals apart from Mill ignored gender and racial inequality

• Wollstonecraft argued that women were denied equality in terms of property ownership and political representation

• Wollstonecraft also argued that women were discriminated against within the workplace - this idea was continued by Friedan, who later argued for legal and economic parity and workplace equality of opportunity

Examples of equality

• Martin Luther King Jr and the civil rights movement demonstrated that the judicial interpretation of the US constitution was failing to acknowledge all races equally

• The civil rights act of 1964 and the voting rights act of 1965 began the process of creating true foundational equality and equality of opportunity for all races within the USA

Equality - modern liberalism

• modern liberals still champion women and racial minorities but also groups that earlier modern liberals wouldn’t consider such as gay or trans people

• the argued that foundational equality isn’t enough to guarantee equality of opportunity and for true social justice individuals must have access to a full welfare state encompassing education, healthcare, minimum wage and welfare provisions

• Green’s ideas influenced the Beveridge Report - intellectual basis for the post-war welfare state in the UK

Rawls and equality

• in his book A Theory of Justice (1971) Rawls demonstrates the inherent logic of social justice as well as the need for it

• ‘Veil of ignorance’ - Rawls claimed that if an individual were asked to choose what type of society an individual would prefer and we’re ignorant of their own circumstances, they would choose a society with little inequality - this was a rationalistic idea based on what Rawls described as a ‘purely hypothetical situation. Nothing resembling it need ever take place’

• His conception of social justice (he called it distributive justice) was that inequality in a modern capitalist society could be justified as long as those who do well economically don’t do at the expense of the least well off in society

• Although society is meritocratic and produces unequal outcomes all individuals should have equality of opportunity as the state would intervene via welfare so everyone has equal life chances

  
  

Locke’s influence on liberal democracy

• When Locke was writing many European governments were monarchies and the state was run by authoritarian elites - Locke’s ideas were a reaction to this illegitimate government

• The concept of liberal democracy is underpinned by the social contract theory of Locke

• In his book Two Treatises of Government, Locke argues that consent is the only legitimate basis for authority

Liberal democracy - liberalism

• liberal democracy was initially representative democracy, which offered a limited form of democracy - this was evident in the early years of the USA where only male property owners could vote

• Burke (who many believe to be a liberal thinker as well as conservative) argued for the importance of representative democracy - representatives make decisions based in their judgment not the electorate’s

• Mill feared the dominance of the working class if they were given the vote - in ‘Considerations on Representative Government’ he argued for plural votes for the wealthy and educated to prevent his own class being undermined by the proletariat

• Mill like Locke and Wollstonecraft, favours elite democracy in which the establishment exercises the real power and has significantly more influence than the ordinary voter

Liberal democracy

• the defining feature of liberal democracy in both classical and modern ideologies is that it involves more than just free and fair elections.

• It includes constitutionalism (the rules by which the state operates) and safeguards of civil liberties and individual freedoms, particularly against tyranny of the majority

• Political writer Goodwin argues that there are 6 key points of liberal democratic theory

Key points of liberalism

• supremacy of the people

  • while classical liberals accept this as broad concept of the social contract this doesn’t equate to full democratic representation

  • Modern liberals are insistent that supremacy of the people means that every adult should have a vote

  • However, the US electoral college remains as a filter against the tyranny of the majority in the USA

• The consent of the governed as the basis of legitimacy - a concept that unites both forms of liberalism - elections provide frequent opportunities for the governed to register their consent

• The rule of law and peaceful methods of conflict resolution - the rule of law forms part of the social contract between the governed and the governors

Key points of liberalism (2)

• the existence of a common good or public interest

  • classical liberalism struggles with such concepts as it views society as atomistic and therefore any collective will is difficult for classical liberals to support

  • Developmental individualism of mill and green and the social justice of Rawls base their version of society on more collective aims such as a welfare state

• The value of the individual as a rational, moral and active citizen - both strands of liberalism accept this definition

• Political equality and equal civil rights for all individuals

  • classical and modern liberals are united on this

  • Friedan championed the rights of women in both respects, while Rawls’ theory of justice argued that not only were such rights a necessity, this was also a rational choice for individuals to make when attempting to ascertain the principles of a society