Conservatism: Core Themes and Varieties
Conservatism: Core Themes and Varieties
Introduction to Conservatism
Dual Rise of Ideologies: Emergence of capitalism as an economic mode and classical liberalism. Later, rise of socialist movements and nationalism.
Contrasting Ideologies:
Liberalism and Socialism: Preached reform, if not revolution, aiming to change existing structures.
Conservatism: Stood in defense of an old, embattled, and traditional social order.
Variability of Conservative Thought: No single, cohesive strand; diverse applications and interpretations.
Historical Evolution of Conservatism
Early British and Canadian Conservatism
Edmund Burke: Central figure for British conservatism, advocating "change in order to conserve." This approach aimed to defend existing institutions against liberal changes.
Pragmatic Conservatism: Often used to describe Burkean ideas, emphasizing cautious willingness to change.
Canadian Conservatism (Progressive Conservatism): Deeply impacted by Burkean ideas.
From to February , the Canadian Conservative Party used the title "progressive conservatism" to distance itself from more reactionary ideas.
"Change in order to conserve" was the core principle for most of the century.
Conservatism in the United States
Historical Context: Traditionally identified as a liberal society; classical liberal views influenced government and culture. Politicians initially resisted the "conservative" label.
Shift in : Barry Goldwater ran for president, explicitly defining himself as a conservative. Marked the first clearly conservative, electable candidate.
Conservative Takeover of Republican Party: From to the , a slow process completed by Ronald Reagan.
Mainstream Emergence: Conservative ideas did not become mainstream until the _.
The Rise of Neoliberalism ( onwards)
Focus: Became concerned with the growth of the welfare state and economic policies of reform liberalism.
Radical Conservatism: Margaret Thatcher (UK) and Ronald Reagan (US) practiced a new, radical form, initially called Thatcherism or Reaganism, later settling on neoliberalism.
Influences: Draws heavily on the free-market economics of classical liberalism.
Divisions: Neoliberal shift created deep divisions within the conservative movement.
Contemporary Shifts (post-)
Authoritarian Populist Conservatism: A growing trend reshaping conservative movements globally.
Characteristics: Strongman leaders mobilizing mass popular support around nationalism, economic freedom, and defense of traditional values.
Examples: Donald Trump (US), Marine Le Pen (France), Nigel Farage (UK), Pierre Poilievre (Canada, to a lesser extent), Narendra Modi (India), Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Turkey).
Core Defining Features of Conservative Ideology
1. The Defense of Tradition
Core Value: The best core defining value, directly tied to the desire to conserve.
Meaning of Tradition: Encompasses anything passed down from the past to the present (customs, institutions, values, political/social systems).
Intrinsic Worth: The existence of something passed down through generations implies its inherent worth ("passed the test of time").
Tradition and Religious Faith (Some Conservatives):
Society is fashioned by a creator; traditional customs are God-given.
Edmund Burke: Society shaped by a creator, gave humans divine traditions. Worried about human traditions replacing creator-made ones (e.g., free elections).
Burke's "Partnership": Society is a partnership between those living, those dead, and those yet to be born.
Accumulated Wisdom: Tradition is the accumulated wisdom; institutions and practices have passed the test of time and must be conserved and passed on.
Identity and Stability: Generates identity (collective and individual), links people to the past. Change brings uncertainty, challenges identity, causes social insecurity.
2. Human Imperfection
Rejection of Inherited Goodness: Conservatives reject the notion that humans are inherently good or can be made good by improving social circumstances.
Flawed Nature: Humans are flawed, imperfect, and imperfectible.
Limited Capacity:
Neither as intelligent nor as morally good as they believe.
Cannot grasp all societal problems or foresee all consequences of actions/policies.
Psychological Needs: Humans are psychologically limited, dependent creatures who fear isolation and instability.
Drawn to the safe and familiar, seeking security and knowing their "place" in a natural social order.
Order and Social Control:
Need for Control: Society must be controlled to provide the security people crave. This leads to suspicion of freedom.
Sacrifice of Freedom: Social order (stable, predictable world) is more important than freedom; individual freedom must be sacrificed for it.
Blame on the Individual:
Rejects idea that crime/immoral behavior roots in social ills.
Blames the individual: humans are selfish, greedy, morally imperfect; crime is a consequence of base instincts.
Deterrence and Law Enforcement:
People kept civilized only by deterrence.
Strict law enforcement: tough criminal justice systems, long prison sentences, corporal and capital punishment.
Laws preserve social order, not uphold freedom.
Limited Intellectual Power:
The world is too complicated for humans to fully grasp. Suspicious of abstract ideas/systems claiming to understand the world.
Prefers tradition, experience, history over dogmatic beliefs.
Reform/revolution leads to greater suffering; better to do nothing as consequences are unforeseeable.
Neoliberal Exception: Neoliberalism (radical conservatism) rejects this pragmatism, rooted in abstract theories of classical liberalism.
3. Organic Society
Individuality and Society: The individual cannot be separated from society; individuals are part of social groups (family, friends, community, nation).
Security and Meaning: Groups give individuals security and meaning.
Conservative Freedom: Defined as a willing acceptance of social obligations and recognition of one's value in society. Freedom exists within one's place in the social order.
Rights vs. Duties: Focus only on rights leads to individuals not acknowledging duties.
Society as a Living Organism:
Society has interconnected parts, like a human body, sustained by fragile relationships. Removing one part (organ) can collapse the whole system.
Contrast with Mechanical View: Liberals and socialists see society as a machine (collection of individual parts, easily replaced/rearranged, can be improved).
Conservative Implication: Society's structures are shaped by forces beyond human control/understanding. Cannot be easily rearranged or improved. Existing institutions (e.g., absolute monarchies) demonstrated their worth by persisting.
Edmund Burke's Views on Government:
Supported representative government and a "natural aristocracy" (naturally fit to lead).
Supported private property.
"Little Platoons": Important for holding society together – distribution of power among families, churches, voluntary associations to prevent centralization.
Good Government: Draws enlightened representatives from the natural aristocracy, defends private property, addresses local concerns locally, respects traditional authority (churches, families). Strong enough to protect society, not smother little platoons.
Neoliberal Challenge to Organic Society: Neoliberalism views society as a product of utility-maximizing individuals. Margaret Thatcher's famous assertion: "There is no such thing as society, only individuals and their families."
4. Natural Hierarchy and Authority
Ordered Society: Society is naturally ordered, inherited from previous generations, and arrangements have stood the test of time.
Rejection of Social Equality: Conservatives reject social equality as undesirable and unachievable.
Unequal Distribution: Power and property are naturally and unequally distributed among individuals (abilities, status, wealth).
Reject Meritocracy: Unlike liberals, conservatives reject meritocracy. Inequality is an inevitable feature of organic society, not solely a product of individual ability/work.
Specific Social Roles: Society functions only with distinct roles (followers/leaders, workers/managers).
Justification of Inequality: Inequality of wealth/position is justifiable by an inequality of social responsibility. "With great power comes great responsibility." Those with more power have a greater responsibility for the less fortunate. (e.g., employers responsible for workers' livelihoods).
Emphasis on Authority: Natural hierarchy is linked to an emphasis on authority.
Freedom Metaphor (Fire):
Limited Freedom is Good: Like fire in a stove/fireplace (useful, confined).
Unconfined Freedom is Bad: Like uncontrolled fire (dangerous, destructive).
Freedom is valuable only within limits, within one's place in the social order. Unfettered freedom leads to chaos.
Source of Authority:
Rejects liberal idea of authority from contracts.
Authority develops naturally from social institutions (teachers, employers, government).
Good and necessary; people need guidance, gain security from knowing their place.
Authoritarian Conservatives: Authority is absolute and unquestionable.
Most Conservatives: Authority should be exercised within limits established by tradition.
5. Private Property
Central Importance: Incredibly important, though not an absolute right.
Advantages: Provides security, confidence, a fallback. Develops social values (respect for others' property).
Protection: Must be safeguarded from morally corrupt individuals (requires law and order).
Obligations: Property rights come with social obligations. It creates social bonds across generations; a duty to preserve the "wealth of nations" for future generations.
Varieties of Conservatism
1. Paternalistic Conservatism / Toryism / Traditional Conservatism
Key Figures: Edmund Burke (father), Benjamin Disraeli.
Approach to Change: Change is natural and inevitable; should not be resisted but managed cautiously ("change in order to conserve"). Accepts slow change to preserve core values (tradition, order, authority, property).
Benjamin Disraeli (PM of UK, _):
Conscious of working-class conditions and threat of revolution (given European context).
Argued wealthy/privileged have social obligations, particularly to the poor, drawing on the organic society belief.
Noblesse Oblige: Obligation of the upper classes to be honorable and generous, taking on more social responsibility due to their power.
Alliance: Advocated alliance between aristocratic upper class and working class against the liberal middle class.
Social Reform: Legalized trade unionism, recognized right to strike to address working-class needs and stave off revolution.
Historical High Point: _ in UK, Canada, and elsewhere, largely aligning with Keynesian social democracy. Presented itself as a moderate middle ground.
Decline: Largely faded away, though pockets remain. Richard Nixon (US Republican): "We are all Keynesians now."
2. Neoliberalism
Origins: Radical market-based ideas challenging Keynesianism in the .
Core Principle: "Private good, public bad".
Anti-State: Deeply anti-statist, viewing the state as an agent of coercion and unfreedom. Government's role is damaging.
Freedom: Espouses negative freedom – removal of external restraints; shrinking the state ensures individual freedom.
Free Market Commitment: Ideological commitment to free markets; faith in self-reliant, rational individuals.
Thinkers: Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman (criticized managed/planned economies).
Market Freedom: Markets should be free from state interference.
Social Freedom & Order: Less enthusiastic about social freedom. Requires a strong state for law and order, to maintain authority.
Market Discipline: Markets act as a force of social discipline (e.g., threat of unemployment deters wage demands). Works alongside police/courts to maintain stability.
Privatization: Opposed public ownership; advocated privatization (e.g., dismantling of Petro-Canada in Canada).
3. Neoconservatism
Relationship to Neoliberalism: Incorporates all market fundamentalism of neoliberalism.
Origins in US (): Backlash against the values and social changes of the _ (civil rights, black liberation, feminism, LGBTQ+ liberation, counterculture).
Focus on Social Order: Stresses strengthening leadership and authority, imposing social discipline.
Rejects Poverty as Cause of Disorder: Believes social order doesn't come from poverty reduction.
Strong State for Morality: Combines rolling back the state's economic role (neoliberalism) with a strong element of social order and public morality.
Decline of Authority: Rising crime, delinquency, antisocial behavior are consequences of a larger decline of authority in Western societies.
State Imposition of Authority: State needs to impose authority (longer custodial/prison sentences).
Two Major Threats:
Freedom to Choose Morals/Lifestyles: Leads to immoral/evil lives due to human imperfection. Significant religious element: imposing religious values for social order.
Undermining Cohesion: Choosing individual morals threatens societal cohesion.
National Identity & Patriotism: Wishes to strengthen national identity, patriotism. Nation provides culture, civic identity, rooted in history/tradition.
Threats to Nation: Growth of multiculturalism (weakens nationhood), emphasis on stronger immigration controls.
4. Authoritarian Populism
Growing Tradition: Favors authoritarian/autocratic rule.
Historical Context: _ century examples in Russia, Germany, Catholic countries (fascistic states like Italy, Germany, Spain).
Modern Right-Wing Version: Stops short of outright dictatorship.
Leaders & The People: Leaders venerate the people but believe the people require a single dominant authority figure to represent their "real interests."
"Strongman Politics": Exemplified by Orban (Hungary), Erdoğan (Turkey), Duterte (Philippines), to some extent Trump (US).
Characteristics: Operates in a "gray zone" between democracy and authoritarianism; aims to maintain electoral support while neutralizing political opposition.
"Vilified Other": Creation of an external or internal enemy to exploit fears and resentment.
Defender of the Nation: Strongmen portray themselves as the nation's defender.
Conservatism in Canada vs. United States
Canada
Dominant Form (Historically): Toryism (traditional, Burkean conservatism) from Confederation until the .
Shift: Supplanted by neoliberalism, which is now the dominant ideology (seen even in Liberal and NDP policies).
Remaining Pockets: Pockets of Toryism found in Atlantic Canada, and some Ontario/Quebec conservatives.
Neoconservatism: Less traction than in the US, rarely in power.
Authoritarianism: Tendencies exist (e.g., within Pierre Poilievre), but a direct comparison to Trump is debated.
United States
Dominant Forms: Neoliberalism is strong, neoconservatism is very strong.
Authoritarian Conservatism: On the rise (e.g., Trump).
Shared Aspects
Strong private property rights.
Strong carceral state (emphasis on punishment and incarceration).
Scholarly Sources for Academic Papers
Definition: Works written by scholars, academics, professors, or professional researchers.
Key Requirement: Must be peer-reviewed (vetted by subject-matter experts before publication).
Where to Find: Academic journals and books published by academic presses.
Warning: Avoid Google Scholar; it does not reliably distinguish between peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed sources. Use university library resources (e.g., McMaster library).