Centre-right
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The centre-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote political parties or organizations (such as think tanks) that stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. A similar term is progressive right. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of right-wing and centrist parties.
[edit] Ideological definition of the centre-right
A definition of the term "centre-right" is necessarily broad and approximate because political terms have varying meanings in different countries. Generally parties of the centre-right support liberal democracy, capitalism, and the market economy, private property rights and the existence of the welfare state in some form. They generally oppose socialism and the use of violence as a political tool. Such a definition generally includes political parties that base their ideology and policies upon conservative, Christian democratic or liberal beliefs. However, some liberal parties would not regard themselves as being centre-right.
A problem in the definition of the centre-right is whether to include populist right-wing parties such as the Freedom Party of Austria, the Danish People's Party, the Law and Justice (PiS) party in Poland or the Forza Italia party in Italy. While the Freedom Party and the Danish People's Party would generally be considered too extreme, parties such as Law and Justice are both populist and conservative, and so may sometimes be considered centre-right.
