Conservative liberalism
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Conservative liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal values and policies with conservative stances, or, more simply, representing the right-wing of the liberal movement. The roots of it are to be found at the beginning of the history of liberalism: until the World Wars, in most European countries the political class was formed by conservative liberals, from Germany to Italy.
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[edit] Ideology and issues
Conservative liberals differ from social liberals for some main reasons:
- First, they are more concerned with economic liberalism, adopting libertarian or neo-liberal policies, while the second ones tend to be more keen on Keynesian solutions and on higher taxes, though still supporting individual liberty as well as decentralization. Conservative liberals, in contrast, are staunch supporters of the free-market, small government, less bureaucracy, deregulation, privatizations and the lowering of taxes, often proposing the flat tax or the fair tax.
- Second, they are usually socially liberal on such social issues as same-sex marriage, abortion, and euthanasia but may place less emphasis on them than do most social liberals.
- Third, they are mostly strong supporters of economic globalization and tend to be more skeptical about international organizations like the United Nations or European Union[citation needed]. Most conservative liberals support the foreign policy of the United States and, in NATO-member states, support that political alliance[citation needed].
- Fourth, conservative liberals are often in favor of stricter punishment of illegal immigrants and are usually tolerant but not enthusiastic about multiculturalism, of which social liberals are strong supporters. Conservative liberals often identify as law and order-parties, which are tougher on crime and support higher levels of punishment and are more committed to fighting terrorism, while social liberals tend to emphasize prevention and are more committed to civil rights.
- Fifth, historically, conservative liberals tended to be more skeptical about universal suffrage than social or classical liberals[citation needed].
One should not confuse conservative liberalism with liberal conservatism; indeed, the latter is a variant of conservatism. Liberal conservatives tend to be more committed to authority, tradition and established religion, while conservative liberals are supporters of the separation between church and state. However it is possible to classify some parties as both conservative-liberal and liberal-conservative.
Conservative liberalism differs from libertarianism in several ways. First it is far less radical in its economic program. Second it is supportive of an active defense policy and military interventions in contrast to the libertarian non-interventionist policy. Most conservative liberals supported the American-led interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan[citation needed]. Second conservative liberals are tough on crime and are more willing to sacrifice civil liberties to fight terrorism and crime[citation needed].
[edit] Historical development
Conservative liberal parties have tended to develop in those European countries where there was no strong secular conservative party and where the separation of church and state was less on issue. In those countries, where the conservative parties were christian-democratic, this conservative brand of liberalism developed.[1][2]
[edit] Conservative-liberal parties worldwide
[edit] Current conservative-liberal parties
- Belgium: New-Flemish Alliance, Dedecker List
- Bulgaria: National Movement Simeon II
- Croatia: Croatian Social Liberal Party
- Czechia: Civic Democratic Alliance
- Denmark: Liberal Party of Denmark
- Estonia: Estonian Reform Party
- Germany: Free Democratic Party[1]
- Ireland: Progressive Democrats[1]
- Latvia: Latvian Way
- Lithuania: Liberal and Centre Union
- Luxembourg: Democratic Party[1]
- Netherlands: People's Party for Freedom and Democracy[3][1] and Party for Freedom
- Peru: Popular Action
- Poland: Real Politics Union
- Romania: National Liberal Party and Liberal Democratic Party
- Serbia: G17 Plus and Liberals
- Slovakia: Alliance of the New Citizen
- Spain: Democratic Convergence of Catalonia
- Switzerland: Free-thinking Democratic Party and Liberal Party[1]
[edit] Parties with conservative-liberal factions
- Australia: Liberal Party
- Brazil: Liberal Front Party
- Canada: Conservative Party
- Chile: National Renewal
- Denmark: Conservative People's Party
- Finland: National Coalition Party
- France: Union for a Popular Movement, namely The Reformers and The Free Right
- Ireland: Fianna Fáil
- Italy: People of Freedom, namely Popular Liberalism and Liberal Reformers
- Japan: Liberal Democratic Party
- Norway: Conservative Party
- Poland: Civic Platform
- Portugal: Social Democratic Party
- Spain: Popular Party
- United Kingdom: Conservative Party
- United States: Republican Party
[edit] Historical conservative-liberal parties or parties with conservative-liberal factions
- Austria: Freedom Party (until 1993)[1]
- Belgium: Flemish Liberals and Democrats (until 1992)[1]
- Canada: Progressive Conservative Party
- France: Democratic Republican Alliance, National Centre of Independents and Peasants and Republican Party/Liberal Democracy
- Germany: National Liberal Party and German People's Party
- Italy: Italian Liberal Party[1]
- Slovenia National Progressive Party
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i M. Gallagher, M. Laver and P. Mair Representative Government in Europe p.221
- ^ http://www.ipolitique.fr/liberalisme-conservateur.htm
- ^ Andeweg R.B. and G.A. Irwin Government & Politics in the Netherlands 2002 Palgrave p. 48
