Liberalism

By: Reza ShirzadInstructor: Dr. Saeed Abadi

Faculty of World StudiesUniversity of Tehran

2013

What is Liberalism? The word liberal comes from the Latin liber,

meaning free

Liberalism is associated with being open-minded and supporting freedom of speech and freedom within actions

Liberalism means political pluralism, liberal democracy, freedom and equal human rights, free elections and freedom of religion

History

The origin of liberalism goes back to Aristotle, who wrote the book, Politics, that deals with early liberal thought.

The historical figure that did the most to change this early view of liberalism was John Locke, a British writer and philosopher that is often crowned the father of liberalism.

It first appeared in age of Enlightenment.

The Essence The state must not interfere in the

social-economical life of a person and it must guarantee the freedom and rights of all individuals

Belief in equal rights among humans and in liberty as the absolute right.

Liberalism as a System of Thought

First Coherent and Systematic theory (Other than religion)

Four inter-related components:1.Epistemology2.Human Nature3.Community4.Politics

Forms

Classical: Rejects the state intervention in social relationships

and any triumph of the state is considered a fail for the individual.

Freedom for every man in his relationship with the state and the freedom of entrepreneurship.

Usually, only limited restrictions on individual liberties can be justified

The primary (and for some the only) purpose of government and law is to protect individual liberties

Classical Liberalism:two directions

Political liberalism

pleads for: Constitutional

monarchy The principle

of Separation and Equity of power.

Economical liberalism

based on the idea that: Economical activity

can become fruitful if individuals are acting on the base of their personal material interests.

This implies the birth of a legal environment and freedom of action and any intervention from the state is rejected.

Classical Liberalism in Economics As a result of the Industrial Revolution in England mercantilism was

replaced by the capitalism and the factory system.

Laissez-faire (leave people alone to so as they wish) capitalism emerged from the theories of physiocrats and their criticism of mercantilism.

The government should leave business entrepreneurs alone to follow their natural self-interest.

The ideas of a free market economy were brought to life by Adam Smith in his publication ‘The Wealth of Nations’.

Smith believed that the government’s role should be limited to maintaining the rule of law, to ensuring contracts were followed, and to providing some public works.

Adam Smith wrote about the Invisible Hand – this implies that human needs are best served by free competition in the marketplace which follows the same premise as liberalism.

Utilitarianism

Philosophy developed by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)

Huge impact on liberalism providing a moral philosophy that explains how and why human beings act the way they do.

The rightness of a policy/action can be determined by its tendency to promote happiness so the principle of the greatest happiness for the greatest number can be used to establish which policies will benefit society at large.

However, Bentham’s focus on happiness of the greatest number as the standard of morally correct allows the interests of the majority to outweigh those of the minority

Modern Liberalism Industrialisation accompanied not only by wealth creation but

slums, poverty, ignorance, disease.

Social inequality increasingly difficult to ignore with growing working class disadvantaged by low pay, unemployment and living/working conditions.

The minimal state of the classical liberals quite incapable rectifying injustices/inequalities.

Classical liberalism characterised by theoretical consistency, modern liberalism a marriage between new and old liberalism.

Liberal Internationalism

A law-governed international society can emerge without a world govt.

The progress of freedom depends on maintenance of peace, spread of commerce and diffusion of education

Human society can be based on natural order

Liberal Internationalism Natural harmony in relations by ‘the invisible

hand’ of laissez faire economic principles

By pursuing self-interest actors inadvertently promote public good

Capitalism is natural and inherently pacific

Economic interdependence fosters peace

neoliberalism

Based on progressive principles that supports the state's welfare through individual's welfare and a competitive mixed economy.

Forms of neoliberalism refer especially to the problems regarding the organization of the economical and social activities.

neoliberalism Forms:

1. Nostalgic Liberalism: The priorities of nostalgia liberalism are community, social cohesion and preservation of New Deal and Great Society programs.

2. Organized Liberalism

3. Social Liberalism: Social liberals believe in the importance of government welfare systems to take care of the segments of people in society who need help. This includes unemployment, health care, and education.

First liberal countries Perhaps the first modern state founded on

liberal principles, with no hereditary aristocracy, was The United States of America, whose Declaration of Independence states that "all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.

A few years later, the French Revolution overthrew the hereditary aristocracy, with the slogan "liberty, equality, fraternity", and was the first state in history to grant universal male suffrage.

Sources

Different liberal camps divide progressives By Fred Hiatt

Political Philosophy by Knowles

Liberalism by Kelly