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Liberalism

Development Contributions to liberal theory History of classical liberalism

Ideas Political liberalism Economic liberalism Cultural liberalism Political freedom Democratic capitalism Democratic education Free trade Individualism Laissez faire Liberal democracy Liberal neutrality Negative / positive liberty Market economy Open society Popular sovereignty Rights (individual) Seperation of church and state

Schools American liberalism · Anarcho-liberalism Classical liberalism · Conservative liberalism Democratic liberalism · Green liberalism Libertarianism · Market liberalism National liberalism · Neoliberalism Ordoliberalism · Paleoliberalism Radicalism · Social liberalism

Key figures John Locke Adam Smith Thomas Jefferson Thomas Paine David Hume Baron de Montesquieu Immanuel Kant Jeremy Bentham Thomas Malthus David Ricardo John Stuart Mill Thomas Hill Green Alfred Marshall John Maynard Keynes Friedrich von Hayek Milton Friedman · Isaiah Berlin John Rawls · Robert Nozick

Regional variants Liberalism worldwide Liberalism in Europe Liberalism in the United States Liberalism by country

Organisations Liberal parties Liberal International International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY) European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) European Liberal Youth (LYMEC) Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) Africa Liberal Network (ALN) Liberal Network for Latin America (Relial)

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Social liberalism, a reformulation of 19th century liberalism, rests on the view that unrestrained capitalism is a hindrance to true freedom. Instead of the negative freedom of classical liberalism, social liberals offered positive freedom that would allow individuals to prosper with public assistance in health, education and welfare.^[1] This later included government intervention in the economy to provide full employment and protection of human rights. These policies were widely adopted and implemented in much of the capitalist world, particularly following the Second World War.^[2] Social liberal ideas and parties tend to be considered centrist^[3][4] or centre-left.^[5][6][7]

A reaction against social liberalism in the late 20th century, often called neoliberalism, led to monetarist economic policies and a reduction in government provision of services. However this did not mean a return to classical liberalism as governments continued to provide social services and retained control over economic policy.^[8]

Social liberalism was originally called the new liberalism^[9] and is sometimes called modern liberalism.^[10]

The Liberal International is the main international organisation of liberal parties, which include, among other liberal variants, social liberal parties. It affirms the following principles: human rights, free and fair elections and multiparty-democracy, social justice, tolerance, social market economy, free trade, environmental sustainability and a strong sense of international solidarity.^[11] These ideals are described in further detail in the various manifestos of the LI.

Contents 1 Origins 1.1 United Kingdom 1.2 Europe 1.3 United States 2 Implementation 2.1 United Kingdom 2.2 Europe 2.3 United States 3 Reversal 4 Social liberal parties and organisations 5 Notable social liberal thinkers 6 Views of social liberals today 7 Further reading 8 Notes 9 References 10 See also

[edit] Origins

[edit] United Kingdom

The downturn in economic growth brought on by a general depression at the end of the nineteenth century, a growing perception of the unprecedented levels of poverty, unemployment and relative deprivation present within modern industrial cities and the rise of corporate capital and organised labour challenged the principles of classical liberalism. The ideal of the self-made individual, who through hard work and talent could make his or her place in the world, seemed increasingly implausible. A major political reaction against the changes introduced by industrialisation and laissez-faire capitalism came from conservatives concerned about social balance, although socialism later became a more important force for reform. Some Victorian writers, including Charles Dickens, Carlyle and Matthew Arnold, were also early influential critics of social injustice.^[12] John Stuart Mill combined elements of the old liberalism and what would become known as the new liberalism. The new liberals tried to adapt the old language of liberalism to meet these circumstances, by defending a broader and more interventionist conception of the state. An equal right to liberty could not be established merely by ensuring that individuals did not physically interfere with each other and that the laws were impartially formulated and applied. More positive measures were required to ensure that every individual would have an equal chance of success.^[13]

In Britain, in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, a group of thinkers known as the New Liberals made a case against laissez-faire classical liberalism and in favor of state intervention in social, economic, and cultural life. The New Liberals, T.H. Green, L.T. Hobhouse, and John A. Hobson, saw individual liberty as something achievable only under favorable social and economic circumstances.^[3]

In their view, the poverty, squalor, and ignorance in which many people lived made it impossible for freedom and individuality to flourish. New Liberals believed that these conditions could be ameliorated only through collective action coordinated by a strong welfare-oriented interventionist state.^[14]

It was the Liberal governments of Henry Campbell-Bannerman and then H.H. Asquith in the 1900s that laid the foundations of the welfare state in the UK before the First World War (see Liberal reforms). The comprehensive welfare state built in the UK after the Second World War, although work of the Labour Party, was largely designed by two Liberals, John Maynard Keynes, who laid the economic foundations, and William Beveridge, who designed the welfare system.^[3]

[edit] Europe

In late nineteenth century Germany, left-liberals established trade unions in order to help workers improve working conditions and improve economically. Leading left-liberals, including Lujo Brentano and Max Weber, established the Social Policy Association in 1873 to promote social reform. The left-liberals main objectives were free speech, freedom of assembly, free trade, representative government, equal and secret suffrage, and protection of private property and they were strongly opposed to the welfare state, which they called State Socialism.

Friedrich Naumann, who was an Association member, later established the National Social Union (1896) that attempted to combine bourgeois nationalism with proletarian socialism. They advocated, among other things, increased social welfare legislation, the right to strike and profit-sharing and "co-determination" in industry. Although the party was unable to win any seats and soon dissolved, the theories it developed would remain influential in German liberalism.

While some writers describe Germany's left-liberalism as social liberalism, others only apply the term to the policies of the National Social Union. The main left-liberal parties in Germany were the German Progress Party (Imperial Germany), the German Democratic Party (Weimar Germany), and the Free Democratic Party (modern Germany). The term left-liberal contrasts them with the more conservative liberals, in particular the right-wing of the National Liberal Party, which allied itself with the Conservatives.^[15][16][17]

In France, social liberal theory was developed in the Third Republic by solidarist thinkers including Alfred Fouillée and Emile Durkheim, who were inspired by sociology and influenced radical politicians including Léon Bourgeois. They emphasised that a greater division of labor had led to greater opportunity and individualism, but also a more complex interdependence. Arguing that this created a debt of the individual to society, they promoted progressive taxation to support public works and welfare schemes. However they saw the role of the state to co-ordinate rather than to manage and encouraged co-operative insurance schemes among individuals. Their main objective was to remove barriers to social mobility rather than create a welfare state.^[18]

[edit] United States

In the 1870s and 1880s, American the economists Richard Ely, John Bates Clark, and Henry Carter Adams, influenced both by evangelical Protestantism and socialism, were critical of conditions caused by industrial relations and sympathetic to labor unions, but none developed a systematic political philosophy, and later abandoned sympathy to socialism. Writing from the 1880s to 1930s, John Dewey, an educator influenced by Hobhouse and Green, advocated socialist means to achieve liberal goals. Some social liberal ideas were later incorporated into the New Deal.^[19]

[edit] Implementation

[edit] United Kingdom

The first implementation of social liberal policy was made by the Liberal Party in 1906-1914 and was called the Liberal reforms. The main elements were non-contributory old age pensions paid to low income persons over 75 years old, the National Insurance Act 1911 which provided health, sickness and unemployment insurance and was modelled on similar programs in Germany, and the establishment of Labour exchanges. This was accompanied by progressive income taxation, particularly in the People's Budget of 1909. The main reason for the reforms was that the old system of charity based on the Poor laws and supplemented by private charity, public co-operatives and private insurance companies was in crisis. Also, the Liberal Party caucus elected in 1906 contained more professionals including academics and journalists sympathetic to social liberalism and the large business owners had largely left the party for the Conservatives, which had become the clear party of business and commerce. The reforms were largely opposed by both business and trade unions. Liberals most identified with the reforms were the prime minister, H. H. Asquith, Winston Churchill and the civil servant William Beveridge. The Manchester Guardian was the main newspaper that published writings of social liberals.^[20]

[edit] Europe

Alexander Ruestow, a German economist, first proposed the German version of economic social liberalism, which he later called "neoliberalism", at the Social Policy Association in 1932 as an alternative both to the conservative economics developed in Imperial Germany and to socialism. At the Colloque Walter Lippmann in Paris in 1938, Ruestow met with the Austrian economists Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich von Hayek, the German economist William Roepke and others to determine how liberalism could be renewed. Ruestow advocated a strong state to enforce free markets and state intervention to correct market failure. However Mises argued that monopolies and cartels operated because of state intervention and protectionism, and said that the only legitimate role for the state was to abolish barriers to market entry. He viewed Ruestow's proposals as negating market freedom and saw them as similar to socialism.

Following the Second World War, "neoliberalism", now usually called "ordoliberalism" or the "Social Market Economy" was adopted by the West German government under Ludwig Erhard, who was the economics minister and later chancellor. Price controls were lifted and free markets were introduced. While these policies are credited with Germany's post-war economic recovery, the welfare state, which had been established under Bismarck, became increasingly costly.^[21]

The post-war governments of other countries in Western Europe also followed social liberal policies. These policies were implemented primarily by Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, as Liberal parties in Europe declined in strength from their peak in the nineteenth century.^[22]

[edit] United States

American political discourse resisted this social turn in European liberalism. While economic policies of the New Deal appeared Keynesian, there was no revision of liberal theory in favor of greater state initiative. But because there was no effective socialist movement, New Deal policies appeared radical and were attacked by the Right. The separate development of modern liberalism in the United States is often attributed to American exceptionalism, which kept mainstream American ideology within a narrow range.^[23]

[edit] Reversal

Following economic crises in the 1970s, there was a re-thinking of social liberalism. Keynsian economic management was seen as interfering with the free market. Increased welfare spending that had been funded by higher taxes was seen as leading to lower investment and consumer spending and creating a "dependency culture". The power of trade unions was seen as causing high wages and industrial disruption, while full employment was seen as unsustainable. Writers like Milton Friedman and Samuel Brittan, who were influenced by Friedrich Hayek advocated a reversal of social liberalism. Their policies, which are often called neoliberalism had a significant influence on Western politics, most notably upon the governments of UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and US President Ronald Reagan, who pursued policies of deregulation of the economy and reduction in spending on social services.^[24]

[edit] Social liberal parties and organisations

Today in Europe, social liberal parties tend to be small- to medium-sized centre parties.^[3][4] Examples of relatively successful European social liberal parties, which have been through the years part of government coalitions at the national or regional level are the Liberal Democrats in the UK, the Democratic Party in Luxemburg, the D66 in the Netherlands and the Danish Social Liberal Party. At the European level, social liberal parties generally are integrated in the ELDR Party, which is the 3rd biggest group at the European Parliament, and aggregates liberal parties (both social liberal parties and conservative liberal parties) from all over Europe.^[25]

"Social Liberal" has been used as a label by parties in order to differentiate themselves from conservative liberal and classical liberal parties, especially when there are two or more liberal parties in a country.

Giving an exhaustive list of social liberal parties worldwide is difficult, largely because political organisations are not always ideologically pure. Party ideologies often change over time. However, the following parties and organisations are usually accepted by peers^{[nb 1]} or scholars as following social liberalism as a core ideology.

• Australia: Australian Democrats^[26]
• Belgium: Social Liberal Party^[27]
• Bulgaria: National Movement for Stability and Progress^[28]
• Canada: Liberal Party of Canada^[29]
• Croatia: Istrian Democratic Assembly^[30]
• Denmark: Danish Social Liberal Party^{[31][32][33][34]}
• Estonia: Estonian Centre Party^[30]
• Finland: Swedish People's Party^[35]
• France: Left Radical Party^[30][34]
• Honduras: Liberal Party of Honduras^[36]
• Lithuania: New Union^[30][37]
• Luxembourg: Democratic Party^[32]
• Moldova: Moldova Noastră^[38]
• Netherlands: Democrats 66^[31][30][32]
• Norway: Liberal Party of Norway^[30][39][40]
• Paraguay: Authentic Radical Liberal Party^[41]
• Philippines: Liberal Party^[42]
• Poland: Democratic Party^[30]
• Portugal: Movimento Liberal Social^[43]
• Russia: Russian Democratic Party "Yabloko"^[30][44]
• Senegal: Senegalese Democratic Party^[45]
• Slovenia: Liberal Democracy of Slovenia^[7] and Zares^[30]
• Sweden: Centre Party^[30][46][47] and Liberal People's Party^[30][47][48]
• Tunisia: Liberal Social Democratic Party^[49]
• United Kingdom: Liberal Democrats^[31][32][50]

[edit] Notable social liberal thinkers

This list presents some notable scholars and politicians which are generally considered as having made significant contributions to the evolution of social liberalism as a political ideology:

[edit] Views of social liberals today

• Centrist^[3][4] or centre-left^[5][6][7] views.
• The middle way, rejecting the left's dislike of free enterprise and the right's dislike of social provision.^[3]
• Decentralised decision-making.^[31]
• Internationalism.^[31]
• (In Europe) A federal European Union.^[31]
• Support more rights in areas like abortion, capital punishment, drugs, homosexuality, censorship and euthanasia.^[74][75]

[edit] Further reading

• Green, Thomas Hill (2006), Lectures on the Principles of Political Obligation, New Jersey: The Lawbook Exchange, ISBN 1584776145 
• Rawls, John (2005), Political Liberalism, New York: Columbia University Press, ISBN 0231130899 
• Rawls, John (2005), A Theory of Justice, Harvard: Harvard University Press, ISBN 0674017722 
• Simhony, Avital; Weinstein, David (2001), The New Liberalism: Reconciling Liberty and Community, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521794048 
• Hobson, John Atkinson (2000), The Crisis of Liberalism: New Issues of Democracy, Delaware: Adamant Media Corporation, ISBN 1421227819 
• Hobhouse, L. T. (1994), Liberalism and Other Writings, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521437261 
• Merquior, J.G. (1991), Liberalism Old and New, Cambridge: Twayne Publishers, ISBN 0805786279 
• Mill, John Stuart (1989), 'On Liberty' and Other Writings, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521379172 

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Liberal International, ELDR, CALD, Africa Liberal Network, RELIAL or European Liberal Forum

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Social liberalism (United States)
• Classical liberalism