Yuwanto, Ph.D.

What does liberalism mean?

a liberal is a man who believes in
liberty
- Maurice Cranston


Liberalism is the belief in the importance of
liberty and equal rights. Most liberals support
such fundamental ideas as constitutions,
liberal democracy, free and fair elections,
human rights, capitalism, free trade, and the
freedom of religion
Term Liberalism first used and only became
associated with a clear set of ideas and
beliefs in the 19
th
century

However, origins of liberalism as a force date
back to revolutionary England and France
(17
th
and 18
th
centuries) and even to some
extent earlier
Origins:
Political Liberalism
John Locke (1632-1704) employed the concept of
natural rights and the social contract to argue
that the rule of law should replace absolutism in
government, that rulers were subject to the
consent of the governed, and that private
individuals had a fundamental right to life,
liberty, and property.
Economic Liberalism
Adam Smith (1723-1790) an intellectual and
Father of Capitalism who said: Humans
motivated by self interest and they should be free
to pursue profits.


1689 published two works:
Two Treatises of Government outlined
the case for representative and
constitutional government
A Letter Concerning Toleration defended
the right of religious dissent
Both now seen as classic works of liberalism
Two Treatises on Government established
two fundamental liberal ideas: economic
liberty, meaning the right to have and use
property, and intellectual liberty, including
freedom of conscience (Natural Rights),
which he expounded in A Letter Concerning
Toleration
Locke developed further the earlier idea of
natural rights. Property was more important
than the right to participate in government
and public decision-making: he did not
endorse democracy, because he feared that
giving power to the people would erode the
sanctity of private property.
Nevertheless, the idea of natural rights played a key
role in providing the ideological justification for the (at
least moderately democratizing) American revolution
and French revolution.
Adam Smith expounded the theory that
individuals could structure both moral and
economic life without direction for the
purposes of the state, and indeed, that the
nations which would be the strongest would
be those that left individuals free to follow
their own initiative.
Adam Smith advocated the end of feudal
and mercantile regulations, state granted
monopolies and patents, and is seen as the
promulgator of a principal of "laissez-faire"
or "let [it] act" -- minimal government
intervention in the functioning of the free
market.

Adam Smith developed a theory of
motivation that tried to reconcile human
self-interestedness with unregulated social
order (mainly done in The Theory of Moral
Sentiments, 1759). His most famous work,
The Wealth of Nations (1776), tried to
explain how an unregulated market would
naturally regulate itself via aggregated
individual decisions.

The revolutionaries in the American
Revolution (1776) and the French
Revolution (1789) used liberal philosophy to
justify the armed overthrow of tyrannical
rule.
The nineteenth century saw liberal governments
established in nations across Europe, Latin
America, and North America.

Liberal ideas spread even further in the
20th century, when liberal democracies
triumphed in two world wars and survived
major ideological challenges from fascism
and communism.
Conservatism, fundamentalism, and military
dictatorship remain powerful opponents of
liberalism.
Today, liberals are organized politically on
all major continents. They have played a
decisive role in the growth of republics, the
spread of civil rights and civil liberties, the
establishment of the modern welfare state,
the institution of religious toleration and
religious freedom, and the development of
globalization.
Political scientist Alan Wolfe wrote, "liberalism is
the answer for which modernity is the question."

So, liberalism has come to be associated
with the collapse of feudalism across
Europe and the subsequent rise of
capitalism.
The new middle classes began to challenge
the old privileged aristocracy. With it came
challenge to the fundamental ideas of the
divine right of kings, absolutism and
monarchy itself.
This new class pushed towards systems of
constitutional (and later representative)
government.

As the new class pushed for free trade and
free markets, liberalism became more closely
associated with capitalism.
Liberalism became the dominant ideology of
Western countries to the extent that they are
know as liberal democracies
But how closely tied is liberalism to capitalism?


Friedrich August von Hayek
Economic freedom (i.e. free trade & private
ownership of property) is a guarantee of
political freedom. Civil liberties are only
possible under capitalism.
There can be no freedom of press if the
instruments of printing are under government
control, no freedom of assembly if the needed
rooms are so controlled, no freedom of
movement if the means of transport are a
government monopoly.

Karl Marx
Liberal ideas reflect the economic interests
of the ruling classes i.e. are designed to
protect their wealth.

Argued that over time, Liberalism has
moved from a set of revolutionary ideas to a
set of conservative ideas.

After their assault on the aristocracy and
acquisition of private property, middle
classes have sought to preserve their gains.
As industrialisation increased throughout
the nineteenth century, divisions developed
amongst liberals and two different strands
of liberalism emerged:
1. Classical liberalism traditional laissez-
faire
2. Modern liberalism greater emphasis on
government intervention, particularly in
areas such as welfare

Is there a distinct set of ideas associated
with Liberalism?
1. THE INDIVIDUAL
How important is the individual in our society
today?
Little in the way of individual identity in feudal
time
There is debate within Liberalism with regard to
how important the individual should be
(Egotistical Individualism versus Ethical
Individualism)
Egotistical Individualism
Classical liberal viewpoint
Emphasis on self-interest and self-reliance

Ethical Individualism
Modern liberal viewpoint
Society should be constructed in a way that can
benefit the individual
Modern liberals place the flourishing of the
individual above self interest.

Individual freedom is a belief common to
all liberals. However, there are a number
of different position that liberals have
adopted on the issue of freedom.

"Give me Liberty or give me Death! (Patrick Henry)
Early or classical liberals saw liberty as a
natural right which gave individuals the
opportunity to pursue their own lives.
Later or modern liberals see freedom as
enabling people to flourish and develop the
skills needed to achieve their potential in
life.
How much freedom should an individual
have?
The libertarian position: John Stuart Mill (On
Liberty 1859) distinguished between self-
regarding and other-regarding actions. i.e. a
person should be free to do anything they wish
providing their actions do not impact on another
persons freedom.

Individual as primary unit of analysis
Rational actor model
Primary objective of economic activity is to
improve human welfare
Role of the market
Politics and economics operate in separate,
autonomous spheres
Minimal role of state