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Book No. – 002 (Political Science)
Book Name – Political Theory (Rajeev Bhargava)
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1. INTRODUCTION
2. A BRIEF HISTORY
3. CLASSICAL LIBERALISM
3.1. Modern Liberalism
4. CONTEMPORARY LIBERALISM
5. THE FOUNDATIONS OF LIBERALISM
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LANGUAGE
Liberalism
Chapter – 15
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
- Liberalism is a political ideology, like socialism, fascism, or nationalism, that explains and interprets social reality.
- A political ideology develops a set of interrelated principles, contests the nature of the political, and prescribes appropriate action.
- Ideologies often have a closed and rigid structure, leaving little room for flexibility or contestation of received ideas.
- While ideologies prescribe beliefs and set an agenda for action, they may not allow much creative interpretation, as seen in contemporary ethical debates in political theory.
- Some variants of liberalism show a minimal version of this rigidity but still maintain a degree of flexibility.
- Liberalism is also a set of dispositions and a way of life based on reason and human values, making it more flexible than a strict ideology.
- It provides an intellectual climate and platform for other ideologies, supported by commitments to freedom and toleration.
- As Alan Ryan states, liberalism includes toleration and an antipathy toward closing ranks around any single system of beliefs.
A BRIEF HISTORY
- Liberalism has a longer history than most political ideologies, evolving from sustained struggles against hierarchically organized social and political relations.
- It captures the ideological map of various political struggles over the past 300 years, though some argue its roots go back further.
- Ancient Greece is often credited with kindling the first spark of self-rule, inspiring generations of liberals.
- Benjamin Constant, a forerunner of liberalism, distinguished between liberty for the ancients and liberty for the moderns:
- For the ancients, liberty was an active participation in collective power.
- For the moderns, liberty is about peaceful enjoyment and private independence.
- The ancients found happiness in active engagement in political life, while moderns derive happiness from comforts of civilizational progress, commerce, and communication.
- Constant’s contrast between ancient and modern liberty suggests the difficulty of resurrecting the liberal project from ancient roots.
- The earliest liberals were Protestant reformers who challenged religious hierarchy and orthodoxy in the 16th century.
- The Protestant reformers rejected the authority of the clergy in interpreting a ‘true’ religion, fostering the autonomy of the individual—a core principle of later liberal theory.
- If the authority of priests could be questioned, it raised doubts about the power of kings and aristocratic privileges of feudal lords.
- This transformed into a political struggle against all forms of absolute authority, including fascist, communist, and autocratic regimes.
- Liberalism is divided into two phases: classical and modern, with distinct features and representative voices in each.