Conservatism
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an issue for the individual alone, but is also of importance to society. This can be seen, for example, in the social bonds that cut across generations. Property is not merely the creation of the present generation. Much of it – land, houses, works of art – has been passed down from earlier generations. The present generation is, in that sense, the custodian of the wealth of the nation and has a duty to preserve and protect it for the benefit of future generations. Harold Macmillan, the UK Conservative prime minister from 1957 to 1963, expressed just such a position in the 1980s when he objected to theThatcher government’s policy of privatization , describing it as ‘selling off the family silver’. TYPES OF CONSERVATISM The chief sub-traditions within conservatism are as follows:
z z libertarian conservatism z z authoritarian conservatism z z paternalistic conservatism z z Christian democracy. Libertarian conservatism
Although conservatism draws heavily on pre-industrial ideas such as organicism, hierarchy and obligation, the ideology has also been much influenced by liberal ideas, especially classical liberal ideas. This is sometimes seen as a late twentieth-century development, neoliberals having in some way ‘hijacked’ conservatism in the interests of classical liberalism. Nevertheless, liberal doctrines, especially those concerning the
free market, have been advanced by conservatives since the late eighteenth century, and can be said to constitute a rival tradition to conservative paternalism. These ideas are libertarian in that they advocate the greatest possible economic liberty and the least possible government regulation of social life. Libertarian conservatives have not simply converted to liberalism, but believe that liberal economics is compatible with a more traditional, conservative social philosophy, based on values such as authority and duty. This is evident in the work of Edmund Burke, in many ways the founder of traditional conservatism, but also a keen supporter of the economic liberalism of Adam Smith (see p. 34).
Privatization: The transfer of state assets from the public to the private sector, reflecting a contraction of the state’s responsibilities. Economic liberalism: A belief in the market as a self-regulating mechanism that tends naturally to deliver general prosperity and opportunities for all.
KEY CONCEPT LIBERTARIANISM
of individual rights (as with Robert Nozick, see p. 65) and in laissez-faire economic doctrines (as with Friedrich von Hayek, see p. 64), although socialists have also embraced libertarianism. Libertarianism is sometimes distinguished from liberalism on the grounds that the latter, even in its classical form, refuses to give priority to liberty over order. However, it differs from anarchism in that libertarians generally recognize the need for a minimal state, sometimes styling themselves as ‘minarchists’.
Libertarianism refers to a range of theories that give strict priority to liberty (understood in negative terms) over other values, such as authority, tradition and equality. Libertarians thus seek to maximize the realm of individual freedom and minimize the scope of public authority, typically seeing the state as the principal threat to liberty. The two best- known libertarian traditions are rooted in the idea
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