Conservatism Flashcards
(65 cards)
What are the origins of conservatism?
The violence of the French Revolution led to a wave of new thinkers who began to see liberal Enlightenment thought as
fundamentally dangerous – something that could lead to violence, instability, terror,
and tyranny if not contained and controlled
How do conservatives view human nature?
• fundamentally negative view on
human nature rooted in the biblical notion of original sin
• described as a “philosophy of human imperfection”
• flawed nature of human beings is fixed and constant
Hobbes historical context
Lived through the English Civil War
and the destruction, brutality and political chaos of the war greatly
influenced his political worldview
Hobbes key concepts
• in the state of nature life was “nasty, brutish, and short” – “the war of all against all” and the only solution to this is for people to submit to the power of a “sovereign”
• only with the state can there be security and order
• the state can only fulfil its functions if it is autocratic
• the state must be strong and intimidating
Burke historical context
• Born in Dublin in 1729 to a Catholic mother and a Protestant father
• His political enemies frequently
accused him of being a secret
Catholic
• MP for the Whig Party from 1766 to 1794
• Supported American independence and Catholic
emancipation in Ireland
• Opposed to the slave trade
• The “father of conservativism”
• Strongly opposed to the French
Revolution
Burke key concepts
• Mankind is inherently fallible and
any attempt to create a “perfect”
society is doomed to fail
• “Changing to conserve”
• Tradition and experience should
guide politics
• Organicism
• “Little Platoons”
• Rejected equality – hierarchies are
natural and desirable
• Ruling class has an obligation to
rule well
• Burkean Model of Parliamentary
representation
Hobbes’ view on human nature
Cynical: individuals are selfish, driven by a restless and ruthless desire for supremacy and security.
Burke’s view on human nature
Sceptical: the ‘crooked timber of humanity’ is marked by a gap between aspiration and achievement. We may conceive of perfection but are unable to achieve it.
What are the key conservative beliefs regarding society?
• localism
• organicism
• empiricism
• hierarchy
• tradition
• property
• judaeo-christian morality
What is localism?
• view society as a collection of
localised communities
• It is communities that provide the individual with their identity, security, status, and purpose
• The community acts to constrain selfish individualism
What is organicism?
• According to conservatives society is not created but rather emerges gradually and organically
• Organic society is unplanned and therefore unpredictable
• Conservatives think that we should respect and conserve the organic society that already exists instead of trying to create a “new” society
• “Society is a plant, not a machine”
What is empiricism?
• A preference for evidence over theory
• Conservatives believe we should deal with society “as it is” and be practical and pragmatic in our approach
• Society should be guided by experience
• We should not be concerned with how society should be – there are no progressive or normative ideas
about society and no end goal in mind
• seeks to preserve the society that already exists, not to change it into anything
better
What is tradition?
• The guiding principle of society
• Customs and habits provide us with security in an uncertain and changing world
• History and experience should guide us in making decisions and shaping society
• Change must be slow, gradual, and respectful of the past
What is hierarchy?
• Inequality is natural and desirable – “the wiser and the stronger” rise to the top
• All of society, from the smallest “little platoon” to the largest state, follows a hierarchical structure with a more powerful minority ruling the majority
• The elite has a paternalistic obligation to guide and look after the weak in society
How do conservatives view the state?
• order and authority
• emerged organically
• the nation state
• the ruling class
Conservatives on order and authority
• see the state as fulfilling a primarily disciplinary function
• main objective of the state is to provide order, security, and authority
• without order there can be no liberty and no “good life” and without the state, there can be no order
• The state precedes society
• There are no “natural rights” – only what rights the state gives us
Conservatives and organic origins
Do not believe that the state arises from rational, formalised
discussion and debate, rather the state emerges organically and gradually over time
Conservatives and the ruling class
• Conservatives believe that hierarchies are natural
• Support the idea of an elite ruling class
• For traditional conservatives, that ruling class is hereditary/aristocratic in nature
• New Right conservatives tend to favour a more “meritocratic” ruling class
• Burke argued that a class that was “born and trained to rule” would be
best able to steer the state, ensure order, and maintain social cohesion
• ruling class has a paternalistic obligation to rule well
• The ruling class can police itself and abide by tradition and experience in order to ensure they rule well and avoid tyranny
Conservatives and the nation state
Beginning in the 19th & 20th centuries, conservatives emphasised a state based on
nationhood – a shared national identity, based on history, culture, language,
traditions, and religion.
• conservatives favour a strong and independent nation-state that preserves its
unique identity.
• The nation is a kind of mega-community that unites all social classes and localities
in an area and provides an organic basis for the state.
• European conservatives tend to understand the nation and state to be separate;
British and American conservatives frequently conflate the two
Conservatism and the economy
• Conservatism’s defence of inequality and hierarchy leads to a natural support for capitalism – which is based upon private property ownership and tends to
naturally result in greater economic
inequalities and hierarchies but on the other, capitalism is a dynamic and disruptive force that promotes rapid change, risk, and innovation – which conservatives view as a threat to stability, security and order
• conservatives are sometimes
called “capitalism’s reluctant
supporters”
• Traditional conservatives support a moderated form of capitalism (“protectionism”) in which
the state intervenes in the economy to prevent too much change and destabilisation, especially through the imposition of tariffs (to
protect the economy of the nation-state from foreign influence)
• New Right conservatives
embraced the Neoliberalism of
Hayek et al and support free trade
and laissez-faire capitalism as disengaging from the economy
allows the state to focus on its
true purpose – law and order
Traditional conservatism in the aftermath of the French Revolution
• Traditional conservative ideology is seen in the policies of Tory PMs like Canning and Peel who applied the idea of “changing to conserve” during their premierships– embracing moderate reforms to try and prevent spread of more revolutionary ideas e.g. George Canning supported the abolition of slavery as he believed it brought property-owning “into disrepute”
• Robert Peel supported the Great Reform Act (1832), which ensured
that the newly enriched property-owning urban classes could vote –
giving them political representation and a “stake” in the status quo in
order to prevent more dangerous, revolutionary movements from
taking hold
• Peel also established the Metropolitan Police Force in London
One nation conservatism
• emerged in the 19th century as a
response to Marxism and socialism which emphasised class conflict
• stresses the importance of the nation – the idea that all social classes in a country were united by their national identity
• emphasises the paternalistic obligation that the ruling
class had to the lower classes
• One Nation Conservatives argued that there was an “organic affinity” between the RC and the LC and that if the LC were dissatisfied the entire nation was under threat
• This led to the support for state-sponsored social reform and social welfare
• rejected the classical liberal idea of the minimal state and laissez-faire capitalism
• Conservative governments were among the first to institute reforms such as laws regarding working conditions, laws around rent and housing, state unemployment
or injury insurance, and pensions
• They also instituted strict tariffs and import controls in order to protect national economies and enrich their own working classes
• dominated the Conservative Party in Britain until the rise of Thatcher
Traditional conservatism in the 20th century
• spread of communism and emergence of fascism were seen as the two greatest challenges to traditional conservativism in the 20th century
• egalitarian ideals of communism in particular were seen as a
fundamental threat to conservative notions of hierarchy and inequality
• In the UK this threat was heightened for conservatives by the extension of the franchise and the rise of the Labour Party
• In response, traditional conservatives such as Macmillan and Butler began to advocate for a much greater degree of state
intervention in the economy and state support for social welfare programmes e.g. Housing Act (1930)
• seen as a way for the ruling class to fulfil their paternalistic obligation and to undermine the case for socialism/communism
Michael Oakeshott historical context
• son of a civil servant
• Served the Special Operations Unit in World War II – special forces
• Highly critical of both communism and fascism
• Offered a knighthood by Margaret Thatcher in 1981, which he declined
