Contrary to the popular belief that liberalism is something completely new, brought into Russian culture by trends from the West, liberal political views in Russia have a very extensive history. Usually the arrival of these political views in our country is usually dated to the mid-18th century, when the first thoughts about freedom began to creep into the minds of the most enlightened citizens of the state. Most a prominent representative The first generation of liberals in Russia is considered to be M.M. Speransky.
But, if you think about it, liberalism is a phenomenon almost as ancient as Christianity, and even as, after all, coming precisely from Greek word, denoting freedom, liberal political views, first of all, imply the value of freedom itself as the greatest gift within the power of man. And we are talking not only about internal but also about the freedom of a citizen from the state. This means non-interference by the state in any private affairs of its citizens, the opportunity to freely express their political views, the absence of censorship and dictatorship on the part of the country’s leaders, and this is what both ancient philosophers and the first adherents of Christianity preached.
By personal freedom, people who preach liberal views understand the freedom of self-realization, as well as the freedom to resist any force coming from outside. If a person is internally unfree, this inevitably leads to his collapse as a person, because external interference can easily break him. Liberals consider the consequence of lack of freedom to be an increase in aggression and the inability to adequately evaluate key ideological concepts such as truth, good, and evil.
In addition, liberal means that it must be guaranteed by the state. Freedom of choice of residence, movement, and others are the foundations on which any liberal government must rest. At the same time, for adherents of liberalism, even the slightest manifestation of aggression is unacceptable - any changes in the state should be achieved only through evolutionary, peaceful means. Revolution in any form is already a violation of the freedom of some citizens by others, and, therefore, it is unacceptable for those who profess liberal political views. In Russia at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, liberals lost precisely because they expected reforms from the authorities that would help transform the country without bloodshed. But, unfortunately, this path of development of the state was rejected by the monarchy, which resulted in a revolution.
Thus, to briefly summarize, we can say that liberal political views are such worldview ideas and ideological concepts, which are based on exceptional respect for freedom as the highest value. Political and economic rights of a citizen, the possibility of realizing freedom throughout the country entrepreneurial activity, the absence of total control by the state over its citizens, democratization of society - these are the main features of liberalism as a political system of views.
To implement such a system, a clear separation is necessary to avoid its concentration in the hands of individuals or oligarchies. Therefore, clearly defined and independent from each other executive, judicial and legislative powers are an integral attribute of any state living according to liberal laws. Considering this, as well as the fact that in almost all democratic countries of the world freedom and human rights are the highest values, we can safely say that it was liberalism that became the basis for the creation of modern statehood.
Today, on television and in general on the Internet, many people say: “Here they are liberals, liberal-minded citizens...” Also, modern liberals are called even worse: “liber@stams”, liberoids, etc. Why did these liberals not please everyone who complains? What is liberalism? Let's explain now in simple words, and at the same time we will determine whether it is worth scolding modern liberals and why.
History of liberalism
Liberalism is an ideology - a system of ideas about the structure of society and the state. The word itself comes from the word Libertas (Latin) - which means freedom. Let us now find out what relation he has to freedom.
So, imagine the harsh Middle Ages. You are a craftsman in a European medieval city: a tanner, or generally a butcher. Your city is in the possession of a feudal lord: a county, barony or duchy. And the city pays him rent every month for what is on his land. Suppose a feudal lord wanted to introduce a new tax—for example, on air. And he will introduce it. And the townspeople will not go anywhere - they will pay.
Of course, there were cities that bought their freedom and themselves already established more or less fair taxation. But those were extremely rich cities. But yours, such an average city, cannot afford such luxury.
If your son wants to become a doctor or a priest, it will simply be impossible. Because state law determines the life of each class. He can only do what you do - be a butcher. And when the tax burden ruins the city, then, probably, he will rise and overthrow the power of the feudal lord. But the royal troops, or the troops of the feudal lord, of a higher rank, will come and punish such a rebellious city.
By the end of the Middle Ages, this order of things was primarily tired of the city dwellers: artisans, merchants - in a word, those who really made money from their hard work. And Europe was covered bourgeois revolutions: when the bourgeoisie began to dictate its terms. In 1649 there was a revolution in England. And what are the interests of the bourgeoisie?
Definition of liberalism
Liberalism is an ideology key elements which are: personal freedom, the idea of public good, guarantee of legal and political equality. This is what the bourgeoisie needs. Freedom: if a person wants to do business, let him do what he wants - that’s his right. The main thing is that he does not harm other people and does not encroach on their freedom.
Equality- a very important idea. Of course, all people are not equal: in their intelligence, perseverance, physical abilities. But! We are talking about equal opportunities: if a person wants to do something, no one has the right to stop him on the basis of racial, social or other prejudices. Ideally, any person can become a leader and “rise” with hard work. Of course, not everyone will rise, because not everyone can and wants to work long and hard!
Common Good: means a reasonable structure of society. Where the state guarantees the rights and freedoms of the individual, protects this individual from all kinds of threats. The state also protects the rules of life in society: it monitors compliance with laws.
Still very important reason liberalism: idea of natural rights. This idea was developed by English thinkers John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. It lies in the fact that a person is born with three rights: the right to life, to private property and to the pursuit of happiness.
No one has the right to take a person’s life, except perhaps the state and only by law. The right to private property was examined in detail. The pursuit of happiness means the same freedom of action, of course within the framework of the law.
Classical liberalism died for a long time in 1929, when a crisis arose in the United States as a result of which tens of thousands of banks went bankrupt, millions of people died of hunger, and all that. Today we are talking about neoliberalism. That is, under the influence of various factors, liberalism has changed: it has transformed into neoliberalism.
We analyze in detail what neoliberalism is.
Why are liberals in Russia today so “bad” that everyone criticizes them? The fact is that people who call themselves liberals defend not so much the ideology of liberalism as the idea that Europe and the USA are the most best countries and that it is they who need to be guided by: to join the European Union, NATO - in a word, to bend to the West. At the same time, if you say that you don’t think it’s right, they prove to you that you’re completely wrong. That is, they deliberately violate your right to the same freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, and position.
Why do we need Europe if they have a crisis economy? After all, all crises begin in the West. Look at the countries that are members of the European Union: Greece, Romania. Romanians now go to Germany to clean German toilets - they cannot work at their bus factories - they were closed because Germany supplies the buses. And Greece - several years in the European Union brought this country to financial collapse, not even a crisis - collapse.
Looking at all this, you can’t help but think, why do we need to be in the EU? So that we could at least destroy what else is still working somewhere? Therefore, if I would call modern Russian “liberals” (those people who advocate reckless European integration) liberals, then only with quotation marks.
In conclusion, I quote a common joke. To the question: “Should we leave?” the patriot answers “Who?”, and the liberal “Where?” 🙂
I hope you have received a comprehensive answer to the question “What is liberalism”, like it, write in the comments about all this.
Best regards, Andrey Puchkov
A few years ago All-Russian Center studying public opinion, conducted a survey of the population, the main question of which was: “What is liberalism, and who is a liberal?” Most of the participants were confused by this question. 56% could not give a comprehensive answer. The survey was conducted in 2012; most likely, today the situation is unlikely to have changed for the better. Therefore, now in this article we will briefly consider the concept of liberalism and all its main aspects for the education of the Russian audience.
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About the concept
There are several definitions that describe the concept of this ideology. Liberalism is:
- political movement or ideology that unites fans of democracy and parliamentarism;
- a worldview that is characteristic of industrialists who defend their rights of a political nature, as well as entrepreneurial freedom;
- a theory incorporating philosophical and political ideas that appeared in Western Europe in the 18th century;
- the first meaning of the concept was freethinking;
- tolerance and tolerance of unacceptable behavior.
All these definitions can be safely attributed to liberalism, but the main thing is that this term denotes an ideology that affects the structure and states. WITH In Latin, liberalism is translated as freedom. Are all the functions and aspects of this movement really built on freedom?
Freedom or restriction
The liberal movement includes such key concepts as public good, individual freedom and equality of people within the framework of policy and . What liberal values does this ideology promote?
- Common good. If the state protects the rights and freedom of the individual, and also protects the people from various threats and monitors compliance with the laws, then such a structure of society can be called reasonable.
- Equality. Many people shout that all people are equal, although it is obvious that this is absolutely not the case. We differ from each other in various aspects: intelligence, social status, physical characteristics, nationality and so on. But liberals mean equality of human opportunity. If a person wants to achieve something in life, no one has the right to interfere with this on the basis of race, social status or other factors . The principle is that if you put in the effort, you will achieve more.
- Natural rights. British thinkers Locke and Hobbes came up with the idea that a person has three rights from birth: to life, to property and to happiness. It will not be difficult for many to interpret this: no one has the right to take a person’s life (only the state for certain offenses), property is considered as a personal right to own something, and the right to happiness is that same freedom of choice.
Important! What is liberalization? There is also a concept that means the expansion of civil liberties and rights within the framework of economic, political, cultural and social life, is also a process when the economy gets rid of the influence of the state.
Principles of liberal ideology:
- there is nothing more valuable than human life;
- all people in this world are equal;
- everyone has their inalienable rights;
- the individual and his needs are more valuable than society as a whole;
- the state arises by common consent;
- people form laws and state values independently;
- the state is responsible to the individual, and the individual, in turn, is responsible to the state;
- power must be divided, the principle of organizing life in the state on the basis of the constitution;
- only in fair elections can a government be elected;
- humanistic ideals.
These principles of liberalism formulated in the 18th century English philosophers and thinkers. Many of them never came to fruition. Most of them are similar to the utopia that humanity so passionately strives for, but cannot achieve.
Important! Liberal ideology could be a lifeline for many countries, but there will always be some pitfalls that hinder development.
Founders of the ideology
What is liberalism? At that time, each thinker understood it in his own way. This ideology has completely absorbed different ideas and the opinions of thinkers of that time.
It is clear that some of the concepts may contradict each other, but the essence remains the same.
The founders of liberalism English scientists J. Locke and T. Hobbes (18th century) can be considered, along with the French writer of the Enlightenment era Charles Montesquieu, who was the first to think and express his opinion about human freedom in all spheres of his activity.
Locke gave birth to legal liberalism and stated that only in a society in which all citizens are free can there be stability.
The original theory of liberalism
The followers of classical liberalism gave greater preference and paid more attention to the “individual freedom” of man. The concept of this concept is expressed in the fact that the individual should not submit to either society or social orders. Independence and equality- these are the main stages on which the entire liberal ideology stood. The word “freedom” then meant the absence of various prohibitions, limits or vetoes on the implementation of actions by an individual, taking into account the generally accepted rules and laws of the state. That is, that freedom that would not go against established dogmas.
As the founders of the liberal movement believed, the government should guarantee equality between all its citizens, but people had to take care of their financial situation and status on their own. Limiting the scope of government power was what liberalism in turn tried to achieve. According to theory, the only thing the state had to provide for its citizens was security and order protection. That is, the liberals tried to influence the reduction of all its functions to a minimum. The existence of society and power could only be subject to their general subordination to laws within the state.
The fact that classical liberalism would still exist became clear when a terrible crisis arose in the United States in 1929. economic crisis. Its consequences were tens of thousands of bankrupt banks, the death of many people from hunger and other horrors of the economic decline of the state.
Economic liberalism
The main concept of this movement was the idea of equality between economic laws and natural ones. Intervention state power was prohibited by these laws. Adam Smith is the founder of this movement and its basic principles:
- self-interest is needed to spur economic development;
- government regulation and the existence of monopolies harm the economy;
- economic growth must be promoted quietly. That is, the government should not interfere in the process of the emergence of new institutions. Businesses and suppliers operating in the interests of profit and within the market system are quietly directing " invisible hand" All this is the key to competently meeting the needs of society.
Neoliberalism
This direction was formed in the 19th century and implies new trend in, which consists in the complete non-interference of the government in trade relations between its subjects.
The main principles of neoliberalism are constitutionalism and equality between all members of society in the country.
Signs of this trend: the government should promote self-regulation of the economy in the market, and the process of redistribution of finances should first of all take into account layers of the population with low level income.
Neoliberalism does not oppose government regulation of the economy, while classical liberalism denies this. But the regulatory process should only include the free market and the competitiveness of subjects for collateral economic growth along with social justice. The main idea of neoliberalism – support for foreign trade policy and internal trade to increase the gross income of the state, that is, protectionism.
Everyone has political concepts And philosophical movements have their own characteristics, and neoliberalism was no exception:
- the need for government intervention in the economy. The market must be protected from the possible emergence of monopolies, and a competitive environment and freedom ensured;
- protection of principles and justice. All citizens must be involved in political processes to maintain the necessary democratic “weather”;
- government should maintain existence various economic programs, associated with financial support for social groups with low incomes.
Briefly about liberalism
Why is the concept of liberalism distorted in Russia?
Conclusion
Now the question is: “What is liberalism?” will no longer cause dissonance among respondents. After all, the understanding of freedom and equality is simply presented under other terms that have their own principles and concepts affecting different areas government structure, but remaining unchanged in one thing - only then will the state prosper when it stops limiting its citizens in many ways.
The concept of “liberalism” appeared at the beginning of the 19th century. Initially, liberals were the name given to a group of nationalist deputies in the Cortes, the Spanish parliament. Then this concept entered all European languages, but with a slightly different meaning.
The essence of liberalism remains unchanged throughout the history of its existence. Liberalism is an affirmation of the value of the human person, its rights and freedoms. From the ideology of the Enlightenment, liberalism borrowed the idea of natural human rights, therefore, among the inalienable rights of the individual, liberals included and include the right to life, liberty, happiness and property, with the greatest attention paid to private property and freedom, since it is believed that property ensures freedom, which in its turn turn is a prerequisite for success in the life of an individual, the prosperity of society and the state.
Freedom is inseparable from responsibility and ends where the freedom of another person begins. The “rules of the game” in society are fixed in laws adopted by a democratic state, which proclaims political freedoms (of conscience, speech, meetings, associations, etc.). The economy is a market economy based on private property and competition. Such economic system is the embodiment of the principle of freedom and a condition for the successful economic development of the country.
The first historical type of worldview containing the above-mentioned set of ideas was classical liberalism (late 18th - 70-80s of the 19th century). It can be seen as a direct continuation of the political philosophy of the Enlightenment. It is not for nothing that John Locke is called the “father of liberalism,” and the creators of classical liberalism, Jeremy Bentham and Adam Smith, are considered the largest representatives of the late Enlightenment in England. Throughout the 19th century, liberal ideas were developed by John Stuart Mill (England), Benjamin Constant and Alexis de Tocqueville (France), Wilhelm von Humboldt and Lorenz Stein (Germany).
Classical liberalism differs from the ideology of the Enlightenment, first of all, in the lack of connection with revolutionary processes, as well as a negative attitude towards revolutions in general and the Great French Revolution in particular. Liberals accept and justify the social reality that has developed in Europe after the Great French Revolution, and actively strive to improve it, believing in the unlimited social progress and the power of the human mind.
Classical liberalism includes a number of principles and concepts. Its philosophical basis is the nominalistic postulate about the priority of the individual over the general. Accordingly, the principle of individualism is central: the interests of the individual are higher than the interests of society and the state. Therefore, the state cannot trample on human rights and freedoms, and the individual has the right to defend them against attacks by other individuals, organizations, society and the state.
If we consider the principle of individualism from the point of view of its correspondence to the actual state of affairs, it should be stated that it is false. In no state can the interests of an individual be higher than public and state interests. The reverse situation would mean the death of the state. It is curious that this was first noticed by one of the founders of classical liberalism, I. Bentham. He wrote that "natural, inalienable and sacred rights never existed" since they were incompatible with the state; “...citizens, demanding them, would ask only for anarchy...”. However, the principle of individualism has played a highly progressive role in the development of Western civilization. And in our time, it still gives individuals the legal right to defend their interests in the face of the state.
The principle of utilitarianism is a further development and concretization of the principle of individualism. I. Bentham, who formulated it, believed that society is a fictitious body consisting of individuals. The common good is also a fiction. The real interest of society is nothing more than the sum of the interests of its constituent individuals. Therefore, any actions of politicians and any institutions should be assessed solely from the point of view of the extent to which they contribute to reducing suffering and increasing the happiness of individual people. The construction of a model of an ideal society, according to I. Bentham, is unnecessary and dangerous from the point of view possible consequences class.
Based on the principles of individualism and utilitarianism, classical liberalism proposed a very specific model of society and state as optimal. The state should not interfere in socio-economic relations: it is more likely to disrupt harmony than to contribute to its establishment.
The concept of the rule of law corresponds to the concept of public self-regulation in the sphere of politics. The goal of such a state is formal equality of opportunity for citizens, the means is the adoption of relevant laws and ensuring their strict implementation by everyone, including government officials. At the same time, the material well-being of each individual person is considered his personal matter, and not the sphere of concern of the state. Alleviation of the extremes of poverty is expected through private charity. The essence of the rule of law is briefly expressed by the formula: “the law is above all.”
Legal « small state"should be secular. Classical liberalism advocated the separation of church and state. Supporters of this ideology considered religion to be a private matter of the individual. We can say that any liberalism, including classical, is generally indifferent to religion, which is not considered either a positive or a negative value.
Liberal party programs usually included the following demands: separation of powers; approval of the principle of parliamentarism, that is, the transition to such forms of state organization in which the government is formed by parliament; proclamation and implementation of democratic rights and freedoms; separation of church and state.
The second idea borrowed by social liberalism from social democracy is the idea of social justice, understood as the right of everyone to a decent life. A concrete way of its implementation was also the broad social programs, involving the redistribution of profits from the rich to the poor through a system of state taxes.
Social insurance for illness, unemployment, old age, insurance medicine, free education, etc. - all these programs, gradually introduced and expanded in the countries of Western civilization during the late 19th - 70th years of the 20th century, existed and continue to exist thanks to the introduction of a progressive tax scale. This system of taxation requires that people with more income or capital pay a higher percentage of that income or capital than people with less means of living. Social programs simultaneously promote economic development because they expand effective demand.
Currently, the influence of liberalism as a political worldview is growing. This is due both to the resurrection by neoconservatives of a number of fundamental provisions of classical liberalism, and to the collapse of the USSR, the world system of socialism, and the transition of its European countries to a liberal economic model and Western-style political democracy, in the establishment of which liberalism and liberal parties played a decisive role. At the same time, the crisis of the liberal parties continues.
Socialism
The concept of “socialism,” which came into general use in the third decade of the 19th century, was intended to designate a direction of social thought that sought to develop a fundamentally new model the structure of society as a whole based on the transformation of socio-economic relations. It is difficult to give a brief meaningful definition of this ideology, since the concept of socialism unites a large number of very different concepts that can be divided into two large groups: actually socialist and communist.
The concepts of the first group assume that a decent life for workers can be achieved in a society based on a combination of public and private ownership of the means of production, and universal absolute equality is not necessary or desirable. The concepts of the second group propose to create a society based exclusively on public forms of ownership, which presupposes complete social and property equality of citizens.
The characteristics of socialist ideology, taking into account the existence of the two directions of socialist thought outlined above, can be given as follows. Socialism presupposes criticism of bourgeois society from the position of a certain ideal, “located” in the thought of socialists in the future. The formulation of the main features of the future society is given from the position of the most disadvantaged part of the population, who earn their living by their labor. The society of social justice itself presupposes the essential role of social forms of ownership, the bringing together of the extremes of wealth and poverty, and the replacement of competition with solidarity and mutual assistance. The new society is conceived as capable of ensuring faster and more comprehensive social progress than the bourgeois one.
The first historical type of socialist ideology is humanistic socialism of the first half of the 19th century, also called utopian socialism (at present, the second name seems unfounded, since Marxism also turned out to be a utopia, albeit in a different sense). Its founders and largest representatives are Henri de Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier (France), Robert Owen (England). Socialism was called humanistic because its creators, formulating the main features of a society of social justice, proceeded from the interests of man in general, and not of a representative of any class or layer, although the implementation of the proposed model was supposed to bring the greatest benefit to working people.
The specific systems of thought of the founders of humanistic socialism were different, but in general, a society of social justice was conceived as based on a combination of public and private forms of property, on class cooperation. It was assumed that social and property inequality would be maintained due to the disparity in the contribution - financial and labor - to the development of the enterprise, with different roles representatives of various social strata in society. The transition to a new social organization was conceived as gradual and occurring exclusively peacefully. The following were proposed as means of transition: appealing to those in power, to representatives of big business, creating exemplary enterprises based on new principles, and promoting positive experience. It was the designated means of transition to a society of social justice that gave rise to the name “utopian socialism.”
In the 40s of the 19th century, Marxism emerged, also called workers' or economic socialism, as well as scientific communism. This ideology emerged on the basis of Karl Marx's analysis of the economic relations of bourgeois society in the context of the growth of the labor movement. The main tenets of Marxism are as follows.
Capitalist society will inevitably lose its economic efficiency due to the inherent contradiction between the social nature of production and private form assignments. To eliminate this contradiction and open up space for the development of productive forces, private ownership of the means of production should be eliminated. Accordingly, the future society of social justice will simultaneously become the most economically efficient. In it there will be public ownership of the means of production, there will be no classes, exploitation will disappear, complete social and property equality will be established, the state will cease to exist as a political organization of the economically dominant class (it will be replaced by public self-government), creative self-realization of every person will become possible.
The transition to a new society is possible only through class struggle and social revolution, which will be carried out by the working class, led by the communist party, armed with knowledge of the laws social development. Immediately after the victory of the revolution, the dictatorship of the proletariat will be established, which will become a new, highest form of democracy, since by that time the proletariat will constitute the majority of the population in society.
The development of Marxism in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries led to the emergence of two modern types of socialist ideology: Marxism-Leninism and the ideology of social democracy. Marxism-Leninism, also called Bolshevism and scientific communism, arose as an adaptation of Marxism to the conditions of Russia and to the practice of socialist construction after the victory Russian revolution 1917. The parties that adopted this ideology began, as a rule, to be called communist.
An attempt to implement the Marxist model, carried out in the USSR and other countries of the world socialist system, led to the emergence of a society in which the state economy was controlled from a single center in the absence of political democracy. This was another attempt to overcome the crisis of liberalism and the liberal economic model. However, the created society did not become either more humane or more economically efficient than the capitalist one in the long term, and therefore left the historical arena.
The ideology of social democracy, formed in the 90s of the 19th century, arose as a criticism and revision of Marxism. Its main provisions were developed by the German social democrat Eduard Bernstein and gradually accepted by international social democracy, although not without a sharp struggle of opinions. There was a rejection of such fundamental provisions of Marxism as social (socialist) revolution, dictatorship of the proletariat, complete replacement private ownership of the means of production by public property.
A revision of Marxism turned out to be possible and inevitable, since in the last decades of the 19th century it became obvious that the position of the working class was not worsening with the development of capitalism, as K. Marx predicted, but was improving. From this fact, E. Bernstein drew far-reaching conclusions that have not lost their significance today, and developed a program for building democratic socialism.
Because the economic development under capitalism leads to an increase in the material well-being of workers, the task of social democratic parties should be to improve the existing society, and not to liquidate it and replace it with another that is fundamentally different from the bourgeois one.
A necessary condition for such improvement is political democracy. E. Bernstein drew attention to the fact that the consistent implementation of the basic liberal principles of the political system leads to the elimination of the political dominance of the bourgeoisie if the working class is able to organize itself and constantly support its party in elections.
Thus, it was necessary to fight for the deepening of political democracy, the victory of the working class party in parliamentary elections, and the formation of a social democratic government. Such a government, with the support of the parliamentary majority, must steadily implement a program of reforms extended over time, aimed at improving the financial situation of the working class, increasing its social security, raising the cultural and educational level, etc.
For this purpose, as well as for the sake of increasing economic efficiency it was necessary to gradually carry out partial nationalization of industry, especially unprofitable enterprises and industries, establish state regulation of the private capitalist sector, develop and implement broad social programs based on the redistribution of profits from the wealthy to the poor through the tax system.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the main values of international social democracy continue to be solidarity, freedom, equality, political democracy, a state-regulated market mixed economy, and social protection of the population. A gradual increase in the public sector of the economy is no longer considered feasible.
Currently, despite the fact that social democratic parties periodically come to power in European countries, replacing neoconservatives, the crisis of social democratic ideology cannot be considered overcome, since international social democracy does not have new constructive ideas capable of updating the program and practice of democratic socialism.
(from the Latin liberalis - free) first appeared in literature in the 19th century, although it formed as a current of socio-political thought much earlier. The ideology arose in response to the powerless situation of citizens in the conditions absolute monarchy.
The main achievements of classical liberalism are the development of the “Social Contract Theory”, as well as the concepts of natural rights of the individual and the theory of separation of powers. The authors of “The Theory of Social Contract” were D. Locke, C. Montesquieu and J.-J. Rousseau. According to it, the origin of the state, civil society and law is based on agreement between people. The social contract implies that people partially renounce their sovereignty and transfer it to the state in exchange for ensuring their rights and freedoms. Key Principle is that a legitimate governing body must be obtained with the consent of the governed and it has only those rights that are delegated to it by citizens.
Based on these characteristics, supporters of liberalism did not recognize absolute monarchy and believed that such power corrupts, because it has no limiting principles. Therefore, the first insisted on the expediency of the separation of powers into legislative, executive and judicial. Thus, a system of checks and balances is created and there is no scope for arbitrariness. A similar idea is described in detail in the works of Montesquieu.
Ideological liberalism developed the principle of natural inalienable rights of a citizen, including the right to life, freedom and property. Possession of them does not depend on belonging to any class, but is given by nature.
Classical liberalism
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a form of classical liberalism emerged. His ideologists include Bentham, Mill, and Spencer. Supporters of classical liberalism placed individual interests rather than public interests at the forefront. Moreover, the priority of individualism was defended by them in a radical extreme form. This distinguished classical liberalism from the form in which it originally existed.
To others important principle became antipaternalism, which assumed minimal government intervention in privacy and economics. State participation in economic life should be limited to the creation free market goods and labor. Freedom was perceived by liberals as a key value, the main guarantee of which was private property. Accordingly, economic freedom had the highest priority.
Thus, the basic values of classical liberalism were individual freedom, the inviolability of private property and minimal state participation. However, in practice, such a model did not contribute to the formation of the common good and led to social stratification. This led to the spread of the neoliberal model.
Modern liberalism
In the last third of the 19th century, a new movement began to take shape -. Its formation was due to the crisis of liberal teaching, which came as close as possible to conservative ideology and did not take into account the interests of a widespread layer - the working class.
Justice and harmony among the governed were proclaimed as the leading virtues of the political system. Neoliberalism also sought to reconcile the values of equality and freedom.
Neoliberals no longer insisted that a person should be guided by selfish interests, but should contribute to the formation of the common good. And although individuality is the highest goal, it is possible only with a close relationship with society. Man began to be perceived as a social being.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the need for government participation in economic sphere for a fair distribution of benefits. In particular, the functions of the state included the need to create an education system, establish a minimum wage and control working conditions, provide unemployment or sickness benefits, etc.
In contrast to them are libertarians who advocate the preservation basic principles liberalism - free enterprise, as well as the inviolability of natural freedoms.