Summary Key tensions in the Conservatism ideology

LIBERTARIANISM PATERNALISM ORGANIC SOCIETY/STATE
Political philosophy that Members of the elite should govern in Society is like a living organism and changes gradually (organicism)
emphasises negative freedom there interests of those below them –  Radical change would prevent society from functioning properly
 Minimal state / laissez- noblesse oblige, natural hierarchy  Social contract – natural rights favoured by Locke are a rationalistic conceit, individual rights are up to
faire the state to maintain
 Free market – the New Traditional conservatism: natural
Right aristocracy, with a belief in paternalism Traditional conservatism:
 Supported by Adam and the noblesse oblige  Thomas Hobbes – the social contract: surrender autonomy for authority
Smith  Natural rights and society don’t exist without the state
One nation conservatism: developed  Edmund Burke – ‘little platoons’
New Right: from the paternalistic aspect of
 Free market/small state traditional conservatism One nation conservatism:
 Laissez-faire instead of  Disraeli/Macmillan/Cameron –  Role of the state is prevent bad not create good
atomism, individualism compassionate conservatism
and organic society New Right:
 Ayn Rand – tax = slavery New right: paternalism restricts  Thatcher: “no such thing as society”
 Negative freedom = self- development  Robert Nozick: monarchist govt – ‘night watchman’, deregulation and privatisation
fulfilment and self-  Nozick – ‘tax for the most part is theft’
realisation  Friedrich Hayek: ‘The Road to Serfdom’ – tax is slavery and welfare states should be abolished as the
bankrupt society. The government can literally not afford pensions.
HUMAN IMPERFECTION TRADITION PRAGMATISM
 Pessimistic due to the civil war (Hobbes) Support for various institutions such as A rejection of ideology – seeking practical solutions
 Utopian ideas about perfect societies are unrealistic Religion instead of basing decisions off of abstract reasoning
 Burke: “our comfort and one great  Disraeli – Artisan Dwellings Act dealt with
Traditional conservatism: reaction to the rational principles of the enlightenment in the source of civilisation” – gives slum clearance in a pragmatic fashion
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18 century identity and social cohesion  Peel’s Tamworth Manifesto – argued
 Thomas Hobbes – Leviathan 1651: “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”  Oakeshott: constitutional changes conservatism must be pragmatic and not
 Edmund Burke – agrees with Hobbes, but not so harsh about human are dangerous if based on abstract reactionary
imperfection theory
 Abandoning tradition = dangerous Traditional conservatism:
One nation conservatism:  Edmund Burke – empiricism: “politics ought
 Michael Oakeshott: human nature is “fragile and fallible” Traditional conservatism: scepticism of the to be adjusted not to human reasoning, but
 Politics of Faith: rationalism is beyond the ability of humans abstract, promotes tradition to human nature”
 Politics of Scepticism: rationalism and its doctrines are flawed  Change to conserve
One Nation: supports traditional
New Right: institutions One nation conservatism:
 Ayn Rand – atomistic individualism – autonomous individuals seek rationalised  Michael Oakeshott – ‘On Being Conservative’
self-fulfilment New right: challenges hierarchy and the importance of pragmatism as a core of
 Atlas Shrugged tradition the conservative ideology
 Robert Nozick: egotistical individualism
New Right:
 Robert Nozick: rejects empiricism