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Revision Notes
Liberalism
Core Values of Liberalism

Liberty
o Political/Revolutionary Liberty
Self-determination
No longer central to liberal thought
o Individual Liberty
Over-powerful govts enemies of liberty; govt too
paternalistic
Utilitarianism Bentham
Absence of constraint J.S. Mill
o Negative vs. Positive Liberty
Negative: Absence of constraints
Positive: Individual freedom, equality of opportunity
T.G. Green society as organic, made of self-interested
individuals
Tolerance
o Locke: Every man may enjoy the same rights that are granted to
others
o Modern sympathetic to influence of social/economic circumstances
Equality
o Equal Rights
Bentham and Mill reject natural rights
Humans born unequal
o Equality of Opportunity
Classical liberals society free of restraints (negative)
Booths cycle of deprivation
Pluralism
Government
o Govt by Consent
Continuous consent
Free elections
Referendums
o Limited Govt
Consent not sufficient safeguard
o Constitutionalism
Arbitrary power
Democracy = tyranny of majority
Power concentrated
o Liberal Constitution
Defines limits to jurisdiction of govt and rights of citizens
Distributes power
Includes arrangements for amendments
Justice
o Legal justice equal application
o Social justice requires intervention of state
o Inequality natural; free society social outcomes just

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Issues in Liberalism
Democracy
o Rousseau diff. between will of people and general will
o Liberals suspicious tyranny of majority
o Ways to resolve paradoxes:
Constitutionalism
Pluralism
Govt by consent
Individual liberties protected
Representative and responsible govt
Referedums
Liberalism and State
o Mill: State intervention = inhibit innovation, enterprise and dynamic
progress
o Social Darwinists individual guardian of own property
o Neo-liberals fight dependency culture
o Control of potential power:
Constitutionalism
Rule of law
Independent judiciary
Decentralisation
Liberals and Tolerance
o Early liberal principle freedom of expression
o Should extreme views be tolerated?
o Cultural variations multiculturalism tolerated as long as it doesnt
threaten culture
Liberalism in the UK

Liberalism and the Parties

o New Labour individualism and constitutional reform
o New Right decentralisation, constitutionalism and economic liberty
Liberal Democracy in the UK
Liberal
Incorrupt elections
Free parties and media
Accountable government
Constitutional reform
referendum
Human Rights Act
Parliament mediator

Conservatism
Core Values
Human Nature
o Pessimistic original six
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Not Liberal
Sovereignty of
Parliament
PM prerogative
FPTP
Unelected institutions

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o Justifies paternalism; people are untrustworthy and self-seeking

Order and Authority
o Hobbes: nasty, brutish and short
Tradition and Preservation
o Burke: partnership between those who are living, those who are
dead and those who are yet to be born
o Modern: economic monetarism, privatisation over tradition
Inequality
o Creates competition and dynamism
Organic Society
o Pragmatic/gradualism
Hierarchy
o Upper levels take care of lower noblesse oblige Big Society
Pragmatism
o Oakeshott: a conversation, not an argument
Individualism
o Choice, opportunity and self-fulfilment
Property
o Reaction against socialism privatisation; Poll Tax 1988
Opposition to Ideology
o Oakeshott: Society shouldnt be directed at specific goals
o Excessive attachment to ideology = tyranny
Scepticism and Empiricism
o Empiricist: Judge current actions by experience of past
Types of Conservatism
Peelites and One Nation
o Tamworth Manifesto 1834
Conservatism pragmatic, not reactionary
Free trade over protectionism
o Social order provided through:
Maintenance of tradition
Constitutional unity
Encouragement of patriotism
Provision of welfare
Nationalist-Authoritarian Right
o Monoculture over multiculturalism
o Pluralist democrats
New Right
o Chicago School of Economics
Rise of socialism = excessive state intervention = hinder
progress/enterprise
o Classic Liberalism
Support extensive individual freedom, minimal state, free
economic markets
o Neo-classical economics
State only intervene to control currency and public finances
(monetarism)
o Populism
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Centred on potential of individual success

o Right-wing Nationalism
Pragmatic: faced with globalisation and European integration
o Neo-conservatism
Stressed importance of good order paternalistic view of role
of state
Contemporary US conservatism
o Religious/moralistic attitude to social issues
o Opposition to socially progressive ideas
o Deep suspicion of centralised state power
o Attachment to pluralist, decentralised democracy
o Classic liberal economic views
o Desire to spread US influence/values globally
o Democracy core value
Conservatism in UK
Crisis of conservatism
o Consensus politics
o Weak leadership/internal divisions/loss of economic direction
o Values absorbed by left and right
Impact of Thatcher challenge on traditional conservatism
o Society: individuals not organic
o Excessive interference counterproductive
o Traditional institutions challenged if they hinder progress
o Paternalism denies enterprise and self-responsibility
o Individuals prefer freedom to relying on the state
o Radical government improve society without consequences
Conservatism and Liberalism

Individualism
o Conservative individualism (positive liberty)
o Reaction against collectivism
o Implies economic stability, low taxation, private property
Liberal Freedom and Conservative Individualism
o Liberal absence of freedom
o Conservative ability to pursue own happiness
Property and Rights
o Classic liberals property important part of fulfilled life
o Conservatives lay aside rights in some circumstances
Criticism of Thatcher
o Laissez-faire = excessive levels of borrowing (unsustainable)
o Underclass ignored despite growing prosperity
o Legacy of deprivation from lack of support of welfare state
o Lacked morality; highly individualistic

Socialism
Core Values
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Equality
o Equal rights birth right
o Equality of opportunity
o Fundamentalists: Equality of outcome
o Ultimate goal of Marxists: Absolute equality
o Equality of welfare all entitled to minimum standard of living
Class Conflict
o Revolutionary: conflict unsolvable under capitalism
o Non-revolutionary: form governments operating in interests of
working-class
o Democratic: modify capitalism excessive controls/state
intervention
o Social democracy: state works in national interests
Social Justice
o Marxists: capitalism cannot create just distribution
o Moderate: concentrated on measures such as interference in wage
system, trade union rights and distribution through taxation
Collectivism
o Industrial workers organised into trade unions
o Healthcare NHS
o Key industries nationalised
o State education
Common ownership
o Marxism: All property is common no private enterprise
o State socialism: Means of production and distribution publicly
owned
o Syndicalism: Industries owned and run by workers
o Cooperative Movement: Produces distribute goods
o Democratic socialism: Welfare publicly owned. Some industries
nationalised
o Social democracy: Welfare publicly owned, little nationalisation

Types of Socialism

Utopian Socialism
o Based on optimistic and romantic view of human nature
o Return to simpler forms of production and social order
Marxism
o Hegelian Philosophy
Dialectic: history a logical progression
Alienation occurs when peoples perception of world differs
from reality
o Social class
o Role of state
Marx: management committee of ruling class
Only revolutionary parties independent of ruling class and
state
o Nature of capitalism
Based on individual self-interest, draining human creativity
o Development of capitalism

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Capitalism becomes highly productive

Surplus generated = more productive
Working class grown = polarisation
Capitalism overproduces, economic slumps occur
Socialist consciousness grows amongst working class
Rivalry between capitalist countries intensifies = war
Class consciousness becomes revolutionary = end of
capitalism
o Revolution
Lack of Marxist Revolution:
Popper: analysis flawed; no fixed laws of historical
development
Marcuse: exploited class now manipulated consumers
Gramsci: capitalism learnt flaws = controlled it
development
o Dictatorship of Proletariat
o Withering Away of State
Workers originally receive rewards on contribution, then on
needs
Revolutionary Socialism
Fabianism and Evolutionary Socialism
o Inevibility of gradualism
Democratic Socialism and British Labourism
o Defence of parliamentary system of government
o Pursuit of equal rights and equality of opportunity
o State control of large strategic interests prevent capitalist
monopolies
o Provision of welfare
o Range of personal services provided by local government
o Redistribution of some income through income through
taxation/welfare
o Defence of trade unions and workers rights
New Labour and Social Democracy
Post New Labour
o Education, training, employment opportunity drivers of poverty
reduction
o Target welfare benefits more accurately
o Involve private sector in welfare state/public services
Socialism Today
o Regimes in Zimbabwe and Tanzania undermined by policies of IMF
and World Bank
o Fukuyama no place for ideology in modern society

Issues in Socialism
Role of Revolution
The State
o Marxism: state is expression of class rule
o Utopian: Not vehicle for socialism; small communities way forward

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State socialism: Blanqui control of everything = equality of

outcome
o Fabian: Municipal socialism local government vehicle for socialism
o Democratic: Private sector could coexist
o Social democracy: Privatisation accepted, guarantee equality of
opportunity
Capitalism and Socialism
o Early: offered alternatives to capitalism
o Marxists/Fundamentalists: fundamentally exploitative destroy
capitalism
o 1959 German Social Democratic Party no longer need to destroy
it
o

Marxism in Practice

Russian Revolution
The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
o Problems: underdeveloped proletariat and surrounded by hostile
nations
o Soviet Union failed to deliver economic prosperity
o Soviet people subject to new ruling classes: party bureaucracy and
state security
China
o China was nearly completely agrarian: farms became collective
o 1966-69: Cultural Revolution peasants challenge authority
o Following Maos death, regime allowed limited free markets
Frankfurt School and Critical Theory
o Cultural hegemony capitalism exploits consciousness and
economics
o Marcuse: Totalitarianism inevitable outcome of liberal society
Contemporary Marxism
o North Korea: Dictatorship in which state controls the economy

Anarchism
Core Values

Sovereignty of individual
o Bakunin: Social solidarity is the first human law, freedom is the
second law
Nature of liberty
o Optimistic moral/enlightened existence = take others into account
o Internal restraint
Godwin: Private judgement
Bakunin: Natural laws
Critique of state
o Oppressive
Malatesta: the tax collector, the soldier and the gaoler
o Removes freedom - subjects us to artificial laws

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Corrupting
Bakunin: Nothing is as dangerous for a mans morality as the
habit of governing
Response to consent theory
o Cannot give up liberty; birth right
o Always majority and minority
o Cannot be binding on future generations (continuous consent)
Opposition to property
o Proudhon: all property is theft, yet it is a necessary evil
o Libertarians: property acceptable as long as justly obtained
Critique of capitalism
o Libertarians : free-market
o Contemporary anarchists: international capitalism exploiting poor
nations
o

Types of Anarchism

Anarcho-communism
o Dissolve state voluntary, self-governing communities
Direct democracy
Collectivisation
Self-sustainable
Anarcho-individualism
o Stirner: Humankind driven by egoism
o Cooperative capitalism
No state
Freedom from law
Exchange on labour value
Anarcho-capitalism
o Capitalism entrenched, must be adapted
o Dispute settled by private arbitrators
o Accept self-interested nature of mankind
Mutualism
o Bridges gap between anarcho-communism and anarchoindividualism
o Without small entrepreneurs owning own means of production, lose
independence
o Money replaced with labour notes, free credit for all
Anarcho-syndicalism
o Industrial democracy: industry self-governing (direct democracy)
o Radical syndicalists: governing industries able to arrange society
without state
Nihilism
o All forms of social order unjustifiable denial of individual liberty
o Recommend free exercise of egoism and unfettered use of terror
o Society impose itself on state
Contemporary anarchism

Issues in Anarchism

Are anarchists utopian?

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o Over-optimistic view of human nature

o Contradicts itself
Is anarchism a single ideology?
o Some key principles
All individuals have right to personal sovereignty
No person has right to exercise power over another
Existence of political state
o Other movements added opposition to state as primary goal
o Differ over human nature, utopia and revolution

Anarchism, Socialism and Marxism

On what grounds do socialists and anarchists differ?

o Oppose private property
o Individuals can achieve self-realisation through collective action
o Strong sense of equality
Is anarchism merely unscientific socialism?
o Lack of theory of history
o Lack of coherent view of humankind
o Incoherent conception of class

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