Conservatism

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Conservatism
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Why is conservatism difficult to define?

• Conservatism has prospered because it is
  unwilling to be tied down to a fixed system of
  ideas.
• Conservatives have a clearer understanding of
  what they oppose rather than what they are for.
• Conservatives are more inclined to describe their
  beliefs as an attitude of mind or common sense as
  opposed to an ism or ideology.
• Conservatism is deeply suspicious of human nature
  and of grandiose schemes thought by human mind-
  hence a natural suspicion towrds ideology.

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The key tenets
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Tradition

• Values practices and institutions which have
  stood the test of time
• Edmund Burke believed that society was shaped by
  the law of the creator, to tamper with the world
  would be to challenge the creator
• Most conservatives support tradition without
  arguing for divine origins. GK Chesterton
  (1874-1936) referred to the democracy of the dead
  institutions and customs which have been received
  from previous generations have stood the test of
  time and should be preserved for the benefit of
  generations to come. This reflects a Darwinian
  view of natural selection- survival of the
  fittest.
• Tradition generates sense of identity and a
  feeling of rootedness and social cohesion
  whereas change is a journey into the unknown.

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Human Imperfection

• Early conservatives based such ideas on the
  biblical idea of Original Sin.
• Humans are imperfect and insecure and naturally
  security seeking. They desire security over
  liberty and this is used to justify authority and
  the maintenance of social order.
• Humankind is innately selfish and greedy. Crime
  is a reflection of this and people can only be
  dissuaded against violent or criminal activity by
  the effective deterrent of law. The role of law
  is not to preserve liberty but to uphold order.
• The world is too complex for people to
  understand. Reform and revolution entail great
  risks. In the view of Oakeshott a conservative
  will wish to ensure the cure is not worse than
  the disease. Edmund Burke in On Reflections was
  highly critical of the revolutionary changes
  brought about by the revolution in France with
  the overturning of traditional institutions which
  had stood the test of time.
• New right has challenged this. The New right is
  radical and based on rational, ideological ideas
  of classical or neo liberal market values.

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Organic Society

• As imperfect and security seeking creatures,
  humans cannot exist outside society but seek
  rootedness.
• Conservatives are opposed to notions of negative
  freedom which separates a person from society. A
  society in which an individual knows only rights
  and not duties would be rootless and atomistic.
  Duty and obligation holds society together.
• People are bound together and society acts like a
  living organism- organicism- the whole is
  sustained by a fragile set of relationships
  amongst its parts.
• It is shaped by natural factors rather than by
  human design, ultimately by necessity. For
  example, a family is the result of natural social
  impulses.
• The rise of the New right has weakened support
  for organic theories- New right has a much more
  atomistic approach through its adoption of neo
  liberal market values

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Hierarchy and Authority

• Hierarchy and authority is natural, a reflection
  of the fact that talents are distributed unevenly
  in society and so there is a natural hierarchy.
• Inequality is an inevitable feature of an organic
  society.
• Authority develops naturally there is no social
  contract- e.g. the authority of a parent over a
  child. It is necessary and beneficial as everyone
  needs guidance, support and security of knowing
  their place.
• Authoritarian conservatives authority is absolute
  and unquestionable, whereas most conservatives
  see limits imposed not by an artificial social
  contract but by a sense of social responsibility.
  

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Property

• Property provides security in an unpredictable
  world, giving a sense of protection.
• Thrift is a virtue in itself and therefore
  conservatives have encouraged savings.
• Property promotes certain social values- those
  who possess property are more likely to respect
  the property of others and value measures to
  maintain law and order. It gives someone a stake
  in society.
• Property ownership can be regarded as an
  extension of an individuals personality.
  Possessions reflect something of the owners
  personality and character.
• Libertarian and New right conservatives see
  primacy of ownership rights, conservatives have
  traditionally held that property rights entail
  responsibility. Much of property is passed down
  from generation to generation and therefore the
  present custodians have a duty to preserve and
  protect it for the benefit of future generations.
  Harold Macmillan objected to Conservative
  governments privatisation policies of the 1980s
  as selling off the family silver

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Conservative traditions
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Authoritarian conservatism

• Especially in continental Europe, there is a
  tradition of authoritarian rule. The principal
  defender of which was Joseph de Maistre
  (1753-1821) who argued in defence of absolutism
  as the alternative would be anarchy. Any reform
  would weaken the chains which bound people
  together. Other authoritarian, reactionary
  regimes were the papacy and Tsarist Russia. C20
  conservative classes in both Italy and Germany
  assisted in the rise to power of extreme
  authoritarian regimes.
• The above are examples of elite authoritarian
  regimes where unquestioning obedience was
  expected to those in established authority.
• In other regimes- Second Empire France
  (1852-1871) and Peron as president of Argentina
  1946-55. Based support on populist policies. In
  both cases, the regimes were authoritarian in
  terms of rule and suppression of dissent but
  appealed to a populist constituency.

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Paternalistic conservatism

• This reflects conservative pragmatism. Burke
  wrote a state without the means of some change is
  without the means of its conservation.
• Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) referred to two
  nations. Here he warned against the effects of
  industrialisation which was leading to the
  creation of two nations- rich and poor and this
  risked the breakdown of the organic society. For
  Disraeli the wealth and privilege of the ruling
  class brought responsibility towards those less
  fortunate- noblesse oblige. He romanticised that
  in the past the land owner took care of the
  interests of his tenants and that in an
  industrial age this should be reinvented in the
  form of social reform passed by Parliament. This
  form of conservatism is sometimes referred to as
  One Nation.
• In an age of a widening franchise, such ideas had
  to be adapted to a more open and democratic
  political system. Tory democracy was the attempt
  by end of century Conservatives to make
  traditional instituitons such as church, monarchy
  and empire popular with the electorate. This
  could be achieved through social reform or Tory
  welfarism.
• The high point of one nation Toryism came in
  1950s/60s with the conservative support for the
  mixed economy and the expansion of the welfare
  state.
• On the continent, authoritarian conservatism
  which had been the dominant feature of
  continental conservatism gave way to a more
  conscious embrace of democratic values.
  Christian democracy emerged which supported what
  was known as social market economy. Here there
  is support for a largely free market economy but
  supported by a comprehensive welfare system and
  backed by effective public services.. The market
  was seen as the best means of generating wealth
  to be used for social goals.

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Libertarian conservatism

• Liberal doctrines, especially those concerning
  the free market, have been advanced by
  conservatives since the late C18.
• Libertarian conservatives are libertarian in the
  sense that they advocate the least possible
  economic regulation.
• Burke argued that the free market is efficient
  and fair and reflected the natural desire for
  wealth. Also he argued that by the late c18
  Britain was now capitalist and therefore the free
  market could be defended on the grounds of
  tradition.
• Libertarian conservatives are inconsistent
  liberals. They see the free market as a means of
  restraining individuals and moderating behaviour.
  In that sense it is consistent with views on
  human imperfection. They also see the importance
  of a strong state to maintain law and order.
  In this sense, they remain pessimistic about
  human nature.

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The New right

• Post 1945 pragmatic and paternalist ideas
  dominated conservatism in the western world.
• However, especially from the 1970s there was a
  progressive challenging of these ideas
• There was a concern at the growth of state
  intervention- in particular of the creation of a
  dependent class on state welfare.
• Keynesian style demand management was justified
  on the grounds that it could deliver continuous
  economic growth but the long post war boom was
  coming to an end and so new solutions were
  sought.
• There was also a concern among conservative
  circles at the effects of the so called
  permissive society of the 1960s on morals and
  social cohesiveness. Also growing concern over
  the impact of mass immigration on social
  cohesiveness and the organic society.
• Iin the US, conservatives were alarmed at the
  growing power of the Soviet Union and the impact
  on national prestige of events such as the
  withdrawal from Vietnam. In the UK, there was
  concern at the loss of sovereignty and national
  independence as a result of greater European
  integration. Hence within new right circles there
  was a desire to reinvigorate national pride

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Conservative New Right

• Emerges in the USA in the 1970s as a backlash
  against fears of social fragmentation and
  breakdown.
• In contrast to the liberal new right, the Neocons
  aim to strengthen leadership and authority in
  society.
• Like traditional One Nation Conservatives, the
  Neo Cons are organicist, but whereas the former
  see community is best maintained by social
  reform, the Neocons see communities strengthened
  by restoring authority and social discipline. In
  the USA, Neo-Conservatism has been associated
  with the fundamentalist religious right. The new
  darling of the Conservative right- Michelle
  Bachmann has described homosexuality as a
  disorder or sexual dysfunction, drawing on
  support from deeply religious small town America.
  She is also very critical of the state education
  system for being too liberal and home tutored her
  children. Opposed to Federal government
  intervention, she has described Barak Obama as a
  socialist and pledges if elected as president to
  repeal all healthcare reform.
• Neo conservatism sees rising crime, delinquency
  and anti social behaviour as a consequence of
  decline in authority which has affected most
  western societies since the 1960s..
• Permissiveness the cult of the individual
  undermines established structures in society by
  permitting the questioning of authority. Neocons
  are therefore advocates of the traditional
  patriarchal family with the hierarchy of husband
  father/provider, wife homemaker and children
  bound by parental authority. (social
  conservatism).
• Social conservatism is matched by state
  authoritarianism whereby the state has a key role
  to play in tough law and order policies- Michael
  Howard- UK Home Secretary 1990s prison works
• NeoConservatives have sought to mobilise popular
  opinion in defence of Victorian Values (UK) and
  the Moral Majority campaigns in the USA in
  defence of a return to family values.
• Neo conservatives reject pluralism because it
  undermines the cohesiveness of society.. A
  permissive society lacks ethical norms and
  unifying standards.
• Neo Conservatives promote the nation as a
  unifying institution and guard against foreign
  threats. The core themes of NeoCon foreign
  policy is the emphasis on the pursuit of the
  national interest. And a tendency to view the
  world in terms of a struggle between good and
  evil. Reagan referred to the USSR as the Evil
  Empire, George Bush and the Axis of Evil. The
  neocons in the US argued that US hegemony should
  be preserved via military supremacy (Star Wars
  project-) also the successor to this- the Space
  Based Infrared system in the words of the USA
  military is designed to achieve full spectrum
  dominance- land, sea, air, space and information.
  Furthermore, the aim is to spread US style
  democracy via regime change as the best antidote
  to war and expansion.. The latter achieved by
  intervention via military means.

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Tensions within the right

• Neo Conservatives tend to be supportive of free
  market principles, nevertheless their main
  concern is with moral and social fragmentation.
  Roger Scruton, a leading Neo conservative in the
  UK argued that a principled commitment to the
  free market had no place within conservatism.
• Indeed, support for free market is at odds with
  conservative social theory which holds that
  society is organic and that the traditional
  patriarchal family with the father/provider and
  the stay at home mother. Free market principles
  require freedom of individuals to participate in
  the market place- the working as opposed to the
  stay at home wife/mother.
• Elements within the new right clash- Neo cons are
  socially conservative and see a positive role for
  the state in promoting social cohesion whereas
  Alan Duncan in Saturns Children sees the state
  as the problem critical even of Conservative
  governments law and order policy which he claims
  despite big increase in spending failed to cut
  crime and calling for the repeal of the 1971
  Misuse of Drugs Act. Conservatives such as
  Duncan are much more concerned at the threat of
  the state to individual liberty whereas Neo
  Conservatives stress community and obligation.
• The liberal new right (neolibs) are positive
  advocates of the free market and have no sympathy
  for social conservatism which seeks to promote
  and protect traditional values. Whereas Neocons
  seek to maintain the independence of the nation
  state and are jealous of its sovereignty, the
  logic of neo liberalism is globalisation and the
  dilution of national barriers.