Liberalism

The history of liberalism is very long and its scope is also wide.
Over three centuries (from 17th to 19th), it shaped the philosophy of life of
‘western Europe and the United States’, and inspired great political and social
changes.
Liberalism has been one of the most influential and progressive ideas of the
modern era.

Hello friends,
Today we are going to explore the topic – Liberalism.

I am Dr. Ashwini Kumar Sharma, Professor and Head, Department of Political

Science and Public Administration, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Arts
and Commerce College, Indore.

Meaning of Liberalism -

Liberalism is not a fixed and ordered ideology. It is neither a result of the ideas
of a single person nor is this ideology associated with any particular era. It is a
broad ideology that includes the views of all thinkers, who opposed ‘autocratic
monarchy, the communist system and the privileges of the Church’, and
propounded the ideals of ‘Individualism and Democracy’.

Therefore, ‘interpreting’ liberalism is a complex task.

In Laski's words, "It is not an easy task to explain liberalism or give a simple
definition of it, because liberalism is not just a set of principles, it is also a
mind-boggling idea."

Max Lerner described liberalism as "the most controversial term of our

generation."
Sartori is of the opinion that "the concept of liberalism is so rigid and variable
that it should be left at the mercy of arbitrary contracts."

In the nineteenth century, there was no special difference between individualism

and liberalism, and ‘the name of non-interference in ‘individual freedom’
became liberalism’, but later,according to time and circumstances, its meaning
changed.

In the twentieth century, there was a difference between liberalism and

individualism, in that while ‘individualism’ insisted that the state should
intervene least in the affairs of the individual, whereas ‘liberalism’ emphasized
that the state should properly manage the welfare and facilities of all persons.

In the words of Sebaine,( It’s long but well analyzedcomparison between

Liberalism andindividualism) "By the end of the third phase of the 19th
century, there was no special distinction between these two, by which time these
two ideologies were opposed to the intervention of the king in the life of the
person.
Later the situation changed and liberalism changed a lot.
‘Its Role became positive’.
Emphasis is being laid on ‘welfare of society’ rather than ‘interest of
individual’.
Even to achieve the goal of public welfare, it became the necessary task of the
state to intervene or control the lives of individuals."

Considering liberalism as synonymous with democracy, David and Good wrote,

"We use the word liberalism in a special sense. Liberalism in the broadest sense
refers to the rise of a modern society that uses democratic political forms and
capitalist economic institutions. This liberal society emerged against the ancient
feudal culture in Britain, France and America. Therefore, liberalism is
synonymous with democracy in the broadest sense. "

But De Tocqueville has considered democracy and liberalism as different and

said that ‘liberalism is related to freedom whereas democracy has equality’.
Expressing similar views, Sartori has said, "Liberalism deals with political
subordination, individual aspects and the nature of the state, whereas democracy
deals with the policy of equality, social solidarity and welfare."

Liberalism is indeed a broad ideology. It has various ideals. In the words of Mc

Govern, "Liberalism as a political theory is a mixture of two separate elements.
One is democracy and the other is individualism. On the one hand, it adopts the
‘ideals and institutions of democracy’ and on the other hand it gives the person
‘the right to determine his fate’. Its basic mantra is to establish harmony
between the ‘proper development of the personality of the individual’ and ‘the
welfare of the whole society’.

Fundamentals of Liberalism

1. Belief in human conscience –

Liberalism believes in the conscience of human beings. In Europe, in the

Middle Ages, Christianity had strict control over human intelligence. At that
time, it was believed that the way the pope or church officials interpreted the
scriptures was authentic, but in the 17th and 18th centuries, during the
Renaissance, liberal thinkers began to think on the basis of their own conscience
rather than ignoring the scriptures.
John Locke, Thomas Penn was among such thinkers.
Tomas Paine said, "My mind is my church."
Liberalism thus challenged stereotypes and encouraged human thinking based
on conscience.

2. Opposition to History and Tradition –

Liberalism was a rebellion against the institutions, traditions and superstitions

of the Middle Ages. The utilitarian liberals of England opposed the pre-existing
system and traditions, which resulted in significant changes in England in the
19th century. In the USA and France too, there was a reaction against traditions
and stereotypes. At present without opposing them, liberals want to maintain
political and economic arrangements.

3. Personal Freedom –

Liberalism is in favor of greater individual freedom. It means that the

government or the church should not interfere in the private affairs of the
people. In Laski's words, "this has a direct connection with freedom because it
was born to oppose the privilege enjoyed by a section of society on the basis of
birth or religion." Liberals are supporters of freedom in all spheres political,
economic, social, intellectual and religious.

4. Individuals are the center of the thought–

According to liberalism, the development of a person's personality, the

protection of his life, freedom and property, is the purpose of the state.
Liberalism considers the ‘individual’ as the ‘end’ and the ‘state and the society’
only as a ‘means’ for his benefit and welfare. So, Liberals consider the person to
be the center of their thoughts.

5. State an Artificial Institutions –

Liberals consider the state as neither a divine gift, nor a result of class struggle,
nor a result of power, nor a social entity. They consider the state to be an
artificial institution created by individuals to meet certain needs. Since the
organization of the state is done by the individual for a certain purpose.
Therefore, if it fails to achieve that objective, then it has the right to bring about
changes in it. The lock has even given the person ‘the right to rebel’ against the
state. Green and Laski are supporters of this idea.

6. Belief in natural rights –

Almost all liberals believe that the individual enjoys certain birthrights. For
example, Locke was of the opinion that the right to life, property and freedom
was derived from nature to the people and it is the duty of the government to
protect them.

7. Support of secularism –

In the Middle Ages, church and state were intertwined in Europe, due to which
many atrocities were committed on the people in the name of religion. The
liberals spoke of separating the church from the state and providing religious
freedom to everyone. Today, all liberal states believe in secularism. They allow
all citizens to have religious beliefs, conduct and peaceful preaching.

8. Belief in limited and constitutional government –

Liberalism is a movement started against autocratic states. As a result of the

revolutions in England and France, limited and constitutional governments were
established there in place of autocratic monarchies. Liberals believe in the
notion that the power of government should be limited. The government can
intervene in the life of the individual to the extent that the freedom of the
individual and the welfare of the society can be reconciled.

9. Support of democracy –

Liberalism was born as a reaction against autocracy. It believes in the concept

of popular sovereignty, the basic foundation of democracy. Liberals believe that
all human beings are born free, so they cannot be ruled without their consent.
He is also of the opinion that the rights of the individual are possible only when
the power of governance is in the hands of the people themselves. They believe
in elected parliament, independent courts, adult franchise, fair elections and
democratic governance.

10. Faith in a majority community society –

According to liberals, society is the name of a group of many communities.

Among the many communities found in the society, the state is also one of
them, whose job is to establish harmony among many communities. There are
many aspects of human life which do not come under the scope of the state. The
State cannot interfere in the functions of those areas or the groups associated
with them.

11. Belief in internationalism and world peace –

Liberalism is a supporter of world peace and world brotherhood. His mission is

"Live and let live”.
They are of the opinion that every nation should develop itself by respecting the
boundaries and integrity of another nation. Other nations should not be
suppressed by using force in the international arena. Liberals believe in
international morality and compliance to international law.

Liberals' Ideal is Liberty

According to liberals, the most important right of a person is freedom. Man is

born free from nature; freedom is his natural and birthright. Freedom means that
a person should not be controlled by any power that can act arbitrarily.
Man should be free to behave according to his conscience, to behave according
to the natural laws that his rightful intellect seeks.
Liberals supported freedom in all spheres political, economic, social and
religious.

(1) Civil Liberty-

Civil liberty means that a person should be treated according to the law, no one
has the right to behave arbitrarily with him. This idea was expressed by Locke
in these words, "Man's freedom under rule means that there must be a
permanent rule according to which life can be lived." That rule should be for
every person in that society and it should be made by the legislature established
by that society. Therefore, the first condition of freedom is to impose some
control over every member of the society. If not controlled, some people will be
free and the rest will be independent. That is to say, the ruling class should also
be subject to the law, it should rule according to certain rules. He should also
not have the right to act arbitrarily. Liberals believe that there is fundamentally
no conflict between freedom and law. Although the law prohibits a person and
thus goes against his freedom, at the same time it also prohibits other persons
from doing whatever they want to do to him. It frees him from the fear of
aggressive behavior of others.

At the same time, it is also necessary that the law should be fair. The ruler and
the ruled, the rich and the poor, are equal before the law. That's why liberals
have always demanded that the law be implemented in a fair manner. For this
an independent judiciary is necessary.
(2) Financial independence-

This means that citizens should not be taxed without the wishes of their
representatives. Since liberals consider property to be the ‘sacred right’ of the
individual, they say that the tax should be levied only by the majority of the
citizens' representatives. It means responsive governance. At the end of the 18th
century, America's freedom struggle started with this question. The slogan of
the Americans was " No Taxation without representation”.

(3) Personal freedom

Liberals have always given special importance to individual freedom. Every

human being wants to make his own decisions regarding his life, he should have
the right to exercise his natural powers and to determine and regulate the normal
circumstances of his life. He does not want people to interfere in his life and
obstruct his living. John Stuart Mill even says that, “man should have the right
to make a variety of experiments with his life, provided that his experiments do
not have a bad effect on others. If a person drinks heavily, is careless, and
spends his hard-earned money on addictions, he should be permitted to do so:
he himself will suffer the consequences of his actions.” Freedom of thought,
freedom to express thoughts, freedom of religious beliefs and religious worship
and rituals are particularly important under personal freedom.

(4) Social freedom

Social freedom has also had a special place in liberal thought. They say that the
organization of the society should not be in such a way that certain individuals
and classes have a monopoly on the facilities of certain professions, positions or
education, etc., and other individuals or classes are deprived of them. This
means that there should be equality among people with regard to profession,
business etc. Similarly, membership of a corporation or community should not
be based on hereditary qualities. Its doors should be open to all.

(5) Economic freedom –

Economic freedom means that the government should not interfere in the field
of industries and trade. People should have the freedom to invest wherever and
in whichever industry they want and make a profit. Secondly, everyone should
be treated equally in this matter so that people can have free competition in
industrial and business sectors. Thirdly, people should have the right to freely
enter into agreements and contracts in the economic sphere. There should not be
an attempt to control these things by law. Fourthly, people should also have the
freedom to form associations and communities for their economic advancement.
For example, capitalists and workers can form their own unions and protect and
enhance their economic interests.

(6) Family freedom –

Family freedom mainly includes three things:

(1) A woman should be given a responsible place in the family so that she can
hold property, run the business on her own and be free from the atrocities of her
husband. That is to say, she should get the same legal status as her husband.
(2) Marriage should be based on contract.
(3) Such measures should be taken so that the physical, mental and moral
development of children is not hampered. Parents should be held responsible for
this and the state should arrange education etc.

It should be remembered here that some thinkers like Herbert Spencer were also
opposed to state education|

(7) Ethnic and national independence-

Liberals have often supported ethnic and national independence. But their
support has been limited to European nations and white races.

(8) International freedom

In this regard, Hobhouse says that liberalism has always opposed power and
weaponization in international affairs. He says that the proportion in which the
world becomes independent, power will become meaningless in the same
proportion.

(9) Political freedom

According to liberals, political freedom is the name of being active in the affairs
of the state. It includes four things.
(1) the right of citizens to choose their representatives,
(2) the right to be elected,
(3) the right to hold public office, and
(4) The right to obtain appropriate information in political matters and to debate
them freely.

Liberals' Ideal of Equality

Liberal thinking includes the ideal of equality along with freedom. In fact, when
the freedom of every individual is supported, equality is automatically
supported. The freedom that the liberals have championed is for everyone.
There are two main grounds for liberals' equality:
(1) All persons are born with equal natural rights.
(2) Conscience and moral consciousness are equally present in all persons.

Liberals believe that not all people are equal in physical, mental and spiritual
qualities. But he says that in the eyes of law and governance, all citizens should
be treated equally and there should be no discrimination between them on the
basis of race, language, religion, gender, etc.

Criticism -
Some of the criticisms of liberalism are:

1. Liberal Edmund Burk believes that liberals do not give importance to history
and traditions, whereas all present institutions are connected to ancient history
and traditions. They are the result of the development of human intelligence. So,
it is unfair to ignore them.

2. The conservatives criticized the liberals, saying that liberals consider

intelligence above everything else. When changes take place in society they
occur according to natural and social laws. A new society cannot be created on
the basis of intelligence alone.

3. Liberals believe the origin of the state on the basis of an agreement. They
also believe that individuals in the state also have a partnership in the same way
as in business. In fact, this is not the case but the state is actually a means of the
development of the highest qualities and the attainment of an ideal life. The
state has been closely related to mankind since ancient times.

4. In the economic sphere, liberals supported the policy of non-intervention,

which resulted in the birth of capitalism and the exploitation of the workers by
the capitalists. That is why socialists say that liberalism is another name for
capitalism.

5. Idealists and fascists believe that leaving the individual free in all spheres will
lead to anarchy in the society. Therefore, in the interest of society, the freedom
of the individual has to be limited.

Importance-
The importance of liberalism can be seen in these points:
1. With liberal inspiration, the people of Western Europe and America got
freedom from their autocratic rule.

2. By taking inspiration from liberalism, people in Western Europe got rid of

the pope's religious tyranny.

3. The policy of non-intervention of liberalism led to industrialization, which

led to great economic progress in Western Europe and America.

4. Liberalism's policy of free trade established contact with many countries of

the world for the sale of industrial goods.

5. It was through the efforts of liberalism that the parliamentary system and
cosmic dominance were strengthened. In Laski's words, "The American
civilization of the last one and a half hundred years is really the fulfillment of
the liberal ideal." "

6. Liberals supported the right of self-determination in Europe for every nation,

which was later used by countries in Asia and Africa to gain independence.

7. Inspired by liberalism, most of the constitutions of the world today are trying
to establish a welfare state.