Find more facts and information on our topic page about conservatism

conservatism

A Dictionary of World History

conservatism A political outlook that values and supports established institutions and is critical of proposals for radical social change. Conservatism first took shape as an ideology at the time of the French Revolution, when thinkers such as Edmund BURKE (Reflections on the Revolution in France, 1790) and Joseph de Maistre (Considerations on France, 1796) denounced the revolutionary changes taking place in France as destructive of much that is valuable in society. Since then, conservatism has chiefly been opposed to LIBERALISM and SOCIALISM. Conservatives have a pessimistic view of human nature. They see people as standing in need of discipline and restraint, and are fearful of the consequences when authority is destroyed and individuals are left to their own devices. They respect tradition as embodying the accumulated wisdom of the ages, and are correspondingly sceptical about untested plans and policies put forward by would-be reformers. Conservatives typically favour: constitutional government as a way of preserving authority without concentrating it in the hands of a despot or dictator; an ordered or ranked society in which people know their proper place and defer to those placed above them in the hierarchy; established religion, in order to integrate people into the fabric of society; and the family, the primary source of moral values and the place where responsible citizens are formed. Conservative economic attitudes have varied with time. Originally conservatives tended to support protectionist policies in contrast to the laissez-faire policies advocated by liberals, but in the 20th century they have increasingly turned to the free market as the best means of organizing economic activity. This synthesis of conservative and classical liberal beliefs can be seen especially in the thinking of the NEW RIGHT. Political parties are rarely wholeheartedly conservative in outlook, but politicians of a conservative disposition can be found in the Christian Democratic parties of Europe, in the US Republican Party, and in the CONSERVATIVE (Tory) Party in the UK.

Find more facts and information related to the .
© A Dictionary of World History 2000, originally published by Oxford University Press 2000.

Related newspaper, magazine, and trade journal articles from HighBeam Research

(Including press releases, facts, information, and biographies)

	FRANCE BEGINNING TO DIG IN ITS HEELS : NEW CONSERVATISM PROVOKES COLLECTIVE DREAD OF REFORMS.(NEWS) ; ...In this visceral conservatism, if French leaders...the reason that France, more than any...Alain Juppe put it, France has become a place of ``deep-seated conservatism.'' Chirac went even further: France, he said, is...produces a form of conservatism. Andre Glucksmann...philosopher, ... Read more
	Can Chirac change France? (newly elected president Jacques Chirac) (Cover Story) (Editorial) ; ...the temptation. For all its success, France does need change. And Mr Chirac, in...any large country is hard. Changing France is especially hard because of its bourgeois...fourth- largest economy), its rural conservatism and its maddening complexity (remember...265 varieties of cheese). Changing ... Read more
	Not the French; France in 1940; The fall of France in 1940.(Books and Arts)(Brief Article) ; STRANGE VICTORY: HITLER'S CONQUEST OF FRANCE. FOR decades historians inside and outside France assumed that defeat in 1940 was a direct...of French society and the defensive conservatism of its military leaders. The moral decline of France fitted with British prejudices about...1945, who wanted to ... Read more
	Pas la meme chose: France.(economic reforms and public sector strikes in France)(Brief Article) ; ...last autumn when he lamented the conservatism of his countrymen, but even he...minister in May 1995, most of France's crown jewels had already been...cows, like Renault. Others, like France Telecom, Air France and Aerospatiale (an aeronautics... Read more
	FRANCE REDUCED TO SAD OBJECT LESSON.(Editorial) ; ...GDP; now it has slipped to 19th. In the late 1970s, France had a bigger economy than Britain's by a comfortable margin; now Britain has passed it. Fifteen years ago, France had a per capita GDP that was 83 percent of that of...welfare payments and vacation policy - all combine to make France the world's ... Read more
	How can France pick up the pace? (economic conditions) ; ...the comparison suddenly looks much less favourable to France. Its growth rate in the year to the third quarter of...standardised measure) is 10 1/2% compared with Britain's 9%. France looks set to fall further behind. Economists at the...year and 1 1/4 % next. The forecasters also warn that France will ... Read more
	France faces the future - France faces the future.(economy) ; ...other western democracies have shuffled quietly along, France has by turns stunned, exasperated and bemused. This week...against his effort to inject a tiny bit of liberalism into France's rigid labour market, may be defused. The Constitutional...French to adapt to a changing world. On the face of it, ... Read more
	FRANCE'S GOOD EXAMPLE.(Editorial) ; ...Briac embodies the qualities that people love about France, however much they may dislike French politics or foreign...dowdy golf club and grand local mayor's office. Like France as a whole, it conveys a sense of amour-propre, or self-lo...simply as patriotism. I've had a rare chance to see France up ... Read more
	A tale of two Frances - France's troubles. ; ...against a new labour law, bringing chaos to cities across France. For most of the day, the mood was more festive than...private-sector first job contract for the under 26s, known in France as the CPE. It was devised by Mr de Villepin to try to combat mass unemployment in France, which touches 23% of ... Read more
	FRANCE: MOODY'S REPORTS ELECTIONS MARK A CHANGE BUT NO RENEWAL. ; France's forthcoming presidential election may well mark a key...perspective on why it is difficult to implement reforms in France. The fact that one leading presidential candidate is a...debate. The reason, as identified by Moodys report, is that France remains torn between the rhetoric of reform and a ... Read more

For more facts and information, see all related premium articles

Related entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses

	Conservatism Conservatism. The term “conservatism” did not gain parlance in American politics until the...Britain and Canada, for example. When Peter Viereck published Conservatism Revisited in 1949, and Russell Kirk The Conservative Mind... Read more
	conservatism conservatism in politics, the desire to maintain, or conserve...generally opposed to widespread reform. Modern political conservatism emerged in the 19th cent. in reaction to the political...Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. By 1850 the term conservatism, probably first used by Chateaubriand, ... Read more
	conservatism conservatism An everyday notion meaning to ‘preserve’...concept is that many conservatives themselves deny conservatism is an abstract theory or ideology ; rather, they defend...pragmatism of piecemeal social reform. That said, modern conservatism tends to draw on two somewhat contradictory ... Read more
	conservatism conservatism Political philosophy seeking to preserve the continuity of a society's laws, social structure, and institutions. Its modern expression... Read more
	conservatism conservatism A prudent and not overoptimistic view of the state of affairs of a company or other organization. Because it is regarded as imprudent... Read more

See all related entries