SUBJECT: POLITICAL SCIENCE I

COURSE: BA LLB SEMESTER I

LIBERALISM
Liberalism is the dominant ideology of the present-day Western world. The history of
England, Western Europe and America for the last 300 years is closely associated with the
evolution and development of liberal thought. Liberalism was the product of the climate of
opinion that emerged at the time of the Renaissance1 and Reformation in Europe. As an
ideology and a way of life, 'it reflected the economic, social and political aspirations of the
rising middle class which later on became the capitalist class'. In the sixteenth and the
seventeenth centuries, when the feudal system was cracking up, a new political system was
taking its place. The establishment of the absolute nation-states in England and Europe gave
birth to a kind of political system in which the authority of the king was absolute. The
beginning of liberalism was a protest against the hierarchical and privileged authority and
monarchy - a protest which involved every aspect of life. The main slogan of the protest was
freedom - freedom from every authority which is capable of acting capriciously2 and
arbitrarily along with freedom of the individual to develop all of his potentialities as a
human being endowed with reason. To achieve the liberty of the individual and to challenge
the authority of the state, liberalism demanded liberty in every field of life: intellectual,
social, religious, cultural, political and economic etc.

WHAT IS LIBERALISM?
Liberalism as a political and moral philosophy which is centred on two main principles -
these are individualism and liberty. Firstly, liberalism places the individual at the heart of
society and argues that the highest value social order is one that is built around the
individual. Secondly, the purpose of society is to allow individuals to reach their full
potential if they want to, and that the best way to do this is to give the individual as much
liberty as possible. These two key principles are the foundations upon which the various
elements of liberalism spring forth.
Liberalism is too dynamic and flexible a concept to be contained in a precise definition.
Right from its inception, it has been continuously changing, adding something and
discarding the other.

1The Renaissance was a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to
Modernity
2 capriciously: changing according to no discernible rules; unpredictable
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By definition, a liberal is a man who believes in liberty, but because different men at
different times have meant different things by liberty, ”Liberalism" is correspondingly
ambiguous. Explaining the difficulty of defining liberalism, Hacker, Writes, "Liberalism
has become so common a term in vocabulary of politics that it is a brave man who will try
to give it precise definition. It is a view of the individual, of the state, and of the relations
between them." Laski Writes, What, then, is the liberalism we have here to discuss? "It is
not easy to describe, much less to define, for it is hardly less a habit of mind than a body of
doctrine." In the same fashion Sartori writes that a liberalism is "a concept so amorphous
and changeable as to be left readily at the mercy of arbitrary stipulations.” “Liberalism” is
not a static creed or dogma, for dogmatism provides its own restraints. It is rather a tentative
attitude towards social problems which stresses the role of reason and human ingenuity.
On the basis of its changing tendencies, it has been called negative and positive liberalism.
Sometimes it is associated with individualism, and at others with democracy or social
democracy.

PRINCIPLES OF LIBERALISM
SOCIAL
1. liberalism is opposed to all artificial pressure as well as regulations on individual
freedom
2. It believes that the traditions and institutions being outdated will have no relevance in
the prosperity and development.

ECONOMICAL
1. In economic sphere liberalism supports free trade and production.
2. It vigorously oppose any restriction on imports and exports

POLITICAL
1. Liberalism has advocated the total restriction of state interference in the freedom of man
2. It is voice in favour of equality before law
3. It advocates freedom of thought and expression
4. It stands for secularism

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REFERENCES:

- http://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/23733/1/Unit-15.pdf
- http://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/21029/1/Unit-26.pdf
- https://www.politicalsciencenotes.com/liberalism/classical-liberalism-elements-theories-
and-revival/807
- https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/51983/7/07_chapter%201.pdf
- https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/115769/9/09_chapter%203.pdf
- https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/11137/12/12_chapter%206.pdf
- Myneni. S.R. (2018), Political Science for Law Students, Allahabad Law Agency,
Faridabad