conservative liberalism

Conservative liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal values and policies with conservative stances, or, more simply, representing the right-wing of the liberal movement. The roots of it are to be found at the beginning of the history of liberalism: until the World Wars, in most European countries the political class was formed by conservative liberals, from Germany to Italy.

Ideology and issues

Conservative liberals differ from social liberals for some main reasons:

First, they are more concerned with economic liberalism, adopting libertarian or neo-liberal policies, while the second ones tend to be more keen on Keynesian solutions and on higher taxes, though still supporting individual liberty as well as decentralization. Conservative liberals, in contrast, are staunch supporters of the free-market, small government, less bureaucracy, deregulation, privatizations and the lowering of taxes, often proposing the flat tax.
Second, they place less emphasis upon social and moral issues (such as euthanasia or gay marriage), although they are usually socially liberal on them.
Third, they are strong supporters of economic globalization and tend to be more skeptical about international organizations like the United Nations or European Union.^{[citation needed]} Most conservative liberals support the foreign policy of the United States and, in NATO-member states support that political alliance.^{[citation needed]}
Fourth, conservative liberals are often in favor of stricter rules on immigration and are not enthusiastic about multiculturalism, of which social liberals are strong supporters. Conservative liberals often identify as law and order-parties, which are tougher on crime and support higher levels of punishment and are more committed to fighting terrorism, while social liberals tend to emphasize prevention and are more committed to civil rights.
Fifth, historically, conservative liberals tended to be more skeptical about universal suffrage than social or classical liberals.

One should not confuse conservative liberalism with liberal conservatism; indeed, the latter is a variant of conservatism. Liberal conservatives tend to be more committed to authority, tradition and established religion, while conservative liberals are supporters of the separation between church and state. However it is possible to classify some parties as both conservative-liberal and liberal-conservative.

Conservative liberalism differs from libertarianism in several ways. First it is far less radical in its economic program. Second it is supportive of an active defense policy and military interventions in contrast to the libertarian isolationism. Most conservative liberals supported the American-led interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan^{[citation needed]}. Second conservative liberals are tough on crime and are more willing to sacrifice civil liberties to fight terrorism and crime^{[citation needed]}.

Historical development

Conservative liberal parties have tended to develop in those European countries where there was no strong secular conservative party and where the separation of church and state was less on issue. In those countries, where the conservative parties were Christian-democrat, this conservative brand of liberalism developed.^[1]^[2]

Conservative-liberal parties worldwide

Current conservative-liberal parties

Belgium: New-Flemish Alliance, Dedecker List
Bulgaria: National Movement Simeon II
Croatia: Croatian People's Party and Croatian Social Liberal Party
Czechia: Civic Democratic Alliance
Denmark: Liberal Party of Denmark
Estonia: Estonian Reform Party
Germany: Free Democratic Party^[1]
Ireland: Progressive Democrats^[1]
Latvia: Latvian Way
Lithuania: Liberal and Centre Union
Luxembourg: Democratic Party^[1]
Netherlands: People's Party for Freedom and Democracy^[3]^[1] and Party for Freedom
Peru: Popular Action
Poland: Real Politics Union
Romania: National Liberal Party and Liberal Democratic Party
Serbia: G17 Plus and Liberals of Serbia
Slovakia: Alliance of the New Citizen
Spain: Democratic Convergence of Catalonia
Switzerland: Free-thinking Democratic Party of Switzerland and Liberal Party of Switzerland^[1]

Parties with conservative-liberal factions

Australia: Liberal Party
Brazil: Liberal Front Party
Canada: Conservative Party of Canada
Chile: National Renewal
Finland: National Coalition Party
France: Union for a Popular Movement, namely The Reformers and The Free Right
Ireland: Fianna Fáil
Italy: Forza Italia, namely Popular Liberalism and Liberal Reformers
Japan: Liberal Democratic Party
Poland: Civic Platform
Portugal: Social Democratic Party
Spain: Popular Party
United Kingdom: UK Conservative Party
United States: Republican Party

Historical conservative-liberal parties or parties with conservative-liberal factions

Austria: Freedom Party of Austria (until 1993)^[1]
Belgium: Flemish Liberals and Democrats (until 1992)^[1]
Canada: Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
France: Democratic Republican Alliance, National Centre of Independents and Peasants and Republican Party/Liberal Democracy
Germany: National Liberal Party and German People's Party
Italy: Italian Liberal Party^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ M. Gallagher, M. Laver and P. Mair Representative Government in Europe p.221
^ http://www.ipolitique.fr/liberalisme-conservateur.htm
^ Andeweg R.B. and G.A. Irwin Government & Politics in the Netherlands 2002 Palgrave p. 48