Conservatism is a political doctrinethat emphasizes the value of traditionalinstitutionsandpractices. It regards societyas a living organism withorganicallyinterlinkedparts. Conservatives valueinstitutions which evolved slowly, for they promote social stability and continuity. Government should guard existing ways of life and not attempt to transform society rapidly. Suspicion of government activism separates conservatism from liberalism andradicalism.
Conservatism was first propounded as a systematic doctrine in late eighteenth century largely as a reaction to French revolution. Two famous thinkers associated with conservatism are Chateaubriand in France and Edmund Burke in England. According to them violent, non-traditional and disruptive methods polluted the liberal principles of French revolution.
General characteristics of conservatives
Conservatives reject the optimistic Enlightenment belief in human perfectibility. They deny that human beings can be morally improved through political and social change. They point out that human history under most political and social circumstances witnessed great evils. Men are neither good nor rational. On the contrary, they are driven by passions and desires, and are naturally selfish, disorderly, irrational, and violent. Traditional political and cultural institutions are needed to curb men’s base and destructive instincts. Burke says that men need “a sufficient restraint upon their passions,” and it is government’s function “to bridle and subdue.” Families, churches, and schools must teach the value of self-discipline. Governments and laws must punish moral defaulters. Without the curbs of such institutions, conservatives believe, there can be no ethical behaviour and no responsible use of liberty.
Conservatism is not only a political creed but also a temperament. First, conservatives distrust human nature, rootless individuals disconnected with traditional social values, and untested innovations. They trust unbroken historical continuity and believe that human affairs should be conducted within traditional structures. These could be political, cultural, or religious. Secondly, conservative temperament abhors abstract argument and theorizing. They argue that efforts by philosophers and revolutionaries to plan society in advance, using political principles derived from reason alone, are misguided and likely to end in disaster.
Conservatives and liberals differ sharply on this matter. Whereas liberals like abstract theories, conservatives instinctively prefer concrete traditions. Conservatives therefore oppose government’s interference with social or economic realities and believe that social engineering is futile and dangerous. To understand society, one has to learn its history and tradition since people follow inherited manners, morality, and culture. Political leaders should immerse themselves in the traditions of the society they want to govern.
A few historical milestones will provide a thumb sketch of conservatism. The massive dislocations and turmoil of the French Revolution led to a strong conservative reaction. The Congress of Vienna was convened towards the close of Napoleonic wars. It was based on conservative principles of traditionalism and legitimism (hereditary monarchy as the only lawful rule and restoration of kings deposed during French Revolution). The political settlement soon proved untenable due to unrest among liberal urban population. There were many revolutionary outbreaks from 1830 to 1848.
The population of conservative social groups like peasantry began to dwindle. Urban dwellers grew in number because of industrial revolution. Conservatives found it difficult to win majorities in legislatures. In this situation, conservatives allied with forces of growing patriotism. While this helped them in gaining power, it also led, according to some writers, to the First World War.
World War I resulted in the downfall of four great imperial dynasties in Russia, Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Ottoman Turkey. These were the last strongholds of conservatism resting on monarchy, landed aristocracy, and church institutional religion. After the war, conservative parties espoused frustrated nationalism in Germany, Italy and other countries. Starting from the 1930s, conservative parties across central and Eastern Europe were destroyed or co-opted by the Nazis.
After World War II, many Europeans turned once more to conservative policies, which seemed to promise both economic growth and democratic freedoms. This revived conservatism gave up its old aristocratic associations. Instead, it emphasized the raising of living standards through a market economy and the provision of a wide array of social services by the state. In fact, the ideological divide between liberalism and conservatism reduced greatly.
In the 1970s, however, the post war economic growth that the United States and other Western countries had relied on to finance social welfare programmes began to slacken. At this point, a new group of mainly American conservatives, neoconservatives, arose. They identified high taxation and government’s intrusive regulation of private enterpriseas hurdles to economic growth. Social welfare policies were making their recipients increasingly dependent upon government. Neoconservatives defended middle-class virtues such as thrift, hard work, and self-reliance, which declined due to sexual freedom and lax life styles of 1960s. They prefer US intervention in global arena and holding up American democracy as model which others should adopt.