CONSERVATISM: Origins and development

(Taken from Heywood p55-57)

In everyday language, the term ‘conservative’ has a variety of meanings. It can refer to moderate or cautious behaviour, a life-style that is conventional, even conformist, or a fear of or refusal to change, particularly denoted by the verb ‘to conserve’. ‘Conservatism’ was first used to describe a distinctive political position or ideology in the early nineteenth century. In the USA, it implied a pessimistic view of public affairs. By the 1820s, the term was being used to denote opposition to the principles and spirit of the 1789 Revolution. In the UK, Conservative gradually replaced Tory as a title of the principal opposition party to the Whigs, becoming the party’s official name in 1835.

Conservative ideas arose in reaction to the growing pace of political, social and economic change, which in many ways which, in many ways, was symbolized by French Revolution. One of the earliest and perhaps the classic statement of conservative principles is contained in Edmund Burke’s (see p. 74) Reflections on the Revolution in France ([1790] 1968), which deeply regretted the revolutionary challenge to the ancient régime that had occurred the previous year. During the nineteenth century, western states were transformed by the pressures unleashed

by industrialization and reflected in the growth of liberalism, socialism and nationalism. While these ideologies preached reform and at times supported revolution, conservatism stood in defence of an increasingly embattled traditional social order.

Conservative thought has varied considerably as it has adapted itself to existing traditions and national cultures. British conservatism, for instance, has drawn heavily upon the ideas of Burke, who advocated not blind resistance to change, but rather a prudent willingness to ‘change in order to conserve’. In the nineteenth century, British conservatives defended a political and social order that had already undergone profound change, in particular the overthrow of the absolute monarchy, as a result of the English Revolution of the seventeenth century. Such pragmatic principles have also influenced the Conservative parties established in other Commonwealth countries. The Canadian Conservative Party adopted the title Progressive Conservative precisely to distance itself from reactionary ideas.

In continental Europe, where some autocratic monarchies persisted throughout much of the nineteenth century, a very different and more authoritarian form of conservatism developed, which defended monarchy and rigid autocratic values against the rising tide of reform. Only with the formation of Christian democratic parties after the Second World War did continental conservatives, notably in Germany and Italy, fully accept political democracy and social reform.

The USA, on the other hand, has been influenced relatively little by conservative ideas. The USA was formed as a result of a successful colonial war against the British crown. The US system of government and its political culture reflect deeply established liberal and progressive values, and politicians of both major parties – the Republicans and the Democrats – have traditionally resented being labelled ‘conservative’. It is only since the 1960s that overtly conservative views have been expressed by elements within both parties, notably by southern Democrats and the

wing of the Republican party that was associated in the 1960s with Senator Barry Goldwater, and which in the 1970s and 1980s supported Ronald Reagan, first as governor of California and then as president, 1981–9.

As conservative ideology arose in reaction against the French Revolution and the process of modernization in the West, it is less easy to identify political conservatism outside Europe and North America. In Africa, Asia and Latin America political movements have developed that sought to resist change and preserve traditional ways of life, but they have seldom employed specifically conservative arguments and values. An exception to this is perhaps the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party, which has dominated politics in Japan since 1955. The LDP has close links with business interests and is committed to promoting a healthy private sector. At the same time it has attempted to preserve traditional Japanese values and customs, and has therefore supported distinctively conservative principles such as loyalty, duty and hierarchy. In other countries, conservatism has exhibited a populist-authoritarian character. Perón in Argentina and Khomeini (see p. 307) in Iran, for instance, both established regimes based upon strong central authority, but which also mobilized mass popular support on issues such as nationalism, economic progress and the defence of traditional values.

Although conservatism is the most intellectually modest of political ideologies, it has also been remarkably resilient, perhaps because of this fact. Conservatism has prospered because it has been unwilling to be tied down to a fixed system of ideas. A significant revival of conservative fortunes has in fact been evident since the 1970s with the political right regaining power in a number of countries. Particularly prominent in this respect were the Thatcher government in the UK (1979–90) and the Reagan administration in the USA (1981–9), both of which practiced an unusually radical and ideological brand of conservatism, commonly termed the ‘new right’. New right ideas have drawn heavily upon free-market economics and in so doing have exposed deep divisions within conservatism. Indeed, so commentators argue that ‘Thatcherism’ and ‘Reaganism’, and the new right project in general, do not properly belong within conservative ideology at all, so deeply are they influenced by classical liberal economics.

The new right has challenged traditional conservative economic views, but it nevertheless remains part of conservative ideology. In the first place, it has not abandoned traditional conservative social principles such as belief in order, authority and discipline, and in some respects it has strengthened them. Furthermore, the new right’s enthusiasm for the free market has exposed the extent to which conservatism had already been influenced by liberal ideas. As with all political ideologies, conservatism contains a range of traditions. In the nineteenth century, it was closely associated with an authoritarian defence of monarchy and aristocracy, which has survived in the form of authoritarian populist movements in the developing world. In the twentieth century, western conservatives were divided between paternalistic support for state intervention and a libertarian commitment to the free market. The significance of the new right is that it sought to revive the electoral fortunes of conservatism by readjusting the balance between these traditions in favour of libertarianism (see p. 91). However, in so doing, it brought such deep ideological tensions to the surface that it may have threatened the very survival of conservatism.