The Main Ideas of Liberal Political Theory

Another area in which it is suggested that modern liberalism has departed from classical liberalism is freedom. Classical liberals believe in negative freedom. This is simply that there should be an absence of external constraints on the individual and as such they should be left alone to make their own choices. In this way classical liberals were heavily influenced by the natural rights theories of John Locke and Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson claimed that we were born with inalienable rights and therefore no individual or government had the right to take these away. Freedom from constraints is therefore an essential condition for exercising these rights. In practise, this has meant that classical liberals have advocated a minimal state or what John Locke referred to as the ‘night-watchman state’. The activities of this state should be limited to the enforcement of contracts, maintaining order and protection from foreign threats to prevent the state from infringing on individual liberties as much as possible.

Liberalism is, arguably, the foundation the United States. Liberalism is the concept that society should operate on the principles of equality and liberty. Some of the main principles of liberalism that built the United States came from famous thinkers: Thomas Jefferson, John Locke, and Adam Smith. Each of these men believed individual liberty was at the heart of liberalism. The three main principles of liberalism that play a major role in its function are equal rights, individualism, and capitalism. However, are these principles necessarily perfect? This raises the question, is individual liberty necessarily a positive notion as many Americans believe, or are there flaws in the system? Although individual liberalism is regarded as a great thing, there are many problems with its concepts such as unequal treatment, the lack of community in individualism, and the materialistic nature of humans.

Liberalism was the first political ideology that addresses the series shift and how human capabilities are thought of. This is a result of freedom of thought, political participation and quest for individual autonomy. Liberalism is defined by many commitments such as private property, liberty, limited government, rights and equality to name a few. Of these fastly shared commitments private property, and liberty are the most substantial due to the way they had shaped political thinking and institutions of modern democracy. Without these values the institutions of modern democracy and our idea of liberty may not be as we know it today. While liberalism is a well embellished ideology it contains conflicts from its numerous advocates. One of liberalism's serious internal conflicts is the the disagreement of how to pursue liberty that resulted from opposing viewpoints. Egalitarian Liberalism is the most compelling version of liberalism because rather than leaving individuals to their own devices, they are given some guidance to try to reach individual autonomy.

Liberal democracy, also known as ‘representative democracy’, is a form of government or political system in which “democracy works on the tenets of liberalism” (Holden, 1993). This system has been dominant in the Western countries, such as New Zealand, Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States of America, over the past century or so. Other non-Western countries have also adopted this system following the collapse of communism in the 1990s. This system seeks to increase civil liberties by defending them against encroachment by forces of power such as the government. It also limits the government’s influence on moral and economic matters that affect citizenry (Avril & Neem, 2015).

Liberalism is an ideology that invoked upon the ideals and fundamentals of the enlightenment period as well as the French Revolution. Liberals opposed conservatism which boasted heeding to “the dominance of politics and society by monarchs, aristocrats, and clergy and the government's’ arbitrary interference with individual liberty. [Therefore], to the extent that these elements of the traditional order remained in place, liberals demanded reform and fought resisting conservatives” (582). Fighting for what would appear to be present day democracy, liberals fought for:

John Locke is considered one of the most influential political philosophers of the modern era. He introduced new ideas of how people should govern themselves or should be governed. Locke is known for being one of the founders of the liberal political movement, during the age of enlightenment, by dismissing common practices during his time, like an absolute monarch and divine right. One of Locke’s works titled “Second Treatise of Civil Government” focuses on the idea that all people are equal and have natural rights, when they are in a state of nature, and concludes with his vision of a civil government.

In most cases, few Americans view liberalism as an ideology and believe that it is natural and obvious, but in reality the liberal tradition is not dominant in many societies. A liberal society by nature lacks feudalism and is instead governed by Lockian concepts. The main goal of this tradition is enhancing the freedom of the individual, which is viewed as the central concern of politics and emphasizes the primacy of an individual in society. A commonly held belief is that the purpose of government is to protect individuals from being harmed by others. Liberalism features social and class fluidity as well as the capitalist mentality, which early on rejected the old artisan, and cottage and mill mentality.

Liberalism is a political viewpoint that is established on the thoughts of liberty and equality. Thus, liberalists promote various ideas that are aligned to the concepts of liberty and equality such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, gender equality, and civil rights. In general, it can be argued that the philosophy of liberalism is focused on protecting and promoting the freedom of the people (Celikates and Jansen). As such, it presents the people as the central issue of politics. In fact, according to the liberalists, the main function of the government is to protect individuals from being oppressed by others. Nonetheless, liberalists are also aware that in the process of offering this protection, the government is also likely to

Some argument of political participation in the process, nevertheless, Rousseau’s theory of freedom pointed out that the individual have exercised collective from the community in accordance with the ‘general will’. Individual's freedom and personal aspiration is denying essential relation to the society. Base on the conception of collectivism, people give up personal interest toward common good which has been attracting many liberals against positive freedom. Berlin also found out that effective liberty may in danger be authoritarianism state. The states so as to success the takeover common good which transfer more and more power for the states. Something may bring harm impact on political activities, the generation of Hitler's Germany

In the study of Liberalism and its key values, those of Democracy and Social Justice have often been posited as providing the world with an ideology and political philosophy which can guarantee peace between its adherents. The ‘Democratic Peace’ has been formulated in order to illustrate a world in which democratic states do not engage in war between each oth-er as fellow democrats live with a stable and historically unique form of government. This essay shall explore whether it is acceptable that one can portray ‘liberal democracy’ in par-ticular as universally applicable in a standard form. This is a central tenet of the democratic peace theory and as such requires questioning to determine whether or not liberalism is indeed a force peace in world politics. Furthermore, it shall look at many pieces of postcolonial International Relations (IR) theory, engage with democratic peace theory directly, as well as some contemporary examples of liberal actions in order to assess the peaceful state, thus far, of liberalism. It is my argument that although the democratic peace theory does portray the best intentions of those Liberal States who actively engage in world politics, it is not, howev-er, accurate in portraying liberalism as a whole as peaceful. Instead by accepting and discuss-ing the peace between liberal nations, it fails to highlight and in fact sometimes seeks to hide the more aggressive and warring actions of liberals against those from outside of the para-digm.

Political liberalism is dedicated to the individual: individual inalienable rights, tolerance for varied beliefs, personal freedom, capability of reason and self-governance, and justice. In man’s ‘natural state’, one is subject to brutish conditions; society provides the protection of life and property, and therefore provides room to enjoy one’s natural freedoms. Joining a society is “for the mutual preservation of … lives, liberties and estates, which I call by the general name, property” (1) as John Locke states. Additionally, although society limits some inherent freedoms -- the freedom of self-preservation and to punish crimes -- it provides a known law, an indifferent judge, and the power of enforcement (Locke 1-2). Thus the state is

Liberal theory leans more towards the actions and the effects of those actions by and on other actors rather than the state. The ICC process which confers the UNSC the powers to defer a case also offers a clear illustration in that the political processes can as well be given priority over judicial processes. The UNSC is conferred powers to defer a case in a situation where it feels that the prosecutors decision to initiate prosecutorial measures on a state was rushed and can lead to diplomatic rows. These powers of the UNSC have not come without some reservations from some states with the major arguments being the fact that the states being political entities can exercise these powers in a political manner.

Throughout history, liberalism has been a key principle doctrine in which has helped shape Western political philosophy. Western liberalism traditionally presents its core values around individual freedom and equality. It is also typically associated with democracy, capitalism, freedom of religion, and human rights. These principles have been highlighted in Europe and the United States for the past three hundred years and has served as the dominant ideology of modern Western society. However, although liberalism provides well-rooted concepts, there has been misconceptions throughout history that needed reevaluation. For example, laws throughout liberal societies have put constraints on racial and sexual equalities. Religious views have

1.) Liberalism first became a distinct political movement during the Age of Enlightenment (1685-1815), when it became popular among philosophers and economists in the Western world. Liberalism rejected the prevailing social and political norms of hereditary privilege, state religion, absolute monarchy and the Divine Right of Kings. The 17th-century philosopher John Locke (1632- 1704) is often credited with founding liberalism as a distinct philosophical tradition. Locke argued that each man has a natural right to life, liberty, and property while adding that governments must not violate these rights based on the social contract. In Locke’s words ““every man has a “property” in his own “person.” This nobody has any right to but himself. The “labor” of his body and the “work” of his hands, we may say, are properly his”. (cited by Love pp.25-26) Liberals opposed traditional conservatism and sought to replace absolutism in government with representative democracy and the rule of law.

Power must always be limited. Liberalism at its core encompasses popular sovereignty, rights, and liberty. Popular sovereignty is the idea that power lay in the hands of the people, rights are inherent, they are not granted by states, but are present by virtue of being human, and liberty is the absence of state interference in personal affairs. Nonetheless, popular sovereignty is limited because individual rights trump the general will. Similarly, liberty is limited by the harm principle — that one can do what it pleases insomuch as it does not affect others physically or financially. In all cases, power must be limited, whether it lay in the hands of the people, individual or government. Modern liberal democracies are founded on limitations of power, even if it be legitimated by the consent of the people, power is limited. The reason power must be limited is to prevent the injustice which unlimited power creates. The rule of law ensures that everybody is subject equally to the laws, due process protects individuals from arbitrary arrests and convictions, freedom of speech protects individualism and promotes self-development. However, in times of insecurity, governments have advocated limiting freedoms, and increasing state intervention. The pretexts used by government is that limiting freedoms will increase security. However, the issue with arbitrary power is that it also destroys the security individuals have against