‘a Fear of Democracy Runs Throughout Liberalism.’ Discuss.

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.

Before we expound on the fundamental attributes of the liberalism of fear, one must first comprehend what the word “liberalism”, actually means. Liberalism has only one aim; to secure the political conditions that are necessary for the exercise of personal freedom.The liberalism of fear addresses an important human need:freedom from actual fear. Every person should be able to make as many effective decisions without fear or favor of anything, as is compatible with the like of freedom of every other adult. But the most important part of the whole aspect of liberalism is not so much

Although liberals agree about the value of liberty, their views on what it means to be ‘free’ vary significantly. It was Isaiah Berlin who first created the concepts of negative and positive freedom that helped to differentiate between the two liberals’ views of freedom. The concept of negative freedom was adopted by classical liberals, who believed that freedom was defined as being left alone and free from interference. Classical liberals believed this theory to mean that individuals should be free from external restrictions or constraints. Modern liberals, on the other hand, believed in positive freedom. This, modernist’s perceived to means that all individuals have the ability to be their own master, and thus reach full autonomy. Unlike classical liberals, who had little faith in humankind, Modernists conveyed humans in a much more positive light: people are rational beings that are capable, and therefore should be able, to flourish and

Liberalism is a major ideology in the world. Liberalism is changing at a constant rate as it is adapting to new views as the world is changing. Furthermore, the goal of the Liberalism is to ensure that “Liberal ideology is a commitment to the individual and the desire to construct a society… [Where] people can satisfy their interest and achieve fulfilment… Liberals [also] believe that human beings are, first and foremost, individuals” (Heywood 24). Liberals want to create a society in which people can achieve their goals, and where there are free to do what they please. That all individuals have the right to shape their future, and that each individual should have equal rights in both legal and political matters. There are two major types of

Since the dawn of human civilization, individuals have been constantly immersed in conflict with each other. Whether these conflicts stemmed from socio-economic inequalities, political disputes, property rights, religious disagreements, or any other contentious matter, the creation of human governments has necessarily been to handle, organize, and resolve conflicts between people within communities in the least destructive manner possible. Governments act as a formal instrument through which individuals in a society can agree upon shared rules, solve problems, and engage in cooperative behavior, and it helps avoid the severe repercussions resulting from revolutionary social upheaval. The purpose of government – as spelled out in the Preamble of the Constitution – is to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” While countless forms of government have sprung up over the centuries, only one has been resilient enough and has had the pervasive influence necessary to stand the test of time: democracy. While there are many different types of democracies, this paper will focus on liberal democracy specifically. A liberal democracy is a form of representative democracy that operates under the paradigm of classical liberalism. According to the Center for Research on Globalization, liberal democracy is defined as:

“Democracy, like liberty or science or progress, is a word with which we are all so familiar tht we rarely take the trouble to ask what we mean by it.”

In the United States, we have a liberal democracy meaning our rights and liberties are protected. The US also has a multiparty electoral system with free and fair participation and a checks and balances system that prevents a single party from taking sovereign control. Liberal democracy is a political system that is supported by free and fair elections, but also a separation of powers between branches and the protection of its citizens basic liberties such as, freedom of speech, assembly, property, and religion (Zakaria 22). Constituitonal liberalism is mostly based on limiting power in government, while democracies tend to be more about its accumulation and use (Zakaria 30).

Democracy is the ultimate political form of ideological liberalism. It refers to the ideal form of state, and is common to both classical and modern liberals.

Classical liberalism allow an individual to use primary social value of liberty in the political culture that extent until liberties of the others disturbed. Classical liberal ideas often form the basis for opposition to the use of government to attain social and personal objectives. They stress reliance on private the free market to determine the best outcomes rather than the private initiatives [1].

So first of all, what is democracy? “Democracy is a form of government that is not attached to any pre-given political or ideological ends, but allows ends to be chosen by the majority vote of free citizens.”(Fish, Opinionator.blogs.nytimes). In a democracy, anyone can run for office, and all eligible citizens can participate equally by voting. Everyone’s views, whether one is part of a majority or minority, are represented, and people can also freely express themselves and voice their own opinion. Furthermore, we peacefully solve internal conflicts, without

In classic liberals eyes, true freedom is that when the individual is left completely to their own desire, at best the state can be seen as ‘a necessary evil’, or as Jefferson summed up, “Government is best when governed least”. On the other hand there are the modern liberals, who in contrast, have advanced a developmental form of individualism that prioritises human flourishing over the quest for interest satisfaction. This idea says that people can be developed in order to become the best person they can be. In contrast to classic liberals, modern liberals follow positive freedom. This was an idea proposed by Green in the late nineteenth centaury; it recognizes that liberty may also be threatened by social disadvantage and inequality. This, in turn, implied a revised view of the state. By protecting individuals from the social evils that threaten to limit their lives, the state can expand freedom, and not merely diminish it. In the place of the old minimal state, modern liberals have devised a new ‘enabling state’, exercising an increasingly wide range of social and economic responsibilities. Therefore modern liberals differ from the classic liberal in terms of the individual, as the classics believe the state restricts and limits individual freedom, whereas modern liberals see the state as enabling and protective, and can therefore boost levels of individual freedom

For the purposes of this essay, I define liberalism as a school of political thought concerned with liberty,

The problem with Liberalism is that it only applies to those who can exercise those freedoms. Consequently, this can only occur when one separates oneself from the community. However, the idea and fantasy of a person exercising their rights to liberalism outside of the law is not something that is based on the foundation of America. The world of John

Theoretically, democracy is a stable form of government where power is in the hands of the people. In a democracy, people have the liberty to elect officials that best represent their interests, and political institutions exist as a result: Benjamin Constant argues in The Liberty of the Ancients Compared with that of the Moderns that “true modern liberty is

Liberalism is a political philosophy that is founded on the ideas of liberty and equality and controls how a society functions. Since liberalism is expressed as a political ideology, it helps dictate how a nation can achieve its national security, its stable economy and the extent of control a government should possess. The perspective of the source illustrates how government intervention is needed during the threat of national security. Although, during times that national security is not being threatened, the collective society should have the freedom to break from the unnecessary government control. A philosopher such as Rousseau would have agreed with the position of the source as it gave an option of security to the people - but also gave them the choice to break the contract if they believed their rights were being violated. While a philosopher such as Hobbes would have disagreed with the source on the terms that he believed in a monarchy and believed that people needed government control at all times. Furthermore, as liberalism provides people their freedoms but also allows a certain extent of government control, the source should be taken to an full extent on the grounds that government control should only be emplaced considering national security, government control, and economic stability - which is shown through the internment of Japanese-Canadians, the New Deal, and the Patriotic Act.