Responses to the Industrial Revolution

Politics of Conservatism and Liberalism

 

I. Political Conservatism (1815-30)

            A. Problems of terminology – Reagan was a true classic liberal

            B. A backlash to the perils of revolution and Napoleon

            C. Congress of Vienna

                        1. Status quo ante

                        2. large powers create the balance of power

                                    a. this becomes crucial idea for European politics, peace

                                    b. longevity, resonance in cold war politics and beyond

            D. Legitimacy

                        1. monarch were the legitimate rulers of Europe

                                    a. Bourbons restored in France after Napoleon

                                    b. Bourbons restored in Spain after Napoleon

                                    c. Oranges return to Netherlands

                        2. Legitimacy as a theory to back power politics

                                    a. importance placed on state, not the people

                                    b. therefore collectivist vs. individualist

                                    c. statist vs. popular

            E. Conservative politics

                        1. create stability based on known quantities

                        2. distrustful of new ideas

                                    a. nationalism

                                    b. revolution

                                    c. popular will or sovereignty

                                    d. free-trade economics

            3. desired, instead, control and status quo

 

II. Liberalism

            A. Social differentiation between conservatives and liberals

                        1. conservatives – upper class, politically powerful

                        2. liberal – industrialists with money but little political power

                        3. Found mostly in Britain

            B. Economic freedom based on natural law

                        1. humanity was basically selfish, rational

                        2. selfishness in the marketplace would create the greatest good

                        3. Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations (1776) - central to 19th century Liberalism

                        4. Thomas Malthus (1766-1834)

                                    a. food grows arithmetically

                                    b. population grows geometrically - thus starvation would be inevitable

                        5. David Ricardo (1722-1823)

                                    a. Iron rule of wages, based on the law of supply and demand

                                    b. when labor is plentiful, wages low, poor will die

                                    c. when labor scarce, wages high, opposite effect - thus govt. should not interfere, as this would only prolong the poor's suffering

                        6. No place for freedom, democracy, justice

            C. Political liberalism

                        1. Jeremy Bentham’s (1748-1842) utilitarianism

                                    a. no natural rights, only pain vs. pleasure

                                    b. yet a place for natural law

                                    c. society should maximize pleasure for the greatest number

                                    d. reform society along pleasure maximization laws

                        2. John Stuart Mills (1806-1873)

                                    a. adds natural rights to utilitarianism

                                    b. freedom for the individual is paramount

                                    c. Everything based on Enlightenment models