Conservatism

• Edmund Burke was known as the 'father of conservatism'. He was born in Dublin to a Protestant lawyer father and a Catholic mother and he attended Quaker school. He went to Trinity College and then London to study law where he was exposed to writings by Rosseau and Bolingbroke. He then married a Catholic woman named Jane Nugent.
• Burke was antityrannical and took issue with aristocracy ("who guards the guardians?"). As a Whig MP, he championed many radical causes such as the American revolution, defense of Irish tenants in their clashes with extortionate landlords, and demanded the impeachment of Warren Hastings for his cruelty to Hindustanis. He also advocated Adam Smith's call for free trade.
• Burke's text 'Reflections on the Revolution in France' (1790) was in opposition to the revolution and defined his opinions on mankind's falliability and tendancy to fail more than we succeed. He criticised the revolution's view of an idealistic utopian society.
• Burke's main arguments were that change should precede on the basis of fact and experience, society is more akin to a plant than a machine, change must be cautious and organic, a ruling class is inevitable and desirable, we should live in a society of 'little platoons'.
• Burke's general view of human nature was that it is 'falliable, flawed and fixed'. This contrasts with Hobbes more even more negative view of human nature being 'bad, brutish and belligerent'. They both believed in tradition and social hierarchy however Hobbes endorsed the idea of tyranny whilst Burke was against it and argued for human rights as well as free market capitalism
• The main themes of conservatism are (1/2):

  • Localism: small communities that limit individualism
  • Organiscism: society emerges naturally and grows like a plant, it cannot be fully engineered or planned for
  • Empiricism: socirty is practical and evidential, there is no clear view for how it will evolve
  • Tradition: customs and habits provide security, change and reform must be slow and based on past development.
• Main themes of conservatism (2/2):

  • Hierarchy: individual flaws lead to an unequal society, with the privilege of power comes responsibility.
  • Judeo-Christian morality: a belief in Old Testament values, individual responsibility, original sin, altruism and compassion
  • Property: it is a fundamental right and maintaining it maintains society. Shared view with Liberalism
• Conservatism is compatible with deomcracy as it is a part of tradition, however conservatives believe local democracy should be prioritised and there is concern over mob rule
• Some would call Conservative thinkers 'reluctant capitalists' as capitalism protects property and hardens hierarchy however it widens the gap between the rich and the poor which riskes revolution. Therefore they impose state-sanctioned tariffs to mitigate the vagaries of the market.
• How does Conservatism react to change?


  Thinkers like Disraeli and Bismarck believed that we must 'change to conserve' to avoid the threat of socialism. The importance of the unity of 'one-nation' was emphasised in order to avoid the workers of different countries uniting as Marx and Engels suggested.
• Conservatism and Liberalism both changed in response to industrialisation. They both wanted the state to have more power, for Conservatives, to prioritise law and order, and for liberals, to mitigate individuals harm towards each other (JS Mill's Harm Principle).
• Thomas Hobbes believed that human life was 'nasty, brutish and short'
• For Thomas Hobbes, individual freedoms are less important than peace and freedom from conflict within a society. He promoted the idea of an 'awesome' and strong state to prevent the chaos that is naturally abundant in humanity.
• The key aspects of Burke's conservatism are localism ('little platoons), organicism, empiricism, tradition, hierarchy, Judeo-Christian morality and Property.
• One-Nation Conservatism argued for gradual reforms to improve the conditions of the working class, integrating them more fully into society and preserving social order. Disraeli saw this as a way to avoid radical social upheaval, contrasting sharply with the laissez-faire liberalism popular at the time.
• Observing the widening gulf between the rich and poor, especially with the effects of industrialization, Disraeli coined the term “two nations” to describe this division. His goal was to overcome it by promoting the idea of a single nation, in which classes worked together for mutual benefit.
• Disraeli promoted a paternalistic view that the wealthy and ruling classes had a moral obligation to look after the well-being of the working class. He felt that those in power should provide protection, opportunities, and welfare to the less fortunate, fostering stability and loyalty within society.
• WWI impacted conservatism by accelerating its shift toward nationalism, authoritarianism, and state intervention. The war fostered a conservative emphasis on national unity, patriotism, and the preservation of social order to counteract the chaos of conflict and the rise of socialism. Traditional conservatism, which had previously valued limited government intervention, began to embrace state control over the economy and military to maintain stability.
• After witnessing the dangers of fascism and communism during WWII, many conservatives prioritized democracy and a stable international order, shifting conservatism toward a more global outlook. This led to a stronger commitment to alliances like NATO and to policies designed to prevent the spread of authoritarian regimes.
• Domestically, after WWII conservatives increasingly accepted welfare programs and social safety nets as tools to ensure stability and prevent social unrest. This post-war conservatism combined traditional values with a recognition of the need for some state intervention, marking a move toward a more centrist, welfare-inclusive conservatism that aimed to balance social cohesion with economic stability.
• Oakeshott suggests that there had been two major modes or understandings of political organization. In the first, which he calls "enterprise association", the state is (illegitimately) understood as imposing some universal purpose (profit, salvation, progress, racial domination) on its subjects. By contrast, "civil association" is primarily a legal relationship in which laws impose obligatory conditions of action but do not require the associates to choose one action rather than another. (Compare Robert Nozick on 'side-constraints'.)
• Oakeshott preferred 'short-term goals' over 'long-term ideas'
• Oakeshott believed that it is the state's duty to 'keep the ship floating and going onwards' rather than make abstract long-term goals.
• Oakeshott saw the welfare state as an overly ambitious project that encouraged dependency on the state and diminished personal responsibility. He was critical of the view that government could engineer happiness or solve social issues through centralized policies, which he thought would ultimately stifle individual initiative and create bureaucratic inefficiency. Oakeshott’s critique was rooted in his belief that society should evolve organically rather than through top-down planning, marking a philosophical opposition to the interventionist, collectivist ethos of the post-war consensus.