Conservatism

In the world of politics there are a large number of political parties and they all have different political ideologies. The conservatism is a doctrine that can be found within the political parties that follow a conservative line regarding their ideas. To understand this type of doctrine well, it is also important to know the meaning of conserving, which in this case refers to the attempt to safeguard and provide protection to all traditions.

Definition

Conservatism is a style of political thought that seeks above all to defend the status quo . A current that tries above all, to maintain the order of things in an unalterable way, that goes against innovations and that does not allow modifications within the government. It can be very damaging for a society as it also categorically rejects all kinds of change in terms of economics , society and politics .

Characteristics of conservatism

Its main characteristics are mentioned below:

• It is characterized by being a reactionary type position .
• He belongs to the right – wing political group .
• They tirelessly seek to uphold and promote all values ​​related to religion .
• It sticks to the concepts of morality and traditionality , even the oldest and most obsolete.
• It is based on the defense of private property .
• He represses the manifestations of his opponents as a form of social cohesion .
• It gives importance to the freedom of individuals.
• It is a movement that goes against feminism and gender equality .

Source

The origin of conservatism dates from the beginning of the 19th century . It was created with the objective of making the counterpart to all the French Revolution libertarian ideas that had arisen after the and the ideas promoted by the enlightenment .

History

The history of conservatism begins at the end of the 18th century.  The term conservative was introduced in 1815 by followers of the Bourbon monarchy of France . In the year 1830 it was adopted in the United States by the politician and writer John Wilson . Later, the movement was gaining more strength until it was modernized thanks to Edmund Burke who considered that the liberating ideals had been corrupted by violent methods.

The repulsion that existed at the time against the revolution gave the conservatives a great opportunity to reinstall the traditions that already existed before the revolution and thus developed new conservative philosophies .

Types

There are two types of conservative currents which are:

Moderate conservatism

This type of movement is also known as the center-right or liberal conservatism . It is based on the conservative tradition of our days that accepts democracy as government, is not so tied to religious values and is tied to nationalism and the free market .

Reactionary conservatism

It is also known as extreme and is against all kinds of libertarian movement that comes from the French Revolution and the enlightenment. It sticks to the old regimes related to religious aspects , traditional , to the authority and traditions .

Currents

There are several currents of thought that have emerged through conservatism, one of them is neoconservatism or ” neocon “, a movement that arose against the American counterculture . Later it spread to other countries such as the United Kingdom and Japan . They give greater importance to individualism , the free market and capitalist democracy above all else. The English conservatism is based on the reason of man, Christian values and naturalism social .

The French conservatism that is strongly opposed to minimizing aspects related to religion and clings to traditional ultra-nationalist values, thus originating different parties with right-wing ideology. The German conservatism which is considered the first modern movement part of the social inequality and poverty as situations that must be resolved, promotes a stable state to avoid violent changes.

Social conservatism

This movement completely rejects individual freedoms that are related to social aspects such as the decriminalization of abortion, differences in sexual preferences such as homosexuality and the legation of drugs. It suggests that the individual is a social being and therefore must be attached to the moral and structural aspects that make up a community. This type of conservatism maintains an interest in the fulfillment of individual liberties in a representative democracy. He supports the diffusion of the traditional family and public morality and opposes issues also related to adoption.

Economic conservatism

Due to the changes produced by capitalism , during contemporary times , conservative positions regarding the economy began to be included, preferring the free market, leaving out the State in economic aspects. A series of social protection measures is also included and the State is asked to intervene to deal with international capital .

Religious conservatism

The role of religion within conservatism plays a very important role in fact because for the movement the religious part is fundamental in society and that is why it must be given a social and political role within it. It gives importance to the values that are already included within the religion, leaving out those that come from collective political or social agreements. Through religious leaders and institutions , this movement establishes religious superiority over cultures by building barriers between people and society.

Educational conservatism

In the educational part, conservatism managed to propose that education and habits , as well as aspects related to genetics have a great influence on the formation of personal development , it gave importance to the game as a means of learning with the aim of developing the physical and intellectual level of the student.

Liberal conservatism

This type of conservatism brings together a series of conservative policies and liberal positions , is based on ethical and social issues, and is directly influenced by liberalism . It incorporates the vision that dictates that the government must have the minimum intervention in the economy since the inhabitants must have freedom of participation within the markets to generate wealth without the State interfering.

Conservatism in Spain

In the twentieth century, the conservative parties joined with the liberals with the aim of implanting an opposition to socialist and communist ideals, making the country obtain a liberal economic position that defended capitalism .

Conservatism in the United States

This type of movement seeks to highlight and protect American traditions , support the Republican party, Judeo-Christian values, and the very exceptional of the United States. It is also concerned with maintaining freedom as a fundamental value, strengthening the free market and opposing the high taxes that are intended to be implemented.

Conservatism in Mexico

In the late 1970s, conservatives formed the National Action Party , a group of young technocrats who, in a country full of poverty and little economic growth , represented the transformation of the Mexican economy and conservatism.

How it differs from liberalism

The main difference between the two movements is that liberals struggle to find changes that help and favor the freedom of the individual as the basis for the progress of society. For their part, the conservatives want to keep intact all the norms and traditions in order to defend collective values. In addition, liberals reject any type of trade restriction that wants to be imposed and for them internationalism is vital for development while for conservatives, nationalism is the most important thing because national identity it is essential for the state.

Importance

This movement has been important because through it many countries have achieved greater progress in the political , economic and social fields . It was thanks to liberalism that civil liberty emerged and ended years under the feudal system . In addition, thanks to his ideals, he helped promote the formation of democracies or states of law.

Criticism of conservatism

The main criticism from the experts is that they consider that economic freedom and the State are not in a constant struggle as conservatism indicates. For many, it is the State that should be in charge of maintaining law and order, but it is also considered that, in some of the markets, it should not be mixed to avoid the poor mobilization of production goods.

Representatives

Among its main representatives we can mention:

• Edmund burke
• Luis de Bonald
• Joseph-Marie
• George Washington
• Agustín de Iturbide