Liberalism in Europe is a political movement that supports a broad tradition of individual liberties and constitutionally-limited and democratically accountable government. These European derivatives of classical liberalism are found in centrist movements and parties, as well as some parties on the centre-left and the centre-right.
Most liberalism in Europe is conservative or classical whilst European social liberalism and progressivism is rooted in classical radicalism, a left-wing classical liberal idea. Liberalism in Europe is broadly divided into two groups: "social" (or "left-") and "conservative" (or "right-").[1] This differs from the American method of dividing liberalism into "modern" (simply liberal) and "classical" (or libertarian, albeit there is some disagreement), although the two groups are very similar to their European counterparts.
Liberal practices
Emmanuel Macron, President of France, is often described as the strongest advocate for liberalism in Europe.[2]
Liberal political parties have specific policies, which the social scientist can either read from party manifestos, or infer from actual actions and laws passed by ostensibly liberal parties. The sources listed below serve to illustrate some of the current liberal attitudes in Europe:
the policies of liberal parties in government, including those in coalition arrangements (taking into mind that coalition partners make compromises), since they show what liberals are prepared to accept, as well as the policies of liberal parties in opposition;
the forum of Germany's Free Democratic Party,[5] which is relatively unmoderated, and illustrates grassroots liberal concerns. Sites of other Liberal parties, such as Britain's Liberal Democrats,[6] ot the Netherlands' Democrats 66,[7] are more heavily moderated and therefore more representative for the policy of liberal parties;
the Belgian website/think tank Liberales.be,[8] which has longer essays on new liberal policies;
the views and policies of the Open Society Institute, since they explicitly claim to derive from the principles of the major liberal philosopher Karl Popper;
the Lisbon Strategy of the European Union, since it is strongly supported by the liberal parties, and sets out a vision of a future Europe.
Additionally, liberal value preferences can be inferred from the liberalisation programmes and policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The liberalism visible in these sources emphasizes in comparison with other ideologies more belief in individual development as a motor for society and the state providing a social safety net. The liberal policies differ from country to country and from party to party.
In the context of European politics, a liberal (when the word is used without a modifier) is generally understood to refer to a classical liberal, who may be either centre-left or centre-right. As a result, a European classical liberal usually refers to a centre-right person with prominent economically liberal tendencies; Germany's Free Democratic Party, for example, follows classical liberalism in this sense. Under one interpretation, a European mainstream conservative liberal (a proponent of ordoliberalism or Christian democracy) usually has weaker economically liberal tendencies than a social liberal;[9] however, some consider classical liberals (economic liberals) to also be conservative liberals.[15][16]
^Paul Kelly, ed. (2005). Liberalism. Polity. p. 71. ISBN9780745632902. Conservative liberal critics of social justice, such as Friedrich Hayek, have sought to reject precisely this distinction.
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