Introduction

Relevance of the problem. The state is the main institution; it organizes, directs and controls joint activities and the relations of people, social groups, classes and associations. The state represents the form of organization political power in society.

Today they talk and write a lot about the crisis democratic state. The famous French political thinker R. Aron writes in his book “Democracy and Totalitarianism”: “One can dream of an ideal constitutional regime without any imperfections, but one cannot imagine that all political figures simultaneously care about the private interests that they represent.” , and about the interests of the community as a whole, which they are obliged to serve; It is impossible to imagine a regime where the competition of ideas is free, and the press is impartial, where all citizens are aware of the need for mutual support in any conflicts” Aron R. Democracy and totalitarianism. - M.: Foundation " Open Society", 1993. - P. 131..

Many experts state the fact that the current crisis of democracy has several manifestations. This is a crisis of statehood, a crisis of forms of participation and political activity, crisis of citizenship. The famous American political scientist S. Lipset notes: Americans' trust in the authorities and in all government institutions in the United States is steadily declining. Mushinsky V. ABC of Politics. - M.: Avangard, 2002. - P. 54..

As for Russia, the formula for the crisis state of democracy, defined by R. Aron as “not yet,” is quite applicable to it. Indeed, in Russia there are no deep roots of democracy (people's power), not to mention liberal (constitutional) democracy, i.e. the power of the people, respecting the rights of every person. Today in Russia there is a contradictory situation. On the one hand, it can be argued that democracy has taken quite deep roots in Russia. At the same time, many studies indicate that in Russia the alienation of citizens from politics and, above all, from power is growing. They are still immeasurably to a greater extent the object of politics rather than its subject. About urgent needs ordinary people those aspiring to power hear only during election campaigns, but, having entered power, they immediately forget about them and their needs. The responsibility of the authorities for the results of their leadership and management of society is less than ever.

The purpose of the work is an analysis of the relationship between a liberal and a democratic state. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve the following tasks:

· study the features of a liberal state, its characteristics;

· consider the features of a democratic state, its basic principles;

· identify similarities and differences between liberalism and democracy.

The concept of a liberal state, its characteristics

The liberal (semi-democratic) regime was characteristic of developed countries in the 19th century In the 20th century it has developed in a number of developing countries that have approached developed ones ( South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand), as well as as a result of the elimination of the command-administrative system in post-socialist countries Eastern Europe(Russia, Bulgaria, Romania).

The significance of the liberal regime is such that some scientists believe: the liberal regime is not actually a regime for the exercise of power, but a condition for the existence of civilization itself at a certain stage of its development, even the final result, which ends the entire evolution of the political organization of society, the most effective form of such an organization. But it is difficult to agree with the last statement, since at present time goes by the evolution of political regimes and even such a form as the liberal democratic regime. New trends in the development of civilization, the desire of man to escape from environmental, nuclear and other disasters give rise to new forms of defining state power, for example, the role of the UN is increasing, international rapid reaction forces are emerging, contradictions between human rights and nations, peoples, etc. are growing. Theory of State and Law / Ed. A.V. Vengerova. - M.: Infra-N, 1999. - P. 159.

In the theory of state and law, political methods and methods of exercising power that are based on a system of the most democratic and humanistic principles are also called liberal. These principles primarily characterize the economic sphere of relations between the individual and the state. Under a liberal regime in this area, a person has property, rights and freedoms, is economically independent and on this basis becomes politically independent. In relation to the individual and the state, priority remains with the individual, etc.

The liberal regime defends the value of individualism, contrasting it with collectivist principles in the organization of political and economic life, which, according to a number of scientists, ultimately lead to totalitarian forms of government. The liberal regime is determined, first of all, by the needs of the commodity-money, market organization of the economy. The market requires equal, free, independent partners. A liberal state proclaims the formal equality of all citizens. In a liberal society, freedom of speech, opinions, forms of ownership is proclaimed, and space is given to private initiative. Individual rights and freedoms are not only enshrined in the constitution, but also become enforceable in practice.

Thus, private property remains the economic basis of liberalism. The state frees producers from its tutelage and does not interfere in the economic life of people, but only establishes the general framework of free competition between producers and the conditions of economic life. It also acts as an arbiter in resolving disputes between them. On late stages liberalism, legitimate government intervention in economic and social processes acquires a socially oriented character, which is determined by many factors: the need to rationally distribute economic resources, decide environmental problems, participate in the peaceful division of labor, preventing international conflicts, etc. Theory of State and Law / Ed. A.V. Vengerova. - M.: Infra-N, 1999. - P. 160.

A liberal regime allows for the existence of an opposition; moreover, under liberalism, the state takes all measures to ensure the existence of an opposition that represents interests, and creates special procedures for taking into account these interests. Pluralism, and above all, multi-party system, are necessary attributes of a liberal society. In addition, under a liberal political regime, there are many associations public organizations, corporations, sections, clubs that unite people by interests. Organizations are emerging that allow citizens to express their political, professional, religious, social, everyday, local, national interests and needs. These associations form the foundation of civil society and do not leave the citizen face to face with government authorities, which are usually inclined to impose their decisions and even abuse their capabilities.

Under liberalism state power is formed through elections, the outcome of which depends not only on the opinion of the people, but also on financial opportunities certain parties necessary to carry out election campaigns. Public administration is carried out on the basis of the principle of separation of powers. A system of checks and balances helps reduce opportunities for abuse of power. Government decisions are made by majority vote. Decentralization is used in public administration: central government takes upon itself to resolve only those issues that it cannot resolve local government Tsygankov A.P. Modern political regimes. - M.: Open Society Foundation, 1995. - P. 153..

Of course, one should not apologize the liberal regime, since it also has its own problems, the main ones being social protection certain categories of citizens, stratification of society, actual inequality of starting opportunities, etc. The most effective use of this regime becomes possible only in a society that differs high level economic and social development. The population must have a sufficiently high political, intellectual and moral consciousness, legal culture. At the same time, it should be noted that liberalism today is the most attractive and desirable political regime for many states. A liberal regime can only exist if democratic basis, it grows out of the democratic regime itself.

More often than in a democratic regime, the state has to resort to various forms coercive influence, because the social base of the ruling elite is quite narrow. The low standard of living of numerous sections of society gives rise to marginality and a tendency to resort to violent actions to achieve their social goals. Therefore, democratic institutions, including the legal opposition, function as if on the surface public life, only weakly penetrating into the depths of society.

A liberal state is characterized by such specific signs Kudryavtsev Yu.A. Political regime: classification criteria and main types // Jurisprudence. - 2002. - No. 1. - P. 199.:

· formalism of the law and formal equality of rights; a liberal state is a formal legal state that does not recognize social and other differences between citizens;

priority individual rights and freedoms of citizens, non-interference in their private affairs, in the right of property and social relations. There is still no law limiting working hours in England;

· limiting multi-party system to old (“traditional”) parties. Exclusion of new parties from participation in power. Liberal states of the interwar period prohibited the activities of communist and sometimes social democratic parties, as well as the propaganda of the ideas of socialism in the press. These measures were taken in accordance with laws protecting the constitutional order from propaganda for its violent overthrow. In many cases it was about limiting democracy;

· government of a parliamentary majority and the absence of a strong counterbalance.

The ideology of the liberal state can be briefly summarized in two famous expressions. One thing that does not have an exact translation from French into Russian is laissez faire, which roughly means: do not interfere with an individual from going about his business. The second is very short: “The State is the Night Watchman” by A.P. Butenko. The state: its yesterday’s and today’s interpretations // State and law. - 1993. - No. 7. - P. 97..

The theoretical core of liberalism consists of: 1) the doctrine of the “state of nature”; 2) the theory of “social contract”; 3) the theory of “people's sovereignty”; 4) inalienable human rights (life, freedom, property, resistance to oppression, etc.).

The basic principles of liberalism are: absolute value; personality and its commitment to freedom, expressed in human rights; the principle of individual freedom as social: benefits, i.e. benefits; for the whole society; law as a sphere of realization of freedom, balancing the rights of an individual and other people, as a guarantee of security; the rule of law rather than people, the reduction of issues of power to issues of law; separation of powers As a condition for the rule of law, independence of the judiciary, subordination of political power to the judiciary; the rule of law as an instrument of social control; priority of human rights over state rights.

The main value of liberalism is freedom. Freedom is a value in all ideological doctrines, only here is the interpretation of freedom as a value modern civilization they differ significantly. Freedom in liberalism is a phenomenon from the economic sphere: by freedom, liberals initially understood the liberation of the individual from medieval dependence on the state and guilds. IN; In politics, the requirement of freedom meant the right to act according to one’s own will, and, above all, the right to fully enjoy inalienable human rights, limited only by the freedom of other people. Once the liberals’ focus was on such a limiter of freedom as other people with equal rights, it followed that the idea of ​​freedom was supplemented by the requirement of equality (equality as a requirement, but not an empirical fact).

The development of liberal principles is reflected in the diverse theories created by convinced supporters of liberalism. For example, the principle of individual freedom as a social benefit is reflected in the theories of the free market, religious tolerance, etc. The above-mentioned liberal principles of interpretation of the law are expressed in the theories of constitutional law, the rule of law, etc. And the principle of the priority of human rights over state rights state was developed in the theory of the “night watchman state”, according to which it is necessary to limit the volume and scope; the activities of the state in protecting human rights, his life, property, inaction; negative freedom (“freedom from” - from oppression, exploitation, etc.); abstract freedom - like human freedom in general. any person; individual freedom: most important view, freedom - freedom of enterprise.

Despite the presence of common liberal values ​​and principles in Western classical liberalism of the 17th-18th centuries. serious disagreements emerged in the interpretation of the list and hierarchy of inalienable human rights, including on the issue of their guarantees and forms of implementation. As a result, two currents arose: the bourgeois-elite, defending the interests and rights of owners and demanding non-interference of the state in socio-economic relations, and the democratic, which believes that since rights should be extended to everyone, the state needs to create conditions for this. Until the end of the 19th century. liberalism was dominated by the first direction, based on their understanding of private property as an inalienable human right and defending the idea that political rights should be granted only to owners who will conscientiously manage the national wealth of the country and adopt reasonable laws, because they -the results of your political activity they have something to answer for: their property. Manchester School classical liberalism first half of the 19th century V. with its preaching of market determinism or the social Darwinist school of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, the founder of which was G. Spencer, are typical examples of this direction. In the USA, followers of these views maintained their positions until the 30s.

The democratic trend in liberalism was developed by B. Franklin and T. Jefferson in the USA. Fighting for the realization of the “American dream”, the liberal democratic government of the United States in the 60s. XIX century under President A. Lincoln, approved an act on the right of every American over 21 years of age to acquire full ownership of 64 grams of land from the state fund, which marked the beginning of the success of the farmer's path in agricultural production. The democratic direction strengthened its position and became the dominant form of liberalism in turn of XIX--XX centuries During this period, it conducted an active dialogue with socialism and borrowed a number of important ideas from the latter. The democratic trend came out under the name of “social liberalism”.

For example, M. Weber spoke from the position of social liberalism. Among the political figures who shared the beliefs of social liberalism were D. Lloyd George, W. Wilson, and T. Roosevelt. Special success in the sphere of practical politics, social liberalism achieved in the 30s and 40s, which coincided with the “New Deal” policy in the USA, developed back in the 20s. D. Keynes as a theoretical model and implemented by F.D. Roosevelt. The model of “neo-capitalism”, developed in the USA, was proposed and successfully used in the conditions of post-war devastation in Western Europe to restore the liberal democratic foundations of life. In the second half of the 20th century. social liberalism has become firmly dominant in the liberal tradition, so when someone calls himself a liberal today, one must think that he shares not the views of two hundred years ago, but the views of the modern type of liberalism. Their essence is as follows: Grachev M.N. Democracy: research methods, perspective analysis. - M.: VLADOS, 2004. - P. 34..

1. Private property has a private-public nature, since not only owners participate in its creation, multiplication, and protection.

2. The state has the right to regulate private property relations. In this regard, an important place in liberal theory is occupied by the problem of state manipulation of the production and market mechanism of supply and demand and the concept of planning.

3. The liberal theory of industrial democracy develops the idea of ​​worker participation in management (in production, supervisory boards are created to monitor the activities of the administration with the participation of workers).

4. The classical liberal theory of the state as a “night watchman” has been replaced by the concept of the “welfare state”: every member of society is entitled to a living wage; public policy should promote economic stability and prevent social disruption; One of the highest goals of public policy is full employment.

In the 20th century the majority of people are hired workers, to reduce the painful consequences of their economic dependence and helplessness in the face of the modern economy.

An important place in modern liberalism belongs to the concept of social justice, built on the principles of rewarding the individual for enterprise and talent, and at the same time taking into account the need to redistribute social wealth in the interests of the least protected groups.

Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus

Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics

Department of Humanities

in the discipline: “Fundamentals of the ideology of the Belarusian state.”

On the topic: “Basic principles of liberalism. Social liberalism.”

Done: Checked:

Student gr. 863001 Rudakovsky N.K.

Zhitkevich Inna

Liberalism

Historically, the first formulated political ideology was that of liberalism, which emerged in the 18th century. By this time, a class of free owners who did not belong to the nobility and clergy, the so-called third estate or bourgeoisie, had matured in European cities. This was an active part of society, not satisfied with their own good financial situation and saw their path in political influence.

The British are considered the founders of the theoretical foundation of liberalism. Englishman John Locke(1632-1704), first put forward the idea of ​​separation of powers and interpreted the role of the state as a contractual obligation to protect the natural and inalienable human rights to life, liberty and property. Scotsman Adam Smith(1723-1790), “the father of economic science,” showed, in particular, that the exchange of goods occurs if and only if it is beneficial to both parties. “In order to raise a state from the lowest level of barbarism to the highest level of prosperity, all that is needed is peace, light taxes and tolerance in government; the rest will be done by the natural course of things. All governments that forcibly direct events in a different way or try to stop the development of society are unnatural "To stay in power, they are forced to carry out oppression and tyranny."

The basic value of liberalism, as follows from the name of this ideology, is freedom personality. Spiritual freedom is the right to choose in religious matters, freedom of speech. Material freedom is the right to property, the right to buy and sell for one's own benefit. Political freedom is freedom in the literal sense of the word in compliance with the laws, freedom in the expression of political will. Individual rights and freedoms take precedence over the interests of society and the state.

The ideal of liberalism is a society with freedom of action for everyone, the free exchange of politically relevant information, limited power of the state and church, the rule of law, private property and freedom of private enterprise. Liberalism rejected many of the principles that had been the basis of previous theories of the state, such as the divine right of monarchs to power and the role of religion as the only source of knowledge. The fundamental principles of liberalism include recognition of:

natural rights given by nature (including the rights to life, personal liberty and property), as well as other civil rights;

equality and equality before the law;

market economy;

government accountability and government transparency.

The function of state power is reduced to the minimum necessary to ensure these principles. Modern liberalism also favors an open society based on pluralism and democratic governance, while protecting the rights of minorities and individual citizens.

Some modern movements of liberalism are more tolerant of government regulation of free markets in order to ensure equality of opportunity to achieve success, universal education and reducing income disparities. Proponents of this view believe that the political system should contain elements of a welfare state, including government unemployment benefits, homeless shelters and free healthcare.

According to the views of liberals, state power exists for the benefit of the people subject to it, and the political leadership of the country should be carried out on the basis of the consent of the majority of those governed. Today, the political system that is most in tune with the beliefs of liberals is liberal democracy.

Initially, liberalism was based on the idea that all rights should be in the hands of individuals and legal entities, and the state should exist solely to protect these rights. Modern liberalism has significantly expanded the scope of the classical interpretation and includes many currents, between which there are deep contradictions and sometimes conflicts arise. Modern liberalism in most developed countries is a mixture of all these forms. In third world countries, “third generation liberalism” - the movement for and against a healthy living environment - often comes to the fore.

Liberalism is distinguished by a number of features within different national traditions. Certain aspects of his theory (economic, political, ethical) are sometimes opposed to each other. So there is certain meaning in the conclusion of T. Spragens: “Liberalism as something unified has never existed, there was only a family of liberalisms.” Apparently, we are dealing with many theories, united by certain general principles, adherence to which distinguishes liberalism from other ideologies. Moreover, these principles allow for different interpretations, can be combined in very bizarre ways, and are the basis for the most unexpected, sometimes contradictory, arguments.

In my opinion, these principles include, firstly, individualism, the priority of the interests of individuals over the interests of society or a group. This principle has received various justifications: from ontological concepts in which the individual with his natural rights precedes society, to the ethical understanding of individuality as the highest value. It was embodied in different interpretations of the relationship between the individual and society: from the idea of ​​society as a mechanical sum of individuals realizing their own interests, to a more comprehensive approach, in which a person is viewed as a social being, in need of both cooperation with other people and autonomy . However, the idea of ​​individual rights, from which the basic requirements for a social order arise, undoubtedly underlies all liberal theories, distinguishing them from illiberal approaches.

Secondly, liberalism is characterized by a commitment to the idea of ​​human rights and the value of individual freedom. Although the content of rights, as well as the interpretation of freedom during long history liberal ideas have undergone significant changes, the priority of freedom as the main value for liberals has remained unchanged. Supporters of “classical” liberalism interpret freedom negatively, as the absence of coercion, and see its natural limitations in the equal rights of other people. They consider equality of formal rights to be the only type of equality compatible with freedom as a priority value. They reduce the rights of individuals to the sum of “fundamental rights,” which include political freedoms, freedom of thought and freedom of conscience, as well as rights relating to individual independence, supported by guarantees of private property. The New Liberals offer a positive understanding of freedom that complements freedom with equality of opportunity as a guarantee of the enjoyment of rights. Freedom in their understanding is a real possibility of choice, not predetermined either by other people or by the circumstances of the individual’s life. In this regard, the “new liberals” are expanding the framework of “fundamental rights”, including the most essential social rights.

But one way or another, the main premise of liberalism is the idea that each person has his own idea of ​​​​life, and he has the right to realize this idea to the best of his abilities, therefore society should be tolerant of his thoughts and actions, if the latter do not affect rights of other people. Over its long history, liberalism has developed a whole system of institutional guarantees of individual rights, which includes the inviolability of private property and the principle of religious tolerance, limitation of state intervention in the sphere of private life, supported by law, constitutional representative government, separation of powers, the idea of ​​the rule of law, etc.

Thirdly, an important principle characteristic of the liberal approach is rationalism, the belief in the possibility of gradual, targeted improvement of society through reformist, but not revolutionary, measures. The liberal doctrine makes certain demands on the nature of the reforms being carried out. According to V. Leontovich, “the method of liberalism is the elimination of obstacles to personal freedom. Such elimination, however, cannot take the form of a violent revolution or destruction... According to the liberal worldview, it is necessary to eliminate first of all the unlimited powers of state power... On the contrary, liberalism treats with the greatest respect the subjective rights of individual people... In general, a liberal state completely alien to violent interference in the existing life relationships of people and any disruption of habitual life forms...” This characteristic quite fully reflects the principles arising from liberal theory. Although in practice liberals have more than once happened to deviate from them, since social transformations are always a “violation of habitual forms of life,” however, the imperative liberal reforms is the principle of minimal violation of existing individual rights.

Another feature of liberal methods is connected with this - their “anti-constructivism”: liberals usually support “social engineering” only to the extent that it removes obstacles to the development of already established institutions and relations. Their goal is not to invent specific projects for a “good society” and to implement some arbitrarily constructed models.

These, in our opinion, are the basic principles of liberalism. However, this list can be continued. However, no matter how detailed it is, it will always be possible to refer to some liberal concepts that do not fit into it. As E. Shatsky writes, “no matter what we claim about the views supposedly characteristic of liberalism, we should remember that during its long history it served different goals and interests, adapted to different local traditions and used different theoretical languages. For this reason, any description that assumes a high level of generalization will inevitably be incorrect. The same can be said about all “isms” with the exception of those that created dogmatic systems...” Therefore, one should not see a certain strict definition in the description proposed above. Liberalism is not a system consisting of a once and for all given set of elements; it is rather a certain area of ​​ideas that allows for various combinations, but at the same time has well-defined boundaries.

Social liberalism

Social liberalism arose in late XIX century in many developed countries under the influence of Utilitarianism. Some liberals adopted, in part or in whole, Marxism and the socialist theory of exploitation and came to the conclusion that the state should use its power to restore social justice. Thinkers such as John Dewey and Mortimer Adler explained that All Individuals, being the backbone of society, must have access to basic needs such as education, economic opportunity, and protection from harmful large-scale events beyond their control to realize their abilities. Such positive rights, which are provided by society, are qualitatively different from classical Negative rights, the provision of which requires non-interference from others. Proponents of social liberalism argue that without a guarantee of positive rights, the fair implementation of negative rights is impossible, since in practice the low-income population sacrifices their rights for the sake of survival, and the courts are more often inclined in favor of the rich. Social liberalism supports the introduction of some restrictions on economic competition. He also expects the government to provide social protection to the population (through taxes) to create conditions for the development of all talented people, to prevent social unrest and simply for the "common good."

There is a fundamental contradiction between economic and social liberalism. Economic liberals believe that positive rights inevitably violate negative ones and are therefore unacceptable. They see the function of the state as limited mainly to issues of law, security and defense. From their point of view, these functions already require the presence of a strong centralized state power. On the contrary, social liberals believe that the main task of the state is social protection and ensuring social stability: providing food and housing to those in need, healthcare, school education, pensions, care for children, the disabled and the elderly, assistance to victims of natural disasters, protection of minorities, prevention crime, support for science and art. This approach makes it impossible to impose large-scale restrictions on the government. Despite the unity of the ultimate goal - personal freedom - economic and social liberalism radically diverge in the means to achieve it. Right-wing and conservative movements often tend to favor economic liberalism while opposing cultural liberalism. Leftist movements tend to emphasize cultural and social liberalism.

Some researchers point out that the opposition between “positive” and “negative” rights is in fact imaginary, since ensuring “negative” rights actually also requires public costs (for example, maintaining courts to protect property).

Today, on television and in general on the Internet, many people say: “Here they are liberals, liberal-minded citizens...” Also, modern liberals are called even worse: “liber@stams”, liberoids, etc. Why did these liberals not please everyone who complains? What is liberalism? Let's explain now in simple words, and at the same time we will determine whether it is worth scolding modern liberals and why.

History of liberalism

Liberalism is an ideology - a system of ideas about the structure of society and the state. The word itself comes from the word Libertas (Latin) - which means freedom. Let us now find out what relation he has to freedom.

So, imagine the harsh Middle Ages. You are a craftsman in a European medieval city: a tanner, or generally a butcher. Your city is in the possession of a feudal lord: a county, barony or duchy. And the city pays him rent every month for what is on his land. Suppose a feudal lord wanted to introduce a new tax—for example, on air. And he will introduce it. And the townspeople will not go anywhere - they will pay.

Of course, there were cities that bought their freedom and themselves already established more or less fair taxation. But those were extremely rich cities. And yours is like this average city- cannot afford such luxury.

If your son wants to become a doctor or a priest, it will simply be impossible. Because state law determines the life of each class. He can only do what you do - be a butcher. And when tax burden ruins the city, then, probably, he will rise and overthrow the power of the feudal lord. But the royal troops, or the troops of the feudal lord, of a higher rank, will come and punish such a rebellious city.

By the end of the Middle Ages, this order of things was tired primarily of the city dwellers: artisans, merchants - in a word, those who really make money from their hard work. And Europe was covered bourgeois revolutions: when the bourgeoisie began to dictate its terms. In 1649 there was a revolution in England. And what are the interests of the bourgeoisie?

Definition of liberalism

Liberalism is an ideology whose key elements are: personal freedom, the idea of ​​public good, and a guarantee of legal and political equality. This is what the bourgeoisie needs. Freedom: if a person wants to do business, let him do what he wants - that’s his right. The main thing is that he does not harm other people and does not encroach on their freedom.

Equality- a very important idea. Of course, all people are not equal: in their intelligence, perseverance, physical abilities. But! We are talking about equal opportunities: if a person wants to do something, no one has the right to stop him on the basis of racial, social or other prejudices. Ideally, any person can become a leader and “rise” with hard work. Of course, not everyone will rise, because not everyone can and wants to work long and hard!

Common Good: means a reasonable structure of society. Where the state guarantees the rights and freedoms of the individual, protects this individual from all kinds of threats. The state also protects the rules of life in society: it monitors compliance with laws.

Another very important basis of liberalism: idea of ​​natural rights. This idea was developed by English thinkers John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. It lies in the fact that a person is born with three rights: the right to life, to private property and to the pursuit of happiness.

No one has the right to take a person’s life, except perhaps the state and only by law. The right to private property was examined in detail. The pursuit of happiness means the same freedom of action, of course within the framework of the law.

Classical liberalism died for a long time in 1929, when a crisis arose in the United States as a result of which tens of thousands of banks went bankrupt, millions of people died of hunger, and all that. Today we are talking about neoliberalism. That is, under the influence of various factors, liberalism has changed: it has transformed into neoliberalism.

We analyze in detail what neoliberalism is.

Why are liberals in Russia today so “bad” that everyone criticizes them? The fact is that people who call themselves liberals defend not so much the ideology of liberalism as the idea that Europe and the USA are the most best countries and that it is they who need to be guided by: to join the European Union, NATO, in a word, to bend to the West. At the same time, if you say that you don’t think it’s right, they prove to you that you’re completely wrong. That is, they deliberately violate your right to the same freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, and position.

Why do we need Europe if they have a crisis economy? After all, all crises begin in the West. Look at the countries that are members of the European Union: Greece, Romania. Romanians now go to Germany to clean German toilets - they cannot work at their bus factories - they were closed because Germany supplies the buses. And Greece - several years in the European Union brought this country to financial collapse, not even a crisis - collapse.

Looking at all this, you can’t help but think, why do we need to be in the EU? So that we could at least destroy what else is still working somewhere? Therefore, if I would call modern Russian “liberals” (those people who advocate reckless European integration) liberals, then only with quotation marks.

In conclusion, I quote a common joke. To the question: “Should we leave?” the patriot answers “Who?”, and the liberal “Where?” 🙂

I hope you have received a comprehensive answer to the question “What is liberalism”, like it, write in the comments about all this.

Best regards, Andrey Puchkov

Liberalism- this is where the principle of limited intervention in social relations is implemented.

Liberal content public relations is manifested in the presence of a system of checks on pressure from political authorities, designed to guarantee individual freedom and ensure the protection of the rights of citizens. The basis of the system is private enterprise, organized on market principles.

The combination of liberal and democratic principles of social relations allows us to distinguish a political system called “ liberal democracy " Modern Western political scientists believe that this concept denotes an ideal that has not yet been realized, therefore it is proposed to designate the regimes of democratically developed countries with the term “Western polyarchy” (rule of the many). In the rest political systems being implemented liberal-authoritarian mode. In principle, we are talking only about a greater or lesser degree of manifestation in all political systems.

Liberalism and neoliberalism

Liberalism emerged as an independent ideological movement (worldview) at the end of the 17th century. thanks to the works of such scientists as J. Locke, III. Montesquieu, J. Mill, A. Smith and others. The fundamental ideas and guidelines of classical liberalism were formulated in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of 1789 and the French Constitution of 1791. The very concept of “liberalism” entered the socio-political lexicon in early XIX V. In the Spanish parliament (Cortes), a group of nationalist legate deputies were called “liberals”. Liberalism as an ideology was finally formed by mid-19th V.

At the core liberal ideology lies the concept of the priority of personal rights and freedoms over all others (society, state). At the same time, of all the freedoms, preference is given to economic freedoms (freedom of entrepreneurship, priority of private property).

The fundamental features of liberalism are:

• individual freedom;
• respect and observance of human rights;
• freedom of private ownership and entrepreneurship;
• priority of equality of opportunity over social equality;
• legal equality of citizens;
• contractual system of state education (separation of the state from civil society);
• separation of powers, the idea of ​​free elections of all institutions of power;
• non-interference of the state in private life.

However, following the classical model of liberal ideology led to the polarization of society. Unlimited liberalism in economics and politics did not ensure social harmony and justice. Free, unrestricted competition contributed to the absorption of weaker competitors by stronger competitors. Monopolies dominated all sectors of the economy. A similar situation developed in politics. The ideas of liberalism began to experience a crisis. Some researchers even began to talk about the “decline” of liberal ideas.

As a result of lengthy discussions and theoretical searches in the first half of the 20th century. certain basic principles classical liberalism and developed an updated concept of “social liberalism” - neoliberalism.

The neoliberal program was based on ideas such as:

• consensus between managers and managed;
• the need for mass participation in the political process;
• democratization of the procedure for making political decisions (the principle of “political justice”);
• limited government regulation of economic and social spheres;
• state restrictions on the activities of monopolies;
• guarantees of certain (limited) social rights (the right to work, to education, to benefits in old age, etc.).

In addition, neoliberalism involves protecting the individual from abuse and negative consequences market system.

The core values ​​of neoliberalism were borrowed by other ideological movements. It is attractive because it serves as the ideological basis for the legal equality of individuals and the rule of law.