Portal:Conservatism
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Introduction
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilisation in which it appears. In Western culture, depending on the particular nation, conservatives seek to promote and preserve a range of institutions, such as the nuclear family, organised religion, the military, the nation-state, property rights, rule of law, aristocracy, and monarchy. Conservatives tend to favour institutions and practices that enhance social order and historical continuity.
Edmund Burke, an 18th-century Anglo-Irish statesman who opposed the French Revolution but supported the American Revolution, is credited as one of the forefathers of conservative thought in the 1790s along with Savoyard statesman Joseph de Maistre. The first established use of the term in a political context originated in 1818 with François-René de Chateaubriand during the period of Bourbon Restoration that sought to roll back the policies of the French Revolution and establish social order.
Conservatism has varied considerably as it has adapted itself to existing traditions and national cultures. Thus, conservatives from different parts of the world, each upholding their respective traditions, may disagree on a wide range of issues. One of the three major ideologies along with liberalism and socialism, conservatism is the dominant ideology in many nations across the world, including Hungary, Iran, Israel, Japan, Poland, Russia, and South Korea. Historically associated with right-wing politics, the term has been used to describe a wide range of views. Conservatism may be either libertarian or authoritarian, populist or elitist, progressive or reactionary, moderate or extreme. (Full article...)
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The real division is not between conservatives and revolutionaries but between authoritarians and libertarians.
— George Orwell, in a letter to Malcolm Muggeridge (4 December 1948)
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The UK Conservative Party served with the Liberals in an all-party coalition government during World War I, and the coalition continued under Liberal PM David Lloyd George (with half of the Liberals) until 1922. Then Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin led the break-up of the coalition and the party governed until 1929, when it was defeated by Labour in a close election. In 1931, following the collapse of the Labour minority government, it entered another coalition, which was dominated by the Conservatives with some support from fractions of both the Liberals and Labour party (National Labour and Liberal Nationals).
Credit: Space Brood
Did you know...
- ...that in 1984 Ronald Reagan timed his first presidential proclamation of National Sanctity of Human Life Day to coincide with the anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade?
- ...that the California Republican Assembly supported Tom McClintock in the 2003 California gubernatorial recall election?
- ... that Theodore Dalrymple's book Our Culture, What's Left of It describes British culture as a "moral swamp"?
Selected anniversaries in July
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1972-025-12%2C_Zerst%C3%B6rte_Lagerbaracke_nach_dem_20._Juli_1944.jpg/60px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1972-025-12%2C_Zerst%C3%B6rte_Lagerbaracke_nach_dem_20._Juli_1944.jpg)
- 1830 – King Charles X of France is overthrown in the French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution.
- 1912 – American conservative economist, statistician, and Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman is born.
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