Types of Liberalism

Classical

original form of liberal thinking
key thinkers such as John Locke, Mary Wollstonecraft, and John Stuart Mill
- including Enlightenment phlosophers like Voltaire, US Founding Fathers

JSM’s On Liberty
freedom = individuals left alone to determine their own destiny
harm principle: unless a man’s exercise of liberty ‘harmed’ that of others, any interference is an infringement on his right to freedom

von Hiack: Road to Serfdom (1944)
- a large state will limit freedom by tying an individual directly to the state

Locke and Founding Fathers felt that universal adult suffrage (which empowers the majority) threatened the ‘natural’ property rights of a minority
- hence right to vote should be limited to property owners
JSM argued that democracy complemented developmental individualism
- engagement with politics and ‘rationally’ deciding who to support would increase ability to reason
- - supports votes for women
JSM fears a tyranny of majority
- universal suffrage must be preceded by education
- a judiciary to protect the natural rights of citizens from constitution and Bill of Rights
- plural voting: educated elite should vote in Oxbridge + their own constituency
  - ensures a competent minority retains a voice in legislature

John Stuart Mill: classical thinker, with ideas moving towards modern
- e.g. education

Thomas Hill Green: increased state intervention, “help those who cannot help themselves”
Betty Friedan, John Rawls
David Llyod George (PM 1916-1922), FDR, Keynes
In response to increased industrialisation causing greater reliance on industry for work, urban landlords for homes, etc
- laissez-faire governments could only ensure liberty for the rural ‘atomised’ societies of Locke
TH Green: liberals now faced new enemies that were social and economic
- Five Giants (Beveridge report)

In contrast to Mill’s negative liberty
Freedom is not absence of restraint, it is empowering individuals to help themselves
Help those who cannot hepl themselves