Portal:Liberalism

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Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, right to private property, and equality before the law. Liberals espouse various and sometimes conflicting views depending on their understanding of these principles but generally support private property, market economies, individual rights (including civil rights and human rights), liberal democracy, secularism, rule of law, economic and political freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion. Liberalism is frequently cited as the dominant ideology of modern history.

Liberalism became a distinct movement in the Age of Enlightenment, gaining popularity among Western philosophers and economists. Liberalism sought to replace the norms of hereditary privilege, state religion, absolute monarchy, the divine right of kings and traditional conservatism with representative democracy, rule of law, and equality under the law. Liberals also ended mercantilist policies, royal monopolies, and other trade barriers, instead promoting free trade and marketization. The philosopher John Locke is often credited with founding liberalism as a distinct tradition based on the social contract, arguing that each man has a natural right to life, liberty and property, and governments must not violate these rights. While the British liberal tradition emphasized expanding democracy, French liberalism emphasized rejecting authoritarianism and is linked to nation-building. (Full article...)

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The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Dutch: Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie [ˈvɔl(ə)kspɑrˌtɛi voːr ˈvrɛiɦɛit ɛn deːmoːkra:ˈtsi], VVD) is a centre-right conservative-liberal political party in the Netherlands. The VVD promotes individual freedom, private enterprise, economic liberalism and pragmatic governance.

Established in 1948 through the merger of the Freedom Party and the Committee for Liberal Reconstruction, the VVD has evolved into an influential force in Dutch politics, advocating for a market-oriented economy, fiscal discipline, and personal autonomy. The party combines classical liberal principles—such as free enterprise and limited government intervention—with socially progressive stances, positioning itself as a modern liberal movement within the European context. (Full article...)

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Thomas Hill Green (7 April 1836 – 26 March 1882), known as T. H. Green, was an English philosopher, political radical and temperance reformer, and a member of the British idealism movement. Like all the British idealists, Green was influenced by the metaphysical historicism of G. W. F. Hegel. He was one of the thinkers behind the philosophy of social liberalism. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various liberalism-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1John Locke was the first to develop a liberal philosophy, including the right to private property and the consent of the governed. (from Liberalism)
Image 2U.S. President Bush, Canadian PM Mulroney, and Mexican President Salinas participate in the ceremonies to sign the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). (from Neoliberalism)
Image 3Unemployment in Chile and South America (1980–1990) (from Neoliberalism)
Image 4John Maynard Keynes, one of the most influential economists of modern times and whose ideas, which are still widely felt, formalized modern liberal economic policy. (from Liberalism)
Image 5The 2017–2018 Russian protests were organized by Russia's liberal opposition. (from Liberalism)
Image 6Mary Wollstonecraft, widely regarded as the pioneer of liberal feminism (from Liberalism)
Image 7Benjamin Constant, a Franco-Swiss political activist and theorist (from Liberalism)
Image 8Execution of José María de Torrijos y Uriarte and his men in 1831 as Spanish King Ferdinand VII took repressive measures against the liberal forces in his country (from Liberalism)
Image 9John Milton's Areopagitica (1644) argued for the importance of freedom of speech. (from Liberalism)
Image 10Member nations of the International Monetary Fund (from Neoliberalism)
Image 11The European Union–Mercosur free trade agreement, which would form one of the world's largest free trade areas, has been denounced by environmental activists and indigenous rights campaigners. (from Neoliberalism)
Image 12Raif Badawi, a Saudi Arabian writer and the creator of the website Free Saudi Liberals, who was sentenced to ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes for "insulting Islam" in 2014 (from Liberalism)
Image 13Pamphlet calling for a protest of economic policy in 1983 following the economic crisis (from Neoliberalism)
Image 14United States incarceration rate per 100,000 population, 1925–2014 (from Neoliberalism)
Image 15Ludwig Erhard (from Neoliberalism)
Image 16Monument to the liberals of the 19th century in Agra del Orzán neighborhood, La Coruña, Galicia (Spain) (from Liberalism)
Image 17Sismondi, who wrote the first critique of the free market from a liberal perspective in 1819 (from Liberalism)
Image 18Julius Faucher (from Liberalism)
Image 19Builders in West Berlin, 1952 (from Neoliberalism)
Image 20The Great Depression, with its periods of worldwide economic hardship, formed the backdrop against which the Keynesian Revolution took place (the image is Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother depiction of destitute pea-pickers in California, taken in March 1936). (from Liberalism)
Image 21GDP per capita in Chile and Latin America 1950–2010 (time under Pinochet highlighted) (from Neoliberalism)
Image 22Wealth inequality in the United States increased from 1989 to 2013. (from Neoliberalism)
Image 23Friedrich Hayek (from Neoliberalism)
Image 24Madame de Staël (from Liberalism)
Image 25Ronald Reagan (left) and Margaret Thatcher (right) were responsible for the popularization of Neoliberalism. (from Neoliberalism)
Image 26John Stuart Mill, whose On Liberty greatly influenced 19th-century liberalism (from Liberalism)
Image 27As a liberal nationalist, K. J. Ståhlberg (1865–1952), the President of Finland, anchored the state in liberal democracy, guarded the fragile germ of the rule of law, and embarked on internal reforms. (from Liberalism)
Image 28Montesquieu, who argued for the separation of the powers of government (from Liberalism)
Image 29The US federal minimum wage if it had kept pace with productivity compared to the actual wage. (from Neoliberalism)
Image 30The iconic painting Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix, a tableau of the July Revolution in 1830 (from Liberalism)
Image 31T. H. Green, an influential liberal philosopher who established in Prolegomena to Ethics (1884) the first major foundations for what later became known as positive liberty and in a few years, his ideas became the official policy of the Liberal Party in Britain, precipitating the rise of social liberalism and the modern welfare state (from Liberalism)
Image 32Franklin D. Roosevelt (from Liberalism)
Image 33Per capita income during the Great Depression (from Neoliberalism)
Image 34Gustave de Molinari (from Liberalism)
Image 35Chilean (orange) and average Latin American (blue) rates of growth of GDP (1971–2007) (from Neoliberalism)

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