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Summary AQA Politics - Conservatism - Political Ideologies
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All the notes you need for the Conservatism political ideology, including key terms and key thinkers.
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ConservatismProvenance of Key Thinkers:
Hobbes – Violent chaos he witnessed in the English civil war demonstrated the dire
consequences in a society where the state and authority have collapsed. Without law and
order to avoid this, no progress could be made.
Burke – Whig MP, who advocated change. However, witnessed and foresaw the mayhem of
the French Revolution, as he argued change should be gradual and evolutionary. The radical
and philosophical reforms in France were doomed to fail as they didn’t account for human
imperfection.
Oakeshott – 1960s Britain – Post-war consensus and welfare state. Currently working, so
believes it should continue. Warning about strong ideology from either side during this
period, as two parties are currently agreeing thanks to the consensus, so why change it?
Nozick -
Rand – 1960s USA – Believed current levels of state intervention she was witnessing were a
‘road to serfdom’. The state was getting too big, and she foresaw large TU influence and a
paralysed government. Growing up in Russia, she was aware of the problems with high state
intervention.
State:
Authoritarianism:
Strong centralised – Principal role of the state should be law and order through being strong
and centralised state. State is a precondition of liberty and human rights.
Authoritarian Thinkers:
Hobbes – A concentrated state is necessary, as if a dispersed state would see the problems
in the state of nature replicated. This is to be avoided at all costs, as without there would be
no civil society.
For Hobbes, this state arises from a ‘social contract’, where individuals seeking order,
security and growth support this authoritarian state for the benefit of all.
Paternalism:
Pragmatic and empirical – The state shouldn’t follow a philosophical, radical agenda, as
humans are imperfect, and a perfect society can never be achieved. Instead, a state should
navigate through various problems using past approaches that have succeeded and should
do so slowly.
Hierarchical – State should be led by an aristocratic elite reared to rule in the interests of all.
A constitution is ideal to limit the extent of an aristocratic hierarchical government (mainly
Burke, endorsed by Oakeshott)
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