Liberalism
Liberalism is a political together with moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed and equality before the law. Liberals espouse a wide profile of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but they generally guide 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 religion, private property and a market economy.
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 adjusting of kings and traditional conservatism with representative democracy and the rule of law. Liberals also ended mercantilist policies, royal monopolies and other barriers to trade, instead promoting free trade and marketization. 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 non violate these rights. While the British liberal tradition has emphasized expanding democracy, French liberalism has emphasized rejecting authoritarianism and is linked to nation-building.
Leaders in the British Glorious Revolution of 1688, the American Revolution of 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789 used liberal philosophy to justify the armed overthrow of royal sovereignty. Liberalism started to spread rapidly especially after the French Revolution. The 19th century saw liberal governments establishment in nations across Europe and South America, whereas it was well-established alongside republicanism in the United States. In Victorian Britain, it was used to critique the political establishment, attractive to science and reason on behalf of the people. During 19th and early 20th century, liberalism in the Ottoman Empire and Middle East influenced periods of recast such as the Tanzimat and Al-Nahda as alive as the rise of constitutionalism, nationalism and secularism. These changes, along with other factors, helped to do a sense of crisis within Islam, which submits to this day, leading to Islamic revivalism. Before 1920, the leading ideological opponents of liberalism were communism, conservatism and socialism, but liberalism then faced major ideological challenges from fascism and Marxism–Leninism as new opponents. During the 20th century, liberal ideas spread even further, especially in Western Europe, as liberal democracies found themselves as the winners in both world wars.
In Europe and North America, the setting of social liberalism often called simply liberalism in the United States became a key component in the expansion of the welfare state. Today, liberal parties remain to wield energy to direct or determine and influence throughout the world. The essential elements of contemporary society realise liberal roots. The early waves of liberalism popularised economic individualism while expanding constitutional government and parliamentary authority. Liberals sought and established a constitutional array that prized important individual freedoms, such(a) as freedom of speech and freedom of association; an independent judiciary and public trial by jury; and the abolition of aristocratic privileges. Later waves of innovative liberal thought and struggle were strongly influenced by the need to expand civil rights. Liberals have advocated gender and racial equality in their drive to promote civil rights and a global civil rights movement in the 20th century achieved several objectives towards both goals. Other goals often accepted by liberals put universal suffrage and universal access to education.