Limited government

In political philosophy, limited government is the concept of the government limited in power. it is a key concept in the history of liberalism.

Issues

Amy Gutmann notes that negative liberalism, positive liberalism, & democratic liberalism all fall out different conceptions of the proper limits to government. Gutmann connects the first two categories to Isaiah Berlin's notions of negative liberty and positive liberty, respectively. Gutmann defends the third category, democratic liberalism, writing that under this view, "a liberal government should be no more nor less limited than is needed, first, to secure basic liberties and opportunities for any individuals, andto respect the outcomes of reasonable democratic procedures as long as they are consistent to the constitutional constraints of securing basic liberties and opportunities for all."

Some critics of limited government make-up claimed that the smallest governments tend to work higher levels of poverty and illiteracy.