What is liberalism?
The nutshell
Liberalism is a set of political ideas built around the freedom of each person. It supports individual rights, equal treatment under the law, and a government whose power has limits.
Every fact on this page comes from neutral reference works and official records. Each source tag — like EB — opens where a fact comes from.
The basics
What liberalism means
Liberalism is one of the main ways of thinking about politics. Its central idea is liberty, which means personal freedom.SEP A reference work on political ideas describes liberalism as treating the freedom of each person as the main aim of politics.EB Liberalism also stands for individual rights, equal treatment under the law, and a government that holds power only with the agreement of the people.
Freedom and limited government
Protecting the freedom of each person is the goal that ties liberal ideas together. Because of this, most liberal thinking supports limited government, which means a government bound by clear rules so its power cannot grow without check.EB Free speech, a free press, and free and fair elections are common liberal aims.
Two kinds of liberalism
Over time, liberalism split into different kinds. Classical liberalism sees the state as the main threat to freedom, so it wants the state's powers kept small, and it favours free markets, where trade is mostly left to buyers and sellers.EB Modern liberalism, sometimes called social liberalism, holds that freedom can also be limited by private power such as poverty. So it supports state action, like rules on business and public services.EB
Liberalism in the UK
Liberal ideas have shaped UK politics for a long time. A Liberal government elected in 1906 began to use the power of the state to help people in need. In 1906, for example, a new law let local councils give free meals to schoolchildren whose families could not afford to pay.Parl That was an early step towards what is now called modern, or social, liberalism.
- The central value of liberalism is liberty, which means personal freedom
- It supports individual rights, equal treatment under the law and limited government
- Free speech, a free press and free elections are common liberal aims
- Liberalism is a set of ideas, not the name of a single UK party
- Classical and modern liberals disagree about how large the state should be
- In the UK, liberal can mean the idea, or a party name like the Liberal Democrats
The deep end6 min
The core idea, and where liberals differ
Liberalism is usually described as a family of political ideas that share one starting point: liberty, meaning personal freedom.SEP Beyond that shared value, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy notes that liberal thinkers disagree about what liberty really means, and about how far a government should go to protect it.SEP For some, freedom mainly means being left alone, free from interference. For others, freedom also means having the real means to act, such as an education or a decent income.
Classical and modern liberalism
One long-running split is between classical and modern liberalism. Classical liberalism treats the state as the main threat to freedom. It calls for the state's powers to be limited to what is needed to protect basic rights, and it favours free markets.EB Modern, or social, liberalism accepts that freedom can also be limited by private power, such as poverty or a large company. Because of this, it supports state action, such as rules on business and public services like schools and health care.EB
Liberalism in British history
In the UK, liberal ideas have a long history in Parliament. A Liberal government elected in 1906 began using the power of the state to protect people from hardship. UK Parliament records that in 1906 a new law let local councils give free meals to schoolchildren whose families could not afford to pay.Parl Old age pensions and national insurance followed soon after, guarding people against poverty, illness and being out of work.
Why liberalism is argued about
Liberalism is not a single, fixed programme. Self-described liberals can still disagree sharply, for example about how large the state should be, or how to weigh one freedom against another.SEP In UK politics today, liberal ideas such as free speech, the rule of law and free elections are shared across many parties, rather than owned by one. The topics on what left and right mean and on the political compass show how liberalism sits alongside other sets of political ideas.