Liberalism | Definition, History, & Facts | Britannica
Nov 6, 2024 · Liberalism is a political and economic doctrine that emphasizes individual autonomy, equality of opportunity, and the protection of individual rights (primarily to life, liberty, and property), originally against the state and later against both the state and private economic actors, including businesses.
Classical liberalism | Definition, Origins, Policies, Neoclassical ...
5 days ago · In concrete terms, classical-liberal economists called for several major changes in the sphere of British and European economic organization. The first was the abolition of numerous feudal and mercantilist restrictions on countries’ manufacturing and internal commerce.
liberalism summary | Britannica
liberalism, Political and economic doctrine that emphasizes the rights and freedoms of the individual and the need to limit the powers of government. Liberalism originated as a defensive reaction to the horrors of the European wars of religion of …
Liberalism - Equality, Rights, Democracy | Britannica
Nov 6, 2024 · Contemporary liberalism remains deeply concerned with reducing economic inequalities and helping the poor, but it also has tried to extend individual rights in new directions.
Liberalism - Individualism, Free Markets, Liberty | Britannica
Nov 6, 2024 · The ambitions of national rulers and the requirements of expanding industry and commerce led gradually to the adoption of economic policies based on mercantilism, a school of thought that advocated government intervention in a …
Liberalism - Equality, Rights, Democracy | Britannica
Nov 6, 2024 · Liberalism, in strategic alliance with Soviet communism, ultimately triumphed over fascism in World War II, and liberal democracy was reestablished in West Germany, Italy, and Japan.
Libertarianism | Definition, Philosophy, Examples, History, & Facts ...
Nov 3, 2024 · Libertarianism is a political philosophy that takes individual liberty to be the primary political value. It may be understood as a form of liberalism, which seeks to define and justify the legitimate powers of government in terms of certain natural or God-given individual rights.
Liberalism - Rights, Equality, Freedom | Britannica
2 days ago · In economic life as in politics, then, the guiding principle of classical liberalism became an undeviating insistence on limiting the power of government. The English philosopher Jeremy Bentham cogently summarized this view in his sole advice to the state: “Be quiet.”
Mercantilism | Definition & Examples | Britannica Money
Nov 6, 2024 · mercantilism, economic theory and practice common in Europe from the 16th to the 18th century that promoted governmental regulation of a nation’s economy for the purpose of augmenting state power at the expense of rival national powers. It was the economic counterpart of political absolutism.
Liberalism - 19th Century, Reforms, Equality | Britannica
Nov 6, 2024 · By the end of the 19th century, some unforeseen but serious consequences of the Industrial Revolution in Europe and North America had produced a deepening disenchantment with the principal economic basis of classical liberalism—the ideal of a market economy.