Conservatism
Conservatism is the political philosophy of preserving established institutions, traditions, and social order. It distrusts abstract reason and radical change, favouring gradual reform over revolution and emphasising continuity, prudence, and the accumulated wisdom embedded in existing customs, laws, and social structures.
Conservatism is not fundamentally about preserving any particular economic arrangement — it is about epistemology and change. Burke's insight: society is complex beyond any individual's comprehension; inherited institutions encode accumulated wisdom; radical change risks destroying what works before replacements are proven to work better. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" — and be very cautious about deciding it's broken.
Core Principles
- Tradition and Continuity: Inherited institutions, practices, and values embody the tested wisdom of generations. They should not be discarded lightly for untested theories.
- Organic Society: Society is not a contract between individuals but an organic community that includes the dead, the living, and the yet unborn (Burke). Individuals are shaped by communities, not prior to them.
- Distrust of Ideology: Abstract political systems (Marxism, libertarianism, etc.) are dangerous precisely because they override the messiness of human experience with neat theory. Oakeshott: politics as the "pursuit of intimations," not the application of blueprints.
- Prudence and Incrementalism: Change should be slow, tested, reversible. "When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change" (Falkland).
- Authority and Order: Legitimate authority is necessary for social life. Anarchic individualism dissolves the bonds that make communities possible.
- Property: Property rights underpin liberty and provide a stake in social stability. But conservatism is not simply pro-business — many conservatives are skeptical of unregulated markets that disrupt communities.
Variants
Traditional / Burkean Conservatism
The original. Suspicious of both radical change and abstract principle. Defends established church, aristocracy, and local community against centralizing reform. More comfortable with a paternalistic state than libertarians or neoliberals.
One-Nation Conservatism
Disraeli's tradition: the wealthy have obligations to the poor; social cohesion requires attention to inequality. Accepts a moderate welfare state. Macmillan and Heath in the UK; associated with moderate Republican tradition in the USA before the 1980s.
Paleoconservatism
Pat Buchanan's tradition: America First, immigration restriction, skepticism of free trade, opposition to foreign military adventures. Culturally nationalist, suspicious of global capital. Predates and partly inspired the MAGA movement.
Fusionism
Frank Meyer's synthesis of conservatism and libertarianism that dominated post-war American conservatism: free markets + traditional social values. The Reagan coalition.
Key Thinkers
Father of modern conservatism. Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) — the foundational critique of radical rationalism and the French Revolution's abstract rights.
Philosophical conservative. Politics as "the pursuit of intimations within a tradition" rather than the application of blueprints. Rationalism in Politics (1962).
Systematized American conservatism in The Conservative Mind (1953). Six canons of conservatism: divine intent, variety of institutions, ordered freedom, property, faith in prescription, change ≠ progress.
Late 20th-century conservative philosopher. Defended national identity, the beauty of inherited culture, and the home as the basic political unit.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- Captures the real risk of unintended consequences in rapid social change
- Values social cohesion and community alongside individual freedom
- Historically credible critique of revolutionary utopianism (proved right about the French and Bolshevik revolutions)
- Provides a counterweight to rootless individualism
Weaknesses
- Can serve as an apologia for unjust arrangements (slavery, caste systems were also "traditions")
- "What is" does not imply "what ought to be"
- Identifying which traditions to preserve and which to discard requires the very rationalism it distrusts
- In practice often becomes the ideological defence of the wealthy against redistribution