Liberalism worldwide

In 1789, the French Revolution began compelling France to reorganize their government, adopt a series of the Enlightenment Principles, and to recognize the rights of their citizens in passing the Declaration of Rights on behalf of the National Assembly. This revolutionary period in France saw a king lose power and eventually his life, military leader Napoléon Bonaparte’s rise and fall, and the stability of France change throughout the Revolution. Throughout all of these changes the Revolution…

The French Revolution is ultimately due to a new age of thinking, called the Enlightenment. Kant spoke of the Enlightenment as a way of thinking and deciding for oneself and without the help of others. Most people do not think for themselves and let others actually think and decide for them; however, Kant stated that as a society it would be easiest to change people’s minds and allow for teach individual to think for themselves. Now this process is slow and one of the biggest barriers to this…

Social Democrat Post Simulation Reflection The Social Democratic Party is a center-left party, closely aligned with the common values and beliefs of Liberals. While completing my research for this simulation, I used a wide variety of real-world examples such as; the New Zealand Labour Party, the German SPD, and the Sweden SAP. I found that Social Democrats place a strong emphasis on solidarity, freedom, justice, and equality. They want citizens to actively participate in government to ensure a…

Through Utopia, Sir Thomas More gave the leaders of his time key insights to help improve his world by stating that leaders should not use poverty to control their people. Utopia states that, “it is wrong to think that the poverty of the people is a safeguard of public peace.” By this, More means that people should not be dependent on the government. A leader should not keep his people in poverty, as it benefits nobody other than the leader, who can hold control over said people dependent on him…

Among social contract philosophers, John Lock contributed most to the shaping of the modern conception of a liberal democracy. In fact many of the values of liberalism can be traced back to John Locke, in particular, a governmental system that is popular, limited, responsible and representative. Locke argues that in a state of nature, individuals enjoy certain inalienable rights and these rights have to be protected by a governing body. As a result, a social contract stems from a group of people…

Studying the past helps us understand the present and foresee the future by observing previous historical events, people, and ideas. Because of history, we are able to comprehend how historical events shaped our civilization. Also, we can acknowledge outstanding individuals that with their actions and ideas, helped frame our present. By learning about history, we are able to uncover how societies managed themselves and changed over time. Uncovering how human life and society behaved in the past…

MacIntyre’s arguments recognize shortcomings of modern society and analyze a history of virtue. His argument presents concepts to the philosophical world that stimulate a discussion of what does our modern conception of morality and virtue consist. A main point that MacIntyre raises is the idea of modern society losing virtue and the decay of the language of morality. He backs this up by giving examples of moral debates that occur today, such as issues of war and abortion. Through explaining…

Liberalism, Conservatism, and Ideological Challenges to the Status Quo were topics covered in Chapter 4. Although high school I have heard of the term Liberalism, but I never understood what the term really meant. I learned that Liberalism is “an ideology that regards the individual as a rational being capable of overcoming obstacles to a better world.” Also, it “supports changes in the political and economic status quo.” John Locke an English philosopher is known for this form of American…

Thatcherism describes the conviction, politics, economic, social policy and political style of the British conservative’s politician Margaret Thatcher, who was the leader of her party from 1975-1990. Post -Thatcher, the leaders after her remained true to her policies until 2005, when Cameron took over. When he took over as leader of the Conservatives, he had promised the party that he will suggest new reforms of government and he promised to take the party in a new direction, thus giving the…

Next Generation Left After taking the Pew Center questionnaire, it placed me under the typology of Next Generation Left. I believe that the questionnaire placed me in the right typology, because the Next Generation Left people are normally optimistic about government’s decisions and the nation’s future, they believe that society has made positive changes to give blacks and whites equal rights. In addition, the Next Generation Left are best described as liberals and open-minded in most of the…