The term ‘conservative’ has many meanings in everyday language.

However, it was used for

the first time in a political context in 1818 by François-René de Chateaubriand during the
Bourbon Restoration, which aimed to reverse the policies of the French Revolution. While it
is often dismissed as a “political attitude” and even the conservatives refrain from calling it
an ideology, it is founded on political beliefs about human beings, the societies they live in
and the importance of a distinctive set of political values. It propagates the desire to
‘conserve’, which manifests in resistance to (or at least a suspicion of) change.

History of Conservatism: Conservatism emerged in response to the rise of political, social

and economic change brought about by industrialisation during the late 18th century, which
was represented by the French Revolution. During the nineteenth century, Western states
were transformed due to industrialization, which led to the growth of liberalism, socialism
and nationalism. While these ideologies supported reform, and at times revolution,
conservatism aimed to preserve the embattled traditional social order.

Conservative thought adapted to existing traditions and national cultures. For instance, UK
conservatism attempted to, in line with the ideas of Edmund Burke, ‘change in order to
conserve’. In the nineteenth century, the conservatives in the UK aimed to conserve a
political and social order that had already undergone change. The change had taken place
due to the overthrow of the absolute monarchy by the English Revolution of the
seventeenth century.

The pragmatic principles seen in the UK influenced the conservative parties in other
Commonwealth countries. For instance, the Canadian Conservative Party, called itself
‘Progressive Conservative’ between 1942 and 2003 to distinguish itself from reactionary
ideas.

Continental Europe, where some autocratic monarchies still existed in the twentieth
century, witnessed the rise of a much more authoritarian form of conservatism. It aimed to
conserve monarchy and rigid autocratic values against reform. It was only with the
formation of Christian democratic parties after World War II that the continental
conservatives (especially in Germany and Italy) accepted political democracy and social
reform.

The USA, on the other hand, was influenced very little by conservatism. Its system,
government and its political culture are committed to liberal and progressive values. It was
only in 1964 that it witnessed a conservative candidate for the presidency in the form of
Barry Goldwater. The conservative takeover of the Republican Party was completed in the
1980s by Ronald Reagan and solidified by George W. Bush and Donald Trump.

Conservatism is not as visible outside Europe and North America. In Africa, Asia and Latin
America, political movements that tried to resist change and preserve traditional ways of life
did develop, but they do not use conservative arguments and values, with an exception
perhaps being the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Edmund Burke’s “Reflections on the Revolution in France” lays down the core themes of
conservatism.
Tradition

It is often argued that the conservatives’ “desire to conserve” is linked to a defence of

tradition. Traditions consist of everything that has stood the test of time or is passed down
from generation to generation (long-standing customs and practices, institutions, etc.).
Conservatives value tradition because it generates a sense of identity for society and the
individual. They are familiar and thus reassuring for the individual. Moreover, a shared
history links people and provides them with a collective sense of who they are.
Two lines of thought emerge here, one which grants primacy to religion and the other to
time.

For some conservatives, the emphasis on tradition reflects their religious faith. Traditional
customs and practices need to be protected because they are ‘God-given’, which faded as a
line of thought around the eighteenth century due to old traditions replacing new ones.

Others support tradition without needing to argue that it has divine origins. Tradition, in this
sense, reflects the accumulated wisdom of the past. The institutions and practices of the
past are time-tested and should be preserved.

Human Imperfection

As opposed to other ideologies, which believe that human beings are inherently ‘good’ or
can be made ‘good’ if their social circumstances are improved, conservatism can be called a
‘philosophy of human imperfection’.

Human imperfection is understood in many ways. At one level, human beings are believed
to be psychologically limited and dependent, which means that they gravitate
psychologically to the safe and the familiar. Thus, conservatives emphasise social order
because it ensures stability and predictability and provides safety.

According to conservatives, human beings are morally imperfect. They hold the Hobbesian
view that humankind is selfish and greedy or anything but perfectible. Some conservatives
explain this by using the Old Testament doctrine of ‘original sin’. Crime is therefore a result
of humans’ flawed nature. Conservatives believe that the only effective deterrent is law
paired with the knowledge that it will be strictly enforced, which is why they prefer strong
government and ‘tough’ criminal justice regimes.

Humans’ intellectual powers are also thought to be limited. Conservatives believe that the
world is too complicated for human reason to understand. They are therefore suspicious of
systems of thought that claim to understand what it is and prefer to base their ideas on
tradition, experience and history.

Organic society

Since conservatives believe that human beings seek security and familiarity, which is why
they emphasise for them to be rooted in society and the social groups that nurture them.
These groups provide individual life with security and meaning, a stance often called social
conservatism.

Conservative ideas are based on a certain view of society, sometimes called organicism.
Conservatives traditionally understand society as an organism, whose parts work together
as the brain, heart, lungs and liver within a human. They differ from artefacts or machines in
two respects. Firstly, they are not a collection of individual parts that can be
assembled/reassembled at will, but such parts are interconnected and interdependent.
Secondly, organisms come into existence naturally instead of through invention.

They offer two defences for preserving existing or ‘organic’ orders. First, if society is organic,
its structures and institutions have been shaped by forces beyond human control and
possibly human understanding. Second, by virtue of existing, institutions demonstrate that
they are worthwhile and desirable.

Hierarchy and authority

Conservatives argue that society is naturally hierarchical. It has fixed or established social
gradations. Social equality is unachievable because power, status and property are always
unequally distributed. Pre-democratic conservatives such as Burke uphold the idea of a
‘natural aristocracy’ because they believe that the classes and groups in society also have
their own specific roles.

The belief in hierarchy is corroborated by the emphasis of conservatives on authority. They

believe that authority develops naturally to ensure that children specifically are taken care
of. Such authority can only be imposed from above and not arise from below because
children do not know what is good for them and cannot agree to be governed.

In line with the previous argument, conservatives also lay emphasis on leadership and
discipline. Leadership is essential to a society because it is the capacity to give direction and
provide inspiration for others. Discipline is a healthy respect for authority. Most
conservatives believe that authority should be exercised within limits and that these limits
are imposed not by an artificial contract but by natural responsibilities.

Property

Property has a deep significance for conservatives. They are attracted to the liberal idea that
property reflects merit: those who work hard and possess talent will (and should) acquire
wealth. Property, therefore, is ‘earned’.

Besides the above argument, conservatives also believe that property has a range of
psychological and social advantages. For instance, it provides security and protection in an
uncertain and unpredictable world (something to ‘fall back on’). Those who possess and
enjoy their own property are more likely to respect the property of others.
A deeper and more personal reason why conservatives support property ownership is that it
can be seen as an extension of an individual’s personality. People identify with and see
themselves in what they own.

Conservatives traditionally argue that all rights, including property rights, come with
obligations. Property is not an issue for the individual alone but is also of importance to
society because it is not the creation of the present generation and has been passed down
from earlier generations.

There are several sub-traditions under conservatism.

Libertarian conservatism: It promotes the greatest possible economic liberty and the least
possible government regulation of social life. Libertarian conservatives believe that liberal
economics is compatible with a more traditional, conservative social philosophy, based on
values such as authority and duty.

Authoritarian conservatism: It believes in a society following traditional values put into force
by the state and typically presents itself in the form of an autocratic government built on
conservative social values.

Paternalistic conservatism: It argues that it is the social obligation of those in a well-to-do

position to take care of those who can’t support themselves. Some go on to argue that it is
the state that must play a role in taking care of the poor and mitigating the adverse effects
of a commercial capitalist society. They neither support the individual nor the state in
principle, but are instead prepared to support either or recommend a balance between the
two depending on what is most practical.