CONSERVATISM

GROUP 6
 Summary of Conservatism
Conservatism, Political attitude or ideology denoting a preference for

institutions and practices that have evolved historically and are thus

manifestations of continuity and stability. It was first expressed in the

modern era through the works of Edmund Burke in reaction to the French

Revolution, which Burke believed tarnished its ideals through its excesses.

Conservatives believe that the implementation of change should be

minimal and gradual; they appreciate history and are more realistic than

idealistic.
General
Intellectual Roots of

Characteristics Conservatism
Conservatism in 19th

century

Conservatism since the turn

of the 20th Century

Legacy and Prospect

 al Characteris
ner tic
Ge s
1 2

The first is a distrust of human nature, The second characteristic of the

rootlessness (social
conservative temperament, which is

disconnectedness), and untested

closely related to the first, is an

innovations, together with a

aversion to abstract argument and

corresponding trust in unbroken

theorizing. In this respect the

historical continuity and in the

conservative temperament contrasts

traditional frameworks for conducting

markedly with that of the liberal.
human affairs. Such frameworks may be

political, cultural, or religious, or they

may have no abstract or institutional

expression at all.
Intellectual Roots of Conservatism
Intellectual Roots of Conservatism
-First explicitly conservative political theorist is generally considered to be Edmund
Burke. In 1790, Edmund Burke predicted that the French Revolution would descend
into terror and dictatorship. In their contempt for the past, he charged, the
revolutionaries were destroying time-tested institutions without any assurance that
they could replace them with anything better. The French Revolution was a
rejection of tradition and inherited values, an analysis of its rejection of inherited
values.
-For Burke, the idea of inheritance extended far beyond property to include
language, manners and morals, and appropriate responses to the human
condition. To be human is to inherit a culture, and politics cannot be understood
outside that culture.
-In the politics of his time, Edmund Burke was a Whig, which is to say that he believed
THE BURKEAN
in limited government and republicanism. He defended the American Revolution

FOUNDATIONS (1775–83), which he believed was a justified defense of the traditional liberties of
Englishmen.

“A disposition to preserve and an ability to improve, taken together, would be

my standard of a statesman.”
He believed that most human beings are innately depraved, steeped in
original sin, and unable to better themselves with feeble reason.
Burke believes that because modern states are so complicated, any
effort to alter them only on the basis of metaphysical concepts will
always result in despotism.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, strong conservative responses
against the French Revolution were felt throughout Europe. He
developed this case with passion and eloquence.
 Maistre and Latin

conservatism
Joseph de Maistre, a French diplomat and
polemicist, was one of the intellectuals Burke
inspired. Early in the 19th century, he created Latin
conservatism, a more radical form of conservatism.
When Maistre emphasizes the power of the
conventional elite, he is frequently referred to as
reactionary rather than conservative.

Joseph de Maistre

“Liberty, equality, fraternity,”

He portrayed people as being primarily emotional, prone to chaos and
evil, and in need of tight political control under the direction of rulers,
priests, and the threat of the public executioner.

Maistre’s writings were an important source of conservative thought in

Spain, Italy, and France in the first half of the 19th century.

His program called for a restoration of hereditary and absolute

monarchy in France, though it would be a more religious and less
frivolous monarchy than before.
Conservatism i n the 19th Century
-The 19th century was in many ways antithetical to conservatism, both as
a political philosophy and as a program of particular parties identified
with conservative interests. The Enlightenment had engendered belief in
the possibility of improving the human condition. The French Revolution
gave powerful expression to this belief, and the Industrial Revolution
reinforced it.
-In the face of this constant rationalist innovation, conservatives often
found themselves forced to adopt a merely defensive role, so that the
political initiative lay always in the other camp.
Metternich and the Concert of Europe
-The Austrian statesman Prince Metternich, a significant

figure in Austria and in Europe at large during this time period,

focused his efforts on forging a network of antirevolutionary

international alliances across all of Europe.

-In the 1820s and '30s, Henry Metternich argued that the

liberal revolutions of the 19th century were "unhistorical" and

unrealistic. Using arguments borrowed from Edmund Burke,

he insisted on the need for continuity with the past and

orderly development. 

The retreat of old-style conservatism

-Restoring the political and social order that existed prior to

the French Revolution was the goal of the settlement that

Metternich crafted at the Congress of Vienna.

-Monarchies in the 19th and early 20th centuries were

formed to protect the interests of aristocratic landowners

and the clergy, rather than to secure the allegiance of the

general population as they did in the 17th century for their

monarchs' re-emergence. 
Conservatism since the turn

of the 20th century

-By this point, the resurrected conservatism had shed all ties to its
earlier aristocratic roots. Instead, it placed a strong emphasis on the
improvement of living standards through the market economy and the
delivery of numerous social services by the government. Conservative
parties were defined by liberal individualism flavored with a strong
sense of social conscience—as well as by an unyielding resistance to
communism—for the remainder of the century.
Legacy and prospects
-Despite the demise of its main adversary of the preceding 50

years, Soviet communism, conservatism experienced division

rather than unity during the early decades of the twenty-first

century. But perhaps this crack is not unexpected. The

conservative movement was held together by anticommunism,

and without this shared foe, the myriad divisions among

conservatives were all too painfully obvious.

THANK YOU!
Leader:
Maranguit, Dianna Jane B.
Members :
Cabangal, Marichel
Gawan, Jerald
Mallot, Glaizza