Conservatism - a concept for political ideology, which is characterized by the following features:
1) advocates the preservation of the existing public order, first of all, moral and legal relations embodied in the nation, religion, marriage, family, property;
2) Recognizes the hierarchy of human society and the privileges of certain strata;
Recognizes the absolute incompatibility of freedom and equality of people.
Neoconservatism is a concept for the modern form of conservatism, which is characterized by the following features:
1) is a synthesis of the basic principles of liberalism and traditional values
2) shows a high propensity for liberal values
3) is more lenient with regard to public regulation and public participation in governance, but requires strengthening the rule of law and order
Conservatism emerged at the end of the 18th century as a reaction to the understanding of the unnaturalness of the conscious transformation of social orders.
E. Burke, an English politician, philosopher and publicist, is considered to be a recognized founder of conservatism. As an opponent of the ideas of the European Enlightenment and the French Revolution, Burke proved that social life is based on traditions, customs, moral and material values inherited from previous generations and interconnected with each other. Stability, balance and gradual renewal are the principles that society must follow. Only then can its future be ensured.
After the Second World War, conservative ideology took on new forms. An attempt is made to justify the third way, different from liberalism and socialism, namely: the synthesis of old values of the pre-industrial era (family, religion, morality) with the values of the post-industrial era (creative work, uniqueness of personality, accelerated development of non-market sphere - culture, education). This is how neoconservatism appeared. Initially, the leading theorist of this direction was I. Kristol, and later R. Nizbet, M. Novak, N. Podgorets.
Basic principles of conservatism.
- Society is a system of norms, customs, traditions, institutions rooted in the history of
- An existing institution is preferable to any theoretical scheme
- Focus on state authority
- Pessimism in the assessment of human nature, skepticism about the human mind
- Unbelief in the possibility of social equality between people
- Private property is a guarantee of personal freedom and social order
- Freedom and equality of people are absolutely incompatible
Basic political views of conservatism.
- The idea of tradition, which defines the social being of an individual
- The idea of national grandeur
- The idea of social inequality and political competition
- The idea of avoiding active political interference in public life
- The idea of decentralization of power
- Disregard for parliamentarism and elected institutions
Neoconservatism adheres to the principles of authority, civil order, social contract (between the state and society), also highlighting the corporate values of the family, regional communities, local communities and neighborhood mutual assistance as opposed to etatism and extreme individualism. The main purpose of neoconservative policy is to free the state from the "unsustainable" burden of social and economic regulation (elimination of social programs, refusal to tax large corporations and the wealthiest segments of the population).
Russian conservatism, which has taken on a state-socialist character and has merged closely with great-power nationalism, is the opposite of Western conservatism. For Russian conservatism, important values are equality and fairness in the socialist and redistributive sense. Hence the reliance on state paternalism as the main instrument of disposal and distribution of material and spiritual wealth. Reforms in modern Russia weaken the role of conservative political movements in the country.
The neoconservative alternative is currently extremely vague for Russia, as the domestic economy destroyed by "liberal reforms" would be in a much worse state if a country with depleted human resources and a destroyed system of regional economic ties were to re-enter the path of "catching-up modernization".
