Portal:Conservatism
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Introduction
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology, which seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in which it appears. In Western culture, depending on the particular nation, conservatives seek to promote a range of institutions, such as the nuclear family, organized religion, the military, the nation-state, property rights, rule of law, aristocracy, and monarchy. Conservatives tend to favour institutions and practices that enhance social order and historical continuity.
Edmund Burke, an 18th-century Anglo-Irish statesman who opposed the French Revolution but supported the American Revolution, is credited as one of the forefathers of conservative thought in the 1790s along with Savoyard statesman Joseph de Maistre. The first established use of the term in a political context originated in 1818 with François-René de Chateaubriand during the period of Bourbon Restoration that sought to roll back the policies of the French Revolution and establish social order.
Conservatism has varied considerably as it has adapted itself to existing traditions and national cultures. Thus, conservatives from different parts of the world, each upholding their respective traditions, may disagree on a wide range of issues. Historically associated with right-wing politics, the term has been used to describe a wide range of views. Conservatism may be either libertarian or authoritarian, populist or elitist, progressive or reactionary, moderate or extreme. (Full article...)
Selected article
Historians have since connected the overwhelming success of Save Our Children with the organization of conservative Christian participation in political processes. Although forceful Christian involvement had not taken a widespread role in politics in the United States since 1925, Within two years the Reverend Jerry Falwell developed a coalition of conservative religious groups named the Moral Majority that influenced the Republican Party to incorporate a social agenda in national politics.
Selected quote
The struggle between the opponents and defenders of capitalism is a struggle between innovators who do not know what innovation to make and conservatives who do not know what to conserve.
— Simone Weil, "The Power of Words" in Selected Essays 1934-1943 (1957)
Selected image
On April 14, 2007, an estimated 300,000 people marched in Ankara to protest the possible candidacy of Justice and Development Party leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the Turkish 2007 presidential election, afraid that if elected as President, he would alter the secular nature of the Turkish state. The protests continued over the next several weeks, with over one million reported at an April 29 rally in Istanbul. Early parliamentary elections were called after the failure of the parties in parliament to agree on the next Turkish president. The opposition parties boycotted the parliamentary vote and deadlocked the election process. The AK Party achieved victory in the rescheduled July 22, 2007 elections with 46.6% of the vote, translating into control of 341 of the 550 available parliamentary seats.
Credit: Randam
Did you know...
- ... that journalist Nils Vogt (pictured) was the first chairman of the Norwegian Press Association?
- ...that Geoffrey Wheatcroft, the author of The Strange Death of Tory England, advises British conservatives to learn from the conservatism of the socialist George Orwell?
- ... that the appointment of Sever Voinescu as Romania's ambassador to the United States was rejected by a Senate committee on grounds that he was too close to Romanian president Traian Băsescu?
Selected anniversaries in May
- 1979 – Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- 1940 – the Norway Debate in the British House of Commons begins, and leads to the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Winston Churchill three days later.
- 1988 – Section 28 is enacted in Great Britain with the effect of prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities.
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