Name: Fatima Nurjanna Awali Date: 09/29/2020

Section: DDM 1-1

1. Enumerate and discuss briefly the Principal Values of Liberalism

Liberalism is a political and economic doctrine that emphasizes individual autonomy,

equality of opportunity, and the protection of individual rights (primarily to life, liberty,
and property), originally against the state and later against both the state and private
economic actors, including businesses. It has been branded by many as meta-ideology
which means that it encompasses many principles, values and elements within its fold.
Whereas other ideologies do not possess this capacity. The following are the main core of
liberalism:

I. Individualism - this is at the very heart of liberalism. It is the central idea or theme
of liberalism. It believes that the interests or welfare of the individual should be
given primacy over all other values and principles.
II. Freedom - Another important core value, principle or element of liberalism is
freedom. To the liberals it is the value of supreme importance because without it
the individual will simply be a unit without any dignity. There are two types of
freedom in liberalism; the positive freedom and the negative freedom.
III. Toleration - Toleration is another value/element of liberalism. In any society there
is found different opinions, religious sects or communities of belief and faith. All
of them must live side by side peacefully and for this is required toleration. Also
various ideologies and opinions make a society diverse. It is the basic feature of
any society. Liberalism believes that all these diversities must exist side by side.
IV. Consent - The idea of consent though very old, its modern appearance took place
in the hands of the contractualists, such as Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Both
of them assertively argued that the members of the state of nature assembled
together to take a decision about the setting up of a body politic and behind this
decision there was the consent of all.
V. Constitutionalism - Constitutionalism is an important principle/value/element of
liberalism. It has two meanings—narrow and broad. In its narrow meaning
constitutionalism means certain limitations upon the government specified by
constitution. In broader sense it implies values, principles and ideas which act as
guide to the government.
VI. Justice - Though justice is a principle of both socialism and liberalism, the latter
gives it more importance and politically declares that the very basis of liberalism
is justice. The liberal justice has several forms or meanings. We note few of them.
It is the declared policy of liberalism that each individual will have his due share
and since all men are born equal none can deprive other of the share.
 2. Compare and Contrast Classical Liberalism and Modern Liberalism

Liberalism is categorized into two separate components; classical liberalism, which was
fashioned during the 19th century as a result of the industrial revolution, and the more recent, the
modern liberalism which emerged as industrialization continued within the UK. Both of the
strands have distinct differences that can’t be ignored, but, can the two of these ever be a like?

Classical liberalism is a combination of civil liberty, political freedom, and economic

freedom. Most importantly, classical liberalism considered that the government should be gone
from people’s lives in order for them to enjoy the freedom and to form their lives without
government intervention. Classical liberals believe that all individuals have to be treated equally
by the law because they are all equally morally worthy, despite their wealth, race, or gender
identity. They also believe in minimal state intervention. They are generally suspicious of big
states, as they believe that they may impose upon individuals' negative freedom. Classical
liberalism adopted the concept of “negative freedom”, which believe that freedom was defined as
being left alone and free from interference.

On the other hand, modern liberalism is a combination of social justice and mixed economy.
Modern liberalism understood that chasing away the government’s power was doing more harm
than good. Modern liberalism realized that in order to protect people’s rights, the government
had to be involved. The government had to provide for the needy while making sure the higher
burdens were placed on the wealthy. Modern liberals argue that society is only equal when
individuals all have equal opportunity to work and live at a high standard. Modern liberals
believe that the state is obligated to intervene in society enough to promote equality of
opportunity which contrasts to the belief of classical liberals. Modern liberals, on the other hand,
believed in “positive freedom”. This, modernist’s perceived to means that all individuals have
the ability to be their own master, and thus reach full autonomy.

Despite the differences between the two liberalisms, similarities between classical and
modern liberalism are greater than the differences. Firstly, both strands of liberalism believe in
the necessity of some kind of a state, since life without a state, would be ‘solitary, poor, nasty,
brutish and short’. Both views consider the existence of a state to be essential in order to protect
individual rights. Modernists and Classicists are also engrossed with individual; both variations
of this ideology revolve around protecting rights and freedoms of the individual, as opposed to
any social group or collective body. Both of the liberalism encouraged individuals to embrace
autonomy and think for themselves, instead of accepting their identity to be based on
characteristics associated with a social group or community they belonged to. And lastly, both
aspects of liberalism realized that each individual possessed personal and distinctive qualities;
each was of special value.
3. Explain Liberalism in a Global Age

Liberalism sees the process of globalization as market-led extension of modernization. It

is a result of ‘natural’ human desires for economic welfare and political liberty.
Globalization has actually brought “neo-liberalism”. The basic premise of neoliberalism
embraces individual freedom as fundamental and views state interventions of any kind as
inhibiting individuals’ freedom of choice. Neoliberal theory claims that a largely
unregulated capitalist system (a free market economy) not only embodies the ideal of free
individual choice but also achieves optimum economic performance with respect to
efficiency, economic growth, technical progress, and distributional justice. Under
neoliberalism, markets must function with minimal restrictions, such as tariffs and
regulations. Neoliberal ideology also embraces the privatization of resources using the
rhetoric of efficiency and individual responsibility. Neo-liberalism pushes for economic
independence