liberal suspicion of any state regulation of the thoughts, publications, or social relations of individuals.
In the last quarter of the twentieth century the advocacy of the economic side of the liberal tradition, separated from its cultural and political aspects, formed a major element in the New Right.
This was often referred to as "neo-liberalism", though a more correct if less euphonious, title, would have been "neo-economic-liberalism".
Liberal beliefs
The liberal belief in civil liberties informed the radical protest movements of the 1960s, whilst the liberal belief in personal freedom, though with substantial developments, was sustained in the feminist arguments which became increasingly important from the 1960s onwards.
The liberal belief in individual autonomy was extended, often accompanied by criticism of much traditional liberal thinking, to argue against inequalities between men and women in the household, in paid employment, and in politics and government.
The liberal belief in the value of self-government fed into the demands for constitutional reform by organisations such as Charter 88, many of which were carried out by the Labour Government after 1997.
On the one hand, the powers of the state were to be limited by human rights legislation, on the other political representation was to be given extra dimensions by the reform of both regional and local government.
So whilst the Liberal Party had lost its position as one of the two great Parliamentary parties, liberal ideas in various combinations or singly, were to be found across the political spectrum.
© Rodney Barker 2004
Department of Government
London School of Economics & Political Science
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