{"id":3465,"date":"2026-08-11T22:11:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T16:41:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/notes\/liberalism\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T23:01:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T17:31:23","slug":"liberalism","status":"publish","type":"psir_note","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/notes\/liberalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberalism"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PSIR Notes<\/a>\u203a<\/span>I-A Political Theory and Indian Politics<\/a>\u203a<\/span>Liberalism<\/span><\/div>\n
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Paper I \u00b7 Political Theory and Indian Politics<\/div>\n

Liberalism<\/h1>\n
Syllabus \u00b7 Paper I-A \u00b7 8<\/b> \u2014 Political Ideologies : Liberalism<\/span>, Socialism, Marxism, Fascism, Gandhism and Feminism.<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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Liberalism: Classical \u2192 Welfare \u2192 Neo<\/h3>\n

Liberalism is the ideology of the modern West, emerging with the decline of feudalism and the rise of capitalist society. It places the individual<\/span> at the centre: rationality, inherent equality, autonomy, rights, and limited government.<\/p>\n

EVOLUTION OF LIBERALISM:<\/span> Classical Liberalism<\/span> (Locke \u00b7 Smith \u00b7 Spencer \u2014 Night-watchman state; laissez-faire; liberty as absence of restraint<\/em>) \u2192 Welfare \/ Social Lib.<\/span> (Mill \u00b7 T.H. Green \u00b7 Hobhouse \u00b7 Dewey \u00b7 Keynes \u2014 Liberty as capacity; positive state; distributive justice<\/em>) \u2192 Social Liberalism<\/span> (Sen \u00b7 Stiglitz \u00b7 Rawls \u2014 Capabilities; market regulation; aid to least advantaged<\/em>) \u2192 Neoliberalism<\/span> (Hayek \u00b7 Friedman \u00b7 Nozick \u2014 Deregulation; privatisation; minimal state; free trade<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Classical Liberal thinkers & signatures:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Thinker<\/th>\nCore Claim<\/th>\nKey Text \/ Line<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
John Locke<\/span><\/td>\nNatural rights, consent, limited government<\/td>\nSocial Contract; property as pre-political right<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Adam Smith<\/span><\/td>\nLaissez-faire; \u201cinvisible hand\u201d<\/td>\nAcknowledged public goods: education, infrastructure<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thomas Jefferson<\/span><\/td>\nMinimal government<\/td>\n\u201cThat government is best which governs the least.\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Herbert Spencer<\/span><\/td>\nSocial Darwinism<\/td>\n\u201cSurvival of the fittest\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Graham Sumner<\/span><\/td>\nRadical individualism<\/td>\n\u201cA drunkard in the gutter is just where he ought to be\u2026\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Welfare \/ Social Liberal thinkers:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Thinker<\/th>\nContribution<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
J. S. Mill<\/span><\/td>\nReformed utilitarianism; primacy of liberty; accepted limits of laissez-faire<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
T. H. Green<\/span><\/td>\nFather of positive liberalism; liberty as capacity<\/span>; state must create conditions for moral development<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
L. T. Hobhouse<\/span><\/td>\nLiberty as positive welfare; distributive justice, public health, universal education<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
John Dewey<\/span><\/td>\nActive state; democratic social reform<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
J. M. Keynes<\/span><\/td>\nShowed capitalism’s instability; mixed economy; planning; wage & tax policy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Harold Laski<\/span><\/td>\nWelfare state; socio-economic rights: \u201cEvery state is known by the rights it maintains.\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cRights are those conditions of life without which no man can seek in general to be at his best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harold Laski<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cSocial order not based on recognition of claims of persons is based on sand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harold Laski<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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UPSC 2020 \u00b7 150w<\/span><\/p>\n

Liberalism as a revolutionary idea<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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UPSC 2024 \u00b7 150w<\/span><\/p>\n

Decline of Liberalism<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Neoliberalism:<\/span> revival of classical economic liberalism from the 1970s\u201380s.<\/p>\n