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Liberalism in countries

This text is part of the Liberalism series (II)

Liberalism Liberalism in countries Liberal parties Liberal International Timeline of liberal parties Liberal thinkers Liberal leaders Liberal bibliography

<center> Introduction article Liberalism in Europe France Germany Netherlands Russia Sweden United Kingdom Liberalism outside Europe Australia Canada New Zealand United States Latin America

The concept of liberalism differs in the various countries of the world. See the box on the right, for a list of articles about liberalism in particular countries. See also Liberal parties for a list of liberal parties around the world.

Differences in usage

The word liberalism and its cognates have different (albeit related) meanings in various languages and countries. In most countries, capital-"L" Liberal is used to label the members of sympathizers of a Liberal Party, while small-"l" liberal is used to label the adherents of liberalism as an ideology or simply a political stance.

1. Among scholars, regardless of nationality, liberal could refer to classical liberalism, but more likely to political liberalism or to liberalism as promoted in the U.S. by philosophers like John Rawls and Ronald Dworkin.
2. In Europe liberal generally refers to a broad tradition of individual liberties and limited government by centre right liberal parties, or to social liberalism, centre left parties. In the UK,the Liberal Democrats are a centre left social liberal party. In France and in Southern Europe, the word can refer either to refer to the traditional liberal anti-clericalism or to economic liberalism. However, in recent years in France, the word is used by proponents of free markets and minarchists; ultra-libéral is a pejorative term aimed by a large section of the left-wing towards those who, according to it, have "radical" minarchist views. (See also Liberalism in Germany, Liberalism in the Netherlands, Liberalism in France.)
3. In Australia a capital-l Liberal (often spoken as such) is a member or supporter of the right-wing conservative Liberal Party of Australia. A small-l liberal generally refers to someone who champions civil liberties and progressive causes such as Australian republicanism and Aboriginal reconciliation, as with the the Australian Democrats Party. Increasingly small-l liberals are becming less and less visible members of the Liberal Party. (See also Liberalism in Australia)
4. Canada: In Canada liberal refers mainly to the policies and ideas of the Liberal Party of Canada, the most frequent governing party of Canada for the last century and one of the largest liberal parties around the world.
5. New Zealand: In New Zealand liberalism refers to a support for individual liberties and limited government. The term generally used with a reference to a particular policy area, e.g. "market liberalism" or "social liberalism". Unqualified liberalism is less common; in its extreme form it is known by the American term libertarianism.
6. Russia: The so-called Liberal Democratic Party of Russia is not at all liberal: it is a nationalist, right-wing populist party. Russian liberals are organised into the Yabloko and Union of Right Forces parties.
7. In the United States the primary use of the term liberal is at variance with the rest of the world. The common meaning of liberal has evolved over time. In the 19th century it denoted classical liberalism. After World War II, it came to refer to left-of-center (but anti-Communist) new liberalism. As McCarthyism made the terms socialism and even social democracy anathema in the U.S., the former New Dealers and others to the left of center adopted the name liberal. To distinguish themselves from these, those in the U.S. who were closer to classical liberalism, adopted the name libertarian. Libertarian is now used with similar meaning in a few other countries, but elsewhere, especially in Spain, refers to a particular subclass of anarchists. Since approximately the Reagan era, liberal has been so much used as a derogatory term by U.S. conservatives that much of the U.S. center-left now shuns it, calling themselves "progressives". (See Liberalism in the United States.)