What is conservatism?

Conservatism is a political ideology that treats human beings as imperfect and society as a delicate inheritance, and therefore prefers established institutions, gradual change and settled authority to reform designed from abstract principle.

Why is conservatism often described as a disposition rather than a doctrine?

Conservatism has no founding text or blueprint and defines itself by what it wishes to preserve, so it takes different forms in different societies. Michael Oakeshott described it as a preference for the familiar over the unknown and the tried over the untried.

Which historical events shaped the emergence of conservatism?

Conservatism emerged as a reaction to the French Revolution of 1789 and to the Enlightenment claim that society could be reordered by reason. The violence that followed the Revolution was taken as evidence of what happens when inherited institutions are swept away.

What is meant by conservative pragmatism?

Pragmatism in conservatism is the preference for judging each question by practical experience and circumstance rather than by fixed principle, on the ground that human reason is too limited to foresee the consequences of general schemes.

Why do conservatives distrust abstract theory in politics?

Conservatives argue that society is more complex than any theory can capture, that abstract principles ignore local circumstance, and that reformers who follow blueprints produce consequences they did not intend, as the Jacobin Terror was held to show.

What do conservatives mean by scepticism about human reason?

Conservatives hold that individual reason is fallible and narrow, and that the accumulated experience of generations, embodied in custom, law and institutions, is a safer guide than the calculations of any single person or government.

CCEA A-Level Government and Politics 4830

The Northern Ireland Assembly

Topic overview The Good Friday Agreement: origins and principles The three strands of the Agreement Rights, equality, policing and prisoners under the Agreement Implementing the Agreement: referendums, devolution and suspension Subsequent agreements from St Andrews to New Decade, New Approach Composition, elections and designation Cross-community voting and the petition of concern The Assembly's representative function The Assembly's legislative function The Assembly's scrutiny function The Assembly's independence of the Executive

The Northern Ireland Executive Committee

Topic overview The composition of the Executive Committee Appointing the Executive and the d'Hondt formula The First Minister and deputy First Minister The Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister The Pledge of Office and the Ministerial Code How the Executive determines legislation The Programme for Government and the budget Divisions within the Executive Evaluating the Executive's policy making The Executive as a power-sharing government Collapse, restoration and reform of the Executive

The Northern Ireland Political Parties

Topic overview The role and functions of political parties The Northern Ireland party system The Democratic Unionist Party Sinn Féin The Ulster Unionist Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party The Alliance Party Smaller parties and independents Changing party strategies since 1998 Changing electoral support since 1998 Explaining electoral change

The UK Parliament

Topic overview Representation in the House of Commons Legislation and the passage of a bill through the Commons Scrutiny of government on the floor of the Commons Select committees and the scrutiny of government The effectiveness of the House of Commons Composition and representation in the House of Lords The House of Lords and the legislative process Scrutiny and committee work in the House of Lords The effectiveness of the House of Lords The fusion of powers and executive control of Parliament Party discipline, backbench independence and parliamentary privilege

The UK Executive

Topic overview The role of the Prime Minister The powers of the Prime Minister The Cabinet and its role Cabinet committees, the Cabinet Office and the core executive Ministerial responsibility Limitations on the powers of the Prime Minister The Executive and its control of the legislature Prime ministerial government or cabinet government The civil service, special advisers and the centre of government

Option: The British JudiciaryJudiciary

Topic overview The judiciary, the rule of law and the separation of powers The courts and the United Kingdom Supreme Court Judicial review and its grounds Judicial review and the Human Rights Act Landmark rulings against the Executive Judicial inquiries What secures judicial independence Tensions between the judiciary and the Executive The effectiveness of the judiciary in holding the Executive to account

Option: Pressure Groups in the UKPressure groups

Topic overview The concept of a pressure group Cause and sectional pressure groups Insider and outsider pressure groups Social movements Pressure groups and the policy-making process Insider tactics: lobbying, consultation and the courts Outsider tactics: protest, direct action and the media What makes a pressure group successful Pluralist, elitist and New Right interpretations of impact Regulating lobbying and the debate about influence

USA Option: The Legislative BranchUSA

Topic overview The constitutional basis of Congress Membership, elections and terms The representative role of Congress The legislative process The committee system Scrutiny, oversight and impeachment The exclusive powers of the Senate Parties, leadership and polarisation Assessing the effectiveness of Congress Pressure and lobby groups and Congress Congress and the President

USA Option: The Executive BranchUSA

Topic overview The constitutional role of the President The roles the President performs The formal and informal powers of the executive The Cabinet and the executive departments The Executive Office of the President Executive orders, agreements and unilateral action Constraints on the exercise of executive power How amendments and the courts have shaped the presidency Lobby groups and the executive branch The executive and Congress Power, responsibility and accountability in the American executive

USA Option: Comparative Government and PoliticsUSA

Topic overview Separation of powers and fusion of powers Structures of the two legislatures compared Powers of the two legislatures compared Party discipline and the operation of the two legislatures Representation compared across the four chambers Legislation compared across the four chambers Scrutiny compared across the four chambers Evaluating the effectiveness of the four chambers Appointment and removal of the two executives compared The powers of the two executives compared Constraints, accountability and the effectiveness of the two executives

Ireland Option: The Legislative BranchIreland

Topic overview Bunreacht na hÉireann and the role of the Oireachtas Dáil Éireann: composition, election and term Single transferable vote in multi-seat constituencies Seanad Éireann: composition and selection How a bill becomes law in the Oireachtas The Oireachtas and representation Scrutiny, questions and the committee system The effectiveness of Dáil Éireann and Dáil reform The effectiveness of Seanad Éireann and the reform debate The judiciary, the courts and the legislative branch The Oireachtas and the executive

Ireland Option: The Executive BranchIreland

Topic overview Bunreacht na hÉireann and the executive power The Taoiseach: appointment, powers and constraints The Tánaiste, ministers and the shape of the Government Cabinet government and the executive process The President and the executive branch Coalition government and how it shapes the executive Ministerial responsibility and accountability The executive and the Oireachtas The judiciary and the executive branch Formal constitutional amendment and the executive Informal constitutional change and the executive

Ireland Option: Comparative Government and PoliticsIreland

Topic overview Codified and uncodified constitutions compared The structures of the Oireachtas and Parliament compared Electing the Dáil and the Commons: PR-STV and first past the post Seanad Éireann and the House of Lords compared Representation compared Making law: the legislative process compared Scrutiny and accountability compared Appointing the two executives The powers of the two executives compared Constraints on the two executives compared Evaluating the power, accountability and effectiveness of the two executives

Political Power: The Exercise of Political PowerPolitical Power

Topic overview Power, authority and influence Legitimacy and the grounds of obedience Social, economic, religious and international factors in legitimacy Creating and maintaining legitimacy across political systems Coercion and its effectiveness Dictatorship, authoritarianism and oligarchy The nature and effectiveness of authoritarian rule Democracy and democratic legitimacy Human and civil rights State survival and state collapse

Political Power: Theories of Political PowerPolitical Power

Topic overview Studying the origin, nature and distribution of power Pluralism and the diffusion of power Criticisms of pluralism and elite pluralism Marxism, the ruling class and the capitalist state Neo-Marxism, hegemony and the relative autonomy of the state Classical elite theory Modern elite theory and elite rule Feminism, patriarchy and political power The theories applied to different political systems Evaluating the four theories of power

Political Ideas: Mill, on LibertyPolitical Ideas

Topic overview Mill, On Liberty and the one very simple principle The harm principle Self-regarding and other-regarding conduct Threats to individual liberty The tyranny of the majority Liberty of thought and discussion Individuality and experiments of living Human rationality, progress and Mill's exceptions The role of the state in On Liberty Criticisms of On Liberty

Political Ideas: Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FrancePolitical Ideas

Topic overview Burke, the Reflections and the occasion of the book Burke's view of human nature Reason, prejudice and prescription Custom, tradition and the partnership between generations The attack on abstract rights Gradual change and the case for reform Social inequality, property and natural aristocracy Political authority, religion and the role of the state Burke's critique of the revolutionaries' method Criticisms of the Reflections

Political Ideas: Marx and Engels, the Communist ManifestoPolitical Ideas

Topic overview The Manifesto, its authors and its occasion Class struggle and the materialist view of history The bourgeoisie as a revolutionary class The nature of capitalism and its crises The exploitation of the working class Social divisions, the other classes and class consciousness The demise of capitalism and the proletarian revolution Private property and the ten measures The nature of socialism and the role of the state Criticisms of The Communist Manifesto

Political Ideas: LiberalismPolitical Ideas

Topic overview The core ideas of liberalism The liberal view of human nature and human reason Negative and positive freedom Threats to individual liberty Liberal equality The liberal state Classical liberalism Modern liberalism Liberalism and democracy Evidence for and criticisms of liberal principles Liberalism compared with conservatism and socialism

Political Ideas: ConservatismPolitical Ideas

Topic overview The core ideas of conservatism The conservative view of human nature Custom, tradition and prescription The need for gradual change The organic society Authority, hierarchy and social inequality One-nation conservatism Libertarian conservatism and the New Right Evidence for and criticisms of conservative principles Conservatism compared with liberalism and socialism

Political Ideas: SocialismPolitical Ideas

Topic overview The core ideas of socialism The socialist view of human nature The socialist critique of capitalism Socialist equality Individual liberty in socialist thought Fraternity, community and co-operation The role of the state in socialist thought Revolutionary socialism Reformist socialism and social democracy Evidence for and criticisms of socialist principles Socialism compared with liberalism and conservatism

Political Ideas: Conservatism

10 subtopics
30 things to know
A2 Unit 2
A2 2 Option B, Political Ideas — taken instead of Political Power

What Political Ideas: Conservatism covers

Political Ideas: Conservatism is examined in Unit A2 2 Option B, Political Ideas — taken instead of Political Power. It covers the core ideas of conservatism, the conservative view of human nature, custom, tradition and prescription, the need for gradual change, the organic society, authority, hierarchy and social inequality, one-nation conservatism, libertarian conservatism and the New Right, evidence for and criticisms of conservative principles and conservatism compared with liberalism and socialism.

Where it is assessed

A2 Unit 2

Political Ideas, one of two options.

Check the CCEA specification ↗

The 10 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

How do conservatives understand liberty?

Key term

What is the conservative attitude to private property?

Key term

What distinguishes conservatism from mere resistance to all change?

Key term

What is the conservative view of human nature?

Key term

What is meant by moral imperfection?

Key term

What is prescription in conservative thought?

Key term

What did Oakeshott mean by describing politics as a boundless and bottomless sea?

Evaluation

What is the difference between tradition and nostalgia in conservative argument?

Key term

What is the organic view of society?

Key term

What follows politically from the organic view of society?

Key term

How do conservatives believe authority arises?

Key term

How do conservatives distinguish authority from authoritarianism?

Key term

What tension exists inside the New Right?

Evaluation

How far is libertarian conservatism consistent with traditional conservatism?

Key term

How do conservatives use the British constitution as evidence?

Key term

Why does disagreement about human nature account for most of the other differences between the three ideologies?

Key term

How do the three ideologies differ over the pace and direction of change?

Key term

How do the three ideologies differ over the family?

Key term

What did Burke mean by change in order to conserve?

Numbers

Where does the phrase one nation come from?

Key term

How did Burke assess the American Revolution differently?

Key term

What did Disraeli argue about the condition of the people?

Evaluation

What is the criticism that conservatism has no fixed principles?

Key term

How does the conservative view of human nature justify a strong state on law and order?

Numbers

What is meant by conservative reformism in nineteenth century Britain?

Key term

How does the organic view differ from the liberal contract view?

Key term

Why do conservatives regard authority as necessary?

Key term

Which reforms did Disraeli's government of 1874 to 1880 carry?

Key term

What is neo-conservatism within the New Right?

Evaluation

What is the criticism that conservative pessimism is self-fulfilling?

Take Political Ideas: Conservatism further

The same content, four other ways.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What is conservatism?
Model answer
Conservatism is a political ideology that treats human beings as imperfect and society as a delicate inheritance, and therefore prefers established institutions, gradual change and settled authority to reform designed from abstract principle.
2
Why is conservatism often described as a disposition rather than a doctrine?
Model answer
Conservatism has no founding text or blueprint and defines itself by what it wishes to preserve, so it takes different forms in different societies. Michael Oakeshott described it as a preference for the familiar over the unknown and the tried over the untried.
3
Which historical events shaped the emergence of conservatism?
Model answer
Conservatism emerged as a reaction to the French Revolution of 1789 and to the Enlightenment claim that society could be reordered by reason. The violence that followed the Revolution was taken as evidence of what happens when inherited institutions are swept away.
4
What is meant by conservative pragmatism?
Model answer
Pragmatism in conservatism is the preference for judging each question by practical experience and circumstance rather than by fixed principle, on the ground that human reason is too limited to foresee the consequences of general schemes.
5
Why do conservatives distrust abstract theory in politics?
Model answer
Conservatives argue that society is more complex than any theory can capture, that abstract principles ignore local circumstance, and that reformers who follow blueprints produce consequences they did not intend, as the Jacobin Terror was held to show.
6
What do conservatives mean by scepticism about human reason?
Model answer
Conservatives hold that individual reason is fallible and narrow, and that the accumulated experience of generations, embodied in custom, law and institutions, is a safer guide than the calculations of any single person or government.

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Political Ideas: Conservatism revision questions

What does Political Ideas: Conservatism cover in CCEA A-Level Government and Politics?: 10 subtopics: the core ideas of conservatism, the conservative view of human nature, custom, tradition and prescription, the need for gradual change, the organic society, authority, hierarchy and social inequality, one-nation conservatism, libertarian conservatism and the new right, evidence for and criticisms of conservative principles and conservatism compared with liberalism and socialism. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
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