Liberalism has been and continues to be one of the most relevant and popular political ideologies in the world. With various economic and social forms, it has shaped the world we live in today and established the most popular form of governance, liberal democracy.
Whether it is economic liberalism, social liberalism, or neoliberalism, liberalism derives from the Latin word "liber" and is based on individual freedom in private and business life. Everything depends on the type of liberalism.
Liberalism has its origins in the Enlightenment period, becoming relevant in the 18th century. The liberalism of that time emerged as a movement opposing the status quo of the era. It opposed authoritarian monarchy, the divine right of kings, and promoted universal rights and democracy.
Over time, liberalism no longer remained the sole ideology opposing the status quo, as socialism and social democracy also emerged.
The introduction of the terms "left" and "right" to determine the characteristics of an ideology meant that liberalism, already facing competition from more economically radical ideologies on the left, became associated with right-wing ideas.
But the most interesting thing is that depending on the region, the liberal ideology can mean completely different things.
For example, in Europe, liberalism is a right-wing ideology that advocates for free markets and individual upliftment through self-efforts. In contrast, in the United States and the UK, it means the opposite. This discrepancy is largely due to the fact that in the US and the UK, the primary terms for determining the type of ideology are "conservative" and "liberal." There is also the term "libertarian," but this is a kind of conservative that despises everything related to the government and its rules. However, American and British conservatives and libertarians are quite similar in beliefs, with libertarians being even more economically right-leaning and socially more progressive.
So, in Anglo-American political terminology, "liberal" means a progressive left-leaning ideology that tends towards a form of social democracy, while "conservative" is equivalent to a more conservative European economic liberal, ideologically similar to the CDU party in Germany. While the "libertarian" is like a European economic liberal that is economically very right-leaning, closer to neoliberalism than classical liberalism.
Although this may be confusing and seemingly nonsensical, it is the key to understanding Anglo-American politics correctly. Without a clear understanding of these two defining terms in their political system and the differences in their meanings between Europe, the USA, and the UK, everything can seem turned upside down and very difficult to comprehend.
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