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02 POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC LIBERALISM, image, image, image, image, image,…
02 POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC LIBERALISM
1 CRITICISM OF THE OLD REGIME
Political theories developed that advocated reforms
To guarantee individual rights and moderate the power of kings
The legal inequality of the estate system
This is the absence of equality between all people before the law
Society was divided into privileged social groups and the rest of the population
The survival of a feudal economy
Although there was great commercial and market growth during previous centuries
The liberals criticised obstacles to development caused by fiefdoms
The power of absolute monarchs and the Church
The power of monarchies and the privileges of the Church
Their ability to influence laws limited individual rights and freedom of expression
The survival of manorialism in the fiefdoms of the nobility and the Church
Although the situation was not the same everywhere
Inhabitants of fiefdoms had to work for their lords, pay taxes and be subject to their laws
2 IDEAS OF POLITICAL LIBERALISM
The Old Regime was heavily criticised
A group of ideas formed around political liberalism
Equality of people before the law
This meant the abolition of
All privileges
Fiefdoms
Manorialism
The whole estate system
Everyone, including the king, should be subject to the same laws regardless of their social origin
The existence of unalienable individual rights
These rights cannot be taken away
Meant that human beings naturally possessed the right to life
Implied the establishment of freedoms regarding issues and areas
Sovereignty resides in the nation
The liberals advocated that the people should govern themselves through their representatives in Parliament
These should be elected by suffrage, or in other words, by voting
They proposed a representative political power
The division of powers
The liberals argued that power had to be moderated by individual rights
Division into three powers
The legislative
The judicial
The executive
There should be a separation between the Church and the state
3 IDEAS OF ECONOMIC LIBERALISM
Enlightened ideas also influenced the field of economics
The British economist Adam Smith developed a theory called economic liberalism
It defended the freedom of the individual to produce and buy within a free market and own private property
Faced with restrictions imposed by privileges, assets that could not be sold
Price controls and commercial regulations, and theories like mercantilism and physiocracy
The liberals believed that the role of public power should be reduced
The state should not intervene as the law of supply and demand in a free market
Would determine what to produce, how much to produce and at what price
SERFS AND SUBJECTS
Society in the Old Regime was made up of serfs and subjects
Serfs
Were required to serve a lord
They were usually inhabitants of a fiefdom where they lived under manorialism
Subjects
Were all the inhabitants of a kingdom, regardless of their class
They owed obedience and loyalty to their king
MODERATE AND RADICAL LIBERALS
There were two different ideological tendencies amongst liberals
The moderate liberals
Were monarchists and wanted to keep
The king
A official religion
They reserved part of the executive and legislative power from the king
Limited the right of election through censitary suffrage
Radical liberals
Were democrats, and advocated universal suffrage
They understood that
It should be guaranteed
Broad freedoms and the suppression of the role of religion in any area of public civil life
