Liberalism and Neoliberalism

Liberalism is a political philosophy and ideas of liberty and equality. Liberalism rejected the social and political norms of hereditary privilege, state religion, absolute monarchy, and the Divine Right of Kings.

The 17th-century philosopher John Locke is often credited with founding liberalism as a philosophical tradition. Locke argued that each man has a natural right to life, liberty and property and that governments must not violate these rights based on the social contract. Liberals opposed traditional conservatism and wanted to replace absolutism in government with representative democracy and the rule of law.

Liberals espouse their understanding of these principles, but generally they support ideas and programs such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free markets, civil rights, democratic societies, secular governments, gender equality and international cooperation.

NeoLiberalism

Neoliberalism refers primarily to the 20th century resurgence (developing after a period of time without any growth or increase) of 19th century ideas. These include privatization, deregulation, free trade, and reductions in government spending in order to enhance the role of the private sector in the economy. The acceptance of neoliberal economic theories in the 1970s are seen by some academics as the root of financialization, with the financial crisis of 2007–08 as one of the ultimate results.