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Liberal parties
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Liberal parties


This text is part of the Liberalism series (III)




Liberalism in countries / Liberal parties

LI / ELDR (ALDE) / CALD

Timeline of liberal parties in:

Africa -  The Americas - Asia - Europe - Oceania

- Liberal thinkers
A liberal party is defined here as a political party, that adheres to the basic principles of (political) liberalism. This is a broad political current, that includes both free market liberals and social liberals. All liberal parties emphasise individual liberty, but they differ in their opinion on an active role for the state. Liberal parties believe in the growth of a free society based on personal liberty, personal responsibility and social justice.

Table of contents
1 Historical pattern
2 The label Liberal
3 International affiliations
4 The parties
5 History of liberal parties
6 External links

Historical pattern

At the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century liberals started to organise themselves in loose organisations and/or political parties in opposition to conservative, clerical and absolutist forces, striving after the emancipation of citizens and the middle class. As late as 1848 in Europe, liberalism was generally seen as a revolutionary force, and in those parts of the world where feudalism or other highly traditionalist (or merely socially rigid) societies remain, it still has revolutionary aspects. When liberals have gained power and realised their first reforms, one often sees a divergence within the ranks of liberals:

Some so-called liberal parties have only a tenuous connection to any tradition that would usually be called "liberal". For example, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia is an extreme right-wing political party led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

The label Liberal

Liberal parties not naming or labeling themselves Liberal

In many countries the word liberal became pejorative or the meaning of the word developed into a specific national context. This brought many liberal parties not to name or label itself as a Liberal party. This happens also often when a second liberal party is formed in a country. Progressive liberals in the nineteenth century tended to use words as Radical, Progressive, Freethinking or simply Democratic in stead of Liberal. Examples are the Unión Civica Radical and the Parti Radical, as well as the Deutsche Fortschrittspartei and the Vrijzinnig-Democratische Bond. This continued in the twentieth and twenty-first century. It took a party as the Democraten 66 more than thirty years to label itself as a Social Liberal party. Centrist parties often take the liberal position in the political spectrum, but keep their old names and labelling.

Liberal conservatism and Libertarians

Sometimes the original liberal current developed into a conservative direction by becoming liberal conservative parties. Examples are the Liberal Party of Australia and the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan). Next to that new libertarian parties are formed, claiming to be liberal parties.

International affiliations

Many liberal or similar parties are member of the Liberal International and/or of its regional partners, like the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party and the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats. Mainly due to national contexts or power reasons some of these parties joined either the Socialist International or the conservative International Democratic Union and its regional partners.

The parties

A selection of present-day liberal and similar parties around the world. Defunct parties can be found at the List of Schematic history of liberal parties around the world.

History of liberal parties

The history of liberal parties around the world can be found at Schematic history of liberal parties around the world

External links