A general overview and comprehensive discussion of this topic may be found in the article Liberalism.
In general, liberalism in Europe is a political movement that supports a broad tradition of individual liberties and constitutionally-limited and democratically accountable government. These European derivatives of classical liberalism are found in centrist movements and parties as well as some parties on the centre-left and the centre-right.
Liberalism in Europe is broadly divided into two groups, "social" and "conservative".[1] This differs from the American method of dividing liberalism into "modern" (simply liberal) and "classical" (or libertarian[citation needed]), although the two groups are very similar to their European counterparts.
Most liberalism in Europe is conservative or classical, whilst European social liberalism and progressivism is rooted in radicalism, a left-wing classical liberal idea.)
Liberal practices
Liberal political parties have specific policies, which the social scientist can either read from party manifestos, or infer from actual actions and laws passed by ostensibly liberal parties. The sources listed below serve to illustrate some of the current liberal attitudes in Europe.
the policies of liberal parties in government, including those in coalition arrangements (taking into mind that coalition partners make compromises), since they show what liberals are prepared to accept as well as the policies of liberal parties in opposition
the forum of the German FDP,[5] which is relatively unmoderated, and illustrates grassroots liberal concerns. Sites of other Liberal parties, e.g. the British Liberal Democrats[6] and the Netherlands' Democrats 66,[7] are more heavily moderated and therefore more representative for the policy of liberal parties.
the Belgian website / think tank Liberales.be[8] which has longer essays on new liberal policies
the views and policies of the Open Society Institute, since they explicitly claim to derive from the principles of a major liberal philosopher, Karl Popper.
the Lisbon Strategy of the European Union, since it is strongly supported by the liberal parties, and sets out a vision of a future Europe.
The liberalism visible in these sources emphasizes in comparison with other ideologies more belief in individual development as a motor for society and the state providing a social safety net. The liberal policies differ from country to country and from party to party.
In the context of European politics, a liberal (i.e., when the word is used without a modifier) is generally understood to refer to a classical liberal, who may be either centre-left or centre-right. As a result, a European classical liberal usually refers to a centre-right person with prominent economically liberal tendencies. (Germany's Free Democratic Party, for example, follows classical liberalism in this sense.) Under one interpretation, a European mainstream conservative liberal (e.g., a proponent of ordoliberalism or Christian democracy) usually has weaker economically liberal tendencies than a social liberal.[9] However, some consider classical liberals (= economic liberals) to be conservative liberals as well.[15][16]
^Paul Kelly, ed. (2005). Liberalism. Polity. p. 71. ISBN9780745632902. Conservative liberal critics of social justice, such as Friedrich Hayek, have sought to reject precisely this distinction.