National liberalism is a variant ofliberalism, combining liberal policies and issues with elements ofnationalism.[1] Historically, national liberalism has also been used in the same meaning asconservative liberalism (right-liberalism).[2][3]
A series of "national-liberal" political parties, by ideology or just by name, were especially active in Europe in the 19th century in several national contexts such asCentral Europe, theNordic countries, andSoutheastern Europe.
National liberalism was primarily a 19th-century ideology and a movement.[4]
National liberal goals were the pursuit of individual and economic freedom and national sovereignty.[5]József Antall, a historian andChristian democrat who served as the first post-communistPrime Minister of Hungary, described national liberalism as "part and parcel of the emergence of the nation state" in 19th-century Europe.[6]
According to Oskar Mulej, "in terms of both ideologies and political party traditions it may be argued that in theCentral European lands a distinct type of liberalism, peculiar to this region evolved through the nineteenth century"[7] and citing Maciej Janowski, "the word 'national' acted as more or less synonymous with 'liberal'" ("'national' alone was sufficient to arouse suspicions of liberal associations").[8] Also according to Mulej, inSoutheast Europe "'national liberals' also played visible if not central roles, but with rather different, region-specific characteristics, which to a considerable extent distinguished them from their Central European counterparts."[7][9]
Lind himself defines national liberalism as uniting "moderatesocial conservatism with moderate economic liberalism".[10]
Gordon Smith, a leading scholar of comparative European politics, understands national liberalism as a political concept that lost popularity when the success of nationalist movements in creating nation states rendered it no longer necessary to specify that a liberal ideal, party or politician was "national".[11]
The roots of national liberalism are to be found in the 19th century, whenconservative liberalism and/orclassical liberalism was the ideology of the political classes in most European countries and in particular those ofCentral Europe, then governed by hereditarymonarchies.
At their origin, national liberals, although pro-business, were not necessarily advocates offree trade andeconomic liberalism per se and sometimes favoured cooperation between the government and the national industry, moderate levels of protectionism, the establishment of preferential custom unions, subsidies for infant industry or companies considered of national strategic importance and various forms of industrial planning.[citation needed]
National liberalism was popular in a number of countries including Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Romania during the 19th century.[12] In Germany, Austria and Romania, national liberals and/or "National Liberal" parties were long in government.[citation needed] More specifically, inGerman-speaking countries national liberals were also in favour of a more authoritarian or conservative political regime because of the multi-ethnic character or heterogeneous nature of countries like theAustrian Empire (later officially renamedAustria-Hungary) or the newly created Germany underChancellorOtto von Bismarck.[citation needed]
InAustria-Hungary, theConstitutional Party was the main representative of national liberalism.[7] In Austria, national liberalism has remained the basis of one of the threeLager, or ideological camps, in the country, dating back to theRevolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire.[13] During theinterwar period, the national-liberal camp was gathered into theGreater German People's Party.[14] By 1938, with theAnschluss of Austria intoNazi Germany, the national-liberal camp had been swallowed whole byAustrian National Socialism and all other parties were eventually absorbed into Nazi totalitarianism.[15] Both Socialists and Christian Socials were persecuted under the Nazi regime and the national-liberal camp was scarred after the war due toguilt by association with National Socialism.[15]
In 1949, theFederation of Independents (VdU) was founded as a national-liberal alternative to the main Austrian parties.[16] It incorporated an array of political movements, including free market liberals, populists, former Nazis and German nationalists, all of whom had been unable to join either of the two main parties.[16][17][18] The VdU evolved into theFreedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) in 1955–1956.[19][20][21] WhenJörg Haider was chosen as new FPÖ leader in 1986, the party started an ideological turn towardsright-wing populism, which resulted in the split of most liberals, who formed theLiberal Forum (LiF), which took over the FPÖ's membership in theLiberal International and would later eventually merge intoNEOS. Haider himself would split from the party and form theAlliance for the Future of Austria in 2005.
InBulgaria theNational Liberal Party (NLP) was a political party founded in 1920 by a merger of theLiberal Party (Radoslavists), thePeople's Liberal Party and theYoung Liberals Party. The party has won several seats in some elections including the November1923 elections and1927 elections. A party named National Liberal Party 'Stefan Stambolov' was established after the fall of the communist regime, and was part of theCoalition for Bulgaria alliance in the1991 parliamentary elections.
InAustria-Hungary theYoung Czech Party, emerged in 1874 after a split from theOld Czech Party, was a national-liberal force. DuringCzechoslovakia's era (1918–1992), a few parties were described as national-liberal:Czechoslovak National Democracy, theNational Labour Party and, after 1989, theCzech National Social Party.
Today, the conservativeCivic Democratic Party (ODS) in the Czech Republic has been described as a national-liberal party.[22] The ODS is a member of theAlliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe, as Slovakia'sFreedom and Solidarity, and theInternational Democrat Union.
In Denmark, from the 1830s the core concept of national liberalism was that the nation and the state should have the same extent. National liberals supported the union the Kingdom of Denmark and theDuchy of Schleswig under a common constitutional framework. On the economy, the state should not interfere with trade and the national-liberal economic vision was transposed in the 1857 Law on Freedom of Business, which abolished the last remnants of the feudal monopolies which had previously formed the framework for the craft of the cities.[23] Danish national liberals supportedScandinavism and thus Scandinavian unity.[24]
In 1919 theWafd Party was founded byEgyptian nationalist leaderSaad Zaghloul. The Wafd Party led the1919 Egyptian revolution againstBritish colonial rule in Egypt, resulting in theUnilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence and the founding of theKingdom of Egypt, as well as writing of theEgyptian Constitution of 1923, which created abicameral,parliamentary democratic,constitutional monarchy. The Wafd Party was dissolved byGamal Abdel Nasser'sFree Officers movement after the1952 Egyptian revolution.[25]
TheNew Wafd Party, A.K.A. the Egyptian Wafd Party was founded in 1978 byFouad Serageddin afterAnwar Sadat increased political liberalization in Egypt. They sought to form an opposition bloc with theEgyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the1984 general election, but only won 15%.[26] The Egyptian Wafd Party was active in the2011 Egyptian revolution. They have been represented in theEgyptian Senate andEgyptian House of Representatives since the2011-12 elections.[25]
In theGrand Duchy of Finland, anautonomous part of theRussian Empire, where as many as 80% of the population was Protestant and Finnish-speaking, somewhat under 20% Protestant Swedish speakers (Sweden ruled Finland until 1809) and a small number Russian Orthodox, the term "national liberal" was used by the elite Swedish-speakers of theSvecoman movement who advocated liberal ideals, but wanted to keep Swedish as the dominant language, an idea opposed by the Finnish-speaking nationalists of theFennoman movement.[12] The Svecoman movement gave birth to the Swedish Party, which was later renamedSwedish People's Party in Finland, which has since moved to mainstream liberalism andsocial liberalism and is often a party of government in the country.Finns Party Youthdescribed its economic policy with that term.
The main representatives are the think-tankCarrefour de l'Horloge preceded by Cercle Pareto created in 1968 byYvan Blot which was related with theGRECE, and the National-Liberal Party both directed byHenry de Lesquen.
In Germany, "national-liberal" was widely used in a similar sense to "right-liberal".
In 19th-century Germany, believers in national liberalism differed fromliberal nationalists in that they believed in a more authoritarian presence in Europe and a strongGerman Empire. Liberal nationalists, such asMax Weber, were looking towards a democratic Germany in cooperation with the other European powers.[citation needed]
At the time of the German Empire, national liberalism was represented by theNational Liberal Party (NLP), the largest in theReichstag for several years. National Liberals supported Bismarck, who served as Chancellor from 1871 (unification of Germany) to 1890, until the late 1870s when the Chancellor reversed his earlyfree trade policies, became a proponent ofprotectionism, opposed increasing parliamentary powers and ultimately pandered for the support of theGerman Conservative Party (largely representing the wealthy landowning eliteJunkers ofPrussia).[27][28][29][30] Additionally, the NLP (which had obtained around 30% in the first three federal elections, including 30.1% in the1871 federal election) suffered huge losses in the1878 federal election and especially the1881 federal election (when it was reduced to 14.6%). Later, the party experienced a steady decline in its share of vote, contextually with the rise of theSocial Democratic Party and theCentre Party at the turn of the century.
During theWeimar Republic, the NLP was succeeded by theGerman People's Party (DVP), whose main leader wasGustav Stresemann, Chancellor (1923) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (1923–1929). The DVP, which was joined by some moderate elements of theFree Conservative Party (FKP) and theEconomic Union (WV),[31] was generally thought to represent the interests of the great German industrialists and has been classified as a national-liberal party by several observers.[32][33][34] Its platform stressed Christian family values, secular education, lower tariffs, opposition to welfare spending and agrarian subsidies and hostility to "Marxism" (that is to say, both theCommunist Party and the Social Democratic Party). After Stresemann's death, the DVP, whose ranks included several anti-republicans, veered sharply to the right.[35]
The currentFree Democratic Party (FDP), which was the joint successor of the DVP and thesocial liberalGerman Democratic Party (DDP), originally featured conservative and partly nationalist efforts, which were particularly strong in some state associations until the 1950s[36] and more occasionally after that (For exampleJürgen Möllemann, FDP leader inNorth Rhine-Westphalia in 1983–1994 and 1996–2002)[37] and still includes a national-liberal faction,[38] which holds a consistentlyEurosceptic position, differently from the rest of the party.[39] Some right-wing elements, includingSven Tritschler (former leader of the Stresemann Club),[40] have more recently joined theAlternative for Germany (AfD),[41] which has in turn been characterised by some observers as national liberal.[42][43][44]
József Antall was thefirst democratically electedPrime Minister of Hungary as a member of theHungarian Democratic Forum. Antall played a major role of in bringingHungary closer to theWestern Bloc, as well bringing down theWarsaw Pact. Antall promoted botheconomic liberalization, while appealing to theright-wing populist fringe of his party by discussing the "national issue" of Hungarians living outside of Hungary andHungarian irredentism (see alsoSzékely autonomy movement). All of this coincided with theEnd of communism in Hungary and the country's democratisation and decommunisation, something Antall played a major role in promoting.[45]
Since 1973,Likud – National Liberal Movement operates in Israel as the maincentre-right and Zionist political party in the country.[46] It historically based its ideology upon the national liberal principles ofZe'ev Jabotinsky, known asRevisionist Zionism.[47] This has led to a combination of liberal policies (such asfree market economics inIsrael) and nationalist policies (such as vaguely supporting some idea ofGreater Israel and an Israeli one-state solution).[48]
In recent years, other national liberal parties in Israel (such asYisrael Beiteinu,National Unity,New Hope, andDerekh Eretz) that have either explicitly or implicitly supported atwo-state solution, albeit not necessarily based upon the1949 Armistice border. The main exception to this is Derekh Eretz, which can best be described as acenter-right,moderately conservativepro-peace party. Even still, Derekh Eretz falls strongly within the national liberal politics of Israel, given its support forZionism and promotion of asecular,free market,democratic, and Jewish Israel.[49]
In South Korea during the reign ofSyngman Rhee, various movements sought to move away from Rhee'sdictatorial,conservative, andquasi-fascist governance (at least at the beginning of theFirst Republic) and towards a moreliberal anddemocratic society. This included theDemocratic Party, usually considered the main opposition to Syngman Rhee'sLiberal Party.[50] The Democratic Party often synthesizednationalist support for the state ofSouth Korea with liberalism to form a kind of South Korean national liberalism. Slowly the party would gain more prominence within the South Korean political scene. In the1958 South Korean legislative election, the Democratic Party won 79 seats, making it second to the ruling Liberal Party.[51] During thefirst democratic elections in 1960 during the short livedSecond Republic of Korea,Yun Po-sun, lifelonganti-communist, democracy advocate, and ideological national liberal, won under the Democratic Party banner.[52] However, his reign was not to be. Factionalism, division, and economic instability defined the Second Republic, including within theSouth Korean army.[53] Within a year, Yun Po-sun and his Democratic Party were ousted by military leadersPark Chung Hee andChang Do-yong, the former of whom would become dictator during theThird Republic of Korea.[54][55]
TheNational Liberal Party was founded in 1958 byCamille Chamoun with apro-British, andanti-French foreign policy along withfree enterprise,democracy, andnonsectarianism. During theLebanese Civil War, the National Liberal Party had a military wing, theTigers Militia, which was allied with theLebanese Front andLebanese Forces. As a result it has maintained close relations with theLebanese Forces party today. In 2005, the National Liberal Party opposedSyrian occupation and was part of theQornet Shehwan Gathering.
In Romania, theNational Liberal Party (PNL), which was initially established in 1875, re-incorporated in 1990, and subsequently enlarged in 2014 (when it absorbed theDemocratic Liberal Party, PDL), has also been part of the national-liberal tradition. Nowadays, it is one of the country's main parties. Former Romanian PresidentKlaus Iohannis (2014–2025) stemmed from it. Currently, in terms of political ideology, the PNL is mainlyliberal-conservative andpro-European, therefore placed on thecentre-right of thepolitical spectrum concerning economy, society, culture, freedom of expression, and civil liberties.
In Russia, "national liberalism" was a 1990s movement claiming to be redefining "liberal" principles as understood in the Western tradition to produce a "national liberalism" better suited to Russian culture,[56] being practically a variety ofRussian nationalism.
In Sweden, in the 1860s liberals described themselves as national liberals (nationalliberaler) and constituted a coalition of monarchists and liberal reformists in support of parliamentary reforms.[12] Swedish national liberals also supportedScandinavism.[24]
During theSecond Syrian Republic, theNational Bloc, which advocated Syrian independence from theFrench Mandate, split into two political parties: one was theconservative,Arab nationalist,pan-syrian,irredentist,anti-Western, and anti-Hashemite/pro-republicanNational Party; the other was the national liberal,Syrian nationalist, Hashemitemonarchist,constitutional monarchist, andpro-WestPeople's Party.[57]
Several political parties have included "national liberal" in their names or ideology. A list is available atNational Liberal Party.
Modern Austria.
In December 1945, the United States Army Military Government proscribed it in the south, preferring to work with right-wing nationalist groups such as the Korea Democratic Party.
