Centre-right politics

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Centre-right politics, also referred to as moderate-right politics, are politics that lean to the right of the left-right political spectrum, but are closer to the centre than other right-wing variants.

From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and mercantilism, and moving towards the bourgeoisie and capitalism.[1][2][3] This general economic shift towards capitalism affected centre-right movements such as the British Conservative Party that responded by becoming supportive of capitalism.[4]

The International Democrat Union, an alliance of centre-right political parties, including the British Conservative Party, the Republican Party of the United States, the Conservative Party of Canada, the Liberal Party of Australia, the New Zealand National Party and Christian democratic parties, amongst others across the world, is committed to the principles that "democratic societies provide individuals throughout the world with the best conditions for political liberty, personal freedom, equality of opportunity and economic development under the rule of law; and therefore being committed to advancing the social and political values on which democratic societies are founded, including the basic personal freedoms and human rights, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; in particular, the right of free speech, organisation, assembly and non-violent dissent; the right to free elections and the freedom to organise effective parliamentary opposition to government; the right to a free and independent media; the right to religious belief; equality before the law; and individual opportunity and prosperity."[5]


French Revolution to World War II[edit]

The prominent inspiration for the centre-right, especially in Britain, was the traditionalist conservatism of Edmund Burke.[6] Burke's traditionalist conservatism was more moderate than the continental conservatism developed by Joseph De Maistre in France, that upon experiencing the French Revolution completely denounced the status quo that existed immediately prior to the revolution (unlike Burke) and de Maistre sought a reactionary counter-revolution that would dismantle all modern society and return it to a strictly religious-based society.[7] While Burke condemned the French Revolution, he had supported the American Revolution that he viewed as being a conservative revolution.[8] Burke claimed that the Americans revolted for the same reason as the English had during the Glorious Revolution, in both cases a monarch had overstepped the boundaries of his duties.[9] Burke claimed that the American Revolution was justified because King George III had overstepped his customary rights by imposing taxes on the American colonists without their consent.[10] Burke opposed the French Revolution because he opposed its anti-traditionalism and its use of abstract ideas, such as the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and its universal egalitarianism that Burke rebuked by claiming that it effectively endorsed "hairdressers" being able to be politicians.[10]

In Britain, the traditionalist conservative movement was represented in the British Conservative Party.[11] Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Benjamin Disraeli sought to address social problems affecting the working class due to lack of assistance from the laissez-faire economy, and formed his one nation conservatism that claimed that lack of assistance for the lower classes had divided British society into two nations – the rich and the poor as the result of unrestrained private enterprise, he claimed that he sought to break down.[12] Disraeli said that he supported a united British nation while presenting the other parties representing the upper-class or the lower-class.[11] Disraeli was hostile to free trade and preferred aristocratic paternalism as well as promoting imperialism.[11] However with the revival in Britain of the socialist movement with the rise of the Labour Party, and the demise of the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party shifted to become a supporter of capitalism and an opponent of socialism, while advocacy of capitalism was promoted within the principles of traditionalist conservatism.[11]

Another centre-right movement that arose in France in response to the French Revolution, was the beginning of the Christian democracy movement, where moderate conservative Catholics accepted the democratic elements of the French Revolution.[12] The first Christian democratic party was founded in Italy in 1919 by Luigi Sturzo, it was suppressed by the Italian Fascist regime and was forced into exile in France.[12] Sturzo in France founded an international movement that supported the creation of a European common market and European integration to prevent war, amongst those who attended the group included future German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, Alcide de Gasperi, and Robert Schuman.[12]

Post-World War II[edit]

In Europe after World War II, centre-right Christian democratic parties arose as powerful political movements while the authoritarian reactionary Catholic traditionalist movements in Europe diminished in strength.[12] Christian democratic movements became major movements in Austria, the Benelux countries, Germany, and Italy.[12]

Neoliberalism arose as an economic theory by Milton Friedman that condemned government interventionism in the economy that it associated with socialism and collectivism.[13] Neoliberals rejected Keynesian economics that they claimed advocate too much emphasis on relieving unemployment in response to their observance of the Great Depression, the neoliberals identified the real problem as being with inflation and advocate the policy of monetarism to deal with inflation.[14]

Neoliberal economics was endorsed by Conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who adapted it as part of a free-market conservatism closer to the developments in American conservatism, while traditionalist conservatism became less influential within the British Conservative Party.[15] However the British Conservative Party still has a large traditional conservative base, particularly the Conservative Cornerstone Group. Thatcher publicly supported centre-right politics and supported its spread in Eastern Europe after the end of the Marxist-Leninist regimes in the late 1980s and early 1990s.[16] After the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, a variety of centre-right political parties have emerged there, including many that support neoliberalism.[17]

In the United States, President Ronald Reagan (1981–1989) adopted many policies stemming from Milton Friedman's economic theories, including principles from the Chicago school of economics and monetarism.[18] While social conservatives and the rise of the Christian Right contributed greatly to forming the Reagan Coalition, the President also had the support of right-wing economic neoliberals. Utilizing Friedman's neoliberal theories, Reagan's administration cut the wage tax from 73% to 28%, reduced inflation from 14% in Jimmy Carter's final year (1980) to 4% in 1988, and reduced lending interest rates.[19]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Alan S. Kahan. Mind Vs. Money: The War Between Intellectuals and Capitalism. New Brunsiwck, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2010. Pp. 88.
  2. ^ Shenon, Philip and Greenhouse, Linda. “Washington Talk: Briefing; The King and the Joker”, New York Times (17 August 1988): "This is the title of nobility clause, which provides: 'No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States'."
  3. ^ Wood, Diane. "Our 18th Century Constitution in the 21st Century World". 80 New York University Law Review 1079, 1105 (2005): "Debate [over the Constitution's] meaning is inevitable whenever something as specific as the ... Titles of Nobility Clause is not at issue."
  4. ^ Ian Adams. Political Ideology Today. Manchester, England; New York, New York, USA: Manchester University Press, 2001. Pp. 57.
  5. ^ International Democrat Union. (History: http://www.idu.org/history.aspx. Founders: http://www.idu.org/founder.aspx. Declaration of Principles: http://www.idu.org/principle.aspx.) Accessed on 22 June 2012.
  6. ^ The Nature of the right: American and European politics and political thought since 1789. Twayne Publishers, 1990. Pp. 66. "Burke has been seen as the father of modern British conservatism, which serves as the best example of the moderate right tradition".
  7. ^ Bert N. Adams, Rosalind Ann Sydie, R. A. Sydie. Sociological Theory. Pine Forge Press, 2001. Pp. 25–26.
  8. ^ David H. Close, Carl Bridge. Revolution: A History of the Idea. Pp. 81.
  9. ^ David H. Close, Carl Bridge. Revolution: A History of the Idea. Kent, England; Sydney, New South Wales, Australia: Croom Helm Ltd., 1985. Pp. 81.
  11. ^ a b c d Ian Adams. Political Ideology Today. Manchester, England; New York, New York, USA: Manchester University Press, 2001. Pp. 57.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Ian Adams. Political Ideology Today. Manchester, England; New York, New York, USA: Manchester University Press, 2001. Pp. 59.
  16. ^ Eric J. Evans. Thatcher and Thatcherism. London, England; New York, New York, USA: Routledge, 1997. Pp. 107. (Thatcher praised the winning party of the Hungarian election of 1990 as what she called a "really genuine centre-right government".)
  17. ^ Aleks Szczerbiak, Seán Hanley. Centre-Right Parties In Post-Communist East-Central Europe. Oxon, England; New York, New York, USA: Routledge, 2006. Pp. 37.
  18. ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/milton-friedman-freemarket-economist-who-inspired-reagan-and-thatcher-dies-aged-94-424665.html
  19. ^ http://www.reaganfoundation.org/economic-policy.aspx