Progressivism Explained

Progressivism is a political philosophy and movement that seeks to advance the human condition through social reform – primarily based on purported advancements in social organization, science, and technology.[1] Adherents hold that progressivism has universal application and endeavor to spread this idea to human societies everywhere. Progressivism arose during the Age of Enlightenment out of the belief that civility in Europe was improving due to the application of new empirical knowledge.[2]

In modern political discourse, progressivism often gets associated with social liberalism,[3] [4] [5] a left-leaning type of liberalism. However, within economic progressivism, there are economic progressives that show center-right views on cultural issues; examples of this include communitarian conservative movements such as Christian democracy and one-nation conservatism.[6] [7]

History

From the Enlightenment to the Industrial Revolution

Immanuel Kant identified progress as being a movement away from barbarism toward civilization.[8] 18th-century philosopher and political scientist Marquis de Condorcet predicted that political progress would involve the disappearance of slavery, the rise of literacy, the lessening of sex inequality, prison reforms which at the time were harsh, and the decline of poverty.[9]

Modernity or modernisation was a key form of the idea of progress as promoted by classical liberals in the 19th and 20th centuries, who called for the rapid modernisation of the economy and society to remove the traditional hindrances to free markets and the free movements of people.[10]

In the late 19th century, a political view rose in popularity in the Western world that progress was being stifled by vast economic inequality between the rich and the poor, minimally regulated laissez-faire capitalism with out-of-control monopolistic corporations, intense and often violent conflict between capitalists and workers, with a need for measures to address these problems.[11] Progressivism has influenced various political movements. Social liberalism was influenced by British liberal philosopher John Stuart Mill's conception of people being "progressive beings."[12] British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli developed progressive conservatism under one-nation Toryism.[13] [14]

In France, the space between social revolution and the socially conservative laissez-faire centre-right was filled with the emergence of radicalism which thought that social progress required anti-clericalism, humanism, and republicanism. Especially anti-clericalism was the dominant influence on the centre-left in many French- and Romance-speaking countries until the mid-20th century. In Imperial Germany, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck enacted various progressive social welfare measures out of paternalistic conservative motivations to distance workers from the socialist movement of the time and as humane ways to assist in maintaining the Industrial Revolution.[15]

In 1891, the Roman Catholic Church encyclical Rerum novarum issued by Pope Leo XIII condemned the exploitation of labor and urged support for labor unions and government regulation of businesses in the interests of social justice while upholding the property right and criticising socialism.[16] A progressive Protestant outlook called the Social Gospel emerged in North America that focused on challenging economic exploitation and poverty and, by the mid-1890s, was common in many Protestant theological seminaries in the United States.[17]

Early 20th-century progressivism included support for American engagement in World War I and the creation of and participation in the League of Nations,[18] [19] compulsory sterilisation in Scandinavia,[20] and eugenics in Great Britain,[21] and the temperance movement.[22] [23] Progressives believed that progress was stifled by economic inequality, inadequately regulated monopolistic corporations, and conflict between workers and elites, arguing that corrective measures were needed.[24]

Contemporary mainstream political conception of the philosophy

In the United States, progressivism began as an intellectual rebellion against the political philosophy of Constitutionalism[25] as expressed by John Locke and the founders of the American Republic, whereby the authority of government depends on observing limitations on its just powers.[26] What began as a social movement in the 1890s grew into a popular political movement referred to as the Progressive era; in the 1912 United States presidential election, all three U.S. presidential candidates claimed to be progressives. While the term progressivism represents a range of diverse political pressure groups, not always united, progressives rejected social Darwinism, believing that the problems society faced, such as class warfare, greed, poverty, racism and violence, could best be addressed by providing good education, a safe environment, and an efficient workplace. Progressives lived mainly in the cities, were college educated, and believed in a strong central government.[27] President Theodore Roosevelt of the Republican Party and later the Progressive Party declared that he "always believed that wise progressivism and wise conservatism go hand in hand."[28]

President Woodrow Wilson was also a member of the American progressive movement within the Democratic Party. Progressive stances have evolved. Imperialism was a controversial issue within progressivism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in the United States, where some progressives supported American imperialism while others opposed it.[29] In response to World War I, President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points established the concept of national self-determination and criticised imperialist competition and colonial injustices. Anti-imperialists supported these views in areas resisting imperial rule.[30]

During the period of acceptance of economic Keynesianism (the 1930s–1970s), there was widespread acceptance in many nations of a large role for state intervention in the economy. With the rise of neoliberalism and challenges to state interventionist policies in the 1970s and 1980s, centre-left progressive movements responded by adopting the Third Way, which emphasised a major role for the market economy.[31] There have been social democrats who have called for the social-democratic movement to move past Third Way.[32] Prominent progressive conservative elements in the British Conservative Party have criticised neoliberalism.[33]

In the 21st century, progressives continue to favour public policy that they theorise will reduce or lessen the harmful effects of economic inequality as well as systemic discrimination such as institutional racism; to advocate for social safety nets and workers' rights; and to oppose corporate influence on the democratic process. The unifying theme is to call attention to the negative impacts of current institutions or ways of doing things and to advocate for social progress, i.e., for positive change as defined by any of several standards such as the expansion of democracy, increased egalitarianism in the form of economic and social equality as well as improved well being of a population. Proponents of social democracy have identified themselves as promoting the progressive cause.[34]

Types

Cultural progressivism

Progressivism, in the general sense, mainly means social and cultural progressivism. The term cultural liberalism is similar, and is used substantially similarly.[35] However, cultural liberals and progressives may differ in positions on cultural issues such as and political correctness.[36]

Unlike progressives in a broader sense, some cultural progressives may be economically centrist, conservative, or politically libertarian. The Czech Pirate Party is classified as a (cultural or social) progressive party, but it calls itself "economically centrist and socially liberal".[37]

Economic progressivism

See main article: Economic progressivism. Economic progressivism is a term used to distinguish it from progressivism in cultural fields. Economic progressives' views are often rooted in the concept of social justice and aim to improve the human condition through government regulation, social protections and the maintenance of public goods.[38]

Some economic progressives may show center-right views on cultural issues. These movements are related to communitarian conservative movements such as Christian democracy and one-nation conservatism.[39] [40]

Techno progressivism

See main article: Techno-progressivism.

Progressive parties or parties with progressive factions

Current parties

Former parties

See also

References

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Progressivism in English. Oxford English Dictionary. 2 May 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20190321174257/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/progressivism. 21 March 2019. dead.
  2. Harold Mah. Enlightenment Phantasies: Cultural Identity in France and Germany, 1750–1914. Cornell University. (2003). p. 157.
  3. Book: Klaus P. Fischer . America in White, Black, and Gray: A History of the Stormy 1960s . 2007 . 39 . Bloomsbury Publishing USA .
  4. Book: Great Courses . The Modern Political Tradition: Episode 17: Progressivism and New Liberalism . 2014 . Great Courses .
  5. Book: Helen Hardacre . Timothy S. George . Keigo Komamura . Franziska Seraphim . Japanese Constitutional Revisionism and Civic Activism . 2021 . 136, 162 . Rowman & Littlefield .
  6. News: Catholic News Agency. Did you know there's a third party based on Catholic teaching?. 12 October 2016. 24 December 2021. Politically, we would be considered center-right on social issues.
  7. Web site: New political party says its roots are in Catholic Social Teaching. 26 November 2018 . I was working on my doctoral dissertation largely concerning difficulties and opportunities for socially conservative, economically progressive movements, and desired to get involved in such movements ... and was glad to see that ASP was interested in applying such ways of thinking to contemporary issues. . 17 November 2021.
  8. Web site: Kant . Immanuel . Reiss . Hans Siegbert . Kant: political writings . Cambridge [England]; New York: Cambridge University Press . 1991.
  9. Nisbet, Robert (1980). History of the Idea of Progress. New York: Basic Books. ch 5
  10. Book: Joyce Appleby . Lynn Hunt . Margaret Jacob . amp . Telling the Truth about History . 1995 . 78 . W. W. Norton & Company . 9780393078916 .
  11. Book: Progressivism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. Nugent, Walter. 2010. 9780195311068. 2.
  12. Alan Ryan. The Making of Modern Liberalism. p. 25.
  13. Patrick Dunleavy, Paul Joseph Kelly, Michael Moran. British Political Science: Fifty Years of Political Studies. Oxford, England; Malden, Massachusetts: Wiley-Blackwell, 2000. pp. 107–108.
  14. Robert Blake. Disraeli. Second Edition. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode (Publishers) Ltd, 1967. p. 524.
  15. Union Contributions to Labor Welfare Policy and Practice: Past, Present, and Future. Routledge, 16, 2013. p. 172.
  16. Faith Jaycox. The Progressive Era. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2005. p. 85.
  17. Charles Howard Hopkins, The Rise of the Social Gospel in American Protestantism, 1865–1915 (1940).
  18. Book: Freeden, Michael. 2005. Michael Freeden. Liberal Languages: Ideological Imaginations and Twentieth-Century Progressive Thought. 144–165. Princeton University Press. Princeton. 9780691116778.
  19. Ambrosius . Lloyd E. . Woodrow Wilson, Alliances, and the League of Nations . The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era . April 2006 . 5 . 2 . 139–165 . 10.1017/S153778140000298X. 162853992 .
  20. 4026900. Geneticists and the Eugenics Movement in Scandinavia. Roll-Hansen. Nils. The British Journal for the History of Science. 22. 3. 335–346. 1989. 10.1017/S0007087400026194. 11621984. 44566095.
  21. Retrospectives: Eugenics and Economics in the Progressive Era . Journal of Economic Perspectives . 2005 . Leonard . Thomas . 19 . 4 . 207–224 . 10.1257/089533005775196642 . 2017-10-22 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170820132528/https://www.princeton.edu/~tleonard/papers/retrospectives.pdf . 20 August 2017 . dmy-all . free .
  22. James H. Timberlake, Prohibition and the Progressive Movement, 1900–1920 (1970)
  23. Web site: Prohibition: A Case Study of Progressive Reform . . 2017-10-04 .
  24. Book: Progressivism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. Nugent, Walter. 2010. 9780195311068. 2.
  25. Book: Waluchow, Wil. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Constitutionalism . Edward N.. Zalta. 17 August 2018. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  26. Book: Watson, Bradley . Progressivism : the strange history of a radical idea . 11 . University of Notre Dame Press . Notre Dame, Indiana . 2020 . 9780268106973 .
  27. http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/teachinger/glossary/progressive-era.cfm "The Progressive Era (1890–1920)"
  28. Book: Lurie, Jonathan . William Howard Taft: The Travails of a Progressive Conservative . New York . Cambridge University Press . 2012 . 196.
  29. Book: Progressivism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. Nugent, Walter. 2010. 9780195311068. 33.
  30. Reconsidering Woodrow Wilson: Progressivism, Internationalism, War, and Peace. p. 309.
  31. Jane Lewis, Rebecca Surender. Welfare State Change: Towards a Third Way?. Oxford University Press, 2004. pp. 3–4, 16.
  32. After the Third Way: The Future of Social Democracy in Europe. I.B. Taurus, 2012. p. 47.
  33. Hugh Bochel. The Conservative Party and Social Policy. The Policy Press, 2011. p. 108.
  34. Henning Meyer, Jonathan Rutherford. The Future of European Social Democracy: Building the Good Society. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. p. 108.
  35. Book: Nancy L. Cohen . Delirium: The Politics of Sex in America . When the going got tough, the economic progressives got going back to the Reagan days when the cultural progressives were to blame. Clinton's presidential campaign had "signaled cultural moderation and articulated the pocketbook frustrations of ordinary people," Robert Kuttner, editor of The American Prospect ventured. "But in office, he seemed a cultural liberal who failed to produce on economics." . 2012 . Catapult . 9781619020962 .
  36. Web site: Ball . Molly . The Battle Within the Democratic Party . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20180612142340/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/12/the-battle-within-the-democratic-party/282235/ . 12 June 2018 . 28 January 2017 . The Atlantic.
  37. https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/domaci/2710052-pirati-se-schazeji-v-tabore-sest-se-jich-se-utka-o-vedeni-kandidatky-do-evropskeho "Piráti chtějí vést liberální politický střed a v květnu získat 20 procent, zaznělo na fóru v Táboře"
  38. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/democracy/reports/2011/03/14/9311/the-origins-and-evolution-of-progressive-economics/ "The Origins and Evolution of Progressive Economics"
  39. News: Catholic News Agency. Did you know there's a third party based on Catholic teaching?. 12 October 2016. 24 December 2021. Politically, we would be considered center-right on social issues.
  40. Web site: New political party says its roots are in Catholic Social Teaching. 26 November 2018 . I was working on my doctoral dissertation largely concerning difficulties and opportunities for socially conservative, economically progressive movements, and desired to get involved in such movements ... and was glad to see that ASP was interested in applying such ways of thinking to contemporary issues. . 17 November 2021.
  41. News: La llamativa definición política de Alberto Fernández: "Soy de la rama del liberalismo progresista peronista" . 6 November 2019 . 19 July 2019 . Clarín . https://web.archive.org/web/20191106143309/https://www.clarin.com/politica/llamativa-definicion-politica-alberto-fernandez-rama-liberalismo-progresista-peronista_0_Ym3yLMfHX.html . 6 November 2019.
  42. Web site: Juan Grabois lanza el Frente Patria Grande que lideraría Cristina Kirchner. Perfil. 27 October 2018. 27 April 2020. es.
  43. Web site: Alberto Fernández: "Soy más hijo de la cultura hippie que de las veinte verdades peronistas". 12 April 2020.
  44. Web site: Australian Greens Are Building a Movement to End Neoliberalism. Jacobin. Lopez. Daniel. Bandt. Adam. Adam Bandt. 3 September 2021. 19 October 2021.
  45. Book: Liisa L. North, Timothy D. Clark . Dominant Elites in Latin America: From Neo-Liberalism to the 'Pink Tide' . In Brazil, as Simone Bohn makes straightforward (Chap. 3), the progressive Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores, PT) governments did not threaten the power of the national elite or landlord class; .... 2017 . 212 . Springer. 9783319532554 .
  46. Book: Alvin Finkel . 2012 . Our Lives: Canada after 1945: Second Edition . 5 . ... capitalism and a wise federal bureaucracy presided over by a progressive Liberal party with intelligent leaders. . James Lorimer & Company.
  47. Book: Robert Harris . 2018 . Song of a Nation: The Untold Story of Canada's National Anthem . McClelland & Stewart.
  48. Web site: Trudeau made pushing his agenda more complicated with a failed bid for majority . CBC. 21 September 2021 . 2 October 2022.
  49. Book: Emmett Macfarlane . 2021 . Dilemmas of Free Expression . 317 . University of Toronto Press.
  50. Web site: El pinochetista Kast y el progresista Boric definirán la presidencia el 19 de diciembre elecciones en Chile.
  51. Web site: Croatia's Largest Political Parties. Expat in Croatia. Gladoic. Andrea. 14 June 2018. 12 October 2018.
  52. Slawek Blitch. Finally, a healthy dose of anti-establishment. politicalcritique.org. 8 January 2018.
  53. Katerina Safarikova. "Czechs Eye 'Symbolic' Pirate Breakthrough in Europe". /balkaninsight.com. 21 May 2019.
  54. Web site: Notre charte fondatrice. nouvelledonne.fr. fr.
  55. Book: Gregor Fitzi . Juergen Mackert . Bryan S. Turner . Populism and the Crisis of Democracy: Volume 3: Migration, Gender, and Religion . Progressive groups such as Syriza and Podemos6 tend, on the contrary, to show solidarity towards migrants and refugees, as in general being the weakest components of the society. The Five Star Movement that defines itself as neither ... . 2018 . . 9781351608916 .
  56. Book: Christopher Chase-Dunn, Paul Almeida . Global Struggles and Social Change: From Prehistory to World Revolution in the Twenty-First Century . The Arab Spring, the Latin American Pink Tide, the Indignados in Spain, the Occupy movement, the rise of progressive social movement– based parties in Spain (Podemos) and in Greece (Syriza), and the spike in mass protests in 2011 and ... . 2020 . 133 . JHU Press. 9781421438634 .
  57. Book: Prebble Q. Ramswell . Euroscepticism and the Rising Threat from the Left and Right: The Concept of Millennial Fascism . SYRIZA massively scooped up the votes of leftist, progressive, socially liberal young people, as well as the trade union voters, not specifically aligned with the Communist Party, to gain 52 seats. . 2017 . 86 . Lexington Books . 9781498546041 .
  58. Book: Ken McMullen, Martin McQuillan . Oxi: An Act of Resistance: The Screenplay and Commentary, Including interviews with Derrida, Cixous, Balibar, and Negri . The choice to be made for Syriza is between fidelity to a progressive social agenda and retaining Greece's place within a community of nations tied together by a commitment to a neoliberal global economy. The skill with which they ... . 2015 . 12 . Lexington Books . 9781783482702 .
  59. News: 'India's soul at stake': Bengalis vote in divisive election. The Guardian. 26 March 2021. The TMC has implemented a progressive development agenda, but it has also been mired in accusations of corruption and thuggery..
  60. Web site: Mengenal Partai Hijau Indonesia: Suarakan Isu Lingkungan, Anti Mengultuskan Pemimpin . id . mojok.co . 8 February 2023 . 2023-06-24.
  61. Book: Matthew Allen, Rumi Sakamoto . Popular Culture, Globalization and Japan . ... capturing 295 seats in the Diet. Progressive parties like the Japanese Communist Party and Social Democratic Party, ... . 2007 . Routledge .
  62. Book: Willy Jou, Masahisa Endo . EGenerational Gap in Japanese Politics: A Longitudinal Study of Political Attitudes and Behaviour . Conventional wisdom, still dominant in media and academic circles, holds that the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) occupy the conservative and progressive ends of the ideological spectrum, ... . 2016 . 29 . . 9781137503428 .
  63. News: "선제공격 능력 갖추자" 日정부 주장에…"시대착오적" 비판 . ... Korean: 개헌에 반대해 온 진보 성향의 일본공산당은 "적 기지에 대한 공격력을 갖추더라도 상대국의 지하나 이동발사대 등 미사일 위치를 모두 파악하고 파괴하는 것은 불가능하다"며 ... . ... The progressive position Japanese Communist Party, which has opposed the constitutional amendment, said, "Even if it has offensive power against enemy bases, it is impossible to identify and destroy all missile locations such as underground or mobile launchers of the other country" ... . Edaily . 13 November 2021 . 3 December 2021.
  64. News: Brasor . Philip . 20 July 2019 . Citizen campaigns seek to increase voter turnout in Upper House election . The Japan Times . 24 July 2019.
  65. Web site: GroenLinks (GL) . 2023-06-04 . www.parlement.com . nl.
  66. Web site: GroenLinks . EEN PROGRESSIEF OPPOSITIEAKKOORD .
  67. Web site: GroenLinks . PVDA EN GROENLINKS SLUITEN PROGRESSIEF OPPOSITIEAKKOORD .
  68. Web site: ProDemos NL . Indeling van partijen .
  69. Web site: Progressief Oppositieakkoord . 2023-06-04 . PvdA . nl.
  70. Web site: Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA) . 2023-06-04 . www.parlement.com . nl.
  71. Web site: About Akbayan – Akbayan Party List. akbayan.org.ph. en-gb. 2018-07-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20180727181156/https://akbayan.org.ph/who-we-are. 27 July 2018. dead.
  72. Book: Lewis, Paul G.. Party Development and Democratic Change in Post-Communist Europe: The First Decade. 2018. Taylor & Francis US. Google Books. 9780714681740.
  73. https://www.ricemedia.co/current-affairs-features-progress-singapore-party-psp-tan-cheng-bock/
  74. Web site: Minjung Party press conference . Members of the progressive Minjung Party hold a press conference in front of former President Chun Doo-hwan's home in Seoul on May 18, 2020. . . 16 June 2020 . 11 October 2018.
  75. Web site: South Korea Backtracks on Easing Sanctions After Trump Comment. "The dog barks, but the caravan moves on," Lee Eun-Hae, a spokeswoman at the minor progressive Minjung Party, said in a statement about Mr. Trump and closer relations with North Korea.. The New York Times. 11 October 2018.
  76. Book: Sebastián Royo . Why Banks Fail: The Political Roots of Banking Crises in Spain . As of January 2020 (the time of writing), a new leftist government coalition between the Socialist Party and the leftist populist Unidas Podemos that emerged from the November 2019 election is coming to power with a progressive agenda ... . 2020 . 298 . Springer Nature . 9781137532282 .
  77. News: EFE . 24 May 2019 . Errejón pide a Gabilondo centrarse en lo importante, una mayoría progresista . Spanish . . Madrid . 24 May 2019.
  78. Web site: The Center Cannot Hold in Spain, but Can the Left Take Advantage?. 3 May 2021. The Nation. thenation.com.
  79. Web site: Democracy prevails in Taiwan. 12 January 2020. 7 July 2020. Taiwan News. https://web.archive.org/web/20200114142120/https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3855810. 14 January 2020. dead.
  80. Book: Kuo, Yu-Ying . Policy Analysis in Taiwan . The Democratic Progressive Party, founded in 1986, is a progressive and liberal political party in Taiwan. . 2018 . Policy Press.
  81. News: Nidhi Eoseewong: An open letter to Pheu Thai. Nidhi Eoseewong . prachatai. 2018-05-08.
  82. Web site: Green Party of England and Wales elects new leaders . europeangreens.edu . European Green Party . 31 March 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170401060206/https://europeangreens.eu/news/green-party-england-and-wales-elects-new-leaders . 1 April 2017 . dead .
  83. Book: Joseph M. Hoeffel . Fighting for the Progressive Center in the Age of Trump . 2014 . ABC-CLIO .
  84. Chotiner . Isaac . How Socialist Is Bernie Sanders? . . 14 February 2021 . en-us . 2 March 2020.
  85. Book: Denisha Jones, Jesse Hagopian . Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice . She later ran as a New York State lieutenant gubernatorial candidate on a progressive Green Party platform . 2020 . . 9781642595307 .
  86. Book: Daniel K. Lewis . The History of Argentina, 2nd Edition . Progressive decrees, exemplified by the government's legalization of same-sex marriage in July, depicted the FPV as progressive. Behind the scenes, Kirchner promoted 'La Campora," and Peronist youth organization. . 2014 . 193 . . 9781610698610 .
  87. Book: Rémond, René. The Right Wing in France: From 1815 to de Gaulle. University of Pennsylvania Press. 1966.
  88. Book: David Broughton. Changing Party Systems in Western Europe. 20 August 2012. 1999. Continuum International Publishing Group. 9781855673281. 166–.

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