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Liberal parties by country

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Template:Use dmy dates Template:Short description Template:Multiple issues Template:Sidebar with collapsible lists This article gives information on liberalism worldwide. It is an overview of parties that adhere to some form of liberalism and is therefore a list of liberal parties around the world.

IntroductionEdit

What constitutes a liberal party is highly debatable. In the list below, it is defined as a political party that adheres to the basic principles of political liberalism. This is a broad political current, including left-wing, centrist and right-wing elements. All liberal parties emphasise individual rights, but they differ in their opinion on an active role for the state. This list includes parties of different character, ranging from classical liberalism to social liberalism, conservative liberalism to national liberalism.

Several conservative and/or Christian-democratic parties, such as the British Conservative Party, Germany's Christian Democratic Union and Spain's People's Party, are also considered to be neoliberal leaning or have strong liberal conservative and/or classical liberal factions, whereas some conservative parties, such as Poland's Law and Justice and Hungary's Fidesz, favour more state intervention but also support free-market solutions. Conversely, some social-democratic parties, such as the British Labour Party and the Italian Democratic Party, include liberal elements. Social liberalism and social conservatism are not mutually exclusive, and some parties espouse socially liberal economic policies, while maintaining more socially conservative or traditionalist views on society: examples of this include Finland's Centre Party (see also Nordic agrarian parties) and Ireland's Fianna Fáil, both members of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE Party). In the United States, the two major political forces, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, are to some extent, liberal (see Liberalism in the United States and Modern liberalism in the United States).

Many liberal parties are members of the Liberal International and/or one of its regional partners, such as the ALDE Party in Europe, the Liberal Network for Latin America and the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats. Generally, membership in these international organizations is an indication that that party is indeed liberal. However, other international organisations, such as the International Democrat Union and the Centrist Democrat International, and regional organisations, such as the European People's Party, the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, the European Democratic Party and the Christian Democrat Organization of America, also have liberal or liberal leaning parties as significant proportions of their membership.

Not all the parties using the "Liberal" or "Freedom" labels are actually liberal. Moreover, some parties, such as the Freedom Party of Austria, were originally liberal, but have since tilted toward a populist direction and abandoned most of the tenets of liberalism. Finally, some parties, such as the United States Republican Party, Australia's Liberal Party or Norway's Progress Party are liberal mainly from an economic point of view rather than a social point of view (see economic liberalism, libertarianism and right-libertarianism).

International organizations of partiesEdit

Parliamentary parties and other parties with substantial supportEdit

This list includes also parties that were represented in the last previous legislature and still exists as well as some banned or exiles parties (Cuba). Liberals might be active in other parties, but that is no reason to include a party.
See the remarks above about the criteria. Minor parties are listed below

AfricaEdit

Liberalism is a relatively new current for Africa. Traditionally it only existed more or less in Egypt, Senegal and especially South Africa.

The AmericasEdit

In many Latin American countries, liberalism and radicalism have been associated with generally left-of-center political movements such as Colombia's Liberal Party, historically concerned mostly with effecting government decentralization and regional autonomy (liberals were influential in the total dissolution of at least two defunct countries, the United Provinces of Central America and Gran Colombia) and separation of church and state. At times, the anti-clerical and secularist stances promoted by Latin American liberals have resulted in limitations on the civil rights of clergy or others associated with the Church (as in Mexico, where law still prohibits priests from public office). Liberalism in North America has a different background.

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> they both supported free trade and free markets, and opposed political corruption. By 1884, both groups had come to support the Democratic Party under the leadership of the liberal Bourbon Grover Cleveland. However, when William Jennings Bryan took over the Democratic Party, there was a substantial move towards populism and progressivism;<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> the last hurrah of the Bourbons was the nomination of Alton Parker in 1904. Despite this, most Democrats, including Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt, continued to call themselves liberals, framing social liberal ideas as positive liberties, in contrast to the negative liberties that can only be avoided through a lack of government intervention.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Starting in the 1980s, the conservatives and modern liberals began to adopt more classically-liberal economic perspectives through fusionism and the Third Way respectively. Today, the Democratic Party is sometimes identified as the liberal party within the broader definition of liberalism thus putting it in contrast with most other parties listed here. Democrats advocate for more social freedoms, affirmative action, and a mixed economy (and therefore modern liberalism). The Republican Party experiences a somewhat fractured economic viewpoint with some members supporting strong free-market and libertarian views (and therefore economic liberalism) and others championing pro-business and economic nationalist stances, though both sectors typically mix their fiscal views with strong aspects of social conservatism. The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in the United States, (though still only getting 1–2% of the vote in congressional elections), and particularly centers itself on free markets and individual liberty, which is more in line with classical liberalism. (Main article: Liberalism in the United States and Modern liberalism in the United States)

AsiaEdit

Liberalism has or had some tradition in some countries. Nowadays it is a growing current in East Asia, but in many of these countries liberals tend not to use the label liberal.

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, and Russia are listed under Europe.

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EuropeEdit

At a pan-European level liberalism exists in some form within generally all members of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE), within most members of the European Democratic Party (EDP), within many members of the European People's Party (EPP) and some members of the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR).

OceaniaEdit

Liberalism has a strong tradition in both Australia and New Zealand.

Non-parliamentary liberal partiesEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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