liberal [doesn’t] mean the same thing in Europe as in America
Do European and American liberals advocate different policies, or is it just that the political spectrum in both places is different so the same policies appear at different relative positions?
In short, ‘liberal’ in the US is merely the opposite of ‘conservative’, matching the usage of “He was liberal with his praise”; ‘liberal’ in Europe for the most part retains the meaning specified by ‘classical liberal’ in the US—“in favor of individual liberty”.
It looks to me like it means something more specific than just the opposite of “conservative”. For example, this article has a header “opposition to socialism”. I’m aware that US liberals are less conservative than the US spectrum and that European liberals are more in favor of individual liberty than the European spectrum, but before concluding they’re different, you’d first need to rule out the hypothesis that it’s because the US spectrum is more conservative and the European spectrum is less in favor of individual liberty.
ETA: I don’t think this is the whole explanation, but I think it’s a large part of the explanation.
The thing is, “less conservative” doesn’t actually mean anything in the US. “Conservative” and “liberal” are just pointers to the Republican and Democratic parties, respectively, which in turn are semi-permanent coalitions of people with vastly different (and often incompatible) ideologies, that end up being used for color politics. There isn’t really a spectrum, but you can pretend there is—if you have 390 Green beliefs and 100 Blue beliefs, then you’re clearly a Moderate Green (aquamarine?).
Whereas in most of Europe, parties actually represent ideologies to some extent, and so ideological terms don’t get corrupted so much in favor of talking about the platform of a party. This is often because temporary coalitions happen between political parties, instead of within them.
England is a notable exception to this—it has more-or-less two parties, and they pretend to fall on a “political spectrum” like the US parties; thus, they even tend to echo US meaningless political rhetoric.
Whereas in most of Europe, parties actually represent ideologies to some extent, and so ideological terms don’t get corrupted so much in favor of talking about the platform of a party. This is often because temporary coalitions happen between political parties, instead of within them.
At least in Italy, “It’s a complete mess” would be a more accurate (though less precise) description than that.
In short, ‘liberal’ in the US is merely the opposite of ‘conservative’, matching the usage of “He was liberal with his praise”; ‘liberal’ in Europe for the most part retains the meaning specified by ‘classical liberal’ in the US—“in favor of individual liberty”.
It looks to me like it means something more specific than just the opposite of “conservative”. For example, this article has a header “opposition to socialism”. I’m aware that US liberals are less conservative than the US spectrum and that European liberals are more in favor of individual liberty than the European spectrum, but before concluding they’re different, you’d first need to rule out the hypothesis that it’s because the US spectrum is more conservative and the European spectrum is less in favor of individual liberty.
ETA: I don’t think this is the whole explanation, but I think it’s a large part of the explanation.
The thing is, “less conservative” doesn’t actually mean anything in the US. “Conservative” and “liberal” are just pointers to the Republican and Democratic parties, respectively, which in turn are semi-permanent coalitions of people with vastly different (and often incompatible) ideologies, that end up being used for color politics. There isn’t really a spectrum, but you can pretend there is—if you have 390 Green beliefs and 100 Blue beliefs, then you’re clearly a Moderate Green (aquamarine?).
Whereas in most of Europe, parties actually represent ideologies to some extent, and so ideological terms don’t get corrupted so much in favor of talking about the platform of a party. This is often because temporary coalitions happen between political parties, instead of within them.
England is a notable exception to this—it has more-or-less two parties, and they pretend to fall on a “political spectrum” like the US parties; thus, they even tend to echo US meaningless political rhetoric.
At least in Italy, “It’s a complete mess” would be a more accurate (though less precise) description than that.
Agreed.