Does Liberalism Have a Future?
Liberalism and Democracy as an Inseparable Project: Foundations, Internal Disputes, and Future Prospects
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51660/Keywords:
Liberalism, feudalism, absolutism, catolic church, communism, totalitarism, vote, neoliberalism, single thoughtAbstract
Objective: To analyze the role of Liberalism in the 21st century, reconstruct its historical trajectory over the past five hundred years, identify its fundamental ideological axes, and diagnose the causes behind the disappearance of liberal political parties in the contemporary scenario.
Methodology: Historical-comparative study based on documentary analysis of primary and secondary sources, review of the doctrinal evolution of Liberalism from its origins in the English Glorious Revolution to current configurations, and examination of party configurations in Colombia and Latin America.
Results: Liberalism has been the articulating axis of world politics for five centuries, sequentially confronting and defeating feudalism, absolutism, Catholic Church dominance, and communism. The Austrian school has generated an irreconciliable doctrinal split between political Liberalism (democratic center-left) and neoliberalism (economic right). Liberal parties face crises of representativeness derived from corruption, poor fiscal management, wealth concentration, and absence of profound political reforms.
Conclusion: Liberalism has a future only if it reconfigures itself as a democratic center-left doctrine, abandons alliances with the right, assumes the 20 fundamental principles that include an interventionist State, progressive tax equity and defense of minorities, and conducts an ideological-programmatic encounter with a twenty-year projection to replace the last one held in 1983.
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