Conservatism as it is defined as the promotion and conservation of social culture and practices. There is no specific date of origin of conservatism, but It gained a significant popularity after the French revolution. It doesn’t have any concrete definition because tradition and values of a certain place changes over time. It is also combined with different forms of social and political philosophy and gave birth to different types of conservativism. Some of them are liberal conservatism, fiscal conservatism, national and traditional conservatism, religious conservatism etc. Edmund burke is regarded as the father of modern conservatism. In this essay, we are going to examine the rise of extreme conservativism in the modern world. Although most of the nations have implemented liberalism and socialism, there are some countries which the practices of conservatism in recent times.
As Edmund Burke put it – people will not look forward to posterity, who never looked backward to their ancestors. It seems the political mega minds of modern times have realized a gateway through this principle. It has been a relatively easier task to shift to conservatism as these nations were already capitalistic and that is one of the requisites for conservative society. So, what is conservatism and how is it being implemented in the modern world is the focal point of this essay. Moving forward by preserving and promoting the religious norms, values and traditions is the fundamental principle of conservatism. However, its practice differs with religion; so, it is not a good practice in a sense that it does not include the whole humanity but only favors a race in the driving seat. Many of the developed countries now are approaching the conservative government rather than the liberal. In this essay we will be focusing on India, the United States of America, and Germany India India since gaining independence in 1947 has dominated by liberal politics. The first prime minister of independent India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who also happens the then president of Indian National Congress Party. Indian National Congress Party has been the symbol of liberal politics in the modern India After the independence India and Pakistan was portioned based on religion; India being as Hindu land (Hindustan) and Pakistan being Muslim land. Conservative Political Parties has been in all the major democracies since a long time except in India which was ruled by the British till 1947 and since then by the Indian national congress which is considered liberal or left wing.
The current BJP driven India is one of the countries that have been showing conservatism in their plans and policies for the country. During the election campaign four years ago, the current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had never failed to mention the development of Hindus alongside the main agenda of infrastructure development. He has done a lot of reforms in the country, but the situation of minorities has not changed much in his reign. Several temples have been constructed and advertised in India in the past four years. The developments have been from religious perspectives and he seems to have followed the footsteps of Edmund Burke. The only problem is that in a diverse country like India, progressing on bases of morals of all religions would be paradoxical in most of the cases. The dominance of Hinduism was already higher in India but during the BJP reign, it has reached its peak; especially in media sector. And recently the Indian government denied hosting the Asian Summit because it didn’t want to promote Christianity by any means in India. There have certainly been some benefits of this conservative approach such as the prevention of illegal immigration, but it has also led to difference in status of different religions of people and has failed to close the doors of religious conflicts in India. This approach is not inclusive, and it should be modified, at least in a way that it does not ignore the needs and demands of minorities. The United States of America The United States of America is another country radiating conservatism in the past few years. President Donald Trump has always been controversial towards women, immigrants, and Non-Christians.
He has shown on multiple occasions his conservative attitude towards policies that were liberal to preceding governments. After assuming the office, Trump banned seven Muslim countries from immigrating to the USA, withdrew from NAFTA, imposed high taxes on Chinese products and even attempted to build a wall all around the borders of America! He has ranted multiple times in media calling Middle Eastern and Eastern religions with different slangs. Trump seems to follow the path of Edmund Burke in that people desire to be ruled and controlled and they need faith to keep skepticism and feeling of being unresolved away but in a hypocritic way. He and the USA believe that religion should be Christianity. Looking at internal things, the conservatives have always advocated lower tax for the citizens and he has done it in such a way that it favors the upper-class Americans. This is probably the time when conservatism is at its peak in the USA. This has compelled the opposition and even some members of his own party to give him a vote of no confidence. He is harshly criticized even by the media because his conservative attitude towards immigrants is a serious threat to the overall prosperity of the United States as it is a country of immigrants. Although it is being practiced and might be good for a small group of Native Americans, conservatism is not the path for the United States. Germany The Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkle has been harshly criticized by the conservatives in recent times because she let millions of Syrian refugees into their virtuous Deutschland.
Donald Trump reprimanded her actions and said he is no longer a fan of her as her deeds led to increase in riots in the streets of Germany and crimes they had never seen before. She has been serving as the Chancellor for more than twelve years and her policies have appreciably improved the economic status of the nation over this time. The results she has produced in her country from her principles seem to contradict the theory put forth by Edmund Burke in a sense that he said that policies should be formed based on norms and values rather than time and situation. But it seems in recent times, the conservatives have the bigger say in the German Parliament as well. It is too early to say anything about the consequences of rise of conservatism in Germany but if we look at the history books, the conservatism dictated by Hitler led to hunger, poverty and destruction. Britain was the superpower when burke was holding positions in the Britain offices. Burke is known as the father of modern conservatism. The greatest achievement of Edmund Burke is protesting and restraining the British empire of colonization of India and other countries. His idea of giving power for principle is the foundation of conservatism. He defined conservatism as durable independence. Burke advocated for the distribution of power The modern conservative political parties around the world has shifted to extreme conservatism and instead of following the classical philosophy of conservatism they are moving towards nationalism. It is important to preserve the morals and values of a traditional society but imposing it forcefully or without considering its impact on other groups of people is not moral. Despite its obvious defect, conservatism is practiced by some of the top countries in the world. If a country is dominated by a certain race of people, it is not a bad idea to practice conservatism but in a liberal way. However, for a country filled with diverse people, conservatism is probably not the right path.
