Moderate conservatism

Moderate conservatism is a politically moderate version of conservatism that is less demanding than classical conservatism, and can be divided into several subtypes, such as liberal conservatism. The term is principally used in countries where the political camp is divided into “liberals” (meaning social liberals) on the left and “conservatives” on the right, rather than in countries whose political camps include social democrats on the left and their opponents on the right. For countries belonging to the former, moderate liberalism is sometimes contrasted with moderate conservatism.^[1] The latter term can be applied to several countries, such as the United States, Poland,^[2] South Korea,^[3] and Japan.^[4]

Overview

Moderate conservative is not often used in most parts of Europe, where social democracy or socialist parties have grown into major parties since the early 20th century, because moderate conservatives in many European countries are liberal conservatives or Christian democrats. Despite this, the term has historically been widely used in Europe, particularly in the mid-19th and earlier century, when liberal-to-radical politics, or classical radicalism, formed the mainstream left in Europe and conservatives were the right opposition. The moderate conservatives of this period were contrasted with the moderate liberals.^[5] It is also used as a contrast to ultra-conservatism.^[6]

By country

Canada

The main factions of the Conservative Party of Canada are the Red Tory and Blue Tory. Blue Tories value free markets and are more culturally liberal.

Japan

The Kōchikai faction that represents moderate conservatives within the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party. The incumbent Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida is a member of the Kōchikai faction, and he is also a "moderate conservative".^[4] Yomiuri Shimbun is a moderately conservative newspaper.^[7] Yomiuri Shimbun places more emphasis on moderate pro-American diplomacy rather than hawkish Japanese nationalism.^[8]

Poland

The Civic Platform has supported a moderate conservative agenda.^[2] The party is described in various ways in the Polish political context as centre-right,^{[nb 1]} centrist,^{[nb 2]} and centre-left.^{[nb 3]}

South Korea

In the 20th century, liberal in South Korea had the opposite meaning of socialist or left-wing. Therefore, some historical liberals in South Korea were considered conservatives or moderate conservatives.^[9] Ahn Cheol-soo was considered centrist reformist or centrist liberal (sometimes centre-left) in the early and mid 2010s but is now classified as centre-right and moderate conservative. Park Heong-joon and Yoo Seung-min are representative moderate conservatives.^[10][11] JoongAng Ilbo, a South Korean media outlet, is considered moderate conservative.^[3]

Sweden

The major traditional right-wing party in Sweden was initially called the Conservative Party and later the Rightist Party, before adopting the Moderate Party name in 1969 to shed its ultraconservative image and espouse more classical liberal politics.^[12]

United States

The Republican Main Street Partnership is a Republican Party (GOP) organization for moderate conservatives. Examples include Maine Senator Susan Collins, former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, and Arizona Representative Juan Ciscomani. It has historically been associated with Rockefeller Republicans. Sometimes moderate conservatives are called "Republicans in Name Only" by more traditional conservatives.^[13] Prominent moderate conservative United States presidents are Dwight Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, and George H. W. Bush.^[14]

Moderate conservative political parties and caucuses

• Canada: Blue Tory (Tories faction)
• Japan: Kōchikai (LDP faction),^[15] Komeito^[16]
• Philippines: Liberal Party
• Poland: Civic Platform, Polish People's Party
• Sweden: Moderate Party^[12]
• United Kingdom: One Nation Conservatives (Tories faction)^[17]
• United States: Republican Main Street Partnership (GOP faction)

Notes

1. PO has often been described as centre-right:
   • Aleks Szczerbiak (2012). Poland Within the European Union: New awkward partner or new heart of Europe?. Routledge. p. 2. ISBN 9780415380737.
   • Nathaniel Copsey (2013). "Poland:An Awkward Partner Redeemed". In Simon Bulmer; Christian Lequesne (eds.). The Member States of the European Union (Second ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 191. ISBN 9780199544837.
   • Viktor, Szary (9 September 2014). "Poland's PM Tusk, heading for Brussels, submits resignation". Reuters. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
2. PO has often been described as centrist:
   • Marcinkiewicz, Kamil; Stegmaier, Mary (8 January 2016). "The parliamentary election in Poland, October 2015" (PDF). Electoral Studies. 41: 221–224. doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2016.01.004.
   • Szczerbiak, Aleks (2017). "An anti-establishment backlash that shook up the party system? The October 2015 Polish parliamentary election" (PDF). European Politics and Society. 18 (4): 404–427. doi:10.1080/23745118.2016.1256027. S2CID 157951515.
   • Siemsen, Pascal (2020). "Voting PiS: Voting Left when Voting Far-Right Populist?". Polish Political Science Review. 8 (1): 87–99. doi:10.2478/ppsr-2020-0006.
3. PO has often been described as centre-right:
   • Sharon L. Wolchik, Jane Leftwich Curry, ed. (2018). Central and East European Politics: From Communism to Democracy. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 234. ISBN 9781538100899. A movement spearheaded by young people to get out the vote brought the more policy-focused center left Civic Platform to power.
   • "The perfect enemy: From migrants to sexual minorities". CHR Michelsen Institute. 1 January 2019. Retrieved 28 February 2023. The tactic worked well for the PiS is in 2015 when anti-migrant rhetoric drummed up the party's support before its election defeat of the governing centre-left Civic Platform.
   • "Poland's ruling party picks LGBTQ rights as election battlefront". NBC News. 15 March 2019. Retrieved 28 February 2023. The tactic worked for PiS previously, analysts said, noting how in 2015 it used anti-migrant rhetoric to drum up support before its election defeat of the governing center-left Civic Platform.

References

1. "A Brain Scan Could Predict Political Leanings". Psychology Today. 14 July 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2023. While data from most of the tasks indicated political leanings toward more moderate conservatism or moderate liberalism, the researchers found that the reward task aligned with extreme political views (very liberal or very conservative) and the empathy task most significantly correlated with moderate ideology.
2. "Tusk Vs Kaczyński: Explaining the Conflict". Political Critique. 4 May 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
3. Dal Yong Jin, Nojin Kwak, ed. (2018). Communication, Digital Media, and Popular Culture in Korea: Contemporary Research and Future Prospects. Lexington Books. p. 125-126. ISBN 9781498562041. Joongang Ilbo is considered a more moderate conservative daily and also publishes its English edition, Korea Joongang Daily, in an alliance with the International New York Times. These big three Korean newspapers have significant influences on ...
4. "Japan's new prime minister Fumio Kishida vows to be tough on China but 'courteous' at home". The Times. 29 September 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2023. Fumio Kishida, a moderate conservative with a stern view of China's growing military assertiveness, will be Japan's new prime minister, after easily winning the election to lead the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
5. Edmund Fawcett, ed. (2022). Conservatism: The Fight for a Tradition. Princeton University Press. p. 55. ISBN 9780691233994. A blurring of conservative and liberal outlooks was noticed early on. Moderate conservatives, the German political observer Friedrich Bülau wrote in 1847, were not for no change, and moderate liberals did not call for total change.
6. Tatah Mentan, ed. (2013). Democracy for Breakfast: Unveiling Mirage Democracy in Contemporary Africa. African Books Collective. p. 167. ISBN 9789956791279. Reflecting differences within the corporate community, there are moderate-conservative and ultra-conservative wings within it.
7. Daniel M. Kliman, ed. (2014). Fateful Transitions: How Democracies Manage Rising Powers, from the Eve of World War I to China's Ascendance. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 122. ISBN 9780812290295. ... observers in Japan identified other obstacles to China's continued economic growth. Yomiuri Shimbun, a moderately conservative newspaper and ...
8. Linus Hagstrom, ed. (2015). Identity Change and Foreign Policy: Japan and its 'Others'. Routledge. p. 101. ISBN 9781317394860. It is particularly interesting to note that the more left-leaning Asahi Shimbun (333 articles) carried a higher number of articles and headlines than the conservative (but moderate and pro-American) Yomiuri Shimbun, and actually comes ...
9. "신민당". Naver Knowledge Encyclopedia (in Korean). Doosan Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19 September 2021. 1967년의 제6대 대통령선거와 제7대 국회의원 총선거를 앞두고, 분열된 보수 야당세력을 통합하여 평화적 정권교체를 이룩할 목표로 1967년 2월 7일에 창당되었다. [Ahead of the sixth presidential election and the seventh general election of the National Assembly in 1967, it was founded on February 7, 1967, with the aim of achieving a peaceful regime change by integrating divided conservative opposition forces.]
10. "South Korea's 19th Presidential Election: Lessons Learned". The Diplomat. 13 May 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2023. Interestingly, 13.2 percent from the youngest group chose moderate conservative Yoo Seung-min, the highest of any group.
11. "Park Heong-joon, a 'moderate conservative' politician". The Korea Times. 7 April 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
12. Nanna Kildal; Stein Kuhnle (2007). Normative Foundations of the Welfare State: The Nordic Experience. Routledge. p. 128. ISBN 978-1-134-27282-2.
13. "Opinion: Will The Real Republicans Please Stand Up?". Yahoo!. 28 February 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2023. Anyone who didn't support the Florida Man, anyone who is a more moderate conservative, often gets tagged as a RINO — Republican in Name Only.
14. "Straddling divide between GOP moderates and conservatives, Bush was last of a kind". NBC News. 1 December 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
15. "A Dove From Hiroshima: Is Fumio Kishida Tough Enough To Lead Japan?". Worldcrunch. 10 October 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2023. Kishida's character, coupled with the fact that he belongs to the moderate Kochikai faction within the LDP, inevitably means that he won't ...
16. Lucien Ellington, ed. (2009). Japan. ABC-CLIO. p. 168. ISBN 9781598841626.
17. "Liz Truss apologises for mistakes and vows to lead Tories into next election". The Irish Times. 17 October 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2023. Ms Truss was due to meet the moderate One Nation Conservatives group in Parliament on Monday evening before an informal reception with her cabinet.