Ideologies Vine Post

 

Liberalism was a nineteenth-century ideology that professed that the job of the government is to promote individual liberty. Liberalism supported innovation and reform and was against absolutism and aristocracy. Instead liberals believed in constitutional monarchies and meritocracy. This vine represents the beliefs of liberals in several ways. One part of the vine is the word tradition being torn in half. Liberals were against doing things just because they were traditional and instead insisted that countries should reform and support innovation. The social pyramid morphing into a circle is another symbol of the social beliefs of the liberals. It represents how liberals wanted to get rid of the privileges of the aristocracy and church and instead establish a meritocracy where people are rewarded based on skill, hence the circle for equality. Another part of the vine is a shrinking crown. This is representative of the political beliefs of liberalism. Liberals were against absolute monarchies and wanted the power of monarchs to shrink, like the crown did. Instead liberals supported the political system of a constitutional monarchy, where the people have some say in the government in the form of a parliament or similar governing body. The vine also has a scale with a crown and constitution on it that goes from the crown outweighing the constitution to them being equal. This represents the transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy. This support of a constitutional monarchy and the idea of more equal social classes were the main beliefs of liberalism.

Conservatism and nationalism were also nineteenth-century ideologies. Conservatives were in favor of absolute monarchy and traditional political and social systems, like aristocracy. Conservatives were resistant to change and instead used tradition as a reason for keeping things the same. They wanted to stop social change and believed in keeping the minority in power socially because they believed giving average citizens power would create chaos. Conservatives were against the beliefs of liberals and believed in keeping with tradition. Nationalism asserted that countries should be defined by people sharing culture, religion, language, and more, instead of who ruled it. They also believed that countries had natural borders based on these things. Nationalists were against being ruled by foreign countries and tried to expel those leaders. They also were in favor of unification of divided city-states, like in Germany and Italy. Nationalists shared many of the same beliefs that liberals had.