Date of Publication :8th October 2024

Abstract:The main feature of liberalism can be considered as its commitment to liberty. As per J.S Mill, liberty is a negative notion – to be free is to be not in jail, not bound to a particular occupation, not excluded from the franchise, and so on. The history of liberalism is a history of opposition to assorted tyrannies. Anti-Absolutism is a protest against any absolute and arbitrary power that violates the personality or rights of those governed. As per John Locke, a specific exception exists in the case of soldiers on the battlefields. Liberals deny any form of authority based on the theories of divine right or charismatic authority, Marxist theory, and Nazi theory. Authority exists only to achieve goals like security of life, property, and the pursuit of happiness. The second liberal’s antipathy is Anti-Theocracy – the separation of the Church (the sacred) and the State (the secular) based on Locke’s concept of toleration, which upholds matters of conscience. This view can also be termed secularism in the Western worldview. The third of liberalism’s antipathies is known as Anti-Capitalism, in which one strand of liberalism, namely – the late twentieth-century conservatives or neo-liberals, has regarded capitalism as an enemy of liberty, marking a significant reversal in the history of liberalism. Neo-liberalism is based on a laissez-faire or free-market economy.

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