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Conservatism 9 MarkersExplain and analyse three ways in which conservative thinkers have viewed the state
Most conservative thinkers see the importance in the state to govern and keep the ship afloat, whilst supporting
the ‘small platoons’ that exist in society. On the contrary, some new right conservative thinkers like Ayn Rand
believe that society is made up of atomised individuals and for that reason the state should exist in a monarchist
form, to not prevent individuals from pursuing their interests.
Traditional conservative, Thomas Hobbes, writing amidst the 17th century, leading up to the 1688 Glorious
Revolution, saw the state as an essential body that would make sure there was order in society and that the
people’s lives are not ‘nasty, brutish and small’, as articulated in Hobbes’ Levanthian. Hobbes argued that a
‘natural chaos’ would exist with an absence of the state and for that reason he justified the need for a state.
Hobbes also argued a similar cause as Liberal thinker John Locke, a belief in the existence of a social contract,
that connected the ruler and the ruled by a contact that the people consented to. Hobbes’ belief in the state of
nature made a point for the need of a state, to make the people’s lives no longer ‘nasty, brutish and short’ and
instead a society where people’s lives were ‘good, civilised and long’.
One-nation conservative thinker, Michael Oakeshott believed the state was an essential part of a conservative
society. To ‘prevent the bad rather than create the good’, the state was not there to promote and pass legislation
but instead to arbitrate and punish to stop the bad. Michael Oakeshott’s view on the state can be defined through
his use of the nautical metaphor: we all sail a boundless sea, with no appointed destination' and that the job of
the government is to reflect this by 'keeping the ship afloat at all costs… using experience to negotiate every
storm, stoicism to accept necessary change of direction… and not fixating on a port that may not exist.'
Oakeshott’s belief in keeping the ship afloat is an essential distinction of one nation conservatism’s view on the
state, ‘preventing the bad’ and ‘keeping the ship afloat’. Oakeshott also believed the state to be an essential part
in allowing those individuals to have a better life, bringing about ‘both pleasure and improvement through the
humdrum business of everyday life', thought legislation. We see Oakeshott influence Disraeli’s government
(1774-80) where the state did improve the lives of people and helped keep the ship afloat. In 1875 he passed the
artisan dwellings act, which allowed local councils to buy up slum areas and help to improve the lives of those
people, bringing us back to the remark of a start that makes people’s lives ‘good, civilised and long’.
However, an outlier exists through the form of new right conservative thinker, Ayn Rand, who believes the state
plays a quite different role to her contempories. Her belief that society is made up of atomised individuals and a
laissez faire economy is very different from that of previous conservative thinkers. In her work Atlas Shrugged
(1957) she articulates the need to ‘roll back the frontiers of the state’ for individuals to best pursue their self-
interest economically. Rand feels that individuals should not be restricted by the state to prosper economically,
hence her advocation for a laissez faire economy. She felt it was necessary for the state, which she felt was still
necessary to be present to engage in the practices of de-regulation and tax cuts. This can be seen in the 1990s
where Wall-Street went through various measures of de-regulation, which she advocated for freeing the
individuality of the individual, removing the restrictions the state had on private enterprise and entrepreneurial
spirit, thus ‘rolling back the frontiers of the state’.
Explain and analyse 3 ways in which conservative thinkers have viewed the economy [9]
All conservative thinkers see capitalism as an essential part of their society, thus giving society the ability to
gain private property, uphold tradition and further themselves financially. Yet, they disagree over the role the
state has in the conservation of capitalism, and how the state should regulate capitalism.
Traditional conservatives like Thomas Hobbes believe that constructive and enduring economic activity is
impossible without a state guaranteeing order and security. Hobbes articulates in Levanthian (1651) that he
defends an economy based on private ownership, but is sceptical about free-market capitalism, he is fearful of
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