Ideology
Moderate ConservatismCentre-right
Seeks to preserve established institutions, customs, and social order, accepting gradual change when needed, and favoring market economics, public safety, family, and community ties, while avoiding sweeping or abrupt reform.
Core ideas
- Preserve established institutions, customs and social order.
- Accept change when needed, but gradually, and avoid sweeping reform.
- Favour free markets, public safety and law and order.
- Value family, community ties and religious freedom.
- Support strong national security within a liberal democratic order.
Where it sits on the 12 axes
The economy axis (Collectivize to Privatize) is 40, a little toward Privatize. The government axis (Security to Freedom) is 50, in the middle. Diplomacy (Internationalism to Nationalism) is 40 and society (Progressive to Traditional) is 40, each leaning slightly toward the second value, Nationalism and Traditional. The match is the ideology whose four values are nearest to yours by straight-line distance on these axes only.
The bar shows the position on each of the four axes an ideology is matched on; the middle mark is the centre.
History
Moderate conservatism belongs to the centre-right, which grew out of the left-right spectrum of the French Revolution. In the 19th century, as party systems formed, monarchist and religious conservatives competed with individualist, anti-clerical liberals. Christian democracy developed in the 1870s as another response to anti-clericalism. The centre-right offered a moderate position against socialism and became a driving force for liberal democracy in the early 20th century. After World War II it tempered its support for nationalism and became dominant across the Western world, with Christian democracy spreading across Europe. The economic downturn of the 1970s raised support for neoliberalism and neoconservatism. After the Cold War ended, centre-right movements took power in Central and Eastern Europe in the 1990s.
Common misunderstandings
- It is not the same as Centrism. This ideology leans a little toward Privatize, Nationalism and Traditional rather than sitting at the exact middle on all four.
- Being 'moderate' does not mean having no principles. The centre-right typically supports free markets, law and order and strong national security, and prefers gradual change.
Related ideologies
Is Moderate Conservatism your closest ideology?
Take the test and see which of the ideologies your answers sit closest to.
Questions
What is Moderate Conservatism?
A centre-right position that seeks to preserve established institutions, customs and social order while accepting gradual change. It generally favours market economics, public safety, family and community ties, and avoids sweeping or abrupt reform.
Is Moderate Conservatism left or right?
Right, but only slightly: it is centre-right by definition. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy and liberal conservatism. On the four axes it sits near the middle with small leans toward Privatize, Nationalism and Traditional.
Moderate Conservatism vs Conservatism?
They are close neighbours on the four axes. Conservatism here sits further out: more Privatize, more Security and more Traditional. The moderate version accepts change more readily, is closer to the centre on government, and is the centre-right rather than simply the right.
How does the 12 Axes test decide I am Moderate Conservatism?
It compares your economy, government, diplomacy and society scores with the four values stored for each of the 38 ideologies and picks the nearest by straight-line distance. Other axes are not used for ideologies.