Conservatism
The political tradition that prizes inherited institutions, gradual change, and skepticism of revolutionary projects — typically allied with religion, tradition, and existing hierarchies.
Origin
Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) is the founding text — a warning that the French Revolution would devour itself, written while the Terror was still mostly hypothetical. Burke's case: social order is a delicate inheritance, reform should be incremental, and abstract Reason is a poor guide to politics. Modern conservatism splits into many strands — religious-traditional, libertarian, nationalist-populist, neoconservative — that often disagree fiercely with each other.
Modern usage
In US politics 'conservative' is the standard label for the right; in the UK it is the official name of one of the two major parties. The split between 'fusionist' (free-market + traditional values) Reaganite conservatism and 'national-conservative' or populist conservatism is the live argument of the 2020s. 'Conservative' in Eastern Europe often centers on religion and national identity rather than markets.
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