Liberalism is a political and economic doctrine that emphasizes individual autonomy, equality of opportunity, and the protection of individual righ...

The intellectual founders of liberalism were the English philosopher John Locke (1632–1704), who developed a theory of political authority based on...

In John Locke’s theory, the consent of the governed was secured through a system of majority rule, whereby the government would carry out the expre...

Classical liberals (now often called libertarians) regard the state as the primary threat to individual freedom and advocate limiting its powers to...

Modern liberals are generally willing to experiment with large-scale social change to further their project of protecting and enhancing individual...