Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Conservatism
(2,436 words)

1. Beginnings and thought structures

Conservatism is traditionalism; as such it denotes an impulsive form of political belief and behavior, not limited historically, but also a theory behind this mental and social habitus. In that sense, it is a historical phenomenon, more specifically a state of mind of the 18th and 19th centuries, and later continued into the 20th.

To conserve and to encourage had long been the axioms of politics; this did not change until the …

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Brandt, Hartwig, “Conservatism”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_022532>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20170206



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