Compare and contrast liberalism and conservatism as traditions of political thought. Which, in your view provides a better explanation of Britains problems and how they might be solved.

Liberalism and Conservatism are seen as two major political ideologies. Both set out trying to answer the questions; what is human nature? How should we organise the economy? There are similarities and differences to the two traditions of political thought and both offer explanations to Britains problems and suggestions as to how these problems may be solved. In this essay I will detail these aspects of the two political ideologies. I will discuss the two different opinions on human nature, the Liberal optimistic view of rationalism in humans and the Conservative pessimistic view of imperfection in humans. I will also discuss the different views on the role of the state in the economy such as the Classical liberal view of minimum state interference and the conservative view of providing welfare to those who are in need and keeping instinctive humans under control….(short extract)