Politics: Conservatism - Society

-Her defining work, the novel 'Atlas Shrugged' (1957), secured her status as one of America's most influential libertarians.

-Its theme was that talented individuals, rather than ambitious governments, lay at the heart of any successful society.

-The novel suggested that without the energy of such individuals, a society would quickly wither - no matter how much activity was expended by governments.

-The theme was restated in a non-fictional way through her works of philosophy - 'The Virtue of Selfishness' (1964) explained a philosophical system she described as 'objectivism', its core belief being that we should all be guided by self-interest and 'rational self-fulfilment'.

-For this reason, she became associated with the New Right's atomism, the term for a society defined by millions of autonomous individuals, each independently seeking self-fulfilment and self-realisation.

-She was proud to call herself a libertarian, in that she defended not just free markets but also an individual's 'right to choose' in areas like homosexuality or abortion.

-She argues that those who own property are better placed to resist state-led incursions upon their liberty and will be emboldened to justify the sort of unequal society conservatives defend.

-Though incapable of the 'perfect' societies linked to other ideologies, humanity was still able to secure 'both pleasure and improvement through the humdrum business of everyday life'.

-From this perspective, he tried to make conservatism seem more optimistic than ideologies such as liberalism and socialism.

-He argued that such ideologies - with their clear views of how society 'should' be - produced impatience, intolerance and frustration.

-He claimed that conservatives, who are reconciled to human imperfection, have a greater appreciation of the pleasures that already exist in life (from families and friends, for example).

-Conservatives, he claimed, 'prefer the familiar to the unknown, the actual to the possible, the convenient to the perfect...present laughter to utopian bliss'.

-Being dismissive of 'normative' politics, with its 'simplistic visions that overlook the complexity of reality', he also affirmed the merits of an empirical and pragmatic approach to both politics and life generally - what might be termed 'the art of the possible'.

-He argued that it was through experience, trial and error, rather than abstract philosophy, that wisdom was achieved.

-He observed that the conservative society is one that merely aims to 'stay afloat' in uncertain waters, rather than sail steadily towards some specific destination (such as a fairer or more equal society) which ma ultimately prove illusory.

-In a memorable aside, he remarked: 'In a kitchen, cook books are only useful after experience of preparing a meal'.

-He noted that tradition dovetails with organicism, observing, 'Just as a plant's new leaves are connected to, dependent on and explained by the plant's roots and branches, so a society's present direction stems from its past development'.

-In respect of human imperfection, in 'Reflections on the Revolution in France' (1790), he stressed mankind's fallibility and its tendency to fail more than succeed.

-He therefore denounced the idealistic society that the French Revolution represented, claiming it was based on a utopian - and thus unrealistic - view of human nature.

-He argued that while change was necessary to conserve, change should proceed on the basis of fact and experience - in other words, empiricism and tradition - rather than theory and idealism.

-He duly criticised the French Revolution for discarding what was known in favour of an entirely new society based on 'philosophical abstractions'.

-He claimed that both society and government were more akin to a plant than a machine.

-He thus argued that both had a mysterious dynamism that was beyond reason and planning.

-In the political and social context, he therefore insisted that change must be cautious and organic, and denounced the French Revolution for disregarding history and tradition.

-He was scathing about the French Revolution's stress on equality, asserting that within all 'organic' societies, a ruling class was inevitable and desirable.

-However, this class had a clear obligation to govern in the interests of all.

-For him, it was the French aristocracy's failure to do this that led to revolution.

-He argued that the imperfections of humanity lead seamlessly to inequalities within human nature - this in turn leads to an unequal society, where, 'the wiser, stronger and more opulent' establish a hierarchy of power and privilege.

-According to him, such hierarchies are so natural that even the smallest of 'little platoon' communities is likely to have a top-down structure, with a minority exercising some authority over the majority.

-The basis for these 'little platoons' is a respect for property.

-Inherited and bequeathed property is seen as a tangible expression of his belief that the ideal society society is a 'partnership between those who are living, those who are dead and those who are yet to be born'.

-He condemned the new French Republic for its highly centralised structures, praising instead a society of 'little platoons': a multitude of small, diverse and largely autonomous communities, which would 'acknowledge, nurture and prune... the crooked timber of humanity'.

-These 'little platoons' provide their individuals with security, status and inspiration, while acting as a brake upon the sort of selfish individualism extolled by classical liberals.

-Indeed, one of his objections to the French Revolution was that it seemed to inaugurate a single, monolithic French society that would override local loyalties - a view reinforced by the new French Republic's development of a highly centralised state.

-He asserted that, prior to the emergence of a state, there was no cooperation or voluntary arrangements between individuals and therefore none of the 'natural rights' later cited by liberals.

-His 'state of nature' was a place of scarce resources where individuals would be governed by ruthless self-interest.

-Human nature was thus shaped by a restless desire for the acquisition of goods (one would be competitive and calculating), an immovable distrust of others and a constant fear of violent death.

-In his own words, life in this state of nature would be 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short'.

-Such 'natural chaos' stemmed from the absence of any formal authority, which could enforce an unquestioned code of right and wrong.

-In its absence, he noted, mankind in the state of nature was left to form his own version of acceptable and unacceptable conduct.

-Yet, because each man's versions of right and wrong were likely to be different, this would lead only to uncertainty and war.

-Nevertheless, because he did not consider human nature wholly irrational (cold rationality), he believed that mankind would eventually realise that the state of nature was inimical to self-interest and thus agree to a 'contract'.

-Under this contract, individuals would render to a 'sovereign' (that is, a state) the right to make laws which by all were restrained and thus allow the sort of order and security absent in the state of nature.

-As an early Enlightenment thinker, he was thus heavily committed to 'government by consent' and the notion of a state being 'rationally' created by a 'contract' between the government and the governed.

-This would eventually lead to a 'society', where individuals could enjoy some security and progress.

-He insisted that the feasibility of individual rights is entirely dependent upon law and order - which only the state can provide.

-He became closely identified with libertarianism, a creed which argues that the individual should be 'left alone' not just in the economic sphere (as neo-liberals and all New Right conservatives would argue) but in the social and cultural spheres as well (an idea many on the New Right would find at odds with their social conservatism).

-As a result, libertarianism is tolerant of a liberal, 'permissive society' and takes a relaxed view of issues like abortion, divorce and homosexuality.

-He believed that society predates the state.

-The purpose of his limited minarchist state was not simply to facilitate raw individualism and free-market capitalism.

-For him, the minarchism he prescribed would allow a multitude of self-sufficient communities to emerge alongside the extension of individual freedom.

-In his minarchist society, each of these communities would be free to practice its particular moral codes and values, including values which might be seen as socialist or anti-Christian.

-This arguably represents an updated version of Burke's view that the best form of society is one comprising a variety of 'little platoons'.