An ideology of caution: humans are flawed, society is fragile, and change should preserve what works. Three strands share that starting point and then pull apart - Traditional, One Nation, and the New Right, which is itself one strand made of two elements. Built around the strands, the five Edexcel named thinkers and the spec core ideas, with a worked 24-mark essay at the end. Three short quizzes break the tour up.
Conservatism is the ideology built around a pessimistic view of human nature and a protective view of what already exists. Humans are intellectually, morally and psychologically imperfect, so grand schemes to remake society are dangerous; the safest guide is tradition - the tested wisdom of the past. Burke's rule sums up the method: change in order to conserve. But conservatism is not one settled doctrine. The New Right of the 1970s broke with the older strands on almost every count - human nature, the state, society, the economy - which is why the standard exam question asks how far conservatism is united at all. This walk-through opens with the shared ground, takes you through the three strands in scrolly detail, runs the four dimensions across them, introduces the five named thinkers with their key works, covers the spec core ideas, and finishes with a worked 24-mark essay built from the Pearson mark scheme.
The shared base the strands are built on - and then argue over.
Three commitments run through the whole ideology, and the Pearson mark schemes name all three as areas of agreement. First, law and order: every conservative strand wants a state strong enough to enforce law and order, because without it society breaks down - the line traces back to Hobbes, for whom life without authority would be 'nasty, brutish and short'. Second, capitalism and private property: all three strands support private property because they see individuals as creators of wealth. No conservative strand is socialist. Third, most conservatives hold that human nature is limited and imperfect - flawed - and that this flaw is permanent, not fixable by better institutions.
Each agreement has a catch, and the catches are where the strands divide. The state should enforce law and order - but what else should it do? Capitalism is right - but is it backed pragmatically, because it works, or ideologically, as a principle? Humans are imperfect - or are they, as the neo-liberal wing of the New Right argues, rational and self-reliant? Those three questions structure every exam answer on conservatism.
Scroll - each strand lights with its key thinkers and its position on the four dimensions.
The 9PL0 spec names the types of conservatism as traditional, one-nation, neo-liberal and neo-conservative. In practice that gives three strands: Traditional, One Nation, and the New Right - with the New Right made of the neo-liberal and neo-conservative elements. The 2024 examiner report flags that answers which leave out a strand make a structural error, and that the marks live in comparing the strands, not describing them one after another. Scroll through; the figure beside you holds the three-strand summary with the strand you are reading lit.
All three strands want a strong state for law and order, support capitalism and private property, and (with one important exception) see humans as imperfect. The exception is the neo-liberal wing of the New Right - and that exception reshapes everything.
Traditional conservatism starts from human imperfection: humans are intellectually, morally and psychologically flawed (Oakeshott), so they should not trust abstract reasoning or grand schemes. Without a strong state, life would be 'nasty, brutish and short' (Hobbes). The state is fragile and organic (Burke) - guarded, passed on intact between generations, changed only pragmatically and gradually. Law and order comes first, and the state may be coercive when it must be.
One Nation conservatism keeps the Traditional view of human nature - humans are weak, vulnerable and imperfect - but draws an extra conclusion from it. Because humans are flawed and dependent, those at the top owe protection to those below. This is paternalism: the state acting as a kind benefactor, using its power to help the vulnerable. The point is not charity for its own sake - it is stability. Without paternalism, society fractures into Disraeli's 'two nations' of rich and poor and revolution becomes a real risk. On the economy, One Nation conservatives are pragmatic: welfare, intervention and even rising taxation are acceptable when the social fabric requires it.
Get the framing right first, because the 2024 examiner report says candidates get it wrong: neo-liberalism is not an independent strand divorced from the New Right - it is one of the two elements within the New Right, alongside neo-conservatism. The neo-liberal element wants the state rolled back: minimal, low-tax, no welfare, free-market (Rand, Nozick). The neo-conservative element wants the state rolled forward on morals and security: tough on crime, strong national identity, traditional values enforced. Thatcherism combined the two - a freer economy plus a stronger state on moral discipline. Critics call that a contradiction; the 2022 mark scheme notes the combination covers over a divide inside the New Right itself.
The 2024 examiner report names the most common conservatism error directly: the idea that the New Right believes in human imperfection, organicism and pragmatism 'is inaccurate'. Those three belong to Traditional and One Nation conservatism. The neo-liberal wing of the New Right believes the opposite on each: humans are rational not imperfect, society is atomistic not organic, and the commitment to free markets is ideological not pragmatic.
Hold that line through every essay. When you write about imperfection, organic society or pragmatism, you are writing about the older strands - and the New Right is your contrast.
Scroll - each dimension lights so you can read the strands across, not one after another.
Four dimensions: human nature, the state, society, the economy. Each Paper 1 Q3 question lands on one of them, or on conservatism as a whole. The 2024 examiner report is blunt about method: describing strand views in separate paragraphs with a transition sentence scores badly; the marks are in weaving the strands together within each theme. Scroll through; the figure beside you shows the four dimension cards with the one you are reading lit.
Human nature, the state, society, the economy. For each one, learn the agreement first, then the disagreement - that is exactly how the Pearson mark schemes lay out the indicative content.
Agreement: Traditional and One Nation share the imperfection view fully. Disagreement: the 2023 mocks mark scheme: 'a debate within conservatism over whether human nature is imperfect or atomistic'. Never give the imperfection view to the New Right as a whole - only its neo-conservative element keeps a moral pessimism, and even that is not the older strands' three-part imperfection.
Agreement: all conservatives see the state as essential for law and order - the highest sovereign body in society. Disagreement: beyond law and order, the role of the state is contested - and even the New Right is divided within itself, which the 2022 mark scheme calls the ambiguity in conservative attitudes towards the state.
Agreement: the 2019 mark scheme notes all conservatives see society as essential for human development. Disagreement: organic versus atomistic is the sharpest society split - and the hierarchy-versus-meritocracy contrast follows from it. Both accept an unequal society, but one bases the inequality on a settled hierarchy, the other on individual merit.
Agreement: all three strands support capitalism and private property - individuals as creators of wealth. Disagreement: the 2023 mocks mark scheme identifies the split as 'an ideological v pragmatic commitment to capitalism'. Same destination, opposite reasoning - which is exactly the kind of paired point examiners reward.
Pick the dimension the 24-mark question is about. Lead with the strands, weaving them together inside each theme - the key thinkers are there to add value to the strands, not the other way round (2024 examiner report). State the agreement, then the disagreement, then an interim judgement on which weighs more. 'To what extent' asks how much, not yes or no.
Scroll - each thinker lights with their key work and the ideas the spec attaches to them.
The 9PL0 spec names five conservative thinkers: Hobbes, Burke, Oakeshott, Nozick and Rand. The working minimum in a 24-mark essay is two named thinkers - and an essay with no spec thinkers is capped at Level 2. But remember the order of priority: strands first, thinkers in support. Scroll through; the figure beside you holds the five thinker cards.
Hobbes, Burke and Oakeshott carry the Traditional and One Nation positions. Nozick and Rand carry the neo-liberal element of the New Right. The neo-conservative element has no separate named spec thinker - its moral pessimism travels through a return to Hobbes.
Hobbes supplies conservatism's starting argument. Humans are morally imperfect; without authority, life would be 'nasty, brutish and short'. The state is the only thing standing between us and chaos - so even a bad state is better than no state at all. Order and security come before everything else, and the state may restrict freedoms to deliver them.
Use Hobbes for: law and order as the first agreement across all strands; the Traditional case for a coercive state; and the moral-order reasoning the neo-conservative element of the New Right returns to.
Burke wrote against the French Revolution and its attempt to rebuild society from abstract principles. Society and the state are organic - living bodies where every part is connected, built up gradually, fragile, to be guarded and passed on intact between generations. Change is allowed, but only 'change in order to conserve' - gradual, pragmatic, rooted in tradition. Property creates responsibility and binds people to society; hierarchy and authority reinforce the organic whole.
Use Burke for: organic society, tradition, hierarchy, the pragmatic case for capitalism - and the One Nation warning that the state must avoid extremes that lead to tyranny.
Oakeshott carries the intellectual half of human imperfection: the world is too complicated for humans to grasp, so abstract ideologies that claim to understand it should be distrusted - whether socialist planning or free-market doctrine. Politics should be guided by tradition, experience and history: pragmatism over ideology. Life is a journey without a fixed destination, so the job of government is to keep the ship afloat, not steer for a utopia. Hierarchy gives people a sense of duty and a settled place.
Use Oakeshott for: intellectual imperfection, pragmatism, the Traditional and One Nation suspicion of grand schemes - and as the sharpest contrast with the New Right's ideological commitment to free markets.
Nozick carries the libertarian case inside the New Right. The individual, not the state, is paramount. The only legitimate state is the minimal state - the night-watchman - limited to defence, courts and the enforcement of contracts and property rights. Taxation for redistribution is rejected: no entitlement of citizen from state; people must be self-supporting. Free markets without state interference are the only legitimate economic order.
Use Nozick for: the neo-liberal view of the state, atomistic individualism ('the individual knows best'), and the ideological - not pragmatic - commitment to the free market.
Rand supplies the moral framework of the neo-liberal element. Humans are rational, self-aware individuals who know their own interests; self-interest is a virtue, not a vice, and altruism engineered by the state is to be avoided. State activity is corrosive - Rand opposed all forms of state help to the vulnerable, putting her directly at odds with One Nation paternalism. Society is atomistic: a collection of self-reliant individuals, with no organic whole and no hierarchy of duty.
Use Rand for: the rational-atomistic view of human nature, the rejection of welfare and paternalism, and the meritocratic view of society.
The strongest comparisons pair a thinker from each side of a divide. Oakeshott's imperfection against Rand's rational individual. Burke's organic society against Nozick's self-reliant individuals. Disraeli's paternalist state against Rand's corrosive state. Hobbes is the bridge: every strand keeps his law-and-order case, which is why law and order is the one solid agreement.
Scroll - each core idea lights with its definition and the strands it maps onto.
Six core ideas run through the conservatism spec section: pragmatism, tradition, human imperfection, organic society, paternalism and libertarianism. Each one maps onto particular strands - and the mapping is where students slip. Scroll through. The figure beside you holds all six cards with the idea you are reading lit.
Pragmatism, tradition, human imperfection, organic society, paternalism, libertarianism. Each Paper 1 Q3 question is built off one of these or one of the four dimensions. Scroll through.
Decisions guided by what works in practice, not by abstract theory. Oakeshott is the named carrier: distrust ideologies that claim to understand what is too complicated to grasp; base ideas in tradition, experience and history.
Strand map: Traditional and One Nation. The New Right is the contrast - 'highly ideological' in the 2024 mark scheme's wording, with an ideological commitment to economic liberty that tends towards radical change.
The accumulated wisdom of the past - institutions, customs and practices that have survived because they work. Burke: society has emerged gradually and traditions must be respected; change only 'in order to conserve'.
Strand map: Traditional and One Nation. The New Right had a radical agenda, seeking large changes to society and not bound by the past (2019 mark scheme) - which is why calling the New Right traditional is an error.
Humans are flawed three ways (2024 mark scheme): intellectually - the world is too complicated to grasp (Oakeshott); psychologically - dependent creatures craving order, familiarity and the security of knowing their place; morally - unable to resist the temptation to act immorally, which is why a strong state is needed (Hobbes).
Strand map: Traditional and One Nation. The neo-liberal element of the New Right rejects it - humans are rational and atomistic (Rand, Nozick).
Society as a living body where every part is connected and the individual cannot be separated from the whole (Burke). Hierarchy and authority reinforce the organic structure; the delicate elements should not be disturbed (Oakeshott).
Strand map: Traditional and One Nation. The New Right takes the atomistic view instead - society as a collection of self-reliant individuals (Rand), with merit replacing hierarchy.
The obligation of those at the top to look after those below - the state as a kind benefactor, using its power to help the vulnerable and prevent the division that leads to revolution. Disraeli's 'one nation' is the slogan; noblesse oblige is the duty behind it.
Strand map: One Nation above all, with Traditional roots. The New Right rejects it - Rand opposed all forms of state help to the vulnerable, and Nozick allowed no entitlement of citizen from state.
The individual, not the state, is paramount. Nozick's minimal state does almost nothing beyond defence, courts and contracts; Rand's objectivism makes self-interest a virtue. Maximum economic freedom, minimum state.
Strand map: The neo-liberal element of the New Right. Note the limit: libertarian conservatives still want a state - rejecting the state entirely is anarchism, not conservatism. And the neo-conservative element pulls the other way, wanting a stronger state on morals.
Direct links to every conservatism essay resource on Panther, plus a worked answer.
The exam tests conservatism through Paper 1 Q3(a) or Q3(b) - 24 marks, AO1/AO2/AO3 split 8/8/8. 'To what extent' is a question of degree: judge how much, not yes or no. Two named spec thinkers is the working minimum; no spec thinkers caps the answer at Level 2. Structure by theme, weave the strands together inside each theme, and judge as you go.
Past 24-mark questions to practise.
Approach: Para 1 - organic society: Traditional and One Nation agree (Burke, Oakeshott) but the New Right takes the atomistic view (Rand) and replaces hierarchy with meritocracy. Para 2 - pragmatism: the older strands change to conserve (Burke) while the New Right is highly ideological and tends towards radical change. Para 3 - human nature: imperfection (Oakeshott, Hobbes) against neo-liberal rationalism and atomistic individualism (Rand, Nozick). Judgement: lean disagreement - the New Right breaks with the older strands on each theme, and the agreements (law and order, capitalism) are narrower than the splits.
Approach: Para 1 agreement - all conservatives see the state as essential for law and order; the highest sovereign body in society; even a bad state is better than no state (Hobbes); the organic state guarded and passed on (Burke). Para 2 disagreement - Rand on state activity as corrosive and Nozick's minimal state against One Nation paternalism. Para 3 disagreement - the New Right divided within itself: neo-liberals roll the state back, neo-conservatives roll it forward on morals; Thatcherism combined the two. Judgement: united only on the law-and-order core; contested everywhere beyond it.
Approach: Para 1 agreement - both want a state that defends property, values and institutions; both back law and order; both support capitalism and private property over common ownership (Burke). Para 2 disagreement - organic versus individualist society (Burke against Rand, Nozick). Para 3 disagreement - imperfect human nature and pragmatism (Hobbes, Oakeshott) against rationalism and the ideological free market (Rand). Judgement: the shared base is real but thin; on human nature, society and method the two strands hold opposite views.
Approach: Para 1 agreement - all conservatives see society as essential for human development (Burke) and prefer the state to play as small a role as necessary in it (Oakeshott). Para 2 disagreement - organic society with tradition respected (Burke) against the New Right's free-developing individuals (Nozick) and radical agenda. Para 3 disagreement - hierarchy with a sense of duty (Oakeshott) against meritocracy; plus the split inside the New Right between free individuals (Rand) and the neo-conservative moral code. Judgement: lean disagreement; both views accept an unequal society but on opposite foundations.
Judgement. Conservatism is more divided than united. The agreements are real - law and order, capitalism, private property - but they are the minimum any conservative position requires. On the questions that decide what a conservative government actually does - how big the state should be, whether humans need guidance or freedom, whether welfare is a duty or a corrosion - the New Right and the older strands hold opposite views, and the New Right is divided even within itself. The shared base does not close the splits; it only marks where they begin.
Pragmatism. Decisions guided by what works in practice rather than abstract theory. A Traditional and One Nation core idea (Oakeshott); the New Right is the ideological contrast.
Tradition. The accumulated wisdom of the past - institutions and customs that have survived because they work. Change should be gradual and rooted in it (Burke).
Change in order to conserve. Burke's rule for reform: change is allowed, but only the change needed to preserve what matters, made gradually.
Human imperfection. Humans are intellectually imperfect (the world is too complicated to grasp - Oakeshott), psychologically imperfect (craving order, familiarity and a settled place) and morally imperfect (unable to resist temptation - Hobbes). Belongs to Traditional and One Nation conservatism, not the New Right.
Organic society. Society as a living body where every part is connected and the individual cannot be separated from the whole (Burke). The New Right contrast is atomism.
Hierarchy and authority. A natural ordering of society from above, giving people a sense of duty and a settled place (Burke, Oakeshott). The New Right replaces it with meritocracy.
Paternalism. The state as a kind benefactor, using its power to help the vulnerable and prevent the division that leads to revolution. The One Nation signature (Disraeli).
Noblesse oblige. The duty of the wealthy and powerful to look after the worse-off - the moral basis of One Nation paternalism.
One nation. Disraeli's warning that without paternalism society fractures into 'two nations' of rich and poor - and his programme for binding the nation back together.
Libertarianism. The individual, not the state, is paramount; the state should be minimal (Nozick). The neo-liberal core idea inside the New Right.
Atomism. The view that society is a collection of self-reliant individuals rather than an organic whole (Rand). The New Right's society position.
Meritocracy. Individuals rise and fall on merit, not inherited place. The New Right's replacement for traditional hierarchy.
Minimal state. Nozick's night-watchman state - limited to defence, courts and the enforcement of contracts and property rights.
Objectivism. Rand's philosophy: self-interest is a virtue, altruism corrodes, and state activity is corrosive.
Neo-liberalism. The free-market element of the New Right: roll back the state, low taxes, no welfare, privatisation (Rand, Nozick).
Neo-conservatism. The moral element of the New Right: roll the state forward on morals and security - tough on crime, traditional values, national identity. No separate named spec thinker; the reasoning returns to Hobbes.
New Right. One strand of conservatism made of two elements - neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism. Treat it both ways: as one strand when comparing it with Traditional and One Nation, and as two elements when explaining its internal tension.
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679). Leviathan (1651). Humans are morally imperfect; life without authority would be nasty, brutish and short; even a bad state is better than no state. The law-and-order case every strand keeps.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797). Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790). Organic society and state, passed on intact between generations; change in order to conserve; property creates responsibility; hierarchy reinforces the organic whole.
Michael Oakeshott (1901-1990). On Being Conservative (1956). The world is too complicated for humans to grasp; distrust abstract ideologies; politics guided by tradition, experience and history; hierarchy gives a sense of duty.
Robert Nozick (1938-2002). Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974). The minimal night-watchman state; the individual is paramount; no entitlement of citizen from state; free markets without interference.
Ayn Rand (1905-1982). The Virtue of Selfishness (1964). Objectivism: self-interest is a virtue; state activity is corrosive; society is atomistic; opposed all state help to the vulnerable.