The original strand: individual freedom is best achieved with the state playing a minimal role. Key thinkers Locke, Wollstonecraft and Mill. Egoistical individualism, the night-watchman state, laissez-faire economics and negative freedom.
Classical human nature is egoistical individualism: humans are rational and capable of running their own lives, and from individuals pursuing their own ends the wider good emerges. Wollstonecraft extended the claim to women - equally rational, so equally entitled to rights and freedoms.
The state is a necessary evil, minimal by design: defence, courts and the protection of property and contract, nothing more. Government by consent (Locke); the only legitimate use of coercion is to prevent harm to others (Mill).
Classical liberty is negative freedom at its sharpest: individuals are free to do anything except harm others, and that is the only legitimate purpose of state coercion (Mill). Freedom is freedom from interference.
Free-market, laissez-faire capitalism: the invisible hand of supply and demand allocates resources better than any planner. Private property is natural and predates the state (Locke). Welfare and regulation are threats to economic liberty, not safeguards.
Society is a marketplace of free rational individuals. Foundational equality (equal moral worth) and formal equality (the law treats all alike) lead to meritocracy. Mill defends tolerance and individuality. The strand stops at formal equality - it does not pursue substantive opportunity, which is why this theme is mixed for classical.
The primacy of the individual over any group is the bedrock of the classical strand: atomistic individuals, self-reliant and the best judges of their own interest. Society is what individuals make of it, not an organic whole that shapes them.
A reaction against free-market capitalism: freedom could no longer simply mean 'being left alone'. Key thinkers Rawls and Friedan, with the later Mill pointing the way. Developmental individualism, the enabling state, Keynesian capitalism and positive freedom.
Modern human nature is developmental individualism: humans are still rational and self-interested, but need education, opportunity and freedom from material want to develop their full potential (Rawls). Friedan: socialised gender roles deny women that development.
Modern liberalism re-evaluates the classical position: the enabling state can be freedom's guarantor, not its threat. Welfare, education, anti-discrimination law and progressive taxation ENHANCE freedom. This rejects the minimal night-watchman state - 'diametrically opposed' (Sample mark scheme).
Modern liberals add positive freedom: the chance to develop, which can require state action, not just the absence of constraint. They do not abandon negative freedom but treat it as insufficient on its own - which is why the theme reads as mixed rather than a flat plus.
Keynesian managed capitalism: the state regulates the market to protect vulnerable workers, prevent monopolies and fund welfare. Private property remains, but the free market alone cannot deliver real freedom - only state action makes equality of opportunity genuine (Rawls). This rejects laissez-faire.
Society needs active intervention to deliver freedom for all: equality of opportunity must be substantive, not merely formal. That requires welfare, education and anti-discrimination law. Friedan: gender roles must be challenged so women can develop fully.
Modern liberalism keeps the primacy of the individual at its heart - it never subordinates the individual to the group. It differs from classical only in arguing that the individual needs enabling conditions (education, welfare, opportunity) to develop their full potential.