Home / Ideologies / Pragmatic Liberalism
Liberalism that defends democracy, individual rights and a market economy, but tests each policy against evidence: it accepts regulation, a safety net and targeted intervention when they fix market failures, as in Clinton's Third Way.
In one sentence
I want a liberal democracy with open markets and free trade, where regulation and a safety net enter only when evidence shows they work.
Political axes
Leans further toward globalism than 83% of the 271 ideologies in the catalog.
Of all the axes, Trade is where it stands furthest from the rest.
On Diplomacy, it sits practically at the catalog median.
Here it shares common ground with most ideologies.
President of the United States (1993–2001), Clinton promoted a 'Third Way' combining fiscal discipline and welfare reform with investment in education and technology, liberalized trade through NAFTA and China's WTO accession, and oversaw a period of strong economic growth despite being impeached over a personal scandal.
Closest, by dimension
Other compatible profiles
The most distant
Reference country
A global power and presidential federal republic, the United States combines a strong liberal tradition, a dynamic market economy, technological innovation, and a two-party system that polarizes national political life.
Other close countries
A parliamentary federal republic, Germany is Europe's largest economy, with a social market economy, a strong export industry, and a central role in the European Union, uniting democratic stability and geopolitical weight.
Also close, by dimension
The most distant
Germany's first democracy, the Weimar Republic united parliamentarism, proportional representation, and intense cultural life, but was undermined by economic crises and political instability that paved the way for Nazism.
Also close, by dimension
The most distant
Ideological proximity
Closest within Center
Pro-market centrist branch that combines fiscal responsibility, liberal democracy, moderate international openness, and institutional reform, rejecting both broad statism and libertarian radicalism as a political program.
German liberal school that defends the free market within firm rules guaranteed by the state, fighting monopolies and ensuring competition and stability, serving as the basis of the social market economy.
Current of Brazil's PSDB, founded in 1988 by Covas, Montoro and Cardoso, joining a market economy, social state, state reform and fiscal responsibility with parliamentarism and moderation on social issues.
Closest in other spectrums
Scandinavian model combining tripartite collective bargaining among unions, employers and the state, a universalist welfare state funded by high taxes, and an open, export-driven market economy, with strong social consensus and low inequality.
Liberal current that accepts an active role for the state in the economy and in guaranteeing rights, combining individual freedoms and markets with regulation and public policies aimed at the collective good and equality.
Doctrine proposing a democratic and federated global political order where citizens and nations deliberate jointly through multilateral representative institutions and lawful cooperation.
The most distant ideology
Juche SocialismRadical Left30%