Progressive conservatism is an ideology that tries to unite conservative and progressive ideas. To deal with poverty, the ideology supports the idea of a social safety net. It also supports a limited redistribution of wealth. The people supporting progressive conservatism want to allow the government to regulate markets in the interests of both consumers and producers.[1] Progressive conservatism first arose as a distinct ideology in the United Kingdom under Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli's "One Nation" Toryism.[1][2]
In the UK, the Prime Ministers Disraeli, Stanley Baldwin, Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, Harold Macmillan,[3] and David Cameron have been described as progressive conservatives.[4][5] The Catholic Church's Rerum Novarum (1891) advocates a progressive conservative doctrine known as social Catholicism.[6]
In the United States, Theodore Roosevelt has been the main figure identified with progressive conservatism as a political tradition. Roosevelt stated that he had "always believed that wise progressivism and wise conservatism go hand in hand".[7] Some people considered the administration of President William Howard Taft to be progressive conservative. Taft described himself as "a believer in progressive conservatism".[8] President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared himself an advocate of "progressive conservatism".[9] In Germany, Chancellor Leo von Caprivi promoted a progressive conservative agenda called the "New Course".[10] In Canada, a variety of conservative governments have been progressive conservative, with Canada's major conservative movement being officially named the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1942 to 2003.[11] In Canada, the Prime Ministers Arthur Meighen, R.B. Bennett, John Diefenbaker, Joe Clark, Brian Mulroney, and Kim Campbell led progressive conservative federal governments.[11]