liberal arts College or university curriculum aimed at imparting gen¬ eral knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum. In Classical antiq¬ uity, the term designated the education proper to a freeman (Latin liber, “free”) as opposed to a slave. In the medieval Western university, the seven liberal arts were grammar, rhetoric, and logic (the trivium ) and geometry, arithmetic, music, and astronomy (the quadrivium). In modem colleges and universities, the liberal arts include the study of literature, languages, philosophy, history, mathematics, and science.
Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP) Japan’s largest political party, which held power almost continuously from its formation in 1955 until 1993. It was created through the amalgamation and transformation of vari¬ ous factions of the prewar Rikken SeiyOkai and Minseito parties. The conser¬ vative LDP appeared threatened in the 1970s but survived; the end of the 1980s boom years (the “bubble economy”), financial crises, and political scandals finally caused the party to lose its majority in the Diet in 1993. It came back to power in a coalition government in 1994, and since then LDP prime ministers have included Obuchi Keizo and Koizumi Jun'ichiro.
Liberal Parly British political party that emerged in the mid-19th cen¬ tury as the successor to the Whigs. It was the major party in opposition to the Conservative Party until 1918, after which it was supplanted by the Labour Party. It was initially supported by the middle class that was enfran¬ chised by the Reform Bill of 1832. Earl Russell’s administration in 1846 is sometimes regarded as the first Liberal government, but the first unequivocally Liberal government was formed in 1868 by William E.
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1108 I Liberal Party of Canada ► libertarianism
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Gladstone. Under Gladstone, until 1894, the party’s hallmark was reform; after 1884 it espoused Irish Home Rule. It championed individualism, pri¬ vate enterprise, human rights, and promotion of social justice; wary of imperial expansion, it was pacific and internationalist. During World War I it split into two camps, centred on H.H. Asquith and David Lloyd George. It continued as a minor party until 1988, when it merged with the Social Democratic Party to form the Liberal Democratic Party.
Liberal Party of Canada One of the two major Canadian political parties. It originated in two reformist opposition groups, Rouges and Clear Grits, that emerged in the mid-19th century in what are now the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, respectively. The first Liberal government was headed by Alexander Mackenzie (1873-78). The party regained power under Wilfred Laurier (1896-1911) and was the ruling party for much of the 20th century under such prime ministers as W.L. Mackenzie King, Louis Saint Laurent, Lester Pearson, Pierre Trudeau, and Jean Chretien. Like the Conservative Party (later the Progressive Conservative Party), the Liberal Party comprises diverse regional, ethnic, religious, and class interests.
liberalism Political and economic doctrine that emphasizes the rights and freedoms of the individual and the need to limit the powers of gov¬ ernment. Liberalism originated as a defensive reaction to the horrors of the European wars of religion of the 16th century (see Thirty Years' War). Its basic ideas were given formal expression in works by Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, both of whom argued that the power of the sovereign is ultimately justified by the consent of the governed, given in a hypotheti¬ cal social contract rather than by divine right (see divine kingship). In the economic realm, liberals in the 19th century urged the end of state inter¬ ference in the economic life of society. Following Adam Smith, they argued that economic systems based on free markets are more efficient and gen¬ erate more prosperity than those that are partly state-controlled. In response to the great inequalities of wealth and other social problems cre¬ ated by the Industrial Revolution in Europe and North America, liberals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries advocated limited state intervention in the market and the creation of state-funded social services, such as free public education and health insurance. In the U.S. the New Deal program undertaken by Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt typified modern liberalism in its vast expansion of the scope of governmental activities and its increased regulation of business. After World War II a further expansion of social welfare programs occurred in Britain, Scandinavia, and the U.S. Eco¬ nomic stagnation beginning in the late 1970s led to a revival of classical liberal positions favouring free markets, especially among political con¬ servatives in Britain and the U.S. Contemporary liberalism remains com¬ mitted to social reform, including reducing inequality and expanding individual rights. See also conservatism; individualism.
liberalism, theological School of religious thought characterized by concern with inner motivation as opposed to external controls. It was set in motion in the 17th century by Rene Descartes, who expressed faith in human reason, and it was influenced by such philosophers as Benedict de Spinoza, G. W. Leibniz, and John Locke. Its second stage, which coincided with the Romantic movement of the late 18th and 19th century, was marked by an appreciation of individual creativity, expressed in the writ¬ ings of philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant as well as of the theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher. The third stage, from the mid-19th century through the 1920s, emphasized the idea of progress. Stimulated by the Industrial Revolution and by Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859), thinkers such as T. H. Huxley and Herbert Spencer in England and William James and John Dewey in the U.S. focused on the psychological study of religious experience, the sociological study of reli¬ gious institutions, and philosophical inquiry into religious values.
liberation theology Roman Catholic movement that originated in the late 20th century in Latin America and seeks to express religious faith by helping the poor and working for political and social change. It began in 1968, when bishops attending the Latin American Bishops’ Conference in Medellin, Colom., affirmed the rights of the poor and asserted that industrialized nations were enriching themselves at the expense of the Third World. The movement’s central text, A Theology of Liberation (1971), was written by the Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutierrez (b. 1928). Liberation theologians have sometimes been criticized as purveyors of Marxism, and the Vatican has sought to curb their influence by appointing more conservative prelates.
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or Tamil Tigers Guerrilla organization seeking to establish an independent Tamil state in northern
and eastern Sri Lanka. Formed in 1972, it is considered one of the world’s most sophisticated and tightly organized insurgent groups. By 1985 it con¬ trolled the port of Jaffna and most of the Jaffna Peninsula in northern Sri Lanka. After losing control of Jaffna in 1987, it carried out several attacks, including the assassinations of the Sri Lankan president and the former Indian prime minister and a suicide bombing that killed 100 people in the capital of Colombo. Negotiations between the Tigers and the government broke down in the mid-1990s, and fighting subsequently intensified until February 2002 when a permanent cease-fire agreement was signed.
Liberia officially Republic of Liberia Republic, western Africa. Area: 37,743 sq mi (97,754 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 2,900,000. Capitaclass="underline" Monrovia. Liberia’s ethnic groups include the Americo-
Liberians, descendants of the black freed- men who emigrated from the U.S. in the 19th century; and 16 indigenous peoples of the Mande, Kwa, and Mel linguistic groups. Languages: English (official), indigenous languages. Religions: traditional beliefs, Christianity, Islam. Currency: Liberian dollar. Liberia has coastal lowlands extending 350 mi (560 km) along the Atlantic; farther inland are hills and low mountains. Roughly one-fifth of Liberia consists of tropical rainforest. Agriculture is the main component of the economy, but only a portion of the arable land is cultivated. The country also has rich iron-ore reserves, which are a major source of exports. The principal cash crops are rubber, coffee, and cacao; the staple crops are rice and cassava. Constitutionally, Liberia is a republic with two legislative houses, and its head of state and government is the president; however, since 2003 it has been under a transitional gov¬ ernment with a chairman. Africa’s oldest republic, Liberia was established on land acquired for freed U.S. slaves by the American Colonization Society, which founded a colony at Cape Mesurado in 1821. In 1822 Jehudi Ashmun, a Methodist minister, became the director of the settle¬ ment and Liberia’s real founder. In 1824 the territory was named Liberia, and its main settlement was named Monrovia. Joseph Jenkins Roberts proclaimed Liberian independence in 1847 and expanded its boundaries. Border disputes with the French and British lasted until 1892, when its boundaries were officially established. In 1980 a coup led by Gen. Sam¬ uel K. Doe marked the end of the Americo-Liberians’ long political domi¬ nance over the indigenous Africans. A rebellion in 1989 escalated into a destructive civil war in the 1990s. A peace agreement was reached in 1996, but fighting broke out again in 1999 and lasted until 2003, when a transitional government was installed, backed by UN peacekeepers.