Conservatism constitutes one of the fundamental keys of modern and contemporary thought. One of the first systematic analyses of this ideology appears in *The Conservative Mind* (1926), a work attributed to the Hungarian sociologist Karl Mannheim, a distinguished scholar of conservatism and its differentiation from traditionalism
The rise of conservatism is situated in the context of the liberal revolutions, and especially in the French Revolution of 1789. It was born as a social, political, moral, and even intellectual response to those revolutionary waves whose purpose was to dismantle the Ancien Régime and pave the way for a new way of understanding political and social life.
When addressing the origins of conservatism, it is essential to mention Edmund Burke (1729-1797), a writer, philosopher, and politician considered the father of conservative liberalism — a current he himself called "old whigs" —. His work Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) captures a large part of the foundations of reactionary conservative thought of the time. However, contrary to what might be supposed, Burke did not intend to restore absolutism in France; he was not, therefore, a "pure reactionary." Unlike Locke, he did not conceive of individuals as beings endowed with autonomous will, but as members of an already constituted political society regulated by legal norms. Likewise, he granted religion an ultimate and indisputable value within the social order.
The 'counter-revolutionary' conservatives
The term was born during the French Revolution to describe those opposed to the Revolution and the so-called "age of revolutions." They are distinguished from conservatives in that they refused to participate in the apparent disorder of secularization, unlike conservatives such as Burke, who did participate in it.
The main thinkers of counter-revolution are Lamennais and Maistre. The main idea of the counter-revolutionaries was that the only thing capable of creating a power structure should be the Holy Scriptures. The counter-revolutionaries defend the union between Church and politics and completely reject the separation of powers. However, many counter-revolutionaries like Haller are aware that recovering a "natural order" is utopian and can only be achieved by eliminating the political enemy; thus defending civil war and dictatorships. So we are facing an "ideological current" with many discrepancies within it.
Dissemination of the Anti-Revolutionary Conservative Ideology
The literary movement of Romanticism was key in the initial spread of anti-revolutionary liberal ideas in Germany, given the conservative mindset of German Romantic writers (other authors belonging to the same literary movement would have different ideals, as is the case with liberal Italian Romantics). German Romanticism, which began to gain traction after the translation into German of "Reflections," a work by Edmund Burke (considered the father of British conservative liberalism), looked to the past, to the origins of its nation, was clearly anti-modern and anti-democratic, and rejected rationalism. With such origins, anti-revolutionary conservatism would soon spread throughout Europe and the world.
The expansion of anti-revolutionism in 19th-century Britain would go hand in hand with Coleridge, a traditionalist politician who drew his ideals from Romanticism and who placed religion as a fundamental pillar of his ideology. He, along with the utilitarian Bentham, would dominate 19th-century British politics (according to Stuart Mill).
In Spain, we have Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, with his internal Constitution that aimed to distribute national sovereignty between the king and the Cortes, and Martínez Marina with his ideal of uniting the liberal Cortes with the pre-liberal onesBut the most notable example is France. There, two currents emerged with the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, both anti-revolutionary; that of those who sought a sort of mixed government between the monarchy and the people, allowing for the modernization of France, and that of those who wanted to return to representation by orders and the convening of the Estates-General, with some fiscal and administrative reforms
