liberalism

noun4

1. •
   Any political movement founded on the autonomy and personal freedom of the individual, progress and reform, and government by law with the consent of the governed.

   • Whether some distant cousin really belongs to the extended family of liberalisms is a matter of healthy dispute. — 2009
2. •
   An economic ideology in favour of laissez faire and the free market (related to economic liberalism).

   • But liberalism has no obvious answers to the biggest problems we face: ecological collapse and technological disruption. — 2018
3. •
   The quality of being liberal.
4. •
   A school of international relations that emphasises cooperation (such as trade) between polities, as an alternative to power politics, and the geopolitically transformative role of democratisation, as opposed to inherent structural material factors.