Liberal International

Liberal International
Liberal International logo
Abbreviation	LI
Formation	April 1947, constituted with the Oxford Manifesto
Type	Federation
Purpose/focus	World federation of liberal political parties and organisations
Headquarters	National Liberal Club
Location	London
Region served	Worldwide
Membership	104 (From October 2009)
President	Hans van Baalen
Main organ	Congress of Liberal International
Website	http://www.liberal-international.org

Liberal International is a political international federation for liberal parties. Its headquarters is located at 1 Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2HD within the National Liberal Club. It was founded in Oxford in 1947, and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties and for the strengthening of liberalism around the world. The Oxford Manifesto describes the basic political principles of the Liberal International.

Liberalism
Development History of liberalism Contributions to liberal theory
Ideas Political liberalism Political freedom Cultural liberalism Democratic capitalism Democratic education Economic liberalism Free trade Individualism Laissez faire Liberal democracy Liberal neutrality Negative / positive liberty Market economy Open society Popular sovereignty Rights (individual) Separation of church and state Harm principle Permissive society
Variants Anarcho-liberalism Classical Conservative Democratic Green Libertarianism Market National Neoliberalism Ordoliberalism Paleoliberalism Radicalism Religious liberalism Social
People John Locke Adam Smith Adam Ferguson Thomas Jefferson Thomas Paine Alexis de Tocqueville David Hume Baron de Montesquieu Jeremy Bentham Milton Friedman Thomas Malthus Václav Havel Wilhelm von Humboldt Frederic Bastiat John Stuart Mill Thomas Hill Green Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse John Maynard Keynes Bertrand Russell Ludwig von Mises Friedrich Hayek Isaiah Berlin Joel Feinberg John Rawls Robert Nozick David Laws
Organizations Liberal parties Liberal International International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY) European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) European Liberal Youth (LYMEC) Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) Africa Liberal Network (ALN) Liberal Network for Latin America (Relial)
Liberalism portal Politics portal

Aims

The Liberal International Constitution (2005) gives its purposes as

"to win general acceptance of Liberal principles which are international in their nature throughout the world, and to foster the growth of a free society based on personal liberty, personal responsibility and social justice, and to provide the means of co-operation and interchange of information between the member organisations, and between men and women of all countries who accept these principles."

The principles that unite member parties from Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe allegedly are: respect for human rights, free and fair elections and multiparty-democracy, social justice, tolerance, free market economy, free trade, environmental sustainability and a strong sense of international solidarity.

The aims of Liberal International are also set out in a series of seven manifestos, written between 1946 and 1997 and are furthered by a variety of bodies including a near yearly conference for liberal parties and individuals from around the world.

Bureau

President of the Liberal International
Incumbent Hans van Baalen since October, 2009
Residence	London
Term length	18 months, renewable twice
Inaugural holder	Salvador de Madariaga 1948
Formation	Oxford Manifesto April, 1947
Website	http://www.hansvanbaalen.nl

The president of Liberal International is Hans van Baalen, leader of the delegation and spokesperson on foreign affairs and Defense for the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy in the European Parliament. Immediate past President is Lord Alderdice, a British Liberal Democrat peer who was leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. Other members of the bureau include Deputy President Juli Minoves Triquell, Vice Presidents Abir Al-Sahlani, Dzhevdet Chakarov, Wolfgang Gerhardt, Mamadou Lamine Ba, Hsiao Bi-khim, Josep Soler , and treasurers Art Eggleton and Robert Woodthorpe Browne. The secretary general is Emil Kirjas, a former president of the International Federation of Liberal Youth. Former Presidents of Liberal International include Dutch politician and former European Commissioner Frits Bolkestein and German politician Otto Graf Lambsdorff.

Publications

Liberal International has two main publications. The first, LI-news is a weekly dossier of news items that are relevant to the organisation's member parties or cooperating organisations. The second, Liberal Matters, is a magazine published several times a year highlighting a particular liberal theme.

The Oxford Manifesto

The Oxford Manifesto, drawn up in April 1947 by representatives from nineteen Liberal political parties at Wadham College in Oxford, led by Salvador de Madariaga, is a document which describes the basic political principles of the Liberal International. The Oxford Manifesto was inspired by the ideas of Lord William Beveridge. It is regarded as one of the defining political documents of the twentieth century.

Fifty years on, in 1997, the Liberal International returned to Oxford, and issued a supplement to the original manifesto, called The Liberal Agenda for the 21st century, describing Liberal policies in greater detail. The second Oxford Manifesto was adopted by the 48th Congress of Liberal International, which was held on 27–30 November 1997 in the Oxford Town Hall.

Members

Countries and dependencies governed by a Liberal International member or observer party (as of April 2010).

Full members

Country	Name	Government	Notes
Andorra	Liberal Party of Andorra	senior party in government coalition
Angola	Liberal Democratic Party	in opposition
Belgium	Mouvement Réformateur	junior party in government coalition
Belgium	Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten	junior party in government coalition
Bulgaria	Movement for Rights and Freedoms	in opposition
Bulgaria	National Movement for Stability and Progress	in opposition
Burkina Faso	Alliance for Democracy and Federation-African Democratic Rally	junior party in government coalition
Cambodia	Sam Rainsy Party	in opposition
Canada	Liberal Party of Canada	in opposition
China, Republic of	Democratic Progressive Party	in opposition
Congo, Democratic Republic of	National Alliance of Democrats for Reconstruction	in opposition
Costa Rica	Partido Movimiento Libertario	in opposition
Côte d'Ivoire	Rally of the Republicans	in government
Croatia	Croatian Social Liberal Party	junior party in government coalition
Cuba	Democratic Solidarity Party	in exile
Cuba	Cuban Liberal Union	in exile
Cuba	Liberal Party of Cuba	in exile
Denmark	Danish Social Liberal Party	junior party in government coalition
Denmark	Venstre	in opposition
Egypt	Democratic Front Party	in opposition
Equatorial Guinea	National Democratic Union of Equatorial Guinea	in opposition
Estonia	Estonian Reform Party	senior party in government coalition
Finland	Centre Party	in opposition
Finland	Swedish People's Party	junior party in government coalition
Germany	German Group of the LI	N/A
Germany	Free Democratic Party	junior party in government coalition
Gibraltar	Liberal Party	junior party in government coalition
Honduras	Liberal Party	in opposition
Hungary	Alliance of Free Democrats	extraparliamentary opposition
Iceland	Framsóknarflokkurinn	in opposition
Israel	Israeli Liberal Group	N/A
Italy	Italian Radicals	in opposition
Kosovo	Liberal Party of Kosovo	in opposition
Latvia	Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way	dissolved
Lithuania	Liberal and Centre Union	in opposition
Luxembourg	Democratic Party	in opposition
Macedonia	Liberal Democratic Party	in opposition
Madagascar	Movement for the Progress of Madagascar	in opposition
Mexico	Nueva Alianza	in opposition
Montenegro	Liberalna partija Crne Gore	in opposition
Mongolia	Civil Will Party	in opposition
Morocco	Constitutional Union	in opposition
Morocco	Popular Movement	junior party in government coalition
Netherlands	Democrats 66	in opposition
Netherlands	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	senior party in government coalition
Netherlands	Dutch Group of LI	N/A	-
Norway	Venstre	in opposition
Peru	National Justice	extraparliamentary opposition
Philippines	Liberal Party	in government
Romania	National Liberal Party	in opposition
Russia	Yabloko	extraparliamentary opposition
Senegal	Senegalese Democratic Party	senior party in government coalition
Slovenia	Liberal Democracy	extraparliamentary opposition
South Africa	Democratic Alliance	in opposition / ruling party in Western Cape province
Spain	Democratic Convergence of Catalonia	in opposition on national level / senior party in Catalonian government coalition
Spain	Majorcan Union	in opposition
Sri Lanka	Liberal Party	in opposition
Sweden	Liberal People's Party	junior party in government coalition
Sweden	Centre Party	junior party in government coalition
Switzerland	FDP.The Liberals	in coalition cabinet
Tanzania	Civic United Front	in opposition / in coalition in autonomous region of Zanzibar
Thailand	Democrat Party	in opposition
Tunisia	Social-Liberal Party	in opposition
United Kingdom	Alliance Party of Northern Ireland	in opposition in the House of Commons / in power-sharing government in the Northern Ireland Assembly
United Kingdom	Liberal International British Group	N/A
United Kingdom	Liberal Democrats	junior party in government coalition

Observer parties

Country	Name	Government	Notes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Liberal Democratic Party	in opposition
Brazil	Brazilian Group of Liberal International	N/A
Burma	National League for Democracy, Liberated Areas	in opposition
Burundi	Alliance Démocratique pour le Renouveau	in opposition
Croatia	Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats	junior partner in government coalition
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Alliance pour le Renouveau du Congo	junior party in government coalition
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Union pour la Réconstruction du Congo	in opposition
Egypt	El Ghad	in opposition
Georgia	Republican Party of Georgia	in opposition
Guatemala	Patriotic Party	in government
Guatemala	Reform Movement	in opposition
Guinea	Union des Forces Républicaines	in opposition
Indonesia	Democratic Party	in government
Isle of Man	Liberal Vannin Party	in opposition
Italy	Alliance for Italy	in opposition
Italy	Federation of Italian Liberals	in opposition
Italy	Gruppo italiano dell'Internazionale Liberale	N/A
Kosovo	Independent Liberal Party	junior party in government coalition
Malaysia	Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia	junior party in government coalition
Malaysia	People's Justice Party	in opposition
Mali	Citizens' Party for the Renewal of Mali	Partial junior party in government coalition
Paraguay	Authentic Radical Liberal Party	senior party in government coalition
Serbia	Liberal Democratic Party	in opposition
Singapore	Singapore Democratic Party	extraparliamentary opposition
Slovenia	Zares	extraparliamentary opposition

Cooperating organisations

• Africa Liberal Network
• Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)
• Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats
• European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party
• Friedrich Naumann Stiftung
• Dr. Y. Foerder Foundation
• Fondazione Libro Aperto
• Fondazione Luigi Einaudi
• International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY)
• International Network of Liberal Women
• The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (ALDE-PACE)
• Swedish International Liberal Centre
• Network of Arab Liberals (NAL)
• Neue Zürcher Zeitung
• National Democratic Institute, an organisation with ties to the Democratic Party (United States), though government-sponsored through the National Endowment for Democracy
• Red Liberal de América Latina

Liberal think tanks and foundations

The International is also in a loose association with the following organisations:

• Liberales Institut (Switzerland)
• Teldersstichting (Netherlands)
• The Bertil Ohlin Institute (Sweden)
• CentreForum (UK)

See also

• Liberalism worldwide
• Prize For Freedom

External links

• Liberal International official site
• The Liberal Agenda for the 21st century