Progress pill
Political families under the microscope

The centrists

  • Freedoms: They are moderate supporters of individual and economic freedoms.
  • Cardinal values: moderation, compromise, adaptation, public utility.
  • Philosophy: Centrists avoid extremes and favor pragmatic solutions. They think about problems on a case-by-case basis, not in terms of principles. The nature of centrism is often to approach a subject by seeking a pragmatic balance between points of view. Pragmatism is a political philosophy that favors adaptation to particular contexts rather than the rigid application of ideological principles. It is a political approach based on moderation and compromise. This pragmatic thinking is based on the idea that only technocrats are capable of making the right decisions to achieve the best socio-economic results.
  • Politics: they want to combine government control and individual choice for a stable, moderate approach. It is a flexible, case-by-case form of state intervention. In this technocratic form of governance, political decisions are based on rationality and expertise, rather than ideology or partisan debate.
  • Economy: Centrists accept market mechanisms, while recognizing the need for appropriate expert control and regulation. They advocate a controlled market economy, where competition takes place within a regulatory framework that protects the general interest.
Centrism also recognizes the importance of targeted social programs to correct inequalities without creating excessive dependence on the state. This system of wealth redistribution is aimed less at dogmatic egalitarianism than at social peace and "living together".
Types of centrists: Centrists may lean towards socialism, conservatism, libertarianism or authoritarianism, not out of principle but out of pragmatism or political opportunism.
  • Emmanuel Macron (France): his positioning is both right and left. With liberal economic reforms (economic right) and support for certain societal freedoms (social left), seeking a middle way.
  • Tony Blair (UK): with his "Third Way" concept. He sought to reconcile market policies with social justice objectives, setting himself apart from traditional socialists and conservatives.
Keynesianism is an economic theory that advocates active government intervention to stabilize the economy.
Rather than letting markets regulate themselves, Keynes argued that the state should use fiscal and monetary policies - such as public spending, taxation and interest rates - to stimulate aggregate demand in times of recession, or curb it in times of economic overheating.
Keynes advocated neither absolute laissez-faire (like pure pro-marketeers) nor total state control (as in a planned economy).
This approach represents an economic "third way", seeking a balance between classical liberalism, which wants a free market, and state-planned socialism, which wants maximum planning.
Philosophically speaking, we can refer to the famous political philosopher John Rawls, author of The Theory of Justice (1971).
Its two principles of justice (equal liberty for all and the principle of difference, allowing inequalities only if they benefit the most disadvantaged) embody this attempt to synthesize liberalism and egalitarianism.
The concept of overlapping consensus is also central to the thinking of John Rawls, notably in his book Political Liberalism (1993). Here's a quote that illustrates this concept:
An overlapping consensus is reached when citizens, while adhering to different comprehensive, religious or philosophical doctrines, nevertheless converge on a set of political principles of justice that they can all endorse from their own perspectives.
His aim is to demonstrate that it is possible to reconcile incompatible fundamental doctrines around shared principles of justice, the very essence of centrist philosophy.
Quiz
Quiz1/5
According to John Rawls' concept of overlapping consensus, what allows citizens with different comprehensive doctrines to agree on political principles?