Prosperism

Prosperism is a political and moral philosophy based on an application of civic utilitarianism and marginalism. Most broadly, it holds that a government's ultimate interest is to enact policies that maximize the marginal utility ("prosperity") for the greatest number of citizens within the state. Prosperism rejects the classical liberal understanding of natural rights and the social contract. Instead, prosperists contend that a government's mandate to rule rests in its utility—whether the government is able to deliver the best outcomes for the citizenry.

Prosperism was introduced by Ernst Edgren, a Geatish utilitarian philosopher and political economist, in 1871. Edgren supported the constitutional reforms following the Engström Revolution that stripped the monarch of his absolute power, but he decried the classical liberal consensus as the "Gorgon of meaningless unideal ideals." Edgren penned The Prosperity Doctrine, which formed the basis of the classical prosperist dogma. Edgren's prosperism went on to heavily influence the founding of FOLK, a conservative political party helmed by Ström Moller by 1891. Prosperism rose to becoming the de facto national ideology, adopted by the left wing in a form known as "prosperist socialism." However, by the eve of the Great War, Geatish prosperism was turning increasingly nationalistic. When FOLK elected Johannes Lindqvist as premier in 1925, the country saw a distinct departure from classical prosperism in favor of national prosperism. Lindqvist's despotic rule and his slipshod management during the Great War, particularly his decision to side with Functionalist Gaullica, contributed to the decline of prosperism. Prosperist philosophy is still considered extant but is considered outside of the traditional polticial mainstream. Modern history has seen the rise of neo-prosperism, which attempts to fit classical prosperist ideas into the framework of liberal orthodoxy.

Prosperism comprises a broad set of ideologies that have been adopted by both the right and the left. Classical prosperism supports democracy, economic liberalism and individual liberty coupled with strong interventionist policies. Socialist prosperism (or "prosperist socialism") typically applies Welzist thought to classical prosperism. Most controversial is national prosperism, which contends that the government's ultimate duty is to ensure the security and longetivty of the state above the individual as the means of greatest social benefit—often at the expense of civil liberties.