ABSTRACT
As Abraham Lincoln noted in the passage quoted above, there is a persistent and recurring diffi culty in defi ning “conservatism.” In one sense conservatism is easy to defi ne; in another, quite diffi cult. It is easy because all conservatives share a desire to “conserve” or preserve something-usually the traditional or customary way of life of their societies. But these traditions or customs are likely to vary considerably from one society to another. Even where they do not, different conservatives are likely to have different ideas about what elements or parts of their established way of life are worth preserving. Conservatives may all want to conserve something, then, but they do not all want to conserve the same things. That is what makes conservatism so diffi cult to defi ne.
