I mean, so far as I know, liberal is only a pejorative in the USA. Not heard it used that way in other political systems, likely because of the reasons you mentioned.
so far as I know, liberal is only a pejorative in the USA
The term is also used that way in Canada — though, arguably, this could be due to bleed over from the USA. To add to the confusion, Canada has a political party called the Liberal Party of Canada (its members are commonly referred to as “Liberals”), and, arguably, they are not actual liberals (by the political science definition, that is). I could be misremembering, but my memory seems to have me believe that I’ve heard it used that way in the UK as well.
Of course, happy to expand on my point!
I mean, so far as I know, liberal is only a pejorative in the USA. Not heard it used that way in other political systems, likely because of the reasons you mentioned.
The term is also used that way in Canada — though, arguably, this could be due to bleed over from the USA. To add to the confusion, Canada has a political party called the Liberal Party of Canada (its members are commonly referred to as “Liberals”), and, arguably, they are not actual liberals (by the political science definition, that is). I could be misremembering, but my memory seems to have me believe that I’ve heard it used that way in the UK as well.