The market essentially regulates itself by ensuring that the supply of material and non-material goods is guided by society's demand for them. Freedom has absolute priority over equality and solidarity, and the individual over society. Freedom is realized directly through the market. A(substantial) restriction of market freedom, in these terms, is to be equated with the restriction of freedom in general and so should be rejected. The state has the task of creating secure framework conditions for the market and of making minimal provision against life's contingencies, which can befall people through no fault of their own, but not as a fundamental right. This narrowly circumscribed political space is democratically regulated. The state is responsible merely for society's legal-institutional framework. The image of humanity is oriented towards human freedom, in terms of which human beings distinguish themselves by means of their achievements and live as'utility maximisers'. Freedom in the market is supplemented by freedom from the state: the state only has to ensure that society does not infringe on people's personal autonomy. The state should protect people's freedom, but it should not itself intrude upon their freedom. Liberal concepts assume an independent central bank, which pursues the stability of the currency as its principal aim(monetarism). Conservatism As the word implies, conservatism is oriented towards the preservation of the established societal order or at least the prevention of radical changes. Continuity is the most important principle. To define core values of conservatism is hard to do, as from a conservative point of view, values should always stand subject to the established order. One could say that it is more about how things are working than about abstract concepts, which define how things should be working. However, besides continuity, security and identity might be listed as two other important principles of conservatism. Security ensures the continuity of the order, while identity stands for the continuity of traditional conservative values, such as family, diligence and respect. Besides the conservation of the order, the preservation of such values has become one of the major aims of conservatism. Tradition and a slow societal development are preferred to rapid changes. In many countries, conservative parties have been linked to a Christian image of humanity. Therefore, fundamental ideas from the Christian social doctrine (charity, subsidiary principle) are cited as values. To preserve the existing order, conservative parties generally prefer a strong state that has far-reaching control over its citizens. In opposition to liberals, conservatives do not name freedom as a central value. Surprisingly, policies Basics on Social Democracy “Freedom has absolute priority over equality and solidarity, and the individual over society.” 35