I find Russia to be a very interesting case in this discussion. Tsar Alexander I, came into power and put into place some very liberal-minded reforms. He granted amnesty to people condemned by his father, relaxed censorship, abolished torture, allowed more Russians to travel and study abroad and gave nobles permission to free their serfs. All of this reform scared the nobles, because they didn’t want their social standing and prerogatives to be affected by his liberal ideas.
His liberalism came back to bite him, when a military mutiny and plot against him came about. This caused him to conduct a complete 180 and begin placing more conservative restrictions and elements into Russian government, such as: banning study abroad, censorship and universities monitoring for liberals.
Tsar Alexander had to deal with all this tension from the nobles, who had enough influence to eventually cause him to the “reign of Satan” in his liberalized country, but he had already put these proverbial eggs into an incubator, which led to the growth of liberal reform advocates throughout Russia. Study abroad, and living in France led many young nobles and military officers to develop this liberal mindset, and they were upset with Alexander’s reversal of ideas and government. These educated nobles formed unions that wanted to develop a constitution like Britain, and some even wanted to kill Alexander.
Following Alexander’s death, his younger brother Nicholas I eventually took the crown. He took the conservative ideas of his brother and tightened them around Russia, especially on the education system, in hopes to eradicate and exclude Western ideas of liberalism.
All across Europe we see the conservative ideas of nobles, wealthy and churches controlling everything, making the laws and setting the bar of morality. Liberalism, and the ideas of a more inclusive government that was not as intrusive and controlling, along with the ideas of laissez-faire would have seen this power structure flipped upside down.