The term is too broad to have any useful meaning anymore. Most American so-called 'conservatives' believe in free trade, lassiez faire capitalism, etc. This point of view in nineteenth-century Europe, however, was called Liberalism. Conservatism, defined by Edmund Burke and others, refers to a belief in the advantages of a stable society, hierarchies of rank, maintenance of custom over innovation, etc. I suppose you might find a few such individuals yet in Europe. In the United States, someone who calls himself a conservative may espouse such ideas (Pat Buchanan, for example). Or he might argue for the exact opposite (Michael Ledeen). These two men have nothing in common, yet both are called conservatives (OK, Ledeen sometimes is called a 'neo-conservative' but I think he rejects this label).