Political Ideologies Introduction: Ideologies were made necessary by the Age of Enlightenment.

This was the age when people started asking questions, became doubtful and consequently demanded for change. This belief was accompanied by the economic boom known as the Industrial revolution. Political scientists do not necessarily have a universal definition of the term ideology but they have enough things in common that allows us to draw its definition. In this case Ideology is defined as a body of doctrine, myth and symbol of social movement, institution, class or large group of people with reference to some political and cultural plan along with the device of putting it into actions. Political ideologies are usually simply stated and are oriented towards the masses of people. They are materialistic, activistic and often times impatient with delay. The development of Ideology: Prior to the post modern era the people were discouraged from seeking solutions to their problems. They were simply expected to do as they were told by their spiritual and secular superiors. Ordinary people were not allowed to take part in the political system. Politics was reserved to the learned, the noble and the sovereign. The source of Ideology: Knowledge before the Enlightenment period was to be revealed by a superior wisdom. The roles of ordinary people were simply to listen and to conform to the knowledge the best they could. Questioning was discouraged and naturally change was slow in coming. Gradually people started using their common sense, their sense of rationalism and reason and all other senses to question this intellectual straightjacket some such as Galileo were punished. The origin of the term: The term ideology was first used by French noble and scholar Antoine Louis Claude Destutt de Tracy. De Tracy believed that an ideology was a study of the process of forming ideas. A science of ideas if you will, he argued that the mind is influenced by his physical environment. Contemporary definition: Ideology is first and foremost a political term, though it may be used in some other context. Second ideology consists of a view of the past, present and future. Third ideology is action oriented. It does not only describe reality and offers a better future but most importantly it gives specific directions. Fourth ideology is directed toward the masses. If nothing else Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Mao Tse-tung and Adolf Hitler had one thing in common they had ideas directed to the masses.

The Ideologies Liberalism Liberalism is the ideology of the industrialized west and is sometimes portrayed as a meta ideology that is capable of embracing a broad range of rival values and beliefs. Liberalism was the product of the breakdown of fuedalism and the growth in its place of a market or capitalist society. Early liberalism certainly reflected the aspirations of the rising middle class. In its earliest form, Liberalism was a political doctrine. It attackerd absolutism and feudal previlages, instead it advocated constitutional and later, representative government. Elements of Liberalism Individualism This element is the core principle of liberalism. It reflects a belief on the supreme importance of the human individual as opposed to any social group or collective body. Freedom This is the core element of liberal thinking. This arises naturally from the belief in the individual and the desire to ensure that each person is able to act as he or she pleases. Liberals advocate freedom under the law. Reason Liberals believe that the world has a rational structure and that this can be uncovered through exercise of human reason and by critical inquiry. This inclines them to believe in the ability of human to make a right decision.

Equality Individualism implies a belief in foundational equality. In the belief that all men are born equal at least in moral terms. Equality before the law is stressed as well as political equality. Toleration Liberals belive that toleration is a guarantee of individual liberty and social enrichment.The liberals believe that pluralism in form of social, moral, cultural, and political diversity is healthy. Consent Liberals view that authority and government as well as social relationships must be based on consent and agreements rather than force and coercion.

Contitutionalism Liberalism views that power tends to corrupt, therefore they believe in a limited government. This goal can be attained through the fragmentation of government power by the creation of checks and balances. Classic Liberalism Classic Liberalism is a commitment to an extreme form of individualism. Human beings are seen as egoistical self-seeking and lagrely self reliant creatures. This atomist view of society is underpinned by a belief in negative liberty. Meaning noninterference or absence of internal constraints upon the individual. According to Tom Paine the state is a necessary evil. It is necessary that at the very least it establishes under security and ensures that contracts are insured. Modern Liberalism Modern Liberalism is characterized by a more sympathetic attitude towards the state intervation. The shift was born out of the recognition that industrial capitalism had merely generated new forms from of injustice and left the masses subject to the vagaries of the market the so called new liberals was influenced by the works of John Stuart Mill. The so called new liberals with figures such as T.H Green, L.G. Hobhouse and J.A Hobson championed a broader more positive view of freedom. The view that freedom does not equate with being left alone to starve. But in contrast it is linked with the personal development of the individual. This view provided the basis of social or welfare liberalism which stresses the intervention of the state particularly in social welfare. Conservatism Conservatism ideas and doctrines first emerged in the late 18th century and the earlier part of the 19th century. They were the result of the growing pace economic and political change. Conservatism heralded lacked the grandeur acien regime. It tries to resist the pressures unleashed by the growth of liberalism, Socialism and nationalism. In Europe a form of conservatism emerged characterized by thinkers like Joseph de Naistre. This conservatism was autocratic and reactionary and rejects any reform. Edmund Burkes change in order to conserve developed into a more sucessful form of conservatism. This stance allowed conservatives in the 19th century to adapt a paternalistic banner of one nation. Elements of conservatism Tradition This is the central theme of conservative thought the desire to conserve. Conservative thought is generally associated to tradition, virtues and respect for established customs and institutions that have survived the wears and tears of time and modernization

Pragmatism Conservatives have traditionally emphasized the boundaries of human rationality which arises from infinite complexity of the world. Abstract principles are generally distrusted, rather faith is placed on practical circumstances and goals which answer the question what works. Human imperfection Conservatism views human nature as pessimistic. Based on this view human beings are limited, dependent and self-seeking. In addition individuals are morally corrupt. They are tainted by selfishness, greed and thirst for power. Organism Conservatives have viewed society as an organic whole, or living entity. Socity is thus structured by natural nessecity. The whole is more than the sum of all its individual parts. Heirarchy Gradations of social positions and status are natural and inevitable in an organic society. These status reflects the role of the individuals.Example, Workers, employees, teachers and pupils. Nevertheless, heirarchy in this view does not nessecarily give rise to conflict, because according to adherents, society is bounded by mutual obligations and a receprocities in duties. Authority Conservatives believe that to some degree, authority is always above providing leadership and support for those who lack the knowledge and experience to act and judge wisely on their own. Natural aristocracy once an influential idea now the virtue of authority is based on knowledge and experience. Property Conservatives see proper ownership as being vital because it gives people security and a measure of independence. Property is also considered as an exteriorization of themselves. Paternalistic conservatism Paternalistic conservatism is consistent with principles such as organicism, heirarchy duty thus it is considered as an outgrowth of traditonal conservatism. Its roots can be traced to the writings of Benjamin Disraeli. Paternalism draws upon a combination of prudence and principle. It was Disraeli who articulated a concept of social revolution. This resulted to the apeall of the previleged for their self interest. This was underpinned by an appeal to the principles of duty and social obligations rooted in neofeudal ideas. In effect duty is the price of previlege, the powerful and properteid inherit a responsibility to look after the less well off for the greater interest of the people. Inevitably, this resulted to a one-nation principle, the cornerstone of what would be known as the Tory position.

The one nation tradition embodies a disposition towards social reform and an essentially progmatic attitude towards economic policy. The middle way approach was used by British conservatives Harold Macmillian, R.A Butler and Ian McLeod. The New right This represents a departure from conservative thought and amounted to a kind of counter revolution against the post 1945. It drifts toward state intervention and the spread of liberal and progressive social values. Ideas can be traced back to the 1970s. The new right does not constitute a coherent and systematic philosophy in an attempt to marry two distinct traditions usually termed asneoliberalism and neoconservatism. Neoliberalism An updated version of classical political economy developed in the writings of free market economists such as Fredrich Hayek and Milton Freidman and philosophers such as Robert Nozick. Neoliberalism has for its cornerstone the market and the individual. Its neoliberal role was to rollback the frontiers of the state and belives that unregulated market capitalism will deliver efficiency growth and lage scale prosperity. With this view the dead hand of the state saps initiative and discourages enterprise. The government no matter how well intentioned has a bad effect on the individuals. In short private:good, public:bad. Such ideas are rugged form of individualism. Expressed in Thatchers assertion that there is nothing as society just individuals and their families. The nanny state is seen to breed such a culture of dependence and undermine freedom. Instead faith showed to be placed in self-help, individual responsibility and entrepreneuratism. The idea is reffered to as neoliberal globalization. Neoconservatism This reasserts 19th century observative social principles. The conservative new right wishes, above all to restore authority and return traditional values, notably those linked to family, religion and nation. The key in neoconservatism is authority because it is seen as a guarantee of social stability because it generates discipline and respect. The enemy of neoconservatism is permisiveness, the cult of self and of doing ones own thing. Fascism: Whereas liberalism, conservatism and socialism are 19 th century ideologies fascism is a child of the 20 th century. Specifically it is an interwar phenomenon. Fascist beliefs can be traced back to the late 19 th century. They were fused and shaped by the First World War and its aftermath. Two principal manifestations of fascism were Benito Mussolinis Fascist dictatorship in Italy and Adolf Hitlers Nazi dictatorship in Germany. Fascism constitutes a revolt against ideas and values that had dominated Western political belief since the French Revolution. In fact one of the well known fascist slogans included the bold statement: 1789 IS DEAD. As a result values such as rationalism, progress, freedom and equality were overturned and struggle, leadership, power, heroism and war came into its pristine glory. The core image of fascism is the STATE ABOVE ALL. According to Gentile, a fascist philosopher EVERYTHING FOR THE STATE, NOTHING AGAINST THE STATE, and NOTHING OUTSIDE THE
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STATE. This meant blind obedience to the hierarchy in order to serve the state. Those who oppose the state are consequently eliminated. In other terms the state is above all. German nationalism was on the other hand equated with racism. This perception is because of its two core beliefs. First is the belief that the Germans are part of a master race bent on world domination, they believe that they are the only race worthy of living otherwise known as Aryanism. The second core belief was turbulent anti Semitism, this belief portrayed the Jews as inherently evil, biologically inferior and intellectually backward and to live with them would be a great injustice hence they must be totally eradicated. Later referred to as the Final Solution. (More than 6 million Jews died in the frenzy of purification) I PLEDGE MY DESTINY TO YOU FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE...IN GOOD AND BAD TIMES EVEN IF IT MEANS MY LIFE. Hermann Goering to Hitler, 1922 Anarchism: Anarchy comes from the Greek word Anarchos meaning having no government. Some wit once said that the anarchists have the so called Anarchy Constitution (An oxymoron in its sense) which contains the following two articles: Article 1: There shall be no state. Article 2: No one shall be bound by article 1 Anarchism on a national scale has never been successful. But in small cases anarchist movements were successful in counties such as Spain, Russia, France and Mexico. Its core belief is that a political authority in all its forms most especially a state is evil and unnecessary. Anarchism has three major tenets: Authority: In term of each citizens ability to act as his own legislator. Using Rousseaus concept of popular sovereignty, anarchists believe that mans right to legislate for himself is inalienable and should not be delegated. For anarchist who knows better the needs of man that man himself? Therefore a government is not needed because man always acts in pursue of his own self interest. Freedom and equality: Anarchist opposes any form of government because they believe that the government compromises individual freedoms by setting limitations to mans inherent right to be his own man. A key element here knowing the truth would make men free. Cooperation: Anarchists insists on spontaneous association of citizens for a common goal. Hence if an alliance between two people is made it must be out of free will. Anarchist believe that man by nature is so good in himself that all he needs is to be left alone and reason will guide him right.

Syndicalism: This is the closest relative of anarchism. The term syndicalism is derived from the French word syndicat meaning trade union. The doctrine arose in France in the latter part of the 19 th century as a result of trade union movement. The fundamental idea of the French syndicalists was that of the true class struggle which they felt was going on every day and was inherent in a capitalist system. However they hailed this struggle instead of
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despising it. They believed that they had the task of organizing the consciousness of the working class and the unions were the most important group for economic needs were the most basic. The tactical tool of syndicalists was direct action this in turn equated to strikes, boycott, the union label and sabotage. Syndicalists hated arbitrations even if it was for the improvement of labor conditions. They regarded the state as the political machinery of the capitalist groups. Feminism: Feministic ideas can be attributed to Mary Wollstonecraft who authored A Vindication of the Rights of Women she opinned feminist ideas as a political ideology. In Asia women are given due respect and is recognized in the society even before its counties reached the zenith of their civilization. For example in the Philippine setting women are given the same degree of respect as men to some extent even greater because privileges such as naming children have been awarded to them. But in Western countries women were often than not regarded as second class citizens whose only duty is to take care of the home. Women were perceived as physically weak and too emotionally distressed to handle the parlance of decision making. When Feminist ideas reached a wider audience it was called first-wave feminism. The achievement of womens suffrage in most Western countries deprived womens movement of its central goal and organizing principle. Second-wave feminism however emerged in the 1960s this wave of feminism expressed a more radical and sometimes revolutionary demands of growing Womens Liberation Movement. The doctrines of feminism differ in terms of interpretation, modes of application and orientation however they are unified by the fact that their goal is to enhance through whatever means the social role of women. The underlying themes of feminism include: Gender inequality: For feminist there will always be gender inequality because the males are considered as the superstructure of society and women are burdens than helpers. Female subordination: In a sense that half of the population which is female is controlled by half of the population which is male

Equal-rights feminists want legal and political recognition therefore it is reformist in its essence. Radical feminist describes a need for sexual revolution, a revolution that will reorganize the super structure of house, public and private life. Only in its extreme view does radical feminism portray man as the enemy. Environmentalism: Environmentalism is a relatively new ideology but it is linked to the emergence of the ecological or Green Movement in the 20th century. Its roots can be found in 19 th century revolts against industrialization. Environmentalists therefore are concerned with the damage done to the natural world by the pace of economic growth. It is growing anxiety of the declining existence of humans and ultimately their survival. Ecosocialism explains destruction in the terms of economic development. Ecoconservatism links it to the desire to
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preserve tradition. Ecofeminism points out that there is something wrong with the male power system. However environmentalism gained a radical edge because of the alternative it offers to the anthropocentric adopted by all other ideologies. One of the most influential theories in environmentalism is the Gaia hypothesis advanced by James Lovelock. This hypothesis portrays that the planet Earth is a living organism that is concerned with its own survival. Environmentalists are grouped into two: Light greens or Shallow ecologist: environmental pressure groups which believe that appealing to mans self interest and common sense can save the planet. Dark greens or Deep ecologist: Insists on the reordering of priorities and willingness to place the interest of the ecosystem before any individual species will secure the planet from destruction and ultimately human survival. When the last FISH is caught When the last TREE is cut down When the last RIVER is polluted When the last ANIMAL is killed Only then will man realize HE CANNOT EAT HIS MONEY Religious Fundamentalism: Religious fundamentalism is an ideology in its own right. Religion and politics agree to a certain extent on the grounds that man has been given natural rights to life, liberty and property. Aside from that religion and politics have the same goal and that is to build a better society. As quoted from the preamble of the constitution Imploring the aid of the Almighty in order to build a just and humane society and establish a government that shall embody our ideals... Politics aims to promote the good life on earth; religion aims to promote the good life in the afterlife. However it is different in most areas because religion views politics as only secondary to the Revealed truth of the religious doctrine. From this view political and social life should be organized on the basis of what is seen in the religious texts. There are two views on fundamentalism one views fundamentalism as essentially an aberration, a symptom of adjustment that societies make as they adapt to modern secularized culture. The second suggests that fundamentalism is of enduring significance and believes that it is the consequence of secularism to satisfy human desire for a higher truth. Once morality is concerned we must intervene

The most politically significant of modern fundamentalism is undoubtedly the Islamic fundamentalism. Brought into prominence by the Iranian revolution of 1979 this led to the founding of the worlds first Islamic state under Ayatollah Khomeini. Socialism This is an ideoloegy that advocates the owenership and control of industry, capital and land by the community as a whole. The advocates of this ideology which included the likes of Jean Jacques Rousseau and Karl Marx believed that the human society was evolving to a nearly perfect state in which everyone would be equal and eventuallythe capitalistic economic system would be overthrown. Elements of Socialism Community The core of socialist thought is a vision of human beings As social creatures linked by the existence of a common humanity. This refers to the importance of community and it highlights the degree to which individual identity is fashioned by social interaction and membership of social groups and creative bodies. Fraternity Human beings are bound together by a sense of comradeship of fraternity. This encourage socialist to prefer cooperation rather than competition. On this view, cooperation helps man harness collective energies and strengthens the bond of community. Social Equality Equality is the central value of socialism. Socialism having been portrayed in the context of equality. Socialist believe that the true essence of social equality is the guaranteed of social stability and cohesion. Need Material benefits should be distributed on the basis of need rather than the basis of merit or work. This principle was borne out of the Karl Marx communist principle of distribution from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

Social Class Socialism is associated with a form class politics. Socialist tend to analyse society in terms of distribution of income which usually the implication of a social cleavage. Socialism has been associated with the interest of an oppressed and exploited working class. It regarded the social class as an agent of social change even social revolution. Common Ownership The socialist case for common ownership in form of either Soviet style of collectivation or selective nationalization (a mixed economy) is meant that it is a means of harnessing resources for the common good.
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Marxism As a theoretical system, Marxism constitutes a principal alternative to liberal nationalism. As political force in the form of the international communist movement, Marxism is a major enemy of Western. Karl Marx, the forefront of this ideologycapitalism was born in a fairly comforatble upper middle class on May 5, 1818. This highlights a central difficulty in dealing with the Marxism. Marxism as a social philosophy on of 20 th century communism departs in many ways from the revised classical principles. The problems faced by the Marxist ideology stems from the writings of Karl Marx itself. Some interpret his scope of audience as the writings of an economic determinist others interpret it as the writings of a humanist socialist. Marxs ideas and theories reached a wider scope of audience after his death largely through the writing of his lifelong collaborator, Engels, the term on socialist leader Karl Kautsky and Russian theoretician Georgi Plekhanov. Another form of Orthodox Marxism emerged usually termed dialectical Marxism. Elements of Marxism Historical Materialism The very foundation of Marxist philosophy was what Engels reflected to as the materialist conception of history; This view of highlights economic life and the conditions of production and re production of basic needs. Dialectical Change Marx believed that the driving force of historical change was the dialectic a process of intraction between competing forces that results in a higher stage of development (thesis+antithesis=synthesis). Alienation Alienation was the central battle cry of Marxs early writings. Alienation was defined by Marx as a process whereby under capitalism of their labor,from the labor is reduced to a commodity, work becomes depersonalized actively,workers are alienated from the product of their labor,from the process of labor,from fellow workers and from themselves as creative social beings. Class Struggle Private property creates division between or capitalist class,the owners of the means of production and the proletariat who does not own property and sells their labor. Surplus Value Marx believed that all value derives from the labor expended by the productions of good and the bourgeoise extract a more and payingvsalue from the proletariat by making them produce more and paying them less. Therefore capitalism is inherently unstable,and the proletariat will always be subject to exploitation. Proletarian Revolution Marx fore saw that the capitalist ideology (capitalism) was doomed and that the proletariat was its grave digger. Capitalism would pass through series of crisis of over production. This would bring about class consciousness. The proletarian revolution was an inevitable result.
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Communism Marx predicted a proletarian revolution that would usher in a transitionary socialist period. Dictatorship of the proletariat would be required to counter revolution. As the class antagonism faded and a fully communist society came into existence. The future communist society would be classless in the sense that wealth would be owned in common by all. Orthodox Communism Marxismis inevitably linked with Soviet Communism especially because of the contribution of the first two Soviet leaders, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. Lenins central Marxism was a theory of the revolutionary or vanguard party. This reflected Lenins fear that the proletariat deluded bourgeois ideas would not reach their full potentials. A revolutionary party armed with Marxist beliefs was therefore needed to serve as the vanguard of the working class. Thus when Lenin and the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia in 1977 they did so as a vanguard party. However the USSR was profoundly affected by Stalins second revolution Stlins changes stemmed largely from his most important ideological innovation. His doctrine of Socialism in one Country. He believed that USSR could build Socialism without an international revolution. H Stalins political changes were dramatic. In 1930 Stalin transformed the USSR into a personal dictatorship. Stalin turned the USSR into a totalitarian dictatorship which operated a systematic instillment of fear, intimidation, repression and terror. After death Stalins economic ideas ( State collectivation and central planning) and Leninisms core principle (hierarchial organization and discipline) stubbornly resisted pressure of reform. Titoism Titoism is an adaptation of socialist ideology named after Josip Broz Tito, leader of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, primarily used to describe the specific socialist system built in Yugoslavia after its refusal of the 1948 Resolution of the Cominform, when the Communist Party of Yugoslavia TheElements of Titoism are characterized by policies and practices based on the principle that in each country, the means of attaining ultimate communist goals must be dictated by the conditions of that particular country, rather than by a pattern set in another country. During Titos era, this specifically meant that the communist goal should be pursued independently of (and often in opposition to) the policies of the Soviet Union. Stalinism Stalinism usually defines the style of a government rather than an ideology. The ideology was "Marxist Leninist theory", reflecting that Stalin himself was not a theoretician, in contrast to Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and prided himself on maintaining the legacy of Lenin as a founding father for the Soviet Union and the future Communist world. Stalinism is an interpretation of their ideas, and a certain political regime claiming to apply those ideas in ways fitting the changing needs of society, as with the transition from "socialism at a snail's pace" in the mid-1920s to the rapid industrialisation of the Five-Year Plans. Sometimes, although rarely, the compound terms "MarxismLeninismStalinism" (used by the Brazilian MR-8) Stalinism has been described as being synonymous with totalitarianism, or a tyrannical regime. The term has been used to describe regimes that fight political dissent through violence, imprisonment, and killings.
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However, given that fascist, theocratic, and otherwise anti-communist governments have used these methods to curb dissent just as much as pro-communist governments have, the term "Stalinism" may only really be accurate when describing a government that is pro-Stalin or that proclaims itself to be a socialist state while taking the above measures. Trotskyism This ideology was named after Leon Trotsky. In 1905, Trotsky formulated a theory that became known as the theory of Permanent Revolution. It is one of the defining characteristics of Trotskyism. Until 1905, Marxism only claimed that a revolution in a European capitalist society would lead to a socialist one. According to the original theory it was impossible for such to occur in more backward countries such as early 20th century Russia. Russia in 1905 was widely considered to have not yet established a capitalist society, but was instead largely feudal with a small, weak and almost powerless capitalist class. The theory of Permanent Revolution addressed the question of how such feudal regimes were to be overthrown, and how socialism could be established given the lack of economic prerequisites. Trotsky argued that in Russia only the working class could overthrow feudalism and win the support of the peasantry. Furthermore, he argued that the Russian working class would not stop there. They would win its own revolution against the weak capitalist class, establish a workers' state in Russia, and appeal to the working class in the advanced capitalist countries around the world. As a result, the global working class would come to Russia's aid, and socialism could develop worldwide.

Continuum of Political Ideologies

Left Anarchism Communism Socialism

Center Liberalism

Right Nazism Fascism

Conservatism Figure 1: A contiuunm of Political Ideologies

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