TOPIC 2- POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES

1) An ideology is a coherent set of ideas that provides a basis for organized political action, whether this is intended to preserve, modify or overthrow the existing system of power relationships.

2) Among the other meaning that have been attached to ideology are the following: A] A political belief system B] An action-oriented set of political ideas C] The ideas of the ruling class D] The world view of a particular social class or social groups E] An officially sanctioned set of ideas used to legitimize a political system or regime.

1)

Over the last century, many attempts have been made to categorize political ideas and ideologies and to relate them to one another. The most familiar and firmly established method of doing this is the left-right political spectrum.

2)

This is a linear spectrum that locates political ideologies at some point between two extremes, the far left and the far right.

THE LINEAR SPECTRUM

Socialism Communism Liberalism

Conservation

Facism

Conservatism: Origin and Development.

1) A general preference for the existing order of society and an opposition to all efforts to bring about rapid or fundamental change in that order.

2) Conservative ideologies characteristically strive to show that existing economic and political inequalities are well justified and that the existing order is about as close as is practically attainable to an ideal order.

3) The specific content of conservatism is highly variable across societies and over time, since the arguments necessary to defend the status quo depend upon what the status quo is in any particular country.

ELEMENTS OF CONVERVATISM

1) Tradition- The central theme of conservative thought, the desire to conserve, is closely linked to the perceived virtues of tradition, respect for established customs, and institutions that have endured through time.

2) Pragmatism- Conservatives have traditionally emphasized the limitation of human rationality, which arise from the infinite complexity of the world in which we live. Abstract principles and systems of thought are therefore distrusted, and instead faith is placed in experience, history and, above all, pragmatism.

3) Human Imperfection- The conservative view of human nature is broadly pessimistic. The maintenance of order therefore requires a strong state, the enforcement of strict laws and stiffer penalties.

4) Organism- Instead of seeing society as an artifact that is a product of human ingenuity, conservatives have traditionally viewed society as an organic whole, or living entity.

Society is thus structured by natural necessity, with its various institutions or the fabric of society. The whole is more than a collection of its individual parts.

5) Hierarchy- In the conservative view, gradations of social position and status are natural and inevitable in an organic society. These reflect the differing roles and responsibilities of people.

6) Authority- Conservatives hold that, to some degree, authority is always exercised from above. The virtue of authority is that it is a source of social cohesion, giving people a clear sense of who they are and what is expected of them. Freedom must therefore coexist with responsibility.

7) Property- Conservatives see property ownership as being vital because it gives people security and a measure of independence from government, and it encourages them to respect the law and the property of others.

LIBERALISM- ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

1) Liberalism is derived from 2 distinct sources. One that is much other than the name liberalism itself. This can be traced back to classical antiquity and took its modern form during the late 17th and 18th centuries as the political doctrines of the English Whigs.

2) This provided the model of political institutions which most of the European nineteenth-century liberalism followed.

3) The core of this movement was a demand for the emancipation from all prejudice and all beliefs, which could not be rationally justified, and for an escape from the authority of priests and kings.

4) This strand of thought provided the chief ingredient of what in the 19th century came to be called liberalism. It was based on a few essential assumptions, such as freedom of thought, of speech, and of the press, in sufficient agreement to create a common opposition to conservative and authoritarian views and therefore to appear as part of a common movement.

5) The adjective liberal gradually assumed its political connotation during the later part of the eighteenth century when it was used in such occasional phrases as when Adam Smith wrote of the liberal plan of equality, liberty, and justice.

6) As the name of a political movement liberalism appears, however, only at the beginning of the next century, first when in 1812 it was used by the Spanish party of Liberals.

ELEMENTS OF LIBERALISM

1) Individualism- Individualism is the core principle of liberal ideology. It reflects a belief in the supreme importance of the individual as opposed to any social group or collective body. The liberal goal is therefore to construct a society within which individuals can flourish and develop, each pursuing the good as he or she defines it, to the best of his or her abilities.

2) Freedom- Individual freedom or liberty is the core value of liberalism; it is given priority over equity, justice or authority. This arises naturally from a belief in the individual and the desire to ensure that each person is able to act as he or she pleases. Liberal does not accept that individuals have an absolute entitlement to freedom. If liberty is unlimited it can become licence, the right to abuse others. Liberals do not accept that individuals have an absolute entitlement to freedom. If liberty is unlimited it can become licence, the right to abuse others.

3) Reason- Liberals believe that the world has a rational structure, and that this can be uncovered through the exercise of human reason and by critical enquiry. This inclines them to place their faith in the ability of individuals to make wise judgments on their own behalf, being, in most cases, the best judges of their own interests.

4) Equality- Individualism implies a belief in foundational equality: that is, the belief that individuals are born equal, at least in terms of moral worth.

However, as individuals do not possess the same talent or willingness to work, liberals do not endorse social equality.

5) Toleration- Liberals believe that toleration is both a guarantee of individual liberty and a means of social enrichment.

6) Consent- In the liberal view, authority and social relationships should always be based on consent or willing agreement. Government must therefore be based on the consent of the governed. This is the doctrine that encourages liberals to favor representation and democracy.

7) Constitutionalism- Liberals believe in limited government. This goal is attained through the separation of government power, establishing checks and balances amongst the various institutions of government and through the establishment of a codified or written constitution embodying a bill of rights that defines the relationship between the state and the individual.

SOCIALISM: ORGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 1. The term Socialism has been used in three different ways: as a political principle, as a social model or regime-type based upon this model and as an ideological movement whose control purpose is to establish such a society or regime. 2. As a political principle, communism stands for the communal organization of social existence and in particular, the common or collective ownership of wealth. 3. There are many versions of socialism e.g. as a social model or regime-type. This version forms a model of a future society and is described in the writings of Marx and Engels. 4. Marx predicted that after the overthrow of capitalism there would be a transitory socialist stage of development, characterized by the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat, which would, as a class hatred, eventually lead to full communism. 5. Although Marx refused to describe in detail this communist society, he envisaged that it would have the following features: A. It would be based upon the common ownership of wealth and would this be classes B. It would be stateless in the sense that once the class system had been abolished the state would gradually wither away C. It would be geared not towards commodity, production and the market, but to production to use and the satisfaction of human needs. D. It would lead to further development of the forces of production as technology is liberated from the constraints of class based production. E. By fostering un-alienated labour, it would release creative energies and allow for the full development of human potential.

6.

The second version of the communism as a social model is based upon the regimes that communist parties established when they gained power in the 20th century, for example, in the USSR and Eastern Europe, China, Cuba, Vietnam and elsewhere. Communism in this sense came to mean socialism.