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Labeling our Ideas:
Contrasting Political Ideologies
Political ideologies
• A set of ideas, perceptions, values & beliefs through which individuals interpret social, political and economic events and formulate opinions on how the world ought to be
• Like a ‘filter’ or ‘lens’
• Ideologies shape our attitudes & actions
Definition
• Ideology: a set of more or less coherent set of ideas that provides a basis for organized political action. This might be to preserve, modify or overthrow the existing system of power relationships – offer an account of the existing order usually in the
form of a ’world view’– offer a model of a desired future– outline how political change can and should be brought
about• At a fundamental level = a political philosophy• At an operative level = broad political movement
Mapping the Ideological Landscape
• Understanding the traditional ‘grand ideologies’ of liberal capitalist society:– Conservatism– Liberalism– Socialism
Main political ideologies
• Liberalism– Classical– Modern
• Conservatism• The New Right
– Neo-liberalism– Neo conservatism
• Socialism– Variants of marxism– Social democracy– Third way
Adding some complexity…
The “Left-wing / Right-wing” ideological spectrum
Philosophical approaches
Philosophers Nature of the state
Nature of the Individual
Theories
Liberalism or
Idealism
Kant, Locke, Bad to good to non-existent
In essence good and corrupted through external actors
Liberalism
Rationalism
Essentialism
Pluralism
Realism Hobbes, Machiavelli Rational interest
Self-seeking rational actor requiring Leviathan
Game theory, rational action, logical administration
Marxism Marx, Lenin Reflecting specific class interest-biased towards a specific status quo
Social being reflecting the interests of their economic, political, and social position
Structuralism
Dependency theories
Neo-imperialism
Elitism
Class theories
Other ideological traditions
• Fascism
• Anarchism
• Feminism
• Environmentalism
• Religious fundamentalism
Political Culture
• Political Culture: • A set of ideas, assumptions and values that
condition political attitudes and behaviour• A ‘collective phenomena’ – people don’t have
political cultures, communities or societies do• Shaped by the dominant ideology, but comprised
of several (mainstream) ideologies• Sets the boundaries of the dominant ‘common
sense’
To conclude• Ideologies link political theory with political
practice– BJP in India; Taleban in Afghanistan; New Right in
Europe and USA; etc.
• Ideologies ’fit’ contexts and therefore become weakened and/or changed over time as contexts change. The ’relevance’ factor.
• Ideologies often carry their own seeds of destruction as they are resistant to change.
• But they are important to understand how politics are approached and promoted