POLITICAL SCIENCE 101
Popular political Ideologies in the 20th Century
A brief Study of popular 20th Century political trends.
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Political ideologies (P.I) have existed since the dawn of human Civilization; they have been fought over, discredited, re-approached, and fought over again. Many exist and have been tried over thousands of years. Still the question that plagues humanity is, how best do we manage governmental affairs? It is best to understand that different political ideologies serve different purposes, and that governments must remain ideologically flexible depending on current national conditions.
All political ideologies proclaim to be superior next to all others; the fact is that all worldviews have failings and merits and specific purposes. I will discuss the following Political Ideologies; Marxist/Communist, Leninist/Stalinist, Progressive/Socialist, Classic Liberalism/Capitalism, and Neo-conservative. All of the above mentioned P.I has come to the forefront of this discussion because they have been the dominant forces since the second industrial revolution or what we have come to understand as “modern times”. These P.I in particular have been well suited for modern times because of their focus on economics, and power.
Marxist/Communist theory came about as part of a sociological theory known as conflict theory. The Theory developed by Karl Marx posits that there is a conflict between the ruling elite and the working class. Marx theorized that if the working...
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...ing them the possibilities for innovation are endless. Success begets success.
Neo-conservatism while still borrowing from Classic liberalism ad’s an international spreading of the wealth across all parts of the globe, Neo-conservatives want the entire world to be free and prosperous just as they are. With the spread in economic freedoms also brings with it social freedoms and the export of independence to all peoples.
So we have looked at various different Political Ideologies that have developed in modern times however not one of them proves itself to be superior to another. They all have certain strength’s and weakness to be taken advantage of by all governments. It is best to understand that different political ideologies serve different purposes, and that governments must remain ideologically flexible depending on current national conditions.
With the dawn of civilization soon thereafter followed the creation of authoritarian and totalitarian establishments. The history of man is inundated with instances of leaders rising to power over certain groups of people and through various means gaining formidable control to be used for good, evil, or an ambiguous mixture of both. However, it is an undeniable fact that once unchecked power is acquired, tyranny often ensues, and thus a dictatorial regime is born. Over the centuries, governmental establishments have risen and fallen, but as history and civilization progress, so does the potential for a larger and more powerful domination. The development of differing and contrasting theologies and structural philosophies leads not only to conflict, but perhaps more prominently to unification under one rule with a common belief, especially when that unifying belief provides a promising sense of belonging and structure to a weak society. This is what led to the rise of two of the most domineering totalitarian governments in history: Stalin’s Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and Hitler’s Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich.
1. Communism: Communism is a political theory which was originally developed by Karl Marx. Communism is advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. After the revolution, when Nicholas II was overthrown, communism was used for the first time to rule Russia (“Soviet Government”).
Politics is defined as “the way people decide who gets what, when, where, how, and why—without resorting to violence” (McDonough 20). The author asserts that politics is the alternative pathway for a society to make decisions besides choosing violent means to go about doing so. Instead of using force, politicians use words and the method of persuasion in order to get what they want. When a society has a group of people who feel they are not fairly represented by their elected officials, they will often turn to violence in order to implement changes to the political process that will put in place the rules and regulations they are seeking.
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Marxism is a theory of revolution and a rudimentary account of how societies deal with and go through change that is inevitable. Its roots can be traced back
It is discussed how the indifference to politics by many citizens of western society and the fact that ideologies are now no longer needed by those in power to enforce their will are two key truths of western politics.
- It takes the traditions of that time and only changes them gradually and not very
Political Philosophy is typically a study of a wide range of topics such as, justice, liberty, equality, rights, law, politics and the application of a codified law. Depending on what the philosophy is, it usually tends to be a very sensitive and a personal ideology that an individual holds within the reality of their existence. Several of the fundamental topics of political philosophy shape up the society that we live in as these specific topics and their implementation by the state ensures a legitimate government. In Political Philosophy, the aforesaid concepts or topics are evaluated and analyzed with tremendous depth in context to their history and intent. Furthermore, in a rather colloquial sense, political philosophy is generally a point of view which after some deep thinking asks questions such as, what are the government’s duties? Is it legitimate? What makes it legitimate? What are the duties of its citizens? What are their rights? Are they protected? So on and so forth. In the following paper, I will canvass my political philosophy and elaborate on my reasoning behind it.
Human beings have been struggling to learn the meaning of life since the first day. Ideologies are born as human’s interpretation of the world and belief system, also an endeavor to seek the truth of human nature. Ideologies emerge throughout the periods of great changes: the Enlightenment, the English “Glorious” Revolution, the American Revolution, etc. They have become the motivations, the standards, and the roots to modern political systems. Their roots are the philosophies developed by famous philosophers throughout the time. However, as each ideology is developed, its own contradiction also grows, takes place in the realm of actions. This, in turn, shows contradiction as human nature.
Schumaker Paul, Dwight C. Kiel, Thomas Heilke, Great Ideas/Grand Schemes: Political Ideologies in the 19th and 20th Centuries, New York, The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc., 1996.
Marxism is a philosophy coined by Karl Marx with the help of Friedrich Engles in the early nineteenth century. Marx’s writings inspired many progressive thinkers throughout the European continent and the United States. The Marxist doctrine stated that first a bourgeoisie revolution, which will ignite a capitalist fire. The political philosopher believed that communism could only thrive in a society distressed by “the political and economic circumstances created by a fully developed capitalism” With industry and capitalism growing a working class develops and begins to be exploited. According to Marx, the exploiting class essentially is at fault for their demise, and the exploited class eventually comes to power through the failure of capitalism:
The political compass represents the people’s political views based on two separate and individual axes: economic and social. The economic axis is a left to right line that evaluates an individual’s stance on how the economy should run. The left side of the economic axis defines one’s desire to have an economy be totally controlled or be managed by a cooperative collective organization. For example, Mao Tse Tung is someone who is committed to a total controlled economy and his views would be on the left side of the economic axis. The right side of the economic axis defines one’s desire to have a free market economy or managed by competing individuals and organizations. For example, General Pinochet is someone who is committed to a free market
The Modern and Classical strands of liberalism share similar principles – indeed if they did not, it would be wrong to classify them as two strands of the same ideology. It seems the fundamental differences between them rely on the ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ views, which define them and which lead on to the fundamental opposition inherent in liberalism: the role of the state.
These two political ideologies offer to government leaders, policy makers, and thoughtful citizens a set of guides permitting some semblance of coherent conclusions regarding compelling social, economic and political issues. Their common features include rejection of radicalism and its attending violent uprooting of established instructions and practices, acceptance of the need for restraints on the powers of government, advocacy of balance in society regarding individual rights and social powers, and ultimately some root concerns for individual dignity. Most certainly disagreement abounds between the two woe within the same government framework. This agreement to disagree in a civil manner surely constitutes one of mankind’s most noble achievements.
In this essay I will be arguing about 2 political ideologies; this essay will be highlighting the comparison and contrast between the 2 ideologies and their elements. The 2 ideologies that will be discussed are liberalism and conservatism, the essay will explain what ideology is, a brief explanation of their elements and the comparison between them. In my opinion the best between both ideologies is liberalism, the reason I think that is because liberalism places an ontological supremacy upon the individual and has no value more important than freedom because man’s natural state is when he is free unlike conservatism that has a very pessimistic view of humans and claims that individuals are morally corrupt.