Notes - Heywood Chapter 2 - Political Ideas and Ideologies PDF

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Heywood Chapter 2 - Political Ideas and IdeologiesWhat is Political Ideology?- Ideology is a more or less a coherent set of ideas that provides a basis for organised politicalaction, whether this is intended to preserve, modify or overthrow the existing system of power relationships.- Marx believed ...

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Heywood Chapter 2 - Political Ideas and Ideologies What is Political Ideology? - Ideology is a more or less a coherent set of ideas that provides a basis for organised political action, whether this is intended to preserve, modify or overthrow the existing system of power relationships. - Marx believed ideology amounted to the ideas of the ‘ruling class’, ideas which uphold the class system. - Liberalism saw ideology as a fundamental commitment to individual freedom. - Conservatism saw ideology as abstract ‘systems of thought’ which is a set of ideas that distort political reality as they are incomprehensible. - Marx argued his ideas were scientific and not ideological. Liberals believe that liberalism should not be viewed as an ideology. Conservatives claim that they have a pragmatic style of politics. Classical Ideological Traditions - Political ideology came from the transition from feudalism to industrial capitalism. - The first ideologies were capitalism and socialism and there was a debate between them. - 20th century international politics was structured along ideological lines as the capitalist West confronted communist East. - New ideologies have come about; feminism and green politics. Liberalism - Early liberalism was the aspirations of a rising industrial middle class, and liberalism and capitalism have been closely linked. It use to be a political doctrine as Locke suggested and attacked absolutism and feudal privilege. - By early 19th century liberalism became about laissez faire and was against government economic intervention. - From late 19th century it became social liberalism and based on welfare reform and economic intervention. Classical liberalism - Classical liberalism is based on a commitment of extreme individualism - Humans are seen as own interests, self seeking and self reliant and owing nothing to society - Classic liberal idea is that there is the establishment of a minimal interventionism and just protects citizens from the intrusion of rights by other citizens - In relation to economical position classical liberalism believed in a free market with laissez faire Modern liberalism - New Liberals believed in broader freedom in terms of personal development and this therefore led to welfare liberalism. - Support collective provision and government intervention. - They aim to help the weak and vulnerable so they can take responsibility for their own circumstances and make their own moral choices. Conservatism - Emerged in late 18th century - Rose against growing economic and political change. - Conservatism defended increasingly embattled traditional social order. Paternalistic conservatism - Supports principles such as organicism, hierarchy and duty. - Draws on prudence and principle. - Paternalistic conservatism was about looking after the less well off in the broader interests of social cohesion and unity.

- They had a One Nation tradition towards social reform and pragmatic attitude towards economic -

policy. Laissez faire capitalism and state socialism and central planning. However this was rejected for market competition and government regulation.

The New Right - Shift towards state intervention and the spread of liberal or progressive social values. - New Right ideas had greatest impact in UK and USA and were articulated in Thatcherism and Reaganism. - Also worldwide influence shifting from state to market orientated forms of organisation. Neoliberalism - The central pillars of neoliberalism are the market and the individual. - The goal is to roll back the frontiers of the state, in the belief that unregulated market capitalism will deliver efficiency, growth and widespread prosperity. - It prefers private enterprise over state enterprise or nationalisation. - Faith is placed in self-help, individual responsibility and entrepreneurialism. Neoconservatism - Copy of 19th century conservative social principles. - It wishes to restore authority and return to traditional values such as family, religion and nation - They see authority to guarantee social stability, while shared values and common culture are believed to generate social cohesion and make civilised existence possible. - They view the emergence of multicultural and multi-religious societies with concern, on the basis that they are conflict-ridden and inherently unstable. Socialism - 19th century. Developed as a reaction against the emergence of industrial capitalism. - It articulated the interests of artisans and craftsman threatened by the spread of factory production, but it was then linked to the growing industrial working class, the factory people of early industrialised. - In its earliest forms it had a fundamentalist, utopian and revolutionary character. Its goal was to abolish a capitalist economy based on market exchange and replace it with a socialist society, usually to be constructed on the principle of common ownership. - Marx - Whereas when socialism focused on the growing industrial working class it wanted to achieve a peaceful, gradual and legal transition to socialism. Reformist socialism came about from ethnical socialism and revisionist Marxism. - During much of 20th century, socialist movements divided into 2 camps; revolutionary socialists (following Lenin + Bolsheviks) and the reformist socialist who followed constitutional policies. - Both types of socialism experienced crisis in 20th century - emergence of a post-socialist society Marxism - Marxism is the major enemy of western capitalism. - It was a political force, in the form of international communist movement. Classical Marxism - It highlights the importance of economic life and the conditions under which people produce and reproduce their means of subsistence. - Marx held that the economic ‘base’ consisting essentially of the mode of production or economic system, conditions or determines the ideological and political superstructure. Marx believed the driving force of historical change was the dialectic, a process of interactions between competing forces that results in a higher stage of development. - According to Marx, the inevitable proletarian revolution will occur once a series of deepening crises have brought the proletariat to full class consciousness. This would allow the working masses to recognise the fact of their own exploitation and become a revolutionary force. This would lead to a socialist period of development.

- However, as classes fade. the communist society will be classless and stateless. Orthodox communism - A form of Marxism-Leninism; Marxism modified by Leninist theories and doctrines. - Lenin felt that the proletariat, with bourgeois ideas and beliefs would not realise its revolutionary potential because it could not develop beyond trade union consciousness: a desire to improve working and living conditions rather than to overthrow capitalism. - He felt a revolutionary party with Marxism was needed to serve as the vanguard of the working class. This became the model for communist parties. - Stalin created a model of orthodox communism in the USSR which was followed by China, North Korea and Cuba, Eastern Europe. He introduced the 5 year plan which got rid of private enterprise. Then there was the collectivisation of agriculture. All resources were state controlled and central planning system. Stalin made the USSR a totalitarian dictatorship by getting rid of opposition - However, political Stalinism survives in China, despite market reforms, and North Korea is a orthodox communist regime. Neo-Marxism - Influenced by Hegelin ideas - Human beings were seen as markers of history, and not puppets controlled by material forces. By arguing there was an interplay between politics and economics, between circumstances in life and the capacity of human beings to shape their own destinies, neo-Marxists were able to break free from the rigid ‘base-superstructure.’ - Early theorists were concerned with the analysis of discrete societies but later theorists were concerned with uncovering inequalities and asymmetries in world affairs. Social democracy - Social democracy stands for a balance between the market and the state. Whereas, classical liberalism is ideologically committed to the market and fundamentalist socialism champions the cause of common ownership. - Social democracy has a compromise between an acceptance of capitalism as the only reliable mechanism for generating wealth and on the other hand, a desire to distribute wealth in accordance with moral, rather than market principles. - Modern social democratic main characteristic is concern for the weak and vulnerable society - Whatever the source of social democracy, it has usually been articulated on the basis of principles such as welfarism, redistribution and social justice. - Since the 1980s, revisionism has taken place because of changes in class structure meant that social-democratic policies orientated around the interests of the traditional working class were no longer electorally viable, nationalised industries and economic planning was inefficient, collapse of communism undermined the socialist models. New social democracy - New social democracy refers to a variety of attempts by social-democratic parties in countries (Germany, Italy, Netherlands, UK, New Zealand) to reconcile old-style social democracy with the electorally attractive aspects of neoliberalism. - The characteristic themes of new social democracy is the belief that socialism in the form of top down state intervention is dead, acceptance of globalisation and the belief that capitalism has changed into a ‘knowledge economy’. The state is now seen as a means of promoting international competitiveness by building education and skills and not a vehicle for social restructuring. - Another characteristic is that it has broken with socialist egalitarianism (levelling) and embraced the liberal ideas of equality if opportunity and meritocracy. - They want a ‘workfare state’ in which government provision in terms of benefits or education is conditional on individuals seeking work and becoming self-reliant. - Critics argue new social democracy is contradictory, in that it simultaneously endorses the dynamism of the market and warns against its tendency of social disintegration

Other ideological traditions - Other ideological traditions develop out of or in opposition to the core ideologies liberalism, conservatism and socialism. - The ideologies which have developed out of the core ideologies are anarchism, feminism, green politics, cosmopolitanism, nationalism and multiculturalism - The ideologies that have emerged from the opposition of the core ideologies are fascism, political Islam. Fascism - It can be said to be an interwar phenomenon. Fascist beliefs were fused together and shaped by WW1 and its aftermath and the mixture of war and revolution in that period. - The 2 principal manifestations of fascism were Mussolini’s Facist dictatorship 1922-43 and Hitler’s Nazi dictatorship 1933-45. - Forms of neofascism and neo-Nazism have come about because of economic crisis, political instability, immigration and multiculturalism. - Fascism is a revolt against the ideas and values that had dominated western political thought since the French Revolution. - Fascism has an ‘anti-character’, it is defined largely by what it opposes: it is a form of anticapitalism, anti-liberalism, anti-individualism, anticommunism. - The core theme is an organically unified national community. People are not individuals are a part of the community. The fascist ideal is that of the ‘new man’, a hero, motivated by duty, honour and self-sacrifice, prepared to dedicate his life to the glory of his nation or race, and to give unquestioning obedience to a supreme leader. - Not all fascists are the same. Italian fascism was essentially an extreme form of statism that was based on unquestioning respect and absolute loyalty towards a ‘totalitarian’ state. Whereas, German National Socialism (Nazism) was constructed on the basis of racialism, with core theories of Aryanism (belief Germans are a master race) and anti-semitism. Anarchism - No anarchist party has won power. Movements been powerful in Spain, France, Russia, Mexico through to the early 20th century and anarchist ideas fertilise political debate by challenging the conventional belief that law, government and state are wholesome or indispensable. - Their belief is that political authority especially in the form of the state, is evil and unnecessary. - Their preference for a stateless society where free individuals manage their own affairs through voluntary agreement and cooperation has been developed from liberal individualism and socialist communitarianism. Anarchism can therefore be thought of as a point of intersection between liberalism and socialism. - Liberal case against the state is based on individualism, and the desire to maximise liberty and choice. Whereas, individualists anarchists such as Godwin believed that free and rational human beings would be able to manage their affairs peacefully and spontaneously, government being merely a form of unwanted coercion. - The more widely recognised anarchist tradition, however, draws on socialist ideas such as community, cooperation, equality and common ownership. - Collectivist anarchists stress the capacity for social solidarity that arises from our sociable, gregarious and essentially cooperative natures. - There are different forms of anarchism. Anarcho capitalism holds that unregulated market competition can and should be applied to all social arrangements, making the state unnecessary. Mutualism (Proudhob) is a system of fair exchange, in which individuals or groups trade goods and services with one another without profiteering or exploitation. Anarchocommunism is an anarchist tradition which takes common ownership to be the sole reliable basis for social solidarity, thereby linking statelessness to classlessness. Feminism - First wave feminism did not come about until the 1840-50s. - Second wave feminism emerged in the 1960s which was more radical and sometimes revolutionary, demands of the WOmen’s Liberation Movement.

- Feminism wants to enhance, through whatever means, the social role of women. - The underlying themes of feminism is that society is characterised by sexual or gender inequality and that this structure of male power can and should be overturned.

- Feminists are split into liberal, socialist and radical schools of thought. - Liberal feminists have tended to understand female subordination in terms of the unequal

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distribution of rights and opportunities in society. It is reformist and wants to enhance the legal and political status of women, and improve their educational and career prospects, than with reordering private or domestic life. Socialist feminists highlight the links between female subordination and the capitalist mode of production, drawing attention to the economic significance of women being confined to a family or domestic life. Radical feminists believe that gender divisions are the most fundamental and politically significant cleavages in society. They say all societies are characterised by patriarchy. Radical feminists proclaim the need for a sexual revolution to restructure personal, domestic and family life. Only in its extreme form, radical feminism portrays men as ‘the enemy’ and proclaim the need for women to withdraw from male society. However, since the 1970s third wave feminism has come about and is characterised by doubts about the conventional goals of gender equality, and instead place an emphasis on differences between women and men and between women themselves.

Green politics - Reflects concern about the damage done to the natural world by the increasing pace of economic development and anxiety about the declining quality of human existence and the survival of the human species. - There concerns are sometimes expressed through conventional ideologies such as ecosocialism, ecoconservatism and ecofeminism. - Green politics has an alternative to anthropocentric or human-centered stance adopted by other ideologies as it does not see the natural world as a resource available to satisfy human needs. By highlighting the importance of ecology, green politics develops an ecocentric world-view that portrays the human species as merely part of nature. - The most influential theory of green politics is Lovelocj’s which portrays the planet Earth as a living organism that is primarily concerned with its own survival. - There are shallow or humanist ecologists that believe an appeal to self-interest and common sense will persuade humankind to adopt ecologically sound policies and lifestyles - sustainable development. Whereas, deep ecologists insist that reordering political priorities, and a willingness to place the interests of the ecosystem before those of any individual species will secure planetary and human survival. Cosmopolitanism - Ideology since the 1990s. This occurred as the moral, political and cultural implication of growing global interconnectedness became increasingly apparent. Cosmopolitanism can be viewed as the ideological expression of globalisation. - Cosmopolitanism believes in a world state. Modern cosmopolitanism however has a moral or cultural character. - Moral cosmopolitanism is the belief that the world constitutes a single moral community. This implies people have obligations towards all other people in the world, regardless of their nationality, religion, ethnicity. Moral cosmopolitanism has taken contrasting liberal and socialist forms. - Liberal cosmopolitanism has been expressed in two ways. One form is the attempt to universalise civic and political rights, This form of cosmopolitanism has been associated with support for humanitarian intervention. and attempts to strengthen the international law. The other form derives from economic liberalism and places particular stress on attempts to universalise market society, seen as means to widening individual freedom and promoting material advancement. - Whereas socialist cosmopolitanism is rooted in the Marxist belief that proletarian class solidarity has a transnational character. The key aim is to gain global social justice through a substantial

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redistribution of wealth from the global North to the global South and a radical reform of the system of global economic governance. Cultural cosmopolitanism highlights the extent to which people’s values and lifestyles have been reconfigured due to intensified global interconnectedness. More are being redefined as global citizens instead of citizens of a particular state.

Non-western ideological trends Post-colonialism - Attempts to give political ideology a non-western identity came from trends associated with postcolonialism. - The feature is that it sought to give the non-western world a distinctive political voice separate from liberalism and socialism. An attempts was taken by the formation of the Non-Aligned Movement. Religious fundamentalism - Post-colonialism has been expressed through the upsurge in religious fundamentalism and Islamic fundamentalism. - It has the idea that Islamic beliefs override the principles of social life and politics. This was seen through the writing of Qutb and through the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood, their goal was the establishment of an Islamic state. - Political Islam was brought to prominence by the Iranian revolution of 1979, shich led to the first Islamic state under Khomeini. It spread throughout the Middle East, across North Africa and into parts of Asia. - Islamism has been a vehicle for expressing anti-westernism reflecting antipathy towards neocolonial policies of western powers and the imposition of permissive and materialist values. Evident by the Taliban regime and Al-Qaeda. Asian values - During the 1980s and 1990s, there was the idea of Asian values gained growing currency, fuelled by the emergence of Japan as an economic superpower and the success of the tiger economies. - Asian values drew attention to supposed differences between western and Asian value systems, highlighting the extent to which human rights had traditionally been constructed on the basis of culturally biased western assumptions. Asian values wanted to r...