UNIT 05

POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES.
Introduction to political ideologies
Political ideologies can be identified as a collection of specific ideas which are influential on politics
in the society. These ideologies could attract a large population in the society and guide the
political system. These can be also identified as a set of ideas on lives among the society, among
state or politics. When an ideology is presented by a political thinker or a group of political thinkers
it receives social recognition. More social recognition allows political ideology to become a
mainstream ideology in political science.
Following common features can be seen in any political ideology.
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Political ideologies are capable of handling and shaping political institutes, political users,
governance and political behaviorism inside a political society. Specially, it should be noted that
political movements and political parties are based on political ideologies. In simple terms a group
of people in favor of a certain ideology is eventually attracted through political movements or
political parties who represent that ideology. Also, the ideologies are capable of making such
people politically active and sent into active social politics.
In this unit we shall focus on the following ideologies;

• Liberalism
• Socialism
• Republicanism
• Social Democracy
• Fascism
• Nationalism
• Secularism
• Feminism

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Liberalism
The term “liberal” is originated from the Latin term “liber”. The basic meaning of this term stands
for freedom, liberation and redemption. Therefore, in simplest terms, liberalism can be identified
as a political ideology which develops the freedom, liberation and redemption of people. However,
we can observe that liberalism is a much broader political ideology than this interpretation cover.
The political ideology of liberalism was initiated in Europe against the feudalistic society and the
autocratic monarchial system. By the 17th century new social classes were born in Europe against
the autocratic rule of monarchs and Aristocrats. Out of these several classes, the merchant class
can be identified as the most important class. As a result of the investments made by this
merchant class a new capitalistic economic system was born in Europe.
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In other words, this newly emerged merchant class mainly intended to prevent the economic
involvements of the state which controlled the market, and handled taxation on their sole
discretion. This was known as the freedom free governments interferences and constrains
imposed by the government.
The liberal political ideology is not developed on the views of the solitary political thinker. The
ideology has been enriched by many liberal thinkers who lived in different types. The development
of liberalism was contributed by political thinkers such as,
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Despite the fact that liberalism has different interpretations and different streams the core concept
of every liberalist is the appreciation of individualism. The appreciation of individualism is the
appreciation of individual freedom. Therefore, the basic idea of liberalism is that the society is
created with individuals and when individuals are assured betterment it inevitably results in the
social betterment. In general, this means that the individual should be free from the restrictions of
the state. In this idea liberalism carries two meanings:
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Philosophical meaning
Liberalist provided a new idea to define freedom instead of the conventional ideas of freedom.
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According to this freedom is a situation which has no restrictions or constrains. This means
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liberalism should be the possibility for an individual to enjoy rights without government
interventions and constrains. This idea is known as the liberal philosophical argument of negative
freedom. Other than this, principles such as:
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are also incorporated with the concept of negative freedom.
Political meaning
The political meaning of liberal freedom suggests an idea of the state following a laissez faire rule.
This basically means the state makes no involvements in the lives of citizens other than protecting
law and order. This meaning mainly points out that in order to assume individual freedom the
state should refrain from putting obstacles in economic, political and social areas of the individual.
The liberal thinkers mainly experience the necessity in economic freedom in other to assure
individual freedom. Therefore, the liberal thinkers except the state to stay away from economic
affairs completely. In order to assure such economic freedom a laissez faire rule should include,
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Freedom is strongly attached with economic theory of capitalism. The development of liberalism
was supported by the economic theory of capitalism. As the economist Adam Smith points out
that the state should not get evolved in economic affairs and the market should be controlled by
an invisible hand.
Liberalism and Personal Freedom
The theoretical fundamental of liberalism is individual freedom. The idea of individual freedom
suggests that individuals should have the space to enjoy the rights that they have naturally
intended. The initial stage of liberalism followed the laissez faire state which appreciated the
individual freedom.
Individual freedom is one of the main teachings of the liberal philosophy. The concept of individual
freedom is developed in liberalism based on the following assumptions;
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The general idea of the above assumptions is mainly based on appreciating the individual
freedom. In simplest terms this means that, the society is constructed of individuals and the
betterment of the individual inevitably results in the betterment of the society.
Liberalism believes that every individual is a capable and rational human being with the capacity
to achieve the self- betterment on his/her own. Therefore, the role of the state is simply to create
the background for the individuals to achieve their own betterment.
This raises the question whether the liberal state completely restrains from controlling the lives of
individuals. Liberalism believes that the state involvement should happen only when an individual
act against the betterment of the other. Therefore, the laissez faire state only fulfills the duty of
protecting law and order.
Key liberal thinkers and their ideas
The liberal political thought has been developed by many political thinkers throughout the year.
When studying the liberal ideology, it is important to discuss the idea suggested by these liberal
political thinkers. In this lesson we shall look into the following key liberal political thinkers;
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Thomas Hobbes.
By any means Thomas Hobbes cannot be recognized as a liberal political thinker. In fact, his
ideas were based on power politics and supported a power centralized monarchy which was the
direct opposite of liberal ideology. However, ideas of Thomas Hobbes have made reasonable and
important contribution to the foundation of liberal ideology.
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John Locke.
John Locke can be considered as the pioneer of the liberal political thought. He is also considered
as the most important English political thinker following Thomas Hobbes. John Locke lived in
England from 1632-1704. During the English power struggle between monarchist and the
parliament. Locke supported the parliament. The basic idea of John Locke was suggested by his
book “Two Treaties of Government” in 1690.
In his book Locke presented his version of the social contract theory which suggested that the
ruler is responsible for the public. The intension of John Locke was mainly to develop the
theoretical foundation for a constitutional limited government following the English government in
1688. The key principles of Locke liberal political thought can be summarized as follows;
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Therefore, it can be seen that the ideas of John Locke can be considered as the basic absence
of liberation. The concept of limited government was also founded by John Locke alongside this
theory.
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Charles Montesquieu
Montesquieu is known as the father of the concept separation of powers. This theory was
developed in his work “The spirit of Law” in 1748. The theory of separation of powers made an
important and a reasonable constitution to the development of liberal political thought.
Montesquieu was a known political thinker who lived in France from 1689-1755. During this time
the France government was handled by a necessary. The Louis dynasty in France followed an
extremely autocratic rule. This resulted in many French political thinkers coming up with anti-
monarchial ideas which included Montesquieu as well. The concept of separation of powers may
refer to an idea of dividing the powers and the task of the government into 3 institutions as the
executive, legislative and the judiciary.
According to Montesquieu a solitary person or institution processing all three of the powers could
result in the creation of an autocracy. Montesquieu points out that such an autocracy result in the
violation of individual freedom. Therefore, Montesquieu’s theory of separation of powers is simply
an attempt at preventing governmental tyranny. Montesquieu’s theory separation of powers was
later applied practically in the American constitution. This concept later created the concept of
checks and balances which also can be considered as an important factor of a liberal country.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Rousseau was a Swiss political thinker who lived in France from 1712- 1778. He is known for
developing his own version of the social contract theory through his book “The Social Contract”
in 1762. Similar to John Locke and Montesquieu, Rousseau intended to protect the individual
freedom from state violations. Therefore, Rousseau’s ideas are mainly focused on checking the
powers of the government in order to protect the individual freedom.
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The theory of Rousseau is based on two conceptual arguments. They are;
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According to Rousseau the state represents the collection will of all in the society instead of the
will of the ruler or the will of the privileged minority of the society.
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Rousseau points out that under the social contract the people collected individual powers they
possess collectively to the society when transforming from the natural society to civil society.
Therefore, Rousseau points out that the sovereignty is owned by the entire society, not a state or
ruler, Rousseau further states that the sovereignty of the people are indivisible and inalienable.
The notion as popular sovereignty is also known as people sovereignty. It should also be noted
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that Rousseau was not strictly a liberal thinker. In fact, Rousseau’s teachings are mostly
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associated with republicanism. However, his idea does not go against liberalism rather it is
incorporated with liberalism.

Jean Jacque Rousseau

Charles Montesque

John Locke
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Socialism
Socialism can be identified as a political ideology as well as a political movement which suggested
an alternative concept for liberal capitalism. This ideology suggested the concept of socialist state,
instead of the capitalist state system. The capitalist system was gradually developed from the
15th century onwards with the individual revolution. In the 18th century capitalism was even more
developed in a vast manner.
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In the early liberalism the rich minority in the society owned all businesses and factories as the
poor class was the working class which had to work to earn in smaller amounts to survive in a
daily basis. Since, the state was kept away from all other tasks except for maintaining law and
order the social issues faced by the working class were not addressed by anyone. The
individualism promoted by liberal capitalism created this class division even more severe, as
liberal capitalism was favorable only for the stronger ones in the society despite the liberal theory
claiming to protect everyone. The political ideology of socialism was suggested against this unfair
and unjust social system of liberal capitalism. It is important to note that the ideology of socialism
is not limited to the views of Karl Marx. Socialist ideology existed way before the days of Karl
Marx.
Marx is known as the political thinker who provided the most structurally organized version of
socialism. Therefore, the ideology of socialism can be divided into two categories;
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Utopian Socialism
The socialist political thinkers who existed before Karl Marx were generally known as Utopian
socialist. By the 18th century socialism ideas were spreading throughout Europe. As a result of
the capitalist system, all these ideas were revolving around the concept of abolishing the capitalist
social system and developing a fair social system. However, these socialist thinkers were only
capable of suggesting a socialist system and unable to suggest a mechanism to practically
establish the socialist system. Some thinkers did suggest mechanisms though they were
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practically impossible. Therefore, these ideas are known as Utopian socialism. Most of these
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socialist ideas were based on the Utopian concept developed by Thomas Moore. This is the origin
behind the term of “Utopian Socialism” Political thinkers such as Gabriel Marbly, Charles Fourier,
Henri de Saint, Robert Owen can be considered as notable Utopian socialists. Despite the
Utopian socialism being impractical it still can be considered as a landmark in political science as
it provided the foundation for the development of scientific socialism. Even Frederick Engels, one
of the founders of scientific socialism believes that, the Utopian socialism provided the necessary
fundamental for scientific socialism. Engels pointed out that Utopian socialism has accurately
identified the problem of class struggle though it lacks a practical mechanism to provide a solution.

Gabriel Marbly Charles Fourier

Robert Owen Henri

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Scientific Socialism
This can be considered as the most organized and influential version of socialism in fact the
founder of this concept Karl Marx and Frederick Engels are generally associated with the term
socialism. Scientific socialism goes further from Utopian socialism to provide a practical
mechanism to create a fair social system as Karl Marx stated by himself, “Every philosopher
defines the world, yet what is needed is changing the world” When studying socialism, it is
important to clarify key terms of Marx’s teachings.
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The original concept from Karl Marx was known as the communism and was later developed by
other political scientists. Therefore, the term Marxism refers to the original concept suggested by
Karl Marx. The Marxist theory on socialism is based on two books “The communist Manifesto”
(1848) written by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, “Das Kapital” (1867) written by Karl Marx.
As provided in “The communist manifesto” the views of Karl Marx can be summarized as follows.
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Therefore, it can be seen that the scientific socialism is a well theoretically constructed ideology.
Also, it should be noted that this version of socialism was the most influential in practical politics.
By the 20th century these socialist ideas created a political vision which inspired many socialist
political movements within and outside Europe. In certain countries these political movements
even resulted in revolutions which brought socialist regimes into power.
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Other than these socialist governments were created in Eastern European countries and even
Western European countries had some socialist political movements. Also, by the 20th century a
new version of socialism was born as the third world socialism. Political personalities such as;
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can be considered as the pioneers of this theory. Above mentioned countries are post-colonial
states as they became states following gaining independence from colonizers, as these countries
inherited liberal capitalism from their colonizers. The social system in these countries faced social
inequality and poor economic developments. Since capitalism did not provide sufficient solutions
for these problems, post-colonial states searched for alternatives within socialism.
Therefore, these states apprehended to a system where features of capitalism and socialism were
combined. These countries referred to their systems with the term socialism and in political
science it is known as 3rd world socialism. Also, it should be noted that the socialist ideology had
a reasonable impact in national movements in colonial states as well.
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Republicanism
Republicanism can be identified as one of the most internal theories in modern day politics.
Specially the formation of the modern nation state was highly influence by this concept. In addition
to this the theory of republicanism also contributed to the development of important political
concepts such as political community, citizenship, liberty and etc. Republicanism has a long
history as a theory as well as an ideology. In fact, the facts of republicanism can be traced all the
way back to Greece and Roman eras. the eras of evolution in republican can be pointed out as
follows;
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Classic republicanism
This era is considered as the origin of republicanism. This era was expanded from Greek city
states till the Roman Empire. The ideology of republicanism was founded in ancient Greek city
states as the idea of this is that the citizen being politically in-charge was an effect. Republicanism
was developed by many philosophers such as; Aristotle, Socrates, Plato (Greek philosophers) as
well as Polybius, Cicero (Roman philosophers) etc.
Republican during European renaissance
During the 15th century with the rise of the theory of power politics suggested by Niccolo
Machiavelli political science went through a reasonable change. Following this a new
interpretation of republicanism also came into existence.
18th Century Republicanism
By the 18th century European countries as well as America went through a wave of revelation
against monarchs. This revelation was inspired with the concept of citizens being in- charge of a
state. Therefore, people started re-defining the ideology of republicanism which resulted in the
transformation from the authoritarian nation state to modern state. Out of these revelations the
French and the American Revolution are mostly important as the views of thinkers such as
Rousseau, Montesquieu, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were extremely important for
the development of the ideology of republicanism.
20th Century Republicanism
This refers to the current political system of the modern nation state. In this system republicanism
stands for people being in-charge of the sovereignty of the country. This concept is more effective
in the modern context. In terms of the theoretical aspect the views of Hanna Arendt, Quentin
Skinner and Philip Petit are considered as important.
The core teachings of Republicanism
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It should be noted that the last 3 fundamental teachings in the above lit are exclusive and specific
to the ideology of republicanism
The above fundamental features point out that there is a reasonable similarity between liberalism
and republicanism. However, it should be noted that as ideologies liberalism and republicanism
have differences as well. These differences can mainly be summarized into 2;
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Citizen and politics
• Liberalism and republicanism support two different relies in terms of citizen and politics.
Republicanism features the concept of active citizens which means that each citizen has to play
an active and participating role in the political system. Republicanism believes that rights of
citizens are not given as a gift rater something that should be achieved by putting an effort.
Liberalism on the other hand expects citizens to play a natural role which is known as passive
citizenship. According to liberalism rights are naturally initiated by citizens and a state has a duty
towards its citizens to protect these rights. Liberalism does not believe in the idea of citizens
having to put an effort to protect their rights. Therefore, we can see that republicanism supports
the idea of active citizens while liberalism supports the idea of the passive citizen.
Freedom Although the concept of freedom is parallel with the ideologies of liberalism and
republicanism, both these two ideologies have a slightly different interpretation on freedom. Since
liberalism is based on the concept of individual liberty, it believes that the freedom of citizen should
not be compromised by any means. Since republicanism is developed on the concept of citizens
being in-charge of the political system of the country. It justifies the freedom of citizens slightly
being compromised in order to get them involved in the decisions mainly in the country.
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A new side of republicanism has been developed recently which is known as the contemporary
republicanism thought. This was developed by modern political scientists such as Hannah Arendt,
Quentin Skinner and Philip Petit. They 3 are known as the pioneer thinkers of the 20th century
republicanism. The contemporary republican thought is basically developed on two themes;
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The 20th century republicanism focuses special attention on the political activism of citizens and
political duties of citizens. Therefore, it also known as Citizens Republicanism.
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