Introduction to the History of Political Ideologies

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering the major political thinkers, economic theories, and historical movements from the 15th-century decline of the medieval order to modern surveillance capitalism.

The Renaissance

The rebirth of Europe following the Dark Ages, characterized by the gradual demise of the feudal system and the emergence of new economic relations.

Mercantilism

An economic policy where it became the sovereign's task to develop national income by favoring trade and long-distance trade.

La raison d’état

A concept used by Nicollo Machiavelli to describe the institutionalization of state power and the organization of the state's interests.

Popular Machiavellianism

The interpretation by later thinkers that in politics, the end always justifies the means, allowing any strategy to reach a political goal.

Utopianism

A term originating from Thomas More's work describing the projection of ideal societal laws into an imaginary world when the logic of the market is not yet understood.

Indulgences

A commercialized practice of the Church involving the trade of salvation for money, which Martin Luther protested against in his 95 theses.

Human predestination

A central assumption in Calvinism stating that man was predestined for heaven or hell, and could only seek signs of God’s favor through worldly work.

The Encomienda System

A system of forced labor and control where Spanish conquerors (Conquistadores) were rewarded with the labor of indigenous peoples, who were officially seen as free vassals.

The Grand Remonstrance

A 1629 document listing objections to the political, legal, religious, and financial policies of monarch Charles I in England.

Civil Society (Locke)

A group consisting of the top layers of society—white, middle-aged, middle-class males—to whom the responsibility of legislative and executive power is delegated.

Volonté Générale

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's concept of the 'general will' or the will of the community, which serves the common good rather than specific groups.

Laissez-faire

Adam Smith's principle of private capital accumulation as an engine for development through a non-interventionist economic policy.

The Invisible Hand

A set of economic laws described by Adam Smith that automatically regulate the market without the need for human control.

Girondins

The leaders of the upper bourgeoisie during the French Revolution who initially sought a constitutional monarchy.

Jacobins

The lower bourgeoisie faction during the French Revolution, led by Robespierre, who advocated for radicalization and social revolution.

Code Napoleon

A new code of law introduced by Napoleon that formally established equality before the law and legal certainty, though it was patriarchal in nature.

Common Sense (Burke)

The idea that politics and policy should be based on practical experience and feelings rather than abstract concepts like human rights.

Positive Checks

Events identified by Thomas Malthus that increase mortality rates to lower population growth, such as war, disease, and famine.

Utilitarianism

Jeremy Bentham's philosophy based on the principle of seeking 'the greatest happiness for the greatest number.'

Labor Value Theory

The economic theory, supported by David Ricardo and later reinterpreted by Marx, stating that labor creates the value of a product.

Mutualism

An anarchist idea developed by Proudhon where workers own their means of production and work for themselves through voluntary associations.

Transcendental Idealism

Immanuel Kant's philosophy which posits that intellect organizes data from experience to form knowledge.

The Dialectical Method (Hegel)

A process where the tension between a Thesis and an Antithesis leads to a qualitative leap called a Synthesis.

Surplus Value

In Marx's analysis of capitalism, the extra value (profit) created by the worker that is taken by the entrepreneur, representing the heart of exploitation.

Historical Materialism

Marx's theory that the history of the world is shaped by the way people organize production through raw materials, machines, and tools.

Ultramontanism

A 19th-century Catholic movement that embraced absolute papal authority and rejected modern political ideologies as subversive.

The Ruse of Reason

Hegel’s concept that freedom is realized in history independently of acting people, even though people are the ones who make history.

Positivism

August Comte's science-based social doctrine which suggests that social problems can be solved through the scientific phase of human thought.

Herrenmoral

Friedrich Nietzsche's 'aristocratic' morality that is aggressive, combative, and not based on God-inspired submission.

The Nahdha

A revival movement where Arab-Muslim thinkers sought to understand why their world had fallen behind the West and advocated for reform.

Verelendungstheorie

Marx's theory that people would generally get poorer and the middle classes would disappear, which was criticized by revisionist Eduard Bernstein.

Bolshevikism

The revolutionary movement led by Lenin that sought to establish a 'vanguard party' of professional revolutionaries to lead the proletariat.

War Communism

The period between 1917 and 1921 in Russia characterized by nationalized industry, collectivized agriculture, and the use of the Cheka (secret police).

The Wilsonian Moment

The period following WWI characterized by the global enthusiasm for President Wilson's Fourteen Points, which ultimately failed to stop renewed colonialism.

Négritude

A cultural project and humanism founded on the recognition and acceptance of being black in opposition to French colonial assimilation.

The Great Leap Forward

Mao Zedong's failed economic campaign that led to an unprecedented rural famine and the deaths of several million people.

Focism

A revolutionary strategy where a small guerrilla group (the foco) acts as the catalyst for a larger social revolution, used by Che Guevara.

Orientalism

A term coined by Edward Said for a style of thought based on a manufactured distinction between a progressive West and a backward 'Orient.'

Keynesianism

An economic theory advocating for government intervention and counter-cycle spending to maintain purchasing power during crises.

Surveillance Capitalism

A term by Shoshana Zuboff describing a new phase of capitalism where tech businesses claim human experience as raw material for data and profit.