4. Political Ideas and Ideologies
Political Ideas and Ideologies
Preview
Everyone is a political thinker, knowingly or unknowingly, using political ideas and concepts in their expressions and opinions.
Everyday language includes terms like freedom, fairness, equality, justice, and rights.
Terms such as conservative, liberal, fascist, socialist, or feminist are commonly used to describe views.
These terms are often used without precision or a clear understanding of their meaning.
For example, what does 'equality' mean?
Are people born equal?
Should society treat everyone as equal?
Should people have equal rights, opportunities, political influence, or wages?
Words like 'communist' or 'fascist' are frequently misused.
What does it mean to call someone a 'fascist'?
What values do fascists hold?
How do communist views differ from those of liberals, conservatives, or socialists?
The chapter will examine political ideas from the perspective of key ideological traditions, focusing on classical ideologies (liberalism, conservatism, and socialism) and other traditions that arose from or in opposition to them.
Each ideological tradition offers a unique intellectual framework or 'lens' on the political world.
First, it's essential to consider the nature of political ideology itself.
What is Political Ideology?
Ideology is a controversial concept in political analysis.
The term 'ideology' was coined in 1796 by French philosopher Destutt de Tracy to refer to a new 'science of ideas' aimed at uncovering the origins of conscious thought.
In the 19th century, Karl Marx assigned a different meaning to the term:
Ideology represents the ideas of the 'ruling class,' which uphold the class system and perpetuate exploitation.
Marx and Engels: "The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas…"
In the Marxist sense, ideology is false, mystifying subordinate classes by concealing the contradictions of class societies.
Bourgeois ideology fosters 'false consciousness' among the exploited proletariat, preventing them from recognizing their exploitation.
Marx believed his work was scientific, distinguishing between science and ideology, truth and falsehood.
Later Marxists like Lenin and Gramsci referred to 'socialist ideology' or 'proletarian ideology,' which Marx would have considered absurd.
Liberals and conservatives developed alternative uses of the term.
Totalitarian dictatorships led writers like Karl Popper, J.L. Talmon, and Hannah Arendt to view ideology as an instrument of social control.
This Cold War liberal view treated ideology as a 'closed' system of thought, intolerant of opposing ideas.
Liberalism, conservatism, and democratic socialism are 'open' doctrines that permit free debate and criticism.
From a social-scientific viewpoint, an ideology is a coherent set of ideas that provides a basis for organized political action.
All ideologies:
Offer an account of the existing order ('world-view').
Provide a model of a desired future (vision of the Good Society).
Outline how political change can and should be brought about.
Ideologies are fluid sets of ideas that overlap with one another at many points.
Debating: Can Politics Exist Without Ideology?
The term 'ideology' has traditionally had negative implications, with predictions of its demise.
Despite this, ideological forms of politics endure.
Yes:
Overcoming falsehood and delusion: Critiques of ideology associate it with falsehood and manipulation, implying that reason and critical understanding can emancipate us from ideological politics. Ideologies are seen as political religions that demand faith, preventing believers from thinking outside their chosen world-view. The solution is to see the world 'as it is' through value-free scientific method. The purpose of political science is thus to disengage politics from ideology.
Rise of technocratic politics: Political ideology arose from attempts to shape industrial society. The left/right divide and the struggle between socialism and capitalism have been central to ideological debate. With the collapse of communism and acceptance of market capitalism, politics revolves around effective management of the capitalist system rather than ideological questions. Ideological politics has given way to technocratic politics.
Rise of consumerist politics: Ideology has little place in modern democratic systems due to electoral competition. Parties behave like businesses, formulating policies to attract the largest number of voters. Parties respond to voter demands rather than reshaping these demands with a pre-existing ideological vision. Electoral politics therefore contributes to a process of party de-ideologization.
No:
Ideology as an intellectual framework: Political ideology will always survive because it provides politicians, parties, and other political actors with an intellectual framework to make sense of the world. Ideologies are not systematic delusions but rather rival visions of the political world. Perhaps the most dangerous delusion is the notion of a clear distinction between science and ideology. Science itself is constructed on the basis of paradigms that are destined to be displaced over time (Kuhn, 1962).
Ideological renewal: The secret of ideology’s survival and continued relevance is its flexibility, the fact that ideological traditions go through a seemingly endless process of redefinition and renewal. As old ideologies fade, new ones emerge, helping to preserve the relevance of political ideology. The world of ideologies does not stand still, but changes in response to changing social and historical circumstances. The declining relevance of the left/right divide has not led to the ‘end of ideology’ or the ‘end of history’; it has merely opened up new ideological spaces that have been filled by the likes of feminism, green ideology, multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism.
The 'vision thing': As the principal source of meaning and idealism in politics, ideology touches those aspects of politics that no other political form can reach. Ideology gives people a reason to believe in something larger than themselves, because people’s personal narratives only make sense when they are situated within a broader historical narrative. A post-ideological age would therefore be an age without hope, without vision. If politicians cannot cloak their pursuit of power in ideological purpose, they risk being seen simply as power-seeking pragmatists, and their policy programmes will appear to lack coherence and direction.
Ideologies are abstract 'systems of thought' that distort political reality because they claim to explain what is incomprehensible.
Conservatives prefer to describe conservatism as a disposition or 'attitude of mind', placing faith in pragmatism, tradition, and history.
Negative or pejorative usages restrict the application of the term.
Marx insisted his ideas were scientific, not ideological; liberals deny liberalism is an ideology; conservatives claim to embrace a pragmatic style.
Each definition is loaded with the values of a particular political doctrine.
An inclusive definition of 'ideology' must be neutral, rejecting the notion that ideologies are 'good' or 'bad', 'true' or 'false'.
The modern, social-scientific meaning treats ideology as an action-oriented belief system that guides political action.
Debate about ideology has focused on predictions of its demise, known as the 'end of ideology' debate.
Daniel Bell (1960) declared that the stock of political ideas had been exhausted, ethical and ideological questions had become irrelevant.
Fukuyama suggested that liberal democracy had triumphed over all rivals.
At the heart of such debates lie questions about the relationship between politics and ideology, and about whether politics can exist without ideology.
Liberalism
Key Ideas of Liberalism
Individualism: Core principle of liberal ideology.
Belief in the supreme importance of the individual over any social group.
Human beings are seen as individuals with equal moral worth and unique identities.
The liberal goal is to construct a society where individuals can flourish and pursue 'the good' as they define it.
Liberalism is morally neutral, providing rules that allow individuals to make their own moral decisions.
Freedom: Core value of liberalism, prioritized over equality, justice, or authority.
Desire to ensure each person can act as they please or choose.
Liberals advocate 'freedom under the law' to prevent one person's liberty from threatening others.
Individuals should enjoy the maximum possible liberty consistent with a like liberty for all.
Reason: Belief that the world has a rational structure, uncovered through human reason and critical inquiry.
Faith in individuals' ability to make wise judgments on their own behalf.
Belief in progress and the capacity of human beings to resolve differences through debate rather than conflict.
Equality: Individualism implies foundational equality (individuals are 'born equal' in moral worth).
Commitment to equal rights and entitlements, legal equality ('equality before the law'), and political equality ('one person, one vote').
Liberals do not endorse social equality or equality of outcome.
Favor equality of opportunity (a 'level playing field') to realize unequal potential.
Support the principle of meritocracy (rewards and positions distributed based on ability).
Toleration: Belief that toleration is a guarantee of individual liberty and a means of social enrichment.
Pluralism (moral, cultural, and political diversity) is healthy, promoting debate and intellectual progress.
Belief in a balance or natural harmony between rival views and interests, discounting irreconcilable conflict.
Consent: Authority and social relationships should be based on consent or willing agreement.
Government must be based on the 'consent of the governed'.
Favors representation and democracy, notably liberal democracy.
Social bodies and associations are formed through contracts willingly entered into.
Authority arises 'from below' and is grounded in legitimacy.
Constitutionalism: Government is a vital guarantee of order, but may become a tyranny.
Belief in limited government, attained through the fragmentation of power, checks and balances, and a codified constitution embodying a bill of rights.
Classical Liberalism
Central theme: commitment to an extreme form of individualism.
Human beings are seen as egoistical, self-seeking, and self-reliant creatures.
Belief in 'negative' liberty, meaning non-interference and absence of external constraints on the individual.
Unsympathetic attitude towards the state and government intervention.
Tom Paine: the state is a 'necessary evil'.
'Necessary' in that it establishes order and security, and enforces contracts.
'Evil' in that it imposes a collective will, limiting individual freedom and responsibility.
Classical liberal ideal: minimal or 'nightwatchman' state, limited to protecting citizens from one another.
Economic liberalism: deep faith in free markets and the belief that the economy works best when left alone by government.
Laissez-faire capitalism guarantees prosperity, upholds liberty, and ensures social justice by allowing individuals to rise and fall according to merit.
Modern Liberalism
Characterized by a more sympathetic attitude toward state intervention.
Modern liberals emphasize the plight of the weak and vulnerable, aiming to enable them to take responsibility for their circumstances and choices.
Recognition that industrial capitalism generated injustice and left the population subject to the market's vagaries.
'New Liberals' (e.g., T.H. Green, L.T. Hobhouse, J.A. Hobson) championed a 'positive' view of freedom: linked to personal development and self-realization.
Basis for social or welfare liberalism.
State intervention (social welfare) can enlarge liberty by safeguarding individuals from social evils.
1942 Beveridge Report identified 'five giants': want, ignorance, idleness, squalor, and disease.
Modern liberals abandoned laissez-faire capitalism, supporting managed or regulated capitalism (J.M. Keynes).
Growth and prosperity could be maintained only through a system of managed or regulated capitalism, with key economic responsibilities being placed in the hands of the state.
Modern liberals' support for collective provision and government intervention has always been conditional, focused on those unable to help themselves.
John Rawls attempted to reconcile liberalism with welfare and redistribution.
Conservatism
Conservative ideas emerged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries as a reaction against economic and political change, symbolized by the French Revolution.
Conservatism defended the traditional social order against liberalism, socialism, and nationalism.
From the outset, divisions were apparent within conservative thought.
Continental Europe: autocratic and reactionary conservatism (Joseph de Maistre) rejected reform.
UK and USA: cautious, flexible conservatism (Edmund Burke) embraced 'change in order to conserve'.
In the 1950s, the Conservative Party in the UK accepted the postwar settlement and espoused its own version of Keynesian social democracy.
From the 1970s onwards, such ideas came under pressure from the New Right.
The New Right's anti-statist and anti-paternalist conservatism draws on classical liberal themes and values.
Paternalistic Conservatism
Consistent with principles such as organicism, hierarchy, and duty, and seen as an outgrowth of traditional conservatism.
Draws on a combination of prudence and principle.
Benjamin Disraeli warned of the danger of the UK being divided into 'two nations: the Rich and the Poor', articulating a fear of social revolution.
This amounted to an appeal to the self-interest of the privileged, who needed to recognize that 'reform from above' was preferable to 'revolution from below'.
Underlined by principles of duty and social obligation rooted in neo-feudal ideas such as noblesse oblige.
Duty is the price of privilege; the powerful and propertied inherit a responsibility to look after the less well-off in the broader interests of social cohesion and unity.
The resulting One-Nation principle reflects not so much social equality as a cohesive and stable hierarchy that arises organically.
Key Ideas of Conservatism
Tradition: The central theme of conservative thought, ‘the desire to conserve’, is closely linked to the perceived virtues of tradition, respect for established customs, and institutions that have endured through time. Tradition reflects accumulated wisdom and should be preserved for current and future generations, promoting social and historical belonging.
Pragmatism: Conservatives emphasize the limitations of human rationality and distrust abstract principles. They place faith in experience, history, and pragmatism: action shaped by practical circumstances and goals. Conservatives prefer to describe their beliefs as an ‘attitude of mind’ or an ‘approach to life’, rejecting unprincipled opportunism.
Human Imperfection: The conservative view of human nature is broadly pessimistic. Human beings are limited, dependent, security-seeking, drawn to the familiar, and morally corrupt. Crime and disorder reside within the individual rather than society. Maintaining order requires a strong state, strict laws, and stiff penalties.
Organicism: Society is viewed as an organic whole structured by natural necessity. Institutions contribute to the health and stability of society. Shared values and a common culture are vital to community and social cohesion. The whole is more than the sum of its parts.
Hierarchy: Gradations of social position and status are natural and inevitable in an organic society. These reflect differing roles and responsibilities. Hierarchy and inequality do not give rise to conflict because society is bound by mutual obligations and reciprocal duties. The prosperous and privileged have a responsibility to care for the less fortunate.
Authority: Authority is exercised ‘from above’, providing leadership, guidance, and support. Authority is a source of social cohesion, giving people a clear sense of who they are and what is expected of them. Freedom must coexist with responsibility, consisting largely of a willing acceptance of obligations and duties.
Property: Property ownership is vital for security, independence from government, and respect for the law. Property is an exteriorization of people’s personalities. However, property ownership involves duties as well as rights. We are custodians of property inherited from past generations or of value to future ones.
The One-Nation Tradition
The One-Nation tradition embodies a disposition towards social reform and an essentially pragmatic attitude toward economic policy.
This is seen in the 'middle way' approach adopted in the 1950s by UK Conservatives, eschewing laissez-faire capitalism and state socialism/central planning.
The former results in a free-for-all, which makes social cohesion impossible; the latter produces a state monolith.
The solution lies in a blend of market competition and government regulation, or 'private enterprise without selfishness'.
After 1945, continental European conservatives embraced Christian democracy and the 'social market' philosophy of the German Christian Democrats (CDU).
This philosophy embraces private enterprise and competition, but believes that prosperity should be employed for the broader benefit of society (Catholic social theory).
Christian democracy highlights the importance of intermediate institutions, such as churches, unions, and business groups, bound together by the notion of 'social partnership'.
The paternalistic strand of modern conservative thought is often linked to the idea of 'compassionate conservatism'.
The New Right
The New Right represents a departure in conservative thought, a counter-revolution against state intervention and progressive social values.
New Right ideas can be traced back to the 1970s and the failure of Keynesian social democracy and growing concern about social breakdown.
Impact in the UK and the USA, where they were articulated in the 1980s in the form of Thatcherism and Reaganism.
Wider influence in bringing about a shift from state- to market-orientated forms of organization.
The New Right is not a coherent philosophy but an attempt to marry neoliberalism and neoconservatism.
Political and ideological tension exists between these two, but they can be combined in support of the goal of a strong but minimal state (Gamble, 1981): 'the free economy and the strong state'.
Key Thinker: Edmund Burke (1729-97)
Dublin-born UK statesman and political theorist, often seen as the father of the Anglo-American conservative tradition.
Burke's reputation is based on critical works of the French Revolution, notably Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790).
Sympathetic to the American Revolution, Burke was critical of recasting French politics in accordance with abstract principles, arguing that wisdom resided in experience and tradition.
Burke had a gloomy view of government, recognizing that it could prevent evil but rarely promote good.
He supported free-market economics on the grounds that it reflects ‘natural law’.
Key Thinker: Friedrich von Hayek (1899–1992)
Austrian economist and political philosopher.
A firm believer in individualism and market order, and critic of socialism. Hayek
Hayek’s writings fused liberal and conservative elements, and had a considerable impact on the emergent New Right.
Neoliberalism:
Neoliberalism is an updated version of classical political economy developed in the writings of free-market economists (Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman) and philosophers (Robert Nozick).
The central pillars of neoliberalism are the market and the individual.
Prime focus is to ‘roll back the frontiers of the state’, in the belief that unregulated market capitalism will deliver efficiency, growth and widespread prosperity.
The 'dead hand' of the state saps initiative and discourages enterprise; government invariably has a damaging effect on human affairs.
This is reflected in the liberal New Right’s concern with the politics of ownership, and its preference for private enterprise over state enterprise or nationalization: ‘private, good; public, bad’.
Such ideas are associated with rugged individualism, expressed in Margaret Thatcher's assertion that 'there is no such thing as society, only individuals and their families’.
The 'nanny state' breeds a culture of dependence and undermines freedom, which is understood as freedom of choice in the marketplace.
Faith is placed in self-help, individual responsibility, and entrepreneurialism.
These ideas are advanced through the process of globalization (neoliberal globalization).
Neoconservatism
Reasserts nineteenth-century conservative social principles.
The conservative New Right wishes to restore authority and return to traditional values, notably those linked to the family, religion, and the nation.
Authority guarantees social stability, generating discipline and respect.
Shared values and a common culture generate social cohesion and make civilized existence possible.
The enemies of neoconservatism are permissiveness, the cult of the self, and 'doing one’s own thing'.
Many US neoconservatives are former liberals disillusioned with the progressive reforms of the Kennedy–Johnson era.
Neoconservatism opposes multicultural and multi-religious societies, viewing them as conflict-ridden and unstable.
Linked to an insular form of nationalism skeptical about multiculturalism and supranational bodies.
Neoconservatism developed into a distinctive approach to foreign policy, linked to consolidating US global domination, through militarily imposed 'regime change'.
Socialism
Although socialist ideas can be traced back to the Levellers and Diggers, or to Thomas More or even Plato, socialism did not take shape as a political creed until the early nineteenth century.
It developed as a reaction against the emergence of industrial capitalism.
Socialism first articulated the interests of artisans and craftsmen threatened by factory production, but it was soon being linked to the growing industrial working class.
In its earliest forms, socialism tended to have a fundamentalist, utopian, and revolutionary character.
Its goal was to abolish a capitalist economy and replace it with a socialist society, usually to be constructed on the principle of common ownership.
The most influential representative of this brand of socialism was Karl Marx, whose ideas provided the foundations for twentieth-century communism.
From the late nineteenth century onwards, a reformist socialist tradition emerged that reflected the gradual integration of the working classes into capitalist society through an improvement in working conditions and wages, and the growth of trade unions and socialist political parties.
This brand of socialism proclaimed the possibility of a peaceful, gradual, and legal transition to socialism, brought about through the adoption of the ‘parliamentary road’.
Reformist socialism drew on two sources.
The first was a humanist tradition of ethical socialism, linked to thinkers such as Robert Owen, Charles Fourier and William Morris.
The second was a form of revisionist Marxism developed primarily by Eduard Bernstein.
During much of the twentieth century, the socialist movement was thus divided into two rival camps.
Revolutionary socialists called themselves communists, while reformist socialists embraced what increasingly came to be called ‘social democracy’.
This rivalry focused not only on the most appropriate means of achieving socialism, but also on the nature of the socialist goal itself.
Social democrats turned their backs on fundamentalist principles such as common ownership and planning, and recast socialism in terms of welfare, redistribution and economic management.
Key Ideas of Socialism
Community: Core is the vision of human beings as social creatures linked by a common humanity. Individual identity is fashioned by social interaction and membership of collective bodies. Socialists emphasize nurture over nature, explaining individual behavior in terms of social factors.
Fraternity: As human beings share a common humanity, they are bound by a sense of comradeship. This encourages cooperation over competition and collectivism over individualism. Cooperation enables people to harness collective energies, strengthening community bonds.
Social Equality: Central value of socialism, the belief in the primacy of equality over other values. Socialists emphasize an equality of outcome. A measure of social equality is essential for social stability and cohesion, encouraging individuals to identify with human beings. Provides the basis for exercising legal and political rights. The extent of social equality is disagreed upon.
Need: Reflects belief that material benefits should be distributed based on need, rather than merit or work. From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. The satisfaction of basic needs are a prerequisite for a worthwhile existence. Distribution requires people to be motivated by moral incentives, rather than just material ones.
Social Class: Socialists have analyzed society in terms of the distribution of income or wealth, and have seen social class as a significant social cleavage. Socialism is associated with the interests of an oppressed and exploited working class, regarding working class as agent of social change. The socialist goal is either the eradication of inequalities, or their substantial reduction.
Common Ownership: Some see it as the end of socialism itself, and others see it instead simply as a means of generating broader equality. Common ownership is a means of harnessing material resources to the common good, with private property seen to promote selfishness and social division. Modern socialism has moved away from this narrow concern with the politics of ownership.
Marxism
As a theoretical system, Marxism has constituted the principal alternative to liberal rationalism that has dominated Western culture.
As a political force, Marxism has been seen as the major enemy of Western capitalism.
Distinction between Marxism as a social philosophy and the phenomenon of twentieth-century communism.
Marx’s ideas reached a wider audience after his death, and a form of orthodox Marxism came into existence.
This undoubtedly placed a heavier stress on mechanistic theories and historical determinism than did his own writings.
Classical Marxism
The core of classical Marxism is a philosophy of history that Engels described as the ‘materialist conception of history.’
Marx held that the economic ‘base’ conditions or determines the ideological and political ‘superstructure’.
Marx believed that the driving force of historical change was the dialectic, a process of interaction between competing forces.
This model implies that historical change is a consequence of internal contradictions within a ‘mode of production’, reflected in class conflict.
Like all earlier class societies, capitalism is doomed to collapse, as a result of conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
The inevitable proletarian revolution will occur once a series of deepening crises have brought the proletariat to full class consciousness.
The proletarian revolution would usher in a transitionary ‘socialist’ period of development, characterized by the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’.
This proletarian state will ‘wither away’, meaning that a communist society will be one of both classlessness and statelessness.
As a system of ‘commodity production’ gives rise to one based on ‘production for use’ and geared to genuine human needs, ‘the free development of each would become the precondition for the free development of all’.
Key Thinker: Karl Marx (1818-83)
German philosopher, economist, and political thinker, seen as the father of twentieth-century communism.
Marx settled in London after being expelled, and worked for the rest of his life as an active revolutionary and writer.
Marx helped to found the First International, which collapsed because of antagonism between Marx’s supporters and anarchists.
Marx’s classic work was the three-volume Capital (1867, 1885, 1894).
His best-known work is the Communist Manifesto (1848) .
Orthodox Communism
Marxism in practice is linked to the experience of Soviet communism, especially to the contribution of Lenin and Joseph Stalin.
Twentieth-century communism is best understood as Marxism–Leninism.
Lenin’s feared that the proletariat would not realize its revolutionary potential.
A revolutionary party was needed to serve as the ‘vanguard of the working class.’
The USSR was more profoundly affected by Stalin’s ‘second revolution’ in the 1930s than it had been by the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
In reshaping Soviet society, Stalin created a model of orthodox communism that was followed in the post-1945 period.
Economic Stalinism was initiated, which brought about the swift and total eradication of private enterprise.
Stalin transformed the USSR into a personal dictatorship through a series of purges that eradicated all opposition.
In effect, Stalin turned the USSR into a totalitarian dictatorship, operating through systematic intimidation, repression and terror.
Key Thinker: Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979)
German political philosopher and social theorist, and co-founder of the Frankfurt School.
Marcuse was a leading thinker of the New Left and a ‘guru’ of the student movement.
He portrayed advanced industrial society as an all-encompassing system of repression.
His hopes rested not on the proletariat, but on marginalized groups.
His most important works include Reason and Revolution (1941), Eros and Civilization (1958), and One-Dimensional Man (1964).
Perestroika:
(Russian) Literally, ‘restructuring’; a slogan that refers to the attempt to liberalize and democratize the Soviet system within a communist framework.
Gorbachev's perestroika reform successfully exposed the failings of the planning system and releasing suppressed political forces.
Political Stalinism survives in China, despite the embrace of market reforms, and North Korea remains a thoroughgoing orthodox communist regime.
The collapse of communism during the 1989–91 period is widely seen as the most significant ideological event of the modern period.
Neo-Marxism
A more complex and subtle form of Marxism developed in Western Europe.
By contrast with Soviet Marxism, Western Marxism tended to be influenced by Hegelian ideas and by the stress on 'Man the creator'.
Human beings were makers of history, and not simply as puppets controlled by impersonal material forces.
By insisting that there was an interplay between economics and politics, neo-Marxists were able to break free from the rigid ‘base–superstructure’ straitjacket.
Georg Lukács presented Marxism as a humanistic philosophy.
Lukács emphasized the process of ‘reification’, through which capitalism dehumanizes workers by reducing them to objects.
Antonio Gramsci emphasized the degree to which capitalism was maintained by political and cultural factors, called ideological 'hegemony'.
A more Hegelian Marxism was developed by the ‘Frankfurt School’.
Frankfurt theorists developed what was called ‘critical theory’, a blend of Marxist political economy and Freudian psychology, which had a considerable impact on the New Left.
A later generation of Frankfurt members included Jürgen Habermas. While early critical theorists were primarily concerned with the analysis of discrete societies, later theorists have tended to give greater attention to uncovering inequalities and asymmetries in world affairs.
Politics in Action: Socialism: A Dead Ideology?
Events:
The early twentieth century witnessed the forward march of socialism different forms.
The expansion of the electorate to include working-class voters gave power to the growth of democratic socialism.
Socialism’s influence spread yet more widely during World War II aftermath.
democratic socialist parties often dominated the policy agenda, sometimes converting liberal and conservative parties to thinking.
The advance of socialism was reversed in the twentieth-century final decades.
Socialist parties often retreated from policies more related to liberalism and conservatism than to any recognizable form of socialism.
Significance:
Those who argue for the end of socialism claim capitalism’s superiority.
capitalism is a uniquely effective means of generating wealth.
Socialism’s key flaw is that any group of planners or officials in comprehensive planning are certain to be overwhelmed by complexity.
globalization widened the gulf between capitalism and socialism.
Key Thinker: Eduard Bernstein (1850–1932)
German socialist politician and theorist. An early member of the German SPD.
Bernstein became one of the leading advocates of revisionism, the attempt to revise and modernize orthodox Marxism.
Bernstein developed a largely empirical critique that emphasized the absence of class war, and proclaimed the possibility of a peaceful transition to socialism.
Fundamentalist Socialism:
A form of socialism that seeks to abolish capitalism and replace it with a qualitatively different kind of society.
Social Democracy
Social democracy lacks the theoretical coherence of liberalism or fundamentalist socialism.
Social democracy stands for a balance between the market and the state, the individual and the community.
A compromise between accepting capitalism as the only reliable mechanism for generating wealth and a desire to distribute that wealth in accordance with moral principles.
'New' Social-Democracy
The chief characteristic of modern social-democratic thought is a concern for the underdog in society, the weak and vulnerable.
Linked to what has been called ‘new’ social democracy, a further process of revisionism has taken place within social democracy.
'New', or Modernized Socialism
sometimes called ‘neo-revisionism’ or the ‘third way’ is a term that refers to social-democratic parties and their attempts to reconcile old-style social democracy with the electorally attractive aspects of neoliberalism.
no alternative to what Clause 4 of the UK Labour Party’s constitution refers to as ‘a dynamic market economy’.
Acceptance of globalization and the belief that capitalism has mutated into a ‘knowledge economy’.
The state came to be seen as a means of promoting international competitiveness.
Broken with socialist egalitarianism, it has embraced the liberal ideas of equality and meritocracy.
They reject welfare in favor “helping people to help themselves”