Political Ideologies: Core Concepts and Definitions

Political ideologies aim to improve life on Earth, differing from religions which focus on both Earthly life and the afterlife.
Political ideologies perform four key functions:
- Explanatory: Explaining why social conditions are as they are.
- Evaluative: Evaluating those conditions.
- Orientative: Orienting people within society.
- Programmatic: Prescribing a program for social and political action.

Implicit in every ideology are basic beliefs about human nature and a conception of freedom.

Every ideology contains a notion of basic human drives, motivations, limitations, and possibilities.
Examples:
- Classical liberals/libertarians: Humans are naturally competitive and acquisitive.
- Communists: Humans are naturally cooperative and generous, but capitalism warps them.
- Nazis: Humans have innate racial consciousness, leading to racial struggle.
Ideologies' conceptions of human nature determine what they consider politically possible.

Every ideology claims to defend and extend freedom (liberty).
Freedom is an "essentially contested concept" with no single, indisputably correct definition.
McCallum's Triadic Model of Freedom: Every conception of freedom includes an agent (A), a barrier or obstacle (B), and a goal (C).
- Statement form: A is/is not free from B to achieve/become C.
- Freedom involves an agent being free from something and therefore free to do something.
- Obstacles may include walls, chains, prejudices, poverty, etc.

Agent: The person or group that is or should be free (individual, class, nation, gender, race, species).
- Liberals: Freedom of the individual.
- Marxists: Freedom of the working class.
- Fascists: Freedom of the nation-state (Italian Fascists) or race (Nazis).
- Feminists: Freedom related to gender identity.
Goal: What the agent aims to achieve.
- Nazis: Purity and supremacy of the white race.
- Communists: A classless society.
- Liberals: Individual autonomy and non-interference.
- Feminists: A society that recognizes and rewards women's capacities and worth.
Obstacles: Barriers preventing agents from achieving their goals.
- Examples: Material conditions, poverty, disabilities, crime, social/political/economic ideas, institutions, practices, traditions, beliefs.
- Women: Sexism and sexual discrimination.
- Communists: Apathy, false consciousness of workers, and the power of the capitalist class.
- Nazis: Jewish and black people and other “inferior” races.
Ideologies seek to remove obstacles so agents can realize their goals; failure to overcome barriers results in unfreedom.

Originally, "revolution" meant a return to an earlier condition; after the American and French Revolutions, it took on a more radical meaning.
The French Revolution aimed to introduce a radically new social and political order, impacting Europe and the world.
Political positions described as "left," "right," or "center" originate from seating arrangements in the French National Assembly.
- Left: Favored radical change.
- Right: Resisted change.
The left-right spectrum can be misleading (e.g., suggesting socialists are mildly liberal and communists are intensely liberal).
Some scholars propose a horseshoe-shaped model where extreme left and right ideologies share similarities (e.g., willingness to use violence).
Modern revolutionaries seek to overthrow the old order entirely, believing reforms are insufficient.
Conservatives are typically suspicious of revolutions due to their low estimate of human nature.
Most ideologies (except conservatism) believe human reason and action can bring about significant progress.
Political ideologies are products of the modern world, driven by a faith in progress and the belief that society must be reordered.
The Enlightenment and liberalism arose as protests against religious conformity and feudalism.
Most political ideologies (except conservatism) stem from the conviction that human life and society can and should be dramatically changed.

Nationalism, populism, and anarchism are intertwined with many different ideologies.

Nationalism stems from the sense that people fall into distinct groups or nations.
Nationality is acquired at birth (from Latin natus, meaning birth), separate from citizenship.
Nationalists believe those sharing a common birth/nation should share citizenship in the same nation-state.
Nationalistic sentiments became powerful following the Napoleonic Wars.
Nationalism contributed to World Wars I and II and anti-colonial wars.
Challenges in defining nationalism:
- Difficulty determining what constitutes a nation (shared race, ethnicity, culture, language, religion, etc.).
- Many states include people of different nationalities.
Nationalism remains a powerful force, evident in the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Nationalism preceded by an adjective (e.g., liberal nationalism) can be considered an ideology.

Populism is not an ideology in its own right; it is an "empty vessel" filled with the desires of “the people”.
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