Political Science 11 Pol Ideology

Political ideology
There is disagreement on the definition of ideology. Every ones consciousness is
influenced by an ideological orientation but most people are not aware of this.
Marx and Engels in the book The German Ideology thinks that ideology are abstract
norms and beliefs that distort reality and mislead people. Ideology acts as a
smokescreen for objective conditions. Thus for example, liberalism, an ideology of
capitalism, hides the objective reality of the exploitative nature of capitalism. False
consciousness.
On the other hand, Minogue, is critical of Marxism as an ideology of utopia. Minogue is
against radical changes. While Marx is against structural inequalities, Minogue is for the
rule of law.
Eatwell (Eatwell and Wright 1993. Contemporary Pol Ideologies) defines ideology as
specific programs of action supported by general beliefs about human nature, process
of history and political arrangements. Embedded in ideology are value judgments. For
example, neo liberalism exemplified by Margaret Thatchers political agenda for minimal
state intervention in the economy is embedded in the value judgment that the capitalist
market tends to self regulate itself for social good while those who believe in the welfare
state believes that the state should intervene to ensure that economic forces do not
intensify inequalities.
Contemporary Ideologies
1. Liberalism a political ideology that emphasizes individual freedom (ex: JS Mill. On
Liberty). Individuals are rational and reasonable. This is the dominant global ideology
today.
Liberalism
Left

Right

Origin 19 th C. for emerging capitalism (left); now Left is against monopoly capitalism
and the inequalities it creates.
Left and the state
Lukes: Left is committed to the rectification of inequalities that those on the Right
consider sacred or natural.
Liberalism and capitalism
Welfare state

Laissez faire

2. Conservatism imperfections are natural

Marx, Paine, Habermas, Rawls conservatism provides a cover for acquiescence to
fundamentally unfair arrgts benefiting a privileged few.
Styles of conservatism
Metaphysical/romantic (ex: religious fundamentalism)
Benevolent conservatism (ex; paternalism)
Liberal conservatism (laissez faire)
Conservatives can appear to be progressive
3. Socialism emphasis on fairness, cooperation and equality; fair distribution of wealth
Marxist socialism (revolutionary)
capitalism)

/social democratic socialism (reforms within

Revisionist socialism evolution rather than revolution (welfare state)

4. Communism
5. Fascism anti reason, absolute rule of state, anti democracy, anti communism and
socialism;
neo fascism theoretical adherence to democracy and constitution
6. Nationalism natl self determination
Nation bound by race, culture, religion, language and history;
Alienation caused by modernization
Lenin imperialism is extension of nationalism
7. Feminism post materialist
the personal is political
questioned the divide between public and private (liberalism)
1st wave pol repn
2nd wave emancipation
8. Ecologism how humans relate to the environment

Unit 3: Governance
The Politics of National Government (1)
Nature of the state
Minimal state (New Right; Reaganism)

maximal state(welfare state)

3 spheres of human activity: pol sphere (pol decisions and actions); private and public
(civil society)
Civil society individuals freely associate in relationships, actions and orgs not
dependent on state intervention, institutions or regulations
State Weber: the sole right to use violence
Giddens A: a pol organization whose rule is territorially ordered and whc is able to
mobilize the means of violence to sustain that order.
John Hall 1994. 3 elements of the state:
- set of insti, the most impt of whc are those concerned w/ violence and coercion
- institutions are located w/in a geographically bounded territory
- monopoly of rule making w/in a territory
Hague et al. 1992. Ability to make collective decisions and enforce them
Edelman 1964, p1. the state benefits and it threatens. Now it is us and often it is them.
It is an abstraction, but in its name men are jailed, or made rich on defence contracts or
killed in wars.
States can be evaluated on how wide is individual freedom or how encompassing is
state dominance or on the quality of human rights or the quality of people
State more permanent than government
Theories of the state
1. feudalism organic state; paternalism
2. divine right and absolutism
3. Constitutionalism
a. declaration of rights how the relationship between state and individuals
ought to be organized (Enlightenment and Liberal Individualism); e.g.
French declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens (1789); limited
govt, separation of powers
b. constitution set the rules on how the state shd be organized and how it
shd operate; define relationship bet state and people

constitutional rights could be meaningless in extreme poverty

UK no single document as constitution
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Types of constitution:
Loose requires revisions (Supreme Court)
strict code , detailed (ex France)
revolutionary manifesto broad reorganization (USSR)
statement of pol ideals
embodiment of an ancient source of authority (Israel derived from Torah,
Jewish holy book)

Bill of Rights specific guarantees for individual rights and freedoms

legitimacy cannot be sustained by use of force
Marxist theories of state:
1. state is parasitic (Jessop 1990)
2. state is reflection of class struggle
3. factor for social cohesion, preventing conflict and maintaining order
4. instrument of class rule (The Communist Manisfesto)
the executive in the modern state is but a committee for managing the common
affairs of the whole bourgeosie
5. set of pol institutions
6. instrument of pol domination affecting class struggle
-

the forms the state takes in liberal, parliamentary democracy while promoting
the image of democracy and universalism and allowing for certain concessions
and victories for the masses are really just articulations of class interests and
class power and actually inhibit the possibility for democracy and equality.

The Fascist state

Relationship between state and individual is more of duties and obligations rather than
rights, totalitarian; total organization where the indiv finds identity and meaning of
existence
The Communist state
State to promote socialism in all realms of human experience; build social cohesion
around socialist program of construction;
Collective social and economic rights