POLGOV NOTES SESSION 4 -

Does not have a ruler or a leader.

MEANINGS OF IDEOLOGY -
Believesin voluntary cooperation.
The goal of every government is to
-
Promotes liberty and freedom.
mobilize its citizens to achieve a
common end, that is, the welfare of the -
According to Alexander Berkman (1964), It is easier without a government
state as a whole. As a guide, and people have more freedom.
governments use ideologies to help - Anarchists believes that the best government is no government at all.
them consolidate the support of their - No countries are currently using anarchism as their ideology.
constituents. COMMUNISM
IDEOLOGY
- Has one ruler or leader.
- Defined as political statements that aim to call upon massive mass or
- The ruler may be addressed as king, pharaoh, emperor, sultan, prince,
government action to achieve a relatively better political and economic
and/or queen.
condition. (Baradat, 1997)
- It is believed (in some culture) that the ruler is “God in human form.”
- Goal oriented; meaning they are for or against a certain configuration of a
political community. Applications differ depending on the different political - Believes their ruler has divine rights.
attitudes of people and institutes. - The 2 goals of the ruler includes
- Ideas become ideologies (coherent, repeated patterns) through the 1. Government authority
subjective ongoing choices people make, serving as the seed around which 2. Leads religion.
further thought grows. - Natural hierarchy
POLITICAL IDEOLOGY - Plato firmly believes that the best government would be run by one leader
- “Political ideology is a very handy thing to have. It’s a real time-saver, that have people’s best interest in he/she’s heart.
because it tells you what you think about things you know nothing about.” – - English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, meanwhile, was perhaps the most
Hendrik Hertzberg persuasive proponent of absolutism. In his book Leviathan (1651), he
- Repeated patterns argued that life without governments was “nasty, brutish, and short” and
- Action of the government to achieve a better political and economic that people must willingly submit to absolute rulers—even tyrannical ones
condition (Baradat, 1997) —in order to live longer, more stable lives.
- Empasizes on:
- A strong sense of order.
- A clear-cut law of nature (or law of God).
- A natural hierarchy.
- Absolute monarchy – holds all the power or has the power over
everything.
- Constitutional monarchy – acts as the leader but does not hold all the
power in a state.

SESSION 5: ANARCHISM VS ABSOLUTISM

ANARCHISM
- Believes that power corrupts. When power exists, greediness occurs
therefore it becomes corrupt.
SESSION 6: LIBERALISM VS CONSERVATISM - Concreteness - Liberalism is too abstract. It focuses on freedom and
LIBERALISM equality, not on the concrete way people live every day;
- It can be said that liberalism is the opposite of conservatism for it favors - Human fallibility - Liberalism overestimates human beings. Humans are
change, prefers more freedom, and has a more optimistic approach to frequently ignorant, prejudiced, and irrational. By ignoring these defects,
human reasoning and nature (Sargent 2009). liberalism becomes unrealistic;
- political doctrine that takes protecting and enhancing the freedom of the - Unique circumstances - There is no universal answer to the problems of
individual to be the central problem of politics. society; the circumstances are unique in each country.
- According to modern liberalism, the chief task of the government is to
remove obstacles that prevent individuals from living freely or from fully
realizing their potential.
- Individualism - The individual takes priority over society;
- Freedom - Individuals have the right to make choices for themselves.
- Equality - No person is morally or politically superior to others.
Hierarchies are rejected;
- Rationalism - Humans are capable of thinking logically and rationally.
- Progress - Traditions should not be kept unless they have value.
- The free market - Liberalism and capitalism go hand in hand.
- Liberals like the free market because it more easily creates wealth, as
opposed to traditional economies, which often have extensive regulations
and limits on which occupations people
- In his books On Liberty (1859) and Considerations of Representative
Government (1861), English philosopher J. S. Mill argued that good
governments should be unrestricting enough to allow people—both men
and women—to pursue their own interests and achieve their own potential
as they see fit. Fostering individuality would, in turn, benefit society as a
whole, because fewer people would feel restricted or marginalized.

CONSERVATISM
- As the name implies, one is focused on conserving something. It is
characterized by a resistance to change, adherent to limited human freedom
as it chooses to maintain traditional values, and at some extreme versions,
distrust to human reasoning and nature or anti-egalitarianism (Sargent
2009).
- political doctrine that emphasizes the value of traditional institutions and
practices. Conservatism is a preference for the historically inherited rather
than the abstract and ideal.
- Emphasizes on:
- Stability - Stability is a precious thing, and change must be made gradually
in order to preserve it.
SESSION 7: SOCIALISM DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM

SOCIALISM - A peaceful and democratic approach to achieving socialism. As an

- It arose as a response to the Industrial Revolution, which was the emergence ideology, democratic socialism also emphasizes a classless society in which
of technologies such as the steam engine and mass production. It is a social all members jointly share the means and output of production.
and economic doctrine that calls for public rather than private ownership or But unlike communism, democratic socialism attempts to achieve its goals
control of property and natural resources. peacefully via the democratic processes.
- According to the socialist view, individuals do not live or work in isolation Democratic socialists reject the need for immediate transition to socialism
but live in cooperation with one another. in favor of a gradualist approach, achieved by working within a democratic
- Collectivism - Human beings are social by nature, and society should government.
respect this. Individualism is poisonous;
- Public ownership - Society, not individuals, should own the property;
- Central economic planning - The government plans the economy; there is
no free market;
- Economic equality - All citizens have roughly the same level of prosperity.

CLASS WELFARE
- Under a capitalist system, money and means of production are the measures
of power. The haves (the bourgeoisie, in Marx’s terms) and the have-nots
(whom Marx calls the proletariat) are locked into a fight that Marx called
class warfare. Because they control the money and means of production, the
bourgeoisie have the power and thus are winning the fight. The rich use the
government to further their control and to increase their power over the
lower, poorer classes, so people are neither free nor equal.

THE EVOLUTION OF SOCIALISM

- Socialism evolved in a variety of ways. Communism and democratic
socialism are the two most prominent evolutions of socialism.

COMMUNISM
- An authoritarian and revolutionary approach to achieving socialism. As an
ideology, communism emphasizes a classless society in which all members
jointly share the means and output of production.
- The regimes of the Soviet Union and communist China embody this
ideology.
- Communists such as Vladimir Lenin, who became the first premier of the
Soviet Union in 1917, argued that people can and must make the transition
to socialism quickly rather than waiting for it to evolve. Authoritarian and
violent measures are often required because the defenders of capitalism will
fight ferociously to stop socialism from coming into being.