Summary and Glossary in Political Ideologies

Summary

Historically, Liberalism has three varieties - Negative Liberalism, Positive Liberalism and Libertarianism. Negative Liberalism considers the State as a necessary evil and advocates a limited State that performs the two functions of maintenance of law and order and enforcement of legally made contract. Positive Liberalism supports a social welfare State that promotes the general welfare and development of the people. Libertarianism re-applies the negative state of the 19th century in the contemporary period and propagates the idea of the minimal State.

The different types of socialism like Democratic Socialism, Fabian Socialism and Evolutionary Socialism differ from Marxism by endowing the state with democratic character and social welfare functions. All of them advocate staunchly the evolutionary and incremental means of change

Lenin contributed to Marxism through the concept of the communist political party as the vanguard of communist revolution, based on the organizational principle of democratic centralism. Stalin propounded Socialism in One Nation defending the Soviet Socialism. Mao, the architect of Chinese Revolution modified the western Marxism to suit the conditions of an Asian society through the Peasant led revolution and People’s Democratic Dictatorship.

Nationalism as devotion and commitment to one’s own nation dominates the politics of the nations and the world in the last few centuries. The differing theories of nationalism focus on primordialism, common descent, communication, capitalism, class exploitation and rise and prominence of the modern state in explaining the phenomenon of nationalism. Though intra national and extra national factors pose an existential challenge, nationalism survives and even thrives to be a strong political ideology.

Fascism and Nazism are closely related ideologies and they preached and practiced totalitarianism, aggressive nationalism, hero worship, colonialism and war mongering. These two ideologies are despised by the overwhelming majority of humanity.

Glossary

Laissez Faire : In French language it means Leave Alone. The state should leave the individual alone to pursue his life

Market Economy : Economy driven by demand and supply

Social Welfare State : The state that implements various social welfare programs

Perestroika : In Russian language it means Restructuring. The former President of USSR Mikhail Gorbachev introduced reforms to restructure the economy

Glasnost : In Russian language it means Openness. It refers to the political rights made available to the people of USSR by its President

New Deal : The economic reforms introduced in the United States by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to reform American economy

Democratic Centralism : The organizational principle of the communist party visualized by Lenin

Signification of Communism : The adoption of Communism to suit the conditions of China by Mao

Hegemony : Moral and intellectual leadership as provided by Gramsci

Utopian Socialism : Socialism in the pre Marxian era where sympathy and compassion not science drove socialist ideas

Fabian Socialism : Socialism named after the Roman General Fabius who was historically famous for adopting themilitary strategy of 'wait and hit hard at the right moment'.

Guild Socialism : Socialism named after Guild that refers to the association of craftsmen and artisans of a particular profession in the medieval period in Europe.

Primordialism : The belief that the people of a particular language, region, religion, race etc. have developed a great intra-group affinity as they inhabit together since ancient period.

Imagined Communities : Benedict Anderson introduced the terms to argue that the nation is an imagined community exiting only in the mind, imagination of the people.

Proletariat : Karl Marx extensively used the word to denote the working class or industrial wage earning class

U.S.S.R : Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It was the official name of the communist country consisting of fifteen republics including Russia

BREXIT : Exit of Britain from European Union

Globalization : The integration of the world in economic and commercial domains

Fascism : In Italian language Fasci means the bundle of rods signifying unity and strength.

Concentration Camps : The places where the hapless Jews were imprisoned without trial, exploited and killed mercilessly by the Nazi army