Ideology is a system of views and ideas that express the interests of a particular society. As for political ideology, it concentrates specifically on the ideas and interests that concern politics. It expresses the interests and goals of one of the political elites. Depending on ideology, different points of view on the political and socio-economic development of society are distinguished. In the article we will try to analyze the question of what criteria distinguish the types of political ideologies and what they hide in themselves.
Structure
Each political ideology should have a certain structure, which is defined as follows:
- There must be a political idea.
- In ideology, its concepts, doctrines and principles should be highlighted.
- In addition, there are dreams and utopias, the values of ideology and its basic ideals.
- All political processes are being evaluated.
- Each ideology has its own slogans, under which leaders speak, illuminates the program of action.
Such is political ideology and its structure in particular. A political movement that does not have at least one of the above points cannot be called a political ideology.
The functions of political ideology
Before embarking on the characterization of the types of political ideology, I would like to focus the reader on functions that are common to any political system.
- Political ideology expresses and also protects the interests of a particular social group, nation or class.
- She introduces into the public consciousness political stories and an assessment of political events, which is made according to her own criteria.
- The integration process is carried out when people unite depending on political ideas, orientations and assessments of society.
- General ideological norms and values are accepted, on the basis of which the regulation of human behavior and its organization is carried out.
- The government sets certain tasks for society and explains to him the motives for their implementation, thereby mobilizing social communities.
Next, we consider the concepts and types of political ideology. Let's try to figure out what similarities exist between them and why some of them actively opposed each other.
Criteria for highlighting the types of political ideology
Political ideology can be determined by what model of society it offers, which comes first: society or the state.
- Further, attention should be paid to the relation of ideology to the national question.
- An important aspect is the attitude towards religion.
- Ideologies have their own special character, which is not repeated in any of them.
- There is also a conditional classification that divides ideologies into left, right and central.
These are the main criteria for identifying the types of political ideology.
Liberalism
This ideology is considered historically the first. Its founders are J. Locke and A. Smith. The basis of their ideas is the process of forming an individual, who is a vivid representative of the bourgeoisie, which has economic activity, but is absolutely powerless in politics. But despite this, representatives of this population group have always sought to seize power.
This ideology has certain values, which are to preserve the rights of people to freedom, life and private property. Their priorities have always risen above the state and the interests of society. At this time, individualism was considered the main economic principle. If we talk about the social sphere, then it embodied itself in affirming the value of a person’s personality, as well as making equal the rights of all people. In the economic sphere, active propaganda of the free market was going on, in which absolutely unlimited competition was envisaged. As for the political sphere, there was such an appeal - the rights of all social groups and individuals must be recognized so that they can freely control any processes in society.
Conservatism
Another of the main types of political ideology is conservatism. Here, the main values were stability in everything, order and traditionalism. These values did not appear on their own, but were taken from political theory, if you adhere to it, you can come to the conclusion that the state and society are the result of natural evolution. Such an opinion is completely contrary to the ideas of liberalism, which believed that they were the result of a treaty and association between citizens. As for politics, here conservatism was on the side of a strong state, it demanded a clear stratification. This means that power should be regulated only in the hands of the elite.
Communism
Further, I would like to highlight such a type of political ideology (and its content) as communism. It is probably no secret that communism was formed on the basis of Marxism. Marxism replaced liberalism, the rule of which came in the nineteenth century. His teaching was to build a just society where there would be no exploitation of people by other people, and also the Marxists sought to completely move away from any kind of social exclusion of people. It was such a society that it was decided to call communist. At this time, a major industrial revolution took place, which caused Marxism to become the worldview of the proletariat.
The following basic values of this period are distinguished:
- The regulation of social relations was carried out on the basis of the class approach.
- The government sought to educate completely new people who would not be interested in material values, but there was a huge incentive for the implementation of social work.
- Any human labor was done only for the common good; individualism was replaced by serious concern for the interests of society.
- The main mechanism for integrating social culture was the Communist Party, which sought to completely merge with the state.
As for the type of political ideology of socialism, it is considered only a transitional moment from capitalism to communism. During socialism, they actively called for everything social: enterprises, property, natural resources.
Socialist democracy
An example of the types of political ideology is Social Democracy, which even now is the political doctrine of centrist forces. Within Marxism, there was such a trend as the “left” ideology, and it was on its basis that the ideas of social democratism arose. Its main foundations were formed already at the end of the nineteenth century. E. Bernstein was recognized as the founder of these foundations. He wrote a lot of works on this subject, in which he categorically rejected most of the provisions that existed in Marxism. To be more precise, he opposed the aggravation of bourgeois society, did not support the idea that a revolution was needed, that a dictatorship should be established on the part of bourgeois society. At that time in Western Europe there was a somewhat new situation, and in this connection Bernstein believed that it would be possible to ensure that a socialist society could be recognized without the violent pressure that at that time fell on the position of the bourgeoisie. Many of his ideas have become part of the doctrine of today's social democracy. Solidarity, freedom and justice came to the forefront. The Social Democrats developed many democratic principles on the basis of which the state was to be built. They argued that absolutely everyone should work and study, that the economy should have a pluralistic character and much more.
Nationalism
Quite often, such a type and type of political ideology as nationalism is perceived very negatively. But if you look at the merits, then this opinion is erroneous. In general, creative and destructive nationalism is now singled out. If we talk about the first option, then politics is aimed at uniting a certain nation, and in the second case, nationalism is directed against other peoples. And at the same time there is a risk of destruction not only of other nations, but also of their own. In this case, nationality becomes the highest value and the whole life of the people revolves around it.
Most politicians believe that a nation is united by its ethnic origin. There is an opinion that if a person calls himself Russian, then he speaks of his ethnic origin, but if a person calls himself a Russian, then this is a clear indicator that he indicates his citizenship.
If we look more deeply at the ideology of nationalism, we can see that here the idea of an ethnos merges with the idea of a country that is designed specifically for this ethnos. Here, certain movements begin to arise, the requirements of which provide for the combination of ethnic and political borders. In some cases, nationalism agrees that there are "non-nationals" in society, but in some cases it actively advocates that such people be expelled, moreover, it may require their complete destruction. Now nationalism is considered one of the most dangerous types of political ideologies on the scale of the political spectrum.
Fascism
The main types of political ideology include fascism, which is very different from liberalism, communism and conservatism. Since the latter put in the first place the interests of certain social groups of the state, and fascism, in turn, has the idea of racial superiority. He seeks to integrate the entire population of the country around national revival.
Fascism is based on anti-Seminism and racism, and here they also rely on the ideas of chauvinistic nationalism. Researchers differ greatly regarding the development of fascism, as some argue that it is a single phenomenon for all countries, while others hold the opinion that each state has its own, special type of fascism. The main thing for the fascists has always been the state and its leader.
Anarchism
Now I would like to consider the signs and types of political ideology of anarchism. Anarchism is the completely opposite political direction to fascism. The highest goal of anarchism is its desire to achieve equality and freedom through the abolition of all institutions and forms of power. Anarchism puts forward ideas that are directed against the state, and also offers ways to put them into practice.
The first such ideas appeared in antiquity. But for the first time, Godwin proposed the concept of a people without a state in 1793. But the foundations of anarchism were developed and implemented by a German thinker by the name of Stirner. Now there is a huge variety of forms of anarchism. I would like to stop my attention on the directions of anarchism. First of all, anarcho-individualism stands out. The founder of this movement is Max Stirner. Private property is actively supported in this direction. Its adherents also advocate that no government body can limit the interests of an individual or a group of people.
Further, attention should be paid to mutualism. He appeared back in the distant eighteenth century among the workers of England and France. The basis of this area was the principles of mutual assistance, the conclusion of voluntary contracts, as well as the possibility of providing loans in cash. If you believe the beliefs of mutualism, then under his rule, every worker would not only have a job, but would also receive a decent wage for his work.
Social anarchism. It is on a par with the individualistic and is one of the main directions of this policy. Its adherents sought to abandon private property, they considered building relationships between people only on mutual assistance, cooperation and cooperation.
Collectivist Anarchism. His second name sounds like revolutionary socialism. Its supporters did not recognize private property and sought to collectivize it. They believed that this could only be achieved if a revolution had begun. This trend arose simultaneously with Marxism, but did not share his views. Although this looked strange, because the Marxists sought to create a stateless society, they supported the power of the proletariat, which did not coincide with the ideas of the anarchists.
Anarcho-feminism is the last direction of anarchism, to which special attention should be paid. It is the result of a synthesis between anarchism and radical feminism. Its representatives opposed the patriarchy and the entire existing state system in general. It originated in the late nineteenth century based on the work of several women, including Lucy Parsons. Feminists of that time and now actively oppose the existing gender roles, they seek to change the concept of family relations. For anarcho-feminists, patriarchy was a universal problem that urgently needed to be addressed.
The role of ideology in politics
In ideology, it is customary to single out certain preferences of certain social strata regarding the organization of state power. Here, people could express their views, clarify ideas, talk about their goals and new concepts. Representatives of a certain political elite have been developing a political ideology for a very long time and only then carry it to the masses. Their goal is to attract as many people as possible. This is necessary so that their ideology can gain power in the state.
Large groups of people are united in a certain political ideology in order to achieve the common goals that were set by the creators of this ideology. It is very important to think through everything to the smallest detail. After all, the ideas of each political ideology should embody the ideas of not only a certain social group, but the entire people of this country. Only then will any meaning appear in this social movement.
A vivid example is Germany, in which fascism was firmly established in the thirties of the twentieth century. After all, Hitler was able to discover the most serious problems of his people and made a promise to solve them as soon as possible. The Bolsheviks also operated with the same promising promises, who came to the people exhausted by the war and told him about the beautiful life under communism. And people had no choice but to believe and follow the Bolsheviks. After all, they were simply exhausted, and the powers that be understood this and took advantage of it.
Ideology has always been a very powerful weapon, because it can not only unite and unite people, but also quarrel them, make them real enemies. From the ordinary working class, she can raise real warriors who are not afraid of anything.
The presence of a certain ideology in the state is a mandatory component. A state without ideology is considered amorphous. Here everyone begins to speak for himself, people can unite in small groups and quarrel among themselves. Such a state is very easy to destroy, and you don’t even have to start a war to do this. After all, if everyone will defend their interests, then who will stand on the side of the state?
Many people think that ideology is necessarily a movement that is directed against someone, but in fact it is not. After all, people can very well unite and act in the interests of their own country, glorify their state, fight for demographic growth, conquer poverty and solve many other domestic problems, but only together.
Now the Constitution of the Russian Federation says that no ideology is established in the country at the state level. However, people were able to unite for the future of the country. And this is easily seen in their relation to their state, to their power, to their roots. They strive to make their country better and at the same time do not infringe on the freedom of others.