Just like religion, everyone believes in a particular political ideology. It is very important to know what it means to be a Conservative, Liberal, Socialist, or Communist. Those terms mean beliefs of running a government in a particular society. A political ideology is a belief system that offers people in a given society perspective on the roles of elected officials, priority public policies, and arrangement of the different elements in society. In this article know about the world’s most common Political Ideologies.
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How to tell a political ideology
Everyone has a particular political ideology even without realizing it. Most citizens of the U.S. are Liberals, Moderates, or Conservatives. Other people identify themselves as Marxists, Socialists, and Anarchists among others. A political ideology is identified by its position after comparison and visualization with other ideologies on the political spectrum. This is Left, Middle, or Right.
However, many political ideologies don’t adhere to the categorization above. These mainly have views scattered on the spectrum. Conservatives are sometimes called “traditional”, “Moderate”, or “Right-wing”. Political ideologies are complex and the spectrum theory is oversimplified.
Common political ideologies
Liberalism
Liberals are sometimes called Leftists. Liberalism denounces all forms of social and economic inequalities at its core. To the Liberals, there is a need to achieve equal opportunity by eliminating all discriminatory practices. Additionally, Liberalism seeks to lessen the impact of wealth equalities. The Liberals advocate for public policies that will eliminate the inequalities. Whether you believe in Liberal or Conservative ideology, telling the difference between the ideologies is important.
Liberals task the government to lessen economic inequalities while keeping civil rights and progressive values in place. There’s a need for an egalitarian public policy. The state has a role in ensuring public access to quality education, a clean environment, healthcare, and social safety programs.
Other liberalism beliefs include:
- Progressive taxes
- Right for trade unions to organize and trike
- Health and safety protection for workers
- Affirmative action programs
Conservatism
Conservatives are also known as Rightists. Conservatism prefers maintaining the current order of society and opposes any efforts to introduce fundamental change. Unlike Liberals, Conservatives desire individual liberty enhancement with a small government except for national defence. To Conservatives, people demand strong leadership, strict moral codes, and firm laws are what people want.
The claims of Conservative ideologies are based on religious teaching and traditional morals. These ignore rational theories in society introduced by secular economists, philosophers, and other intellectuals. Conservatives have extreme ideologies including:
- Abolishing abortion
- Accepting status, privilege, and wealth inequalities
- Banning of labor unions
- Return to inegalitarian and hierarchical social and political order
Moderatism
People who belong to this political ideology are not decided on whether to belong to Liberalism or Conservatism. Moderates are in the middle of being Liberals and Conservatives. Many people in the U.S. identify themselves as Moderates compared to being Liberals and Conservatism. The major advantage of being a Moderate is accepting the positive side of being a Liberals and Conservative.
Communism
The Communism political ideology believes in social structure without classes with communal property ownership. In a Communist state, an authoritative economic plan directs and regulates production and distribution. The plan has the interests of the whole community.
Socialism
To Socialists, collective ownership and management is responsible for the production and distribution of essential goods. Although not so easy to define, various people have different ideas regarding how the Socialist state looks like Socialism and Communism have a lot in common.
Marxism
This political ideology comes from Karl Marx’s seminal works describing the weaknesses and strengths of the Capitalist system. There is a belief that capitalism will be overthrown to create a just and equal society. This would require implementing the Socialist system leading to Communist. To Marx, the class struggle is responsible for promoting all inequalities and injustices in the world’s Capitalist system. Marxism overlaps Socialism and Communism.
Nazism
The National Socialism ideology is from the nationalism movement after World War 1 in European countries. Nazism was a movement of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party headed by Adolf Hitler. The rule of law, liberalism, human rights, and democracy are not accepted in the Nazism ideology.
This ideology promotes individual subordination to the strict with strict obedience to the leadership. Nazism bases on individual and racial inequality, the superiority of White Anglo Saxons, and rule of the strong over the poor.
Fascism
People who believe in the Fascist ideology celebrate you, masculinity, violence, and you. Sometimes, the ideology encourages:
- Imperialist expansion
- Ethnic persecution
- Genocide
- Superior racial doctrines
Despite espousing male supremacy openly, Fascism sometimes promotes solidarity and new opportunities for women.
Anarchism
Anarchists believe the state is unnecessary, harmful, and undesirable. These encourage anarchy – a society without a state. Anarchism promotes diminishing and eliminating the need to rely on authority when conducting human relations. So, anarchists widely disagree on the beneficial additional criteria to human society. This is the most anti-authoritarian political ideology.
The various beliefs regarding the organization of society are the basis for political ideologies. Whether a Liberal or Conservatist, acknowledging the variations between the various ideologiesv is necessary to encourage a harmonious society.
