POLITICAL IDEOLOGY

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RECAPPED BY SUYANI INDRIASTUTI, S.SOS., M.SI., PHD
REFERENCES

• Parsons, C. (2017). Introduction to Political Science. London: Pearson.

• Roskin, M. G., Cord, R. L., Medeiros, J. A., & Jones, W. S. (2017). Political Science: an
Introduction. London: Pearson.
POLITICAL THEORIES VS POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES

• political theory examines normative issues relating to equality, freedom, power, and
justice
• Political ideologies are pragmatic applications of normative theories
WHAT IS IDEOLOGY

• Belief system that society can be improved by following certain doctrines; usually ends in
ism.
• An ideology begins with the belief that things can be better; it is a plan to improve
society
• All ideologies contain wishful thinking, which frequently collapses in the face of reality
• Ideologues claim they can perfect; the world; reality is highly imperfect.
WHAT IS POLITICAL IDEOLOGY

• packages of conscious beliefs about how politics works and how, normatively, it should
work
• commitments to change political systems.
POLITICAL THEORY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD:
PLATO
Plato (427–347 bc):
• the Greek thinker, described as the inventor not only of political philosophy but of philosophy
in general.
• Many of his works addressed how to best organize city government, most famously The
Republic.
• The best way to keep everyone acting in their appropriate roles is to place the rational truth
seekers in charge as philosopher-kings
• ideal city: universal education, abolition of slavery, and no discrimina- tion between men and
women (though his proposal for sharing wives confuses this last idea)
ARISTOTLE (384–322 BC)

• An Athenian philosopher
• the study of politics as the
“master science” that guides how
society in general should proceed
and argued for a government
balanced between the masses and
an educated elite.
CONFUCIUS (551–479 BC)

• He called for individuals to pursue lives of virtue, study, and contemplation, and for
government by a virtuous emperor.
• At the same time, he prefigured some modern concepts by hinting at rights for the
people: if the emperor did not act virtuously, he suggested, the leader would lose the
“Mandate of Heaven.”
• Later followers interpreted Confucius to mean that oppressed people might legitimately
seek a new leader.
KAUTILYA (350—283 BC)

• An Indian philosopher
• He set his first goal as normative counsel about how to be a virtuous ruler
• effective leaders had to place realistic pursuit of power ahead of moral goals.
• a good ruler must first do whatever it takes to hold on to power.
• virtuous leadership depended on understanding the roots of power and influence in the
real world.
POLITICAL THEORY FROM THE RENAISSANCE
INTO THE ENLIGHTENMENT
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527)
• Republic of Florence at the end of the 1400s
• The Prince written by Machiavelly argued explicitly against the Aristotelian approach of starting from normative ideas about a
morally ideal political model.
• He counseled that a smart person, and especially a smart prince, must focus on analyzing reality rather than an imaginary better
world:
• The reality of politics, according to Machiavelli, was that people who tried to be good would lose out to more ruthless
competitors.
• Politics was an arena of conflict, uncertainty, and instability. A leader who acquired raw power through strong resources and an
aggressive strategy would bring stability and prosperity to his realm. It was ultimately more effective for a prince to be strong
rather than good, and to be feared than to be loved.
THOMAS HOBBES (1588–1679)

• drew on Machiavelli’s theory in his great work Leviathan.

• The only escape from insecurity was to form a strong government to impose order internally
and protect against external attack from other groups.
• Hobbes created the first version of what became known as a social contract theory of the
rise of the state. He argued that it is rational for all individuals to sign a “contract” to consent
to governance by a protective state
• A social contract view suggested that the state exists to serve the interests of the population,
not just the interests of rulers
• only a centralized, powerful government could keep the “war of all against all” at bay
JOHN LOCKE (1632–1704)

• basic human society in a state of nature would not be as terrifying and chaotic as Hobbes suggested.
• Locke agreed with Hobbes that rational individuals would create a social contract to form a government
for law and order.
• However, repression by a highly centralized absolutist king would be worse than the state of nature.
• To improve on the state of nature, people needed a limited government that respected a series of
individual rights.
• Locke’s normative arguments that all people had natural rights to “life, liberty, and property” had huge
political impact, inspiring the American Revolution and other calls for individual rights and limited
government in the later 1700s.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU (1712–1778)

• Rousseau argued that human beings are naturally good—not the conflictual and
treacherous creatures pictured by Machiavelli or Hobbes
• the state formed mainly because certain people acquired private property, and either
forced or tricked others into accepting a government that would protect their property.
• the whole system of government was set up to protect the rich from the poor,
enshrining inequality
• Government and society are the chains that serve the interests of the rich and hold
down the poor.
POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES : LEFT VS RIGHT
(THE ORIGINS)
• Ideologies can be classified—with some oversimplification—on a left-to-right spectrum
that dates back to the meeting of the French National Assembly in 1789. Members were
seated as follows in a semicircular chamber:
• Conservatives (who favored continuation of the monarchy) were on the speaker’s right,
• radicals (who favored sweeping away the old system altogether in favor of a republic of
freedom and equality) were seated to his left,
• moderates (who wanted some change) were seated in the center.
LEFT VS RIGHT: CURRENT CHANGES

• The left now favors equality, welfare programs, and government intervention in the
economy.
• The right stresses individual initiative and private economic activity.
• Centrists try to synthesize and moderate the views of both.
• People a little to one side or the other are called center-left or center-right
• One ideology gives rise to others (see figure on the following page). Starting with the
classic liberalism of Adam Smith, we see how liberalism branched left- ward into radical,
socialist, and communist directions. Meanwhile, on the conservative side, it branched
rightward.