Political Science Political Ideologies

Idealism

Immanuel Kant Categorical Imperative, Human dignity, Every man is an end

in itself, no man ought to treat the other as a means to an end
Hegel State is the march of God in the world

Liberalism

Thomas Paine The Government even in its best state, is but a necessary
evil
Herbert Spencer Survival of the fittest
Graham Sumner A drunkard in the gutter is just where he ought to be
Concept of Liberty, natural rights of man, minimalist state, equality of
opportunity and equality of status, man is rational, state is man-made not
divine or natural
o Classical liberalism John Locke, Bentham : natural rights,
utilitarianism, liberty(defined by non-interference of state)
o Modern liberalism J S Mill, T H Green(will not force is the basis of
the state), L T Hobhouse, J A Hobson: positive freedom- liberty(defined
by presence of state), welfare state, social liberalism- natural to have
society, society gives man rights, no rights without society, man seen
to be more social; economic management
Positive freedom- at odds with classical definition not only
can legal and physical restraints curtail freedom, but social
disadvantage and inequality can prohibit the individuals
freedom to develop, attain fulfillment and realize his or her
potential state seen as a protector of this freedom, not as
agent to protect freedom from(negative concept of freedom)
State cant force people to act morally, it can only provide the
conditions to help individual make moral decisions // modern
liberalism socialism
Social liberalism- due to circumstantial inequalities, states
social responsibility to reduce disadvantage to create more
equal life chances

Harold Laski proponent of welfare state, socialist tilt of modern liberalism,

believed in pluralism, held on to the concept of rights and liberty to be most
essential in state definition and function; believed classical liberalisms
shortcomings in only recognizing legal and political rights/liberty emphasized on
the social, civil and economic rights to be just as important; right to adequate
wages, right to work, right to health, right to education. Was a major influence for
Nehru

Every state is known by the rights it maintains

L T Hobhouse concept of progressive taxation

J K Galbraith concept of the new industrial state
Keynes state should perform function of generating employment, it has
significant role in the demand side of the markets
Neoliberalism
Legitimation crisis suggested by Habermas welfare state policies of
supporting the individual from cradle to grave will strip the government of
its own resources and cause accumulated fiscal deficits. Ultimately, bodies
like IMF would direct rollback of state and thered be a re-emergence of
minimal state
Robert Nozick, Isaiah Berlin, Milton Friedman, Michael Oakeshott
privatization, liberalization, deregulation, disinvestment, withdrawal of social
security provisions, market fundamentalism
Libertarians critic of Welfare state; staunch belief in right to property
states role to be minimal that of a night watchman, state has role to ensure
that man has right to property but has no role in dictating how the property is
developed; distrust socialists and social liberals; Nozicks view applicable in
the international stage with oil politics and discourse between North and
South
Socialism

Essentially human beings are social creatures overcoming social and

economic problems by drawing on power of the community instead of
individual effort, man is can be nurtured to develop himself and has ability to
change through process of socialization; moral incentive is what drives an
human being to develop rather than material incentive that drives an
individual to progress, focus on cooperation rather than competition
Central tenet of socialism is equality specifically equality of outcomes; claim
the inequality witnessed today is mostly due to the flawed structure of
society and the principles that the institutions (on which society stands and
functions) are built are inherently unjust. //because humans are equal and
given the correct socialization have the ability to develop and attain selffulfillment
o Gradualism: Eduard Bernstein progress of a society from capitalist
to socialist values gradually with piecemeal improvements, no idea of
spontaneous revolution
o Classical Marxism: Marx, Engels historical materialism- material or
economic conditions ultimately structure law, politics, culture and
other aspects of social existence (Base Superstructure setup of
historical development)
o Orthodox Marxism: Lenin

Neomarxism

Critical School: based on young Marxian thought alienation of man from

society, Soviet Russia/Eastern Europe only corroborated with this alienation of
man with their communist model; capitalism is cause of commodification of
mans labour, root cause of evil Herbert Marcuse, Theodore Adorno, Max
Horkheimer
Structural School: structural analysis to analyze society, maintains that
economy is basic structure but more superstructures to society than Marx
suggested follows mature Marxs thoughts, focus on
methodological/ideological aspect of Marxism Gramsci, Althusser

Feminism

First Wave: Suffragette Movement Emmeline Pankhurst, J S Mill, Mary

Wollstonecraft Equal political and civil rights for women; right to vote;
equality of status
Second Wave: Socialist Feminism demand for social and economic rights
equal wages, maternity benefits, inclusion of domestic labour in National
Income Accounting
Third Wave: Radical Feminism Kate Millet(Dialectics of Sex), Shulasmith
Firestone(Sexual Politics), Carol Hanish (Personal is Political), Betty
Friedman, Simon de Beauvoir(the Second Sex)
o Gender(social) is different from sex(biological), the biological
differences between men and women not a justification to
subordination of women in status (social)
o The Personal is political family not a different sphere that is kept
separate from the political sphere; power relations, subordination and
domination in family sphere to be open to review and reform in the
political sphere
o Patriarchal System establishment of supremacy of males over
females as basic structure of society
o One is not born a woman, but made one inspired from
existential line of thought; woman should have freedom to determine
her own way of life, instead of having the essence of womanhood
imposed on her by society, customs and traditions; recommends
education for women, right to abortion, and system of universal
childcare provided by state

End of Ideology

Daniel Bell political ideology has lost relevance

WW Rostco all societies pass through similar stages of development
regardless of political ideology followed; traditional society preconditions
for takeoff develop takeoff state of maturity stage of high consumption

Lipset superiority of democracy is well established, no better alternative

hence end of conflict of ideas
Criticism of End of Ideology
o C B Macpherson societies in liberal countries isnt egalitarian, the
theory is status-quoist
o Alistair MacIntyre the theory is itself an ideology and a subtle
defense of liberalism, trying to establish supremacy of liberal world
view
End of History

Francis Fukuyama victory of capitalist world view, universal

acknowledgement of superiority of USA, stemming from Hegel/Marxs
concept of history as discourse of dialectics with victory of capitalism, end
of all conflicts to declare capitalism as the supreme idea/ideology.
Criticism of End of History
o Samuel Huntington all contradictions havent ended there will be
emergence of new faultlines
o Noam Chomsky World isnt comfortable with USAs self appointed
role of global police man
o Emanuel Wallerstein too premature to establish permanence to
unipolar movement US economy still fragile compared to house of
cards
o John Lewis Gaddis new threats of socio-ethnic conflicts that could
threaten US hegemony
DEMOCRACY
MacPhersons Classification of Democratic Models

Models of
Democracy

Classical Model
(Normative
Approach to
defininting
Democray)

Protective Model

Developmental
Model

Modern Model
(Empirical
Approach)

Elitist/Market
Model

Pluralist Model

MacPherson's
Model of
Democracy
(focus on
Substantive)

Liberal
Democracy

Egalitarian
Democracy

Normative approach: focus on philosophy or theory of what democracy is

supposed to achieve empowerment of masses

Protective Model: Locke, Bentham- democracy necessary to protect rights

of people, liberty can be protected when govt listens to people
Developmental Model: J S Mill democracy necessary to develop human to
his potential and democracy goes hand in hand with the freedom of speech
and expression

Empirical Approach: focus on how democracy really plays out and not just what it
is supposed to mean

Elitist/Market theory: Schumpeter, Max Weber- Power ultimately gets

concentrated in the hands of few, in reality it becomes an oligarchy; market
model suggests the politicians to be the entrepreneurs who seek consumers
(voters) and compete with each other (other politicians) to get power.
MacPherson says this model of democracy focuses solely on the process of
getting elected (procedural) and doesnt explain democracy outside the
process of elections
Pluralist model: Robert Dahl - liberal democracies not oligarchies by
polyarchy in addition to politicians, peoples associations, pressure groups
also play role in taking power this approach also focuses just on procedural
aspect of how power is taken (elections) and not on the substantive
understanding of the working of a democracy as a whole

MacPhersons Model: claims liberal democracy to not be egalitarian and the basic
objective of democracy is empowerment of people; democracy has two aspects

Procedural the process of how people exercise choice

Substantive more important, the process of how people are empowered by
exercising their choice

Further explains that power is of two types

Developmental the power to develop and help themselves

Coercive the power to force others to follow their own suit

MacPherson describes democracy to be true when all sections of society have

Developmental Power and no section of society has Coercive Power.
Forms of Democracy

Representative
Participative
Deliberative

Plurality system(
First Past the
Post)
Simple
Majoritarian

Second Ballot
System (French
System)
Alternative vote
system(Australia
n System)

Representative
Democracy

Proportional
Representation

Single
Transferable
Vote (Irish
System)
List System
(Continental
Europe, Israel,
South Africa)

Theory of Justice
Rawls theory of justice
Theories of justice deal with public policy main concern of public policy is t
determine the principles of distribution or allocation of goods, honors, psitions,
awards (sharing burden of state)
Liberals: survivial of the fittest theory of justice greatest happiness of the
greatest number
Socialists: equality of outcomes
Rawls(positive liberal) : 3 principles of The Grand theory of Justice

Maximum equal liberty

Equality of opportunity
The difference principle- differential treatment in favor of the least
advantaged of society is supported concept of minimal safety net

Rawls

Supports welfare state expresses concern for the least advantaged sections
of society
Grand theory of justice is to be purely procedural and NOT an end-state
theory like communism/Marxism (the end is predetermined in the theory so it

is inherently biased in its approach, in favor of a particular section, to reach

justice)
Claims the theory to employ a procedure that would result in an absolute,
uncontested universal theory of justice applicable to any society
Values considered sacred: 1. Individuality (socialism neglects this) 2. Human
Dignity (liberalism neglects this)
o Procedure of grand theory of justice:
Original position like state of nature, the state before a social
contract has been fleshed out every person in it is a rational
negotiator and behind the veil of ignorance
Veil of ignorance no person is aware of his abilities, his position
in general standing of society or which qualities, assets and
abilities are valued or pejorative in society but man is rational
and has a general understanding of how society functions and
about human psychology

Criticism of rawls

Marxists principle given most importance should be the difference

principle
Feminists Rawls doesnt consider the question of gender inequality at all, do
women participate in the making of social contract?
Communitarian thinkers dont believe a universal and absolute theory of
justice is possible for the contexts of different societies
Libertarians criticize Rawls compromise on liberty for welfare
Amartya Sen critic of universal idea of justice says its impractical

Communitarianism

Community more immediate and source of natural membership in a

community for man compared to society; of two types
o Natural membership caste, religion, ethnicity
o Identity of interest environmentalists, humans rights activists
Communitarianism is emerging as a reaction to western domination in
international politics; also as a reaction to the imposition of more
superior/rational values of west Asian Values in SE Asia, Islamic
fundamentalism in Middle East
Increasing call for a multicultural approach instead of a standard, absolute
and universal code of justice
Their view of Man not atomistic, criticize libertarian derivative of
individualistic and alienated man; believe man is conscious of situated self
or embedded self
View on Society focus on community rather than society man naturally
finds himself a member of community, plays significant role in shaping his
view/values/beliefs

View on politics politics of difference, recognition of different communities,

multicultural approach
View of Justice Michael Waltzer concept of spheres of justice and
complex equality different spheres of life require different application of
principles understanding of context is primary

Rawls criticism of Communitarian criticism

Rawls accepts limitations of theory says applicable only to liberal societies

admits difference principle and aspects of theory not applicable to
international politics/global context. Charles Beitz asks Rawls where the
Difference Principle should also be applied in global context should wealthy
sections of the North be taxed for upliftment of the least advantaged in the
South Rawls says no, separate laws should be followed in international
context (Laws of the people)
o Respect international law
o Relinquish use of force
o Promote respect for human rights

Theory of Equality

Equality of Welfare (liberals) Locke, Bentham; equality of opportunity to

pursue ones pleasures
Equality of resources (positive liberals) Dworkins; distribution of which
should consider two criteria: 1. Ambition 2. Endowment (natural quality
additional re-distribution to combat natural deficiencies to level playing field)
Equality of capacity (social liberals) Amartya Sen; resources not sufficient;
no point handing out books if you dont know how to read; recommends
capacity building; each person is striving for functional freedom (freedom to
do what one wants given that he has the capability to do it); human
development is seen as opportunity to enjoy freedom- literacy, health,
political empowerment
o Differentiated Equality: supported by Communitarians and welfare
state theorists; based on differentiated citizenship
Universal citizenship treats all citizens at power and gives
them equal rights
Differentiated citizenship differential treatment for weaker
sections or disadvantaged sections like women, minorities;
supporting affirmative actions policies
o Complex Equality: arising from Walzers views on equality/
communitarian perspective of justice (spheres of justice)