A2 Government & Politics Revision

Revision Notes

Liberalism

Core Values of Liberalism

 Liberty
o Political/Revolutionary Liberty
 Self-determination
 No longer central to liberal thought
o Individual Liberty
 Over-powerful gov’ts enemies of liberty; gov’t too paternalistic
 Utilitarianism – Bentham
 Absence of constraint – J.S. Mill
o Negative vs. Positive Liberty
 Negative: Absence of constraints
 Positive: Individual freedom, equality of opportunity
 T.G. Green – society as organic, made of self-interested individuals
 Tolerance
o Locke: “Every man may enjoy the same rights that are granted to others”
o Modern – sympathetic to influence of social/economic circumstances
 Equality
o Equal Rights
 Bentham and Mill reject natural rights
 Humans born unequal
o Equality of Opportunity
 Classical liberals – society free of restraints (negative)
 Booth’s cycle of deprivation
 Pluralism
 Government
o Gov’t by Consent
 Continuous consent
 Free elections
 Referendums
o Limited Gov’t
 Consent not sufficient safeguard
o Constitutionalism
 Arbitrary power
 Democracy = tyranny of majority
 Power concentrated
o Liberal Constitution
 Defines limits to jurisdiction of gov’t and rights of citizens
 Distributes power
 Includes arrangements for amendments
 Justice

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o Legal justice – equal application

o Social justice – requires intervention of state
o Inequality natural; free society – social outcomes just

Issues in Liberalism

 Democracy
o Rousseau – diff. between will of people and general will
o Liberals suspicious  tyranny of majority
o Ways to resolve paradoxes:
 Constitutionalism
 Pluralism
 Gov’t by consent
 Individual liberties protected
 Representative and responsible gov’t
 Referedums
 Liberalism and State
o Mill: State intervention = inhibit innovation, enterprise and dynamic progress
o Social Darwinists – individual guardian of own property
o Neo-liberals – fight dependency culture
o Control of potential power:
 Constitutionalism
 Rule of law
 Independent judiciary
 Decentralisation
 Liberals and Tolerance
o Early liberal principle – freedom of expression
o Should extreme views be tolerated?
o Cultural variations – multiculturalism tolerated as long as it doesn’t threaten culture

Liberalism in the UK

 Liberalism and the Parties

o New Labour – individualism and constitutional reform
o New Right – decentralisation, constitutionalism and economic liberty
 Liberal Democracy in the UK
Liberal Not Liberal
 Incorrupt elections  Sovereignty of Parliament
 Free parties and media  PM prerogative
 Accountable government  FPTP
 Constitutional reform  referendum  Unelected institutions
 Human Rights Act
 Parliament mediator

Conservatism

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Core Values

 Human Nature
o Pessimistic – original six
o Justifies paternalism; people are untrustworthy and self-seeking
 Order and Authority
o Hobbes: “nasty, brutish and short”
 Tradition and Preservation
o Burke: “partnership between those who are living, those who are dead and those
who are yet to be born”
o Modern: economic monetarism, privatisation over tradition
 Inequality
o Creates competition and dynamism
 Organic Society
o Pragmatic/gradualism
 Hierarchy
o Upper levels take care of lower – noblesse oblige – Big Society
 Pragmatism
o Oakeshott: “a conversation, not an argument”
 Individualism
o Choice, opportunity and self-fulfilment
 Property
o Reaction against socialism – privatisation; Poll Tax 1988
 Opposition to Ideology
o Oakeshott: Society shouldn’t be directed at specific goals
o Excessive attachment to ideology = tyranny
 Scepticism and Empiricism
o Empiricist: Judge current actions by experience of past

Types of Conservatism

 Peelites and One Nation

o Tamworth Manifesto 1834
 Conservatism pragmatic, not reactionary
 Free trade over protectionism
o Social order provided through:
 Maintenance of tradition
 Constitutional unity
 Encouragement of patriotism
 Provision of welfare
 Nationalist-Authoritarian Right
o Monoculture over multiculturalism
o Pluralist democrats
 New Right
o Chicago School of Economics

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 Rise of socialism = excessive state intervention = hinder progress/enterprise

o Classic Liberalism
 Support extensive individual freedom, minimal state, free economic markets
o Neo-classical economics
 State only intervene to control currency and public finances (monetarism)
o Populism
 Centred on potential of individual success
o Right-wing Nationalism
 Pragmatic: faced with globalisation and European integration
o Neo-conservatism
 Stressed importance of good order – paternalistic view of role of state
 Contemporary US conservatism
o Religious/moralistic attitude to social issues
o Opposition to socially progressive ideas
o Deep suspicion of centralised state power
o Attachment to pluralist, decentralised democracy
o Classic liberal economic views
o Desire to spread US influence/values globally
o Democracy ‘core value’

Conservatism in UK

 Crisis of conservatism
o Consensus politics
o Weak leadership/internal divisions/loss of economic direction
o Values absorbed by left and right
 Impact of Thatcher – challenge on traditional conservatism
o Society: individuals not organic
o Excessive interference counterproductive
o Traditional institutions challenged if they hinder progress
o Paternalism denies enterprise and self-responsibility
o Individuals prefer freedom to relying on the state
o Radical government improve society without consequences

Conservatism and Liberalism

 Individualism
o Conservative individualism (positive liberty)
o Reaction against collectivism
o Implies economic stability, low taxation, private property
 Liberal Freedom and Conservative Individualism
o Liberal – absence of freedom
o Conservative – ability to pursue own happiness
 Property and Rights
o Classic liberals – property important part of fulfilled life
o Conservatives lay aside rights in some circumstances

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 Criticism of Thatcher
o Laissez-faire = excessive levels of borrowing (unsustainable)
o Underclass ignored despite growing prosperity
o Legacy of deprivation from lack of support of welfare state
o Lacked morality; highly individualistic

Socialism

Core Values

 Equality
o Equal rights – birth right
o Equality of opportunity
o Fundamentalists: Equality of outcome
o Ultimate goal of Marxists: Absolute equality
o Equality of welfare – all entitled to minimum standard of living
 Class Conflict
o Revolutionary: conflict unsolvable under capitalism
o Non-revolutionary: form governments operating in interests of working-class
o Democratic: modify capitalism – excessive controls/state intervention
o Social democracy: state works in national interests
 Social Justice
o Marxists: capitalism cannot create just distribution
o Moderate: concentrated on measures such as interference in wage system, trade
union rights and distribution through taxation
 Collectivism
o Industrial – workers organised into trade unions
o Healthcare – NHS
o Key industries nationalised
o State education
 Common ownership
o Marxism: All property is common – no private enterprise
o State socialism: Means of production and distribution publicly owned
o Syndicalism: Industries owned and run by workers
o Cooperative Movement: Produces distribute goods
o Democratic socialism: Welfare publicly owned. Some industries nationalised
o Social democracy: Welfare publicly owned, little nationalisation

Types of Socialism

 Utopian Socialism
o Based on optimistic and romantic view of human nature
o Return to simpler forms of production and social order
 Marxism

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o Hegelian Philosophy
 Dialectic: history a logical progression
 Alienation occurs when people’s perception of world differs from reality
o Social class
o Role of state
 Marx: “management committee of ruling class”
 Only revolutionary parties independent of ruling class and state
o Nature of capitalism
 Based on individual self-interest, draining human creativity
o Development of capitalism
 Capitalism becomes highly productive
 Surplus generated = more productive
 Working class grown = polarisation
 Capitalism overproduces, economic slumps occur
 Socialist consciousness grows amongst working class
 Rivalry between capitalist countries intensifies = war
 Class consciousness becomes revolutionary = end of capitalism
o Revolution
 Lack of Marxist Revolution:
 Popper: analysis flawed; no fixed laws of historical development
 Marcuse: exploited class now manipulated consumers
 Gramsci: capitalism learnt flaws = controlled it development
o Dictatorship of Proletariat
o Withering Away of State
 Workers originally receive rewards on contribution, then on needs
 Revolutionary Socialism
 Fabianism and Evolutionary Socialism
o Inevibility of gradualism
 Democratic Socialism and British Labourism
o Defence of parliamentary system of government
o Pursuit of equal rights and equality of opportunity
o State control of large strategic interests – prevent capitalist monopolies
o Provision of welfare
o Range of personal services provided by local government
o Redistribution of some income through income through taxation/welfare
o Defence of trade unions and worker’s rights
 New Labour and Social Democracy
 Post New Labour
o Education, training, employment opportunity drivers of poverty reduction
o Target welfare benefits more accurately
o Involve private sector in welfare state/public services
 Socialism Today
o Regimes in Zimbabwe and Tanzania undermined by policies of IMF and World Bank
o Fukuyama – no place for ideology in modern society

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Issues in Socialism

 Role of Revolution
 The State
o Marxism: state is expression of class rule
o Utopian: Not vehicle for socialism; small communities way forward
o State socialism: Blanqui – control of everything = equality of outcome
o Fabian: Municipal socialism – local government vehicle for socialism
o Democratic: Private sector could coexist
o Social democracy: Privatisation accepted, guarantee equality of opportunity
 Capitalism and Socialism
o Early: offered alternatives to capitalism
o Marxists/Fundamentalists: fundamentally exploitative – destroy capitalism
o 1959 – German Social Democratic Party – no longer need to destroy it

Marxism in Practice

 Russian Revolution
 The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
o Problems: underdeveloped proletariat and surrounded by hostile nations
o Soviet Union failed to deliver economic prosperity
o Soviet people subject to new ruling classes: party bureaucracy and state security
 China
o China was nearly completely agrarian: farms became collective
o 1966-69: Cultural Revolution – peasants challenge authority
o Following Mao’s death, regime allowed limited free markets
 Frankfurt School and Critical Theory
o ‘Cultural hegemony’ – capitalism exploits consciousness and economics
o Marcuse: Totalitarianism inevitable outcome of liberal society
 Contemporary Marxism
o North Korea: Dictatorship in which state controls the economy

Anarchism

Core Values

 Sovereignty of individual
o Bakunin: “Social solidarity is the first human law, freedom is the second law”
 Nature of liberty
o Optimistic – moral/enlightened existence = take others into account
o Internal restraint
 Godwin: “Private judgement”
 Bakunin: Natural laws
 Critique of state
o Oppressive

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 Malatesta: “the tax collector, the soldier and the gaoler”

o Removes freedom - subjects us to artificial laws
o Corrupting
 Bakunin: “Nothing is as dangerous for a man’s morality as the habit of
governing”
 Response to consent theory
o Cannot give up liberty; birth right
o Always majority and minority
o Cannot be binding on future generations (continuous consent)
 Opposition to property
o Proudhon: “all property is theft”, yet it is a necessary evil
o Libertarians: property acceptable as long as justly obtained
 Critique of capitalism
o Libertarians : free-market
o Contemporary anarchists: international capitalism exploiting poor nations

Types of Anarchism

 Anarcho-communism
o Dissolve state  voluntary, self-governing communities
 Direct democracy
 Collectivisation
 Self-sustainable
 Anarcho-individualism
o Stirner: Humankind driven by egoism
o Cooperative capitalism
 No state
 Freedom from law
 Exchange on labour value
 Anarcho-capitalism
o Capitalism entrenched, must be adapted
o Dispute settled by private arbitrators
o Accept self-interested nature of mankind
 Mutualism
o Bridges gap between anarcho-communism and anarcho-individualism
o Without small entrepreneurs owning own means of production, lose independence
o Money replaced with labour notes, free credit for all
 Anarcho-syndicalism
o Industrial democracy: industry self-governing (direct democracy)
o Radical syndicalists: governing industries able to arrange society without state
 Nihilism
o All forms of social order unjustifiable denial of individual liberty
o Recommend free exercise of egoism and unfettered use of terror
o Society impose itself on state
 Contemporary anarchism

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Issues in Anarchism

 Are anarchists utopian?

o Over-optimistic view of human nature
o Contradicts itself
 Is anarchism a single ideology?
o Some key principles
 All individuals have right to personal sovereignty
 No person has right to exercise power over another
 Existence of political state
o Other movements added opposition to state as primary goal
o Differ over human nature, utopia and revolution

Anarchism, Socialism and Marxism

 On what grounds do socialists and anarchists differ?

o Oppose private property
o Individuals can achieve self-realisation through collective action
o Strong sense of equality
 Is anarchism merely unscientific socialism?
o Lack of theory of history
o Lack of coherent view of humankind
o Incoherent conception of class

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