Ideology and Political Thought
Ideology and Political Thought asks you to decode the assumptions behind policies and party programmes. You must define ideology, place thinkers and parties on a spectrum, and apply concepts to concrete debates rather than listing 'isms'.
Core rules and concepts
- Ideology: a relatively coherent set of ideas about human nature, society and the proper role of the state; it explains and justifies political arrangements.
- Liberalism: individual rights, consent, rule of law, limited government (Locke, Mill); modern social liberalism accepts state intervention for equality of opportunity.
- Conservatism: scepticism about rapid change, value of tradition, order and organic society (Burke).
- Socialism: critique of capitalism, collective ownership or regulation, equality (Marx); democratic socialism and social democracy are distinct strands.
- Nationalism: the nation as the basis of political community; civic versus ethnic versions.
- Feminism: analysis of gender power; de Beauvoir's The Second Sex (1949) distinguishes biological sex from socially constructed gender.
- Environmentalism: ecological limits, sustainability, intergenerational justice.
- Irish parties: Fine Gael (centre-right, Christian democratic), Fianna Fáil (centre-right catch-all), Sinn Féin (left republican), Labour and Social Democrats (social democratic), Greens (environmentalist), People Before Profit (socialist).
Worked example
A carbon tax rises while welfare payments are increased. Apply lenses: a liberal economist may stress market signals; an environmentalist stresses emissions reduction; a socialist stresses regressive effects on low-income households; a conservative may stress rural livelihoods. The best answers show that one policy can be read through several ideologies.
Traps
- Treating ideologies as fixed or monolithic.
- Equating socialism with communism.
- Confusing nationalism with patriotism or with racism.
- Assuming a party's ideology predicts every policy position.