Political ideologies are collections of different thoughts that seek to communicate with the best form of government in the society (Heywood 12). According to many thinkers, the society is organized in different forms of governance, which determine how the administrative policies are made. In this precept, some ideologies are right and take the will of the people in structuring the way the government discharges its duties. On the other hand, some government philosophies are so harsh to its people and leave them with nothing to hope for nor to dream. This paper elucidates different ideologies as presented by various authors, and goes ahead to analyses the effectiveness of the various beliefs in the society (Ball, Dagger & O'Neill 49). The most popular political ideologies include Socialism, Absolutism, Liberalism, Conservatism, and Anarchism. In fact, most of the ideologies have gone under trial in most of the world governments, where some ideas were successful while others tremendously failed. In more details, the ideas that translate to harsh government philosophies and policies quickly lead the society into chaos and violence. For example, the world has seen many states in tumbles due to the government structure that the citizens do not feel comfortable about in their society. For instance, The French Revolution of 1789 clearly demonstrates this effect. It is candidly true that a weak political ideology prepares the nation for disaster, meaning that every thought should strive to organize any form of government must remain meticulous for efficient administration.
Besides, H. B. McCullough on his analysis of political ideas second edition collects information from different political philosophers. For instance, with the support of Wolfgang Depner, their study engages readers on a mental wonder of imagining the best form of government. They together the thoughts of traditional thinkers like Karl Marx, John Locke and Burke relating them with the ideologies of the recent theorists like Robert Nozick, Eric Voegelin, Simone de Beauvoir and Albert Schweitzer (McCullough & Depner 29). In their examination, many political ideologies are instigated by the nature of the society. In fact, the general culture of the society would favor a particular ideology while remaining a challenge to another ideology. According to their thoughts reckoning to Karl Marx, the society ought to follow the liberalism ideas to adopt socialism. However, this cannot become a reality due to the effect of social organization alongside religion, which has made people stop thinking. According to Karl Marx, religion is an opium of the people, which they administer to themselves to withstand the harsh condition of the bad government. In other words, Marx is against the capitalist organization of the society that has placed people in the classes determined by the wealth of a person. He adds that the rich manipulate the poor, yet they choose to do nothing.
In details, liberal thoughts delve much on the equality of in the society and refuse anything that divides the society along social and economic lines (Heywood 15). They call for equal consideration of people in every area of interaction that include places of employment. They maintain that the society must ensure to eliminate any form of discrimination, and to avoid the thoughts that emphasize wealth creation by exploiting others. Furthermore, it favors egalitarian approach in making government policies by ensuring that all the citizens access essential services in equal measures. For instance, they maintain that the government has to make sure that every individual under their administration receives affordable healthcare, quality education, social protection and clean environment. They also insist on employee protection and affirmative actions (McCullough & Depner 67). They feel that employees can engage in a strike when they feel that the employer does not respect their rights. This is similar to the thoughts of socialist’s ideas that believe that people should have shared mutual feeling in creating wealth. They refute the idea that people make wealth individually, meaning, they disregard private ownership of property. Therefore, there is relatedness in some ideologies in framing the organization of the society.
However, conservative ideologies insist that the community must remain the way it is without striving to make any change (McCullough & Depner 117). They see no sense in the workers attempting to change their situations in the workplaces. In fact, according to them, it is better that every individual respect the government and accepts the way it wants things to go through. They believe that allowing people to challenge the government leads to instability and poverty in the nation. They want a stable, and small governance supported by strong laws that control the state. In contrast to Liberalism, they believe that the society must continue to be tied to religious teachings and the cultural teachings that align the society to the standard norms (McCullough & Wolfgang 193). They emphasize that these norms attract more respect to the authority and its structures. They have no problem with inequalities and keep that a person’s effort leads him or her to certain privileges that other citizens cannot access. In this respect, it goes in line with the absolutist ideologies that leaders must have undisturbed power. In addition, they concur with the capitalist ideas that people must remain focused on creating individual wealth.
Consequently, the world has revolved around different ideologies when trying to structure the favorable economic systems. For instance, the atrocities of the world wars led to the world divided on political ideologies (McCullough & Depner 237). During the period, there existed the left wing and right wing thinkers. The right wing thoughts favored capitalism and influenced the world to adopt the thought of state ownership of the public resources. On the same ground, individual creation of property became the main preoccupation in this move. In fact, the chief proponents like the United States of America made robust moves to influence the society to accept capitalism in their states. Contrarily, Communism favored the communal ownership of wealth, maintaining that the society should work together and own the property equally (Heywood 21). The left wing movement believed that private ownership of property creates social division and quickly leads conflicts. In meticulous look, capitalism contrasted communism, where the two ideologies used different agendas in channeling their thoughts. Finally, the right wing won the battle and influenced the world to accept capitalism.
On the other hand, the moderate ideas maintain that the two ideas should work together in structuring a better society. They believe that the society should look at the active lines in the ideas by the leftists and rightists to come up with a better economic and government system. The Moderates bring together all the thoughts and generate a different mechanism (McCullough & Wolfgang 293). In fact, America today adopts the reasonable ideas in organizing the government. In their argument, no idea is entirely bad, and the assumption that a particular thought is wrong is not okay. They believe that every idea has the positive side that can be so helpful. Therefore, they look at the positive segments of the political ideologies and apply them. In other words, they do not keep one ideology but interplays them in the organization of the government. Otherwise, the society needs the better political ideology for a better government structure and policy. Therefore, understanding different political ideologies is a fundamental move for every government planner.
In fact, it is important for a political science student to understand different political ideologies to help an individual in developing the positive mind in analyzing any political system (Heywood 23). Moreover, any government planning agency must be well versed with the different interplays of different political ideologies to channel the best government that suits the people. For example, Germany under Fascism ideology believed that the existing social orders could only get bearing from the aggressive conquest of the employed. The government thought that the economic stability of the country would only be real when the working class makes a maximum contribution to the same (McCullough & Depner 307). During the reign of Adolf Hitler, the government was so rigorous in making revenue collection and eliminated anything that he perceived to be a threat to this endeavor. For instance, he decided to exterminate the six million Jews community in Germany in the periods of the Second World War, whom he believed were a threat to the social and economic development of the country (Heywood 17). He reasoned that they killed Jesus without a reasonable fact. Therefore, they were people who did not deserve to live in their midst due to their unordered thoughts. This explains well that improper interpretation of a given ideology would be so dangerous.
Besides, political scientists must remain at the forefront in defining the complexes that exist in these ideas. For instance, Socialism, Communism, and Marxism can be so confusing for an individual who do not understand how they differ and relate to each other. For example, Marxism is a political thought of Karl Marx that he came up with to attack capitalism. He predicted a society that would go through the revolutionary transition from capitalism to socialism (Heywood 25). He was against the proletariats that subjected the society into unnecessary pain. According to him, the bourgeois deserved no space in the economic structure of the society and needed to be overthrown by the proletariat and form a classless society. In this dictum, he favors socialism against capitalism, the move that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) maintained during the period of the world war.
In conclusion, many thinkers look at the society with different forms of governance structures, which determine how the administrative policies are formulated. In this precept, some ideologies are good and take the wishes of the people of the people at heart when the government discharges its duties. However, other government structures are never mindful of the same feeling. Hence, the leaders decide to go the harsh way of serving the people. For instance, as the liberal thoughts delve much on the equality of in the society, the conservatives give much power to the leaders to control the people with absolute powers. Therefore, the government-planning agency must be well versed with the different interplays of various political ideologies to channel the best government that suits the people. Besides, it is important for a political science student to understand different political beliefs to help an individual in developing the positive mind in analyzing any political system.
Works Cited
Ball, Terence, Richard Dagger, and Daniel I. O'Neill. Political ideologies and the democratic
ideal. Routledge, 2015.
McCullough, H. B & Wolfgang, Depner.. Readings in Political Ideologies Since the
Rise of Modern Science. Oxford University Press. 2013.
Heywood, Andrew. Political ideologies: An introduction. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
