We often keep on hearing the names of one or another ideology in political debates or news stories. But sometimes due to the lack of correct understanding of some ideology, either we misinterpret the matter or get confused.
That’s why we should at least know the basic meaning of every ideology.
In this article, we will discuss different types of ideologies. The contents of this article will include
- Anarchism
- Authoritarianism
- Communitarianism
- Communism
- Conservatism
- Corporatism
- Democracy
- Environmentalism
- Fascism & Nazism
- Identity politics
- Liberalism
- Libertarianism
- Nationalism
- Populism
- Progressivism
- Religio-political ideologies
- Satirical and anti-politics
- Socialism
- Syndicalism
- Transhumanism
However, many of these ideologies are interlinked with other ideologies and there is no exact definition of any of them, it has multiple definitions according to its perspective. Our aim in this article will be to understand only the basic meaning of these ideologies.
Anarchism
Anarchy is such a political philosophy, about which many people have misconceptions. We see anarchy word used in the news as a very negative term and heat it associating it with disorder or chaos. But in reality, anarchism is an idealistic view rather than a pessimistic one. In its original definition, there is no mention of disorder, chaos, or any type of violence. From Greek times, this ideology is understood as the idea of living without rules, i.e. a society without any authoritative system, and modern anarchist ideas are seen in association with thinkers such as William Goodwin and Wilhelm Weitling.
PJ Proudhon was the first political philosopher to call himself an anarchist in the 19th century.
Authoritarianism
In a way, it is the exact opposite of anarchism, in which all members of society, considering a single institution or person as the absolute authority, follow all its commands and directions. All the powers related to the constitution and rules and regulations of this type of system are within the same institution. In such a system, the leader of the institution is a very powerful person, who can do anything according to his will.
Communitarianism
It is a social philosophy, which was first coined in the 19th century, but its ideas have existed for a long time, from the time of Aristotle. According to this, the individual’s choice is not that important, the community is more important. Community is always prior to an individual.
According to this ideology, it is the community that gives social identity to all the people, and by only living in the community, individuals are able to develop their personalities. The community has more influence on their overall development than their own, that is why the community has more significance.
Communism
It is a philosophical, social, political, and economic ideology that aims to set up a communist society. That is, to create such a society in which people work according to their ability, but all the consume according to their needs, all the people get the same facilities.
Communism is an anti-capitalist ideology, It has existed in India as a movement since at least as early as 1920, and later from 1925 to 1964, it existed as a social or political ideology. Communism is a specific form of socialism, which we will discuss further.
Conservatism
It is an aesthetic, cultural, social, and political philosophy that tries to promote and preserve traditional social institutions and practices. According to conservatism, communities should preserve their culture and civilizations by conserving them. Supporters of conservatism often oppose progress and development and seek a return to traditional values.
Corporatism
It is a collectivist political ideology According to which, society should be organized into different corporate groups, such as Agriculture, labor, Military, business, scientific, etc. And these groups should be decided on the basis of the common interest of the people.
Democracy
In such ideology, to run the society, to make all its rules and regulations, there is such a type of government that is elected by the people of the society themselves by voting. The government officials, who are elected in such a government, are from among the people of the same society. Democracy is one of the most popular ideologies in the world.
According to the Economist magazine’s democracy index, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, Denmark. etc. countries come in fully democratic countries.
Environmentalism
It is such a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment. This ideology believes, that we should preserve the natural environment of the earth and should work on the restoration and improvement of the damage done by humans, which has led to the changes in the earth’s critical system elements and processes.
Fascism & Nazism
It is a far-right, ultra-nationalist political ideology, characterized by y dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and the economy. This ideology majorly originated in early 20th-century Europe. The first fascist movements emerged in Italy during World War I, before spreading to other European countries. The ideas of this ideology oppose ideologies such as anarchism. democracy, liberalism, and marxism.
Identity politics
It is a political approach wherein people of a particular gender, religion, race, social background, social class, environment, or other identifying factors, develop political agendas that are based upon these identities. The term is used in a variety of ways to describe phenomena as diverse as multiculturalism, women’s movements, civil rights, lesbian and gay movements, and regional separatist movements
Liberalism
It is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, and equality before the law. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but they generally support individual rights (including civil rights and human rights), liberal democracy, secularism, rule of law, economic and political freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, etc.
Liberalism-both as a political current and an intellectual tradition is mostly a modern phenomenon that started in the 17th century, although some liberal philosophical ideas existed from the eighth century BC.
Libertarianism
It is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom and minimize the state’s violation of individual liberties so that the people of the society get their freedom of choice. According to this ideology, in any society, the state powers should be minimized to the bare minimum, which is enough to handle the basic functioning of the society, i.e. one individual cannot hurt the freedom of another individual. Apart from this, the efforts should be made that people get full right to do the things of their choice and live in their own way.
Nationalism
It is an ideology that believes that people having common identities and characteristics can form a separate political community, i.e. a country, and can maintain their own separate territorial boundary. The powers relating to the management of such a country should be with the sovereign government formed by them, without any outside interference.
It further aims to build and maintain a single national identity, based on shared social characteristics of geographic location, government, culture, ethnicity, language, religion, traditions, etc.
Populism
It is a political philosophy, in which there is talk of supporting and benefiting the common people. Like reducing inflation, removing taxes, etc. However, it is not practically possible to accomplish all these things, but still, the populist party or leaders try to get the support of the people by raising the voice for these demands of the public.
Thus term was developed at the end of the 19th century. At that time it was used for many politicians, political parties, and movements. since then it is often used in a negative sense. Within political science and other social sciences, several different definitions of populism have been employed, with some scholars proposing that the term be rejected altogether
Progressivism
It is a political philosophy that supports the ideas of social reforms. According to it, things like advancement in science and technology, economic development, and social organizations are very important for making progress, i.e. to improve the human conditions.
ideology became very important for Europe to bring about the industrial revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Religio-political ideologies
These are the ideologies that are based on a particular religion. Religion has worked to unite people many a time in history. However, some leaders and parties have been using it to get political benefits. Many political parties have been directly influenced or inspired by religion.
Satirical and anti-politics
Political satire is the satire that specialized in gaining entertainment from politics. it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a government.
Political satire is slightly different from political protest or political dissent. Because it is not necessary that there is a political agenda behind it, and tries to influence the political process. While sometimes it is possible that, its sole purpose is to provide entertainment. Satire has been seen since the time of the Napoleon-III era, i.e. from the 19th to 20th centuries.
Socialism
It is a political, social, and economic philosophy that believes no one in the society should have Sole proprietorship of private property like land and buildings. Because land is a natural resource like other natural resources like lakes, rivers, seas, mountains waterfalls, ponds, etc. Instead of the individual ownership of the buildings and economic resources,m there should be social ownership. That is, no one should have a monopoly on anything.
People in society will work according to their capacity and they will get things according to their work.
Indian freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Subhash Chandra Bose, Swami Vivekananda, etc. all were believers in socialist ideology.
Syndicalism
According to this ideology, there should be local union organizations of workers and laborers, which talks about their rights and fight for their rights by protesting. According to this ideology, workers should not trust the state i.e. the government or any political party at all. Syndicalists believe that the government is like an agent of the capitalists. The government will do what is in the interest of the capitalist class, industrial class, and business class, and political parties will also represent one class or the other. They can never talk about the genuine interest of the laborers and workers. That’s why they believe that the workers have to fight for their rights on their own and they can agitate for their rights only through trade union organizations.
Transhumanism
It constitutes a group of political ideologies that generally express the belief in improving human individuals through science and technology. Increasing the capabilities of humans, and the ability to live longer and can repair the defects in the body that is by birth or by any accident by using biotechnology.
Many big companies are engaged in research to develop such technologies, such as Semese Research foundation, Elon Musk’s Nerralink, Circles Molecular, etc.
So this was the gist of different types of ideologies, we hope this article must have been helpful for you.
If you want a Hindi explanation of this article, you may watch this video-
