PHILIPPINE PPOLITICS AND GOVERNANCE
LESSON 2: POLITICAL IDEAS AND GOVERNEMENT
A. Role of Ideas
 Ideas are definitely abstract in nature that govern individual behavior and actions. While they may not be
ideologies themselves, they constitute a part of the raw material needed to create one coherent political doctrine.
 Ideas are produced by human minds whether consciously or not. It is translated into beliefs and actions.
Consequently, ideas and human actions strongly interact. Hence, ideas begin with the people before they get into
the community through actions.
Political theory and political practice are inextricably linked. Political ideas emanate from the conceptions of how human
beings react to their environment. They are shaped and continuously reshaped by current sociohistorical, economic, and
political circumstances. Whether you are conscious or not, your behavior is guided by a set of ideas, beliefs, or value
systems you adhere to. At a more general level and at a definitely larger scale, political ideas shape the nature of political
systems and serve as glue that binds societies together
B. Nature of Political Ideology
 An ideology is a collection of ideas. Typically, each ideology contains certain ideas on what it considers to be the
best form of government (e.g. democracy or autocracy) and the best economic system (e.g. capitalism or
socialism). Sometimes the same word is used to identify both an ideology and one of its main ideas.
 Political ideology is a certain set of ethical ideals, principles, doctrines, myths or symbols of a social movement,
institution, class or large group that explains how society should work, and offers some political and cultural
blueprint for a certain social order.
 Political ideology largely concerns itself with how to allocate power and to what ends it should be used. Some
parties follow a certain ideology very closely, while others may take broad inspiration from a group of related
ideologies without specifically embracing any one of them. The popularity of an ideology is in part due to the
influence of moral entrepreneurs, who sometimes act in their own interests. Political ideologies have two
dimensions:
Goals: how society should be organized.
Methods: the most appropriate way to achieve this goal.
For instance, "socialism" may refer to an economic system, or it may refer to an ideology which supports that economic
system. Political ideology is a term fraught with problems, having been called "the most elusive concept in the whole of
social science", However, ideologies tend to identify themselves by their position on the political spectrum (such as the
left, the centre or the right), though this is very often controversial. Finally, ideologies can be distinguished from political
strategies (e.g. populism) and from single issues that a party may be built around (e.g. opposition to European integration
or the legalization of marijuana). There are several studies that show that political ideology is heritable within families.
 The linear spectrum of political attitudes gives an individual a choice to determine his or her position and method
of achieving desired changes. It is an important tool because it provides concrete measures and magnitudes of
change and influence to political issues. A person can be described as a leftist or a rightist on certain issues.
C. The Relationship Between Political Ideologies and Configurations of Political Communities
Ideology, and its study, have been subject to an interpretational tug-of-war among political theorists that, until recently,
has devalued their status as an object of scholarship. They might have understood how conceptual configurations could
be rejigged through their reordering and re-weighting. In Philippine setting, there are more than one political ideology.
The effect of it brings different set of principles to each life of Filipinos.
The impact of political ideology in political life puts up set of different opinions and belief from group to individual political
party and through these the ideals of how a society should work varies on how the power will allocate.
Political ideologies also affect one’s social life as everyone fight for their right of understanding as each opinion contain
certain ideas to provide recommendation for the betterment of one country.
D. How Political Ideologies Impact on the Social and Political Life of Filipino
In reality, political ideologies have little to almost no effect over Filipino’s social and political life. This reason is due to the
fact that existing political parties in the Philippines have either muddled or twisted different political ideologies that they
were supposed to be built on. Nevertheless, what currently drives Filipinos’ socio-political life is populism.
E. Major Political Ideologies: Key Ideas and Theories
These political ideologies are, for the most part, mutually exclusive. So, a liberal government does not usually practice
socialism, nor does an absolute ruler follow liberalism. The 8 major political ideologies have played a key role in history by
shaping governments and political movements.
1. Anarchism - The belief that the best government is absolutely no government is known as anarchism. This ideology
argues that everything about governments is repressive and therefore must be abolished entirely. A related ideology
known as nihilism emphasizes that everything—both government and society—must be periodically destroyed in order
to start anew. Nihilists often categorically reject traditional concepts of morality in favor of violence and terror. Anarchism
and Nihilism were once associated with socialism because many anarchists and nihilists supported the socialists’ call for
revolution and the complete overhaul of government and society in the early to mid-twentieth century.
2. Liberalism - In the early modern age of the Western world (beginning roughly in the early 1500s and running for about
200 years), a number of changes occurred that led to new ideologies: The European discovery of the Americas, the rise of
Protestantism, the beginnings of the free-market economy, and the early stages of the scientific revolution fundamentally
altered Europe. People began developing different ways of thinking to take account of these changes.
3. Conservatism - Conservatism (also known as classical conservatism) began as a reaction against the liberal ideas taking
hold of Europe during the French Revolution in the late eighteenth century. This type of conservatism differs from
American conservatism. Edmund Burke, a British member of Parliament, observed the early stages of the French
Revolution with great distress and predicted the violence and terror that would ensue. His book, Reflections on the
Revolution in France (1790), is one of the founding texts of classical conservatism.
4. Socialism - Socialism arose as a response to the Industrial Revolution, which was the emergence of technologies such
as the steam engine and mass production. The Industrial Revolution started in England in the last years of the eighteenth
century and had spread too much of Europe and America by the end of the nineteenth century. It caused major upheavals.
In a very short time, many people were forced to abandon agricultural ways of life for the modern mechanized world of
factories.
5. Nationalism - Nationalism, a strong belief that one’s nation is great (and, usually, better than others), also arose during
the modern era. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, nationalism emerged as a powerful force that caused a
number of revolutions. People began to identify with and take pride in their particular nation-state. The French Revolution
and the subsequent Napoleonic Wars helped spread nationalism throughout Europe because many nations rallied
together to defeat Napoleon.
6. Fascism- Fascism is a highly nationalist, militaristic, totalitarian political ideology in which one person has absolute
power. World War I was the key event that spawned fascism. The war was the first major war fought between
industrialized nations, which were armed with technology such as machine guns and chemical weapons. The result was
utter devastation. Millions died, entire countries collapsed, and those who survived were often profoundly disillusioned.
For many people, the war showed that modern ideas had failed and that a new way was needed.
7. Marxism - Historical materialism or the materialist conception of history provides that the economy (mode of
production) conditions all other aspects of social life-including the law, government, politics, education, etc. The dialectic,
a process of interaction between competing forces, drives change and leads to a higher stage of development. Historical
change is therefore a consequence of contradictions in the mode of production, as reflected in class conflict. The
exploitation of the proletariat (workers) by the capitalists (owners of the means of production) would develop class
consciousness among the former, hence ushering a proletarian revolution which will facilitate the creation of a communist
society. A communist society-one that is classless and stateless-will arise when class antagonisms fade.