Ideology in the United States
Foundations
in the
Natural Rights Argument
Major Themes of the Declaration of
Independence
Self evident truths
We hold these truths to be self-evident
Human equality
All men are created equal
They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights
Natural rights
Among these rights:
Life
Liberty
Pursuit of happiness
Purpose of gov’t
To secure rights
Measure of Justice
Consent of the governed
Right of revolution
Limits to the
right of revolution
Whenever any form of gov’t is destructive of the security of natural
rights
Prudence:
Long-established gov’ts shouldn’t be overthrown for “light and transient causes”
Experience:
Men are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right
themselves
Political Culture v. Ideology
• Political Culture
• A set of general
attitudes, ideas
and beliefs
• Broadly informs
and shapes a
region’s politics
• Ideology
• A set of specific
attitudes, ideas
and beliefs
• Provides or
advocates a
coherent plan for
social, political, or
economic action
Examples of ideologies
• Economic ideologies
• Political ideologies
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Libertarianism
Liberalism
Conservatism
Anarchism
Socialism
Fascism
Communism
Communitarianism
Statism
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
capitalism
communism
globalism
protectionism
Keynesianism
monetarism
Market fundamentalism
• Social ideologies
–
–
–
–
–
–
Tribalism
Ethnocentrism
Nationalism
Feminism
Multiculturalism
Supremacism
What ideology Is
• A set of specific ideas, attitudes and
beliefs
• Provides or advocates a coherent plan for
social, political, or economic action
• Plan is consistent with, and is explained in
terms of, the ideas, attitudes and beliefs
held
What ideology is not:
• Ideology is not political culture
– Traditionalists are not necessarily conservatives
– Liberals are not necessarily moralists
• Ideology is not partisanship
– Democrats are not necessarily liberal
– Republicans are not necessarily conservative
• Ideology is not a policy position
– E.g. Abortion
• advocates are not necessarily libertarian or liberal
• opponents are not necessarily conservative or libertarian
– E.g. Immigration
• “Open border” advocates are not necessarily libertarian globalists
• “Closed border” advocates are not necessarily conservative ethnocentrists
Comparative Ideology 1:
Left and Right Wings
Motto of the French Revolution:
Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité
(liberty, equality, brotherhood)
Origins in the
FrenchAdvocates
National
Assembly
of
Revolutionary
Advocates
of
Liberté
sympathetic
Libertéand
andFraternité,
Egalité, opposing
the
toancien
the distinction
ancien
régime,
satonto
on the
This
grafted
the
régime
(the
Old
Order)
right
of theofroom
American
Congress
inthe
theroom
early
sat
on
theside
left side
19th Century
Left and Right: The Political Spectrum
The most common comparative model of ideological preference in the US
Left Wing
Communism Socialism Liberalism Centrism Conservatism Statism
Right Wing
Fascism
Comparative Ideology 2: The
Political Compass
?
•
•
•
•
First suggested in Jerry Pournelle’s Doctoral dissertation in 1964
Appeared in Meltzer, Albert and Stuart Christie. The Floodgates of
Anarchy. (London: Sphere Books, Ltd., 1970)
Seeks to address limitations of the Political Spectrum
Describes two independent dimensions:
– Moral: Individualism to Collectivism
– Economic: Capitalism to Collectivism
•
Clarified for American audiences in 1971 by David Nolan
– Economic Freedom v. Economic Control
– Personal Freedom v. Social Control
•
•
Favored by those whose ideologies do not fit well with the Political
Spectrum, especially libertarians
Widely used by online political actors, pundits & campaigners
Limits of the Political Compass
•
•
•
•
•
•
Equates policy positions with ideology in
their tests (See the Nolan Quiz)
– Identifies attitudes on “personal” and
“economic” issues
– Does not identify organizing principles
or the general purpose of government
Ill-equipped to distinguish moderates
from extremists
– communists from welfare liberals
– anarchists from libertarians
– fascists from conservatives
Does not distinguish one kind of
“centrist” or “moderate” from another
Fails to identify some known ideological
positions
– Communitarianism
– Anarcho-communism
– Anarcho-syndicalism
– Nazism (with its fascist rhetoric and
anarchist means)
Unable to account for real linkages within
its framework
– liberal-leaning conservatives
– conservative-leaning liberals
Assumes liberals and conservatives are
opposites
Comparative Ideology 3:
Ideological Space
•
Suggested by Steven Kautz in 1995: “enduring controversies regarding
the nature of popular government give rise to three distinct strains:
– liberals (who love liberty)
– democrats (who love equality)
– republicans (who love virtue)”
• Problems with Kautz’ formulation
“Ideologies…map the political and social worlds for us. We simply cannot do
– Order more fundamental than virtue
without them
because
cannot
actpolitical
without
making
sense of the worlds we
• Political
“virtue”we
depends
on the
order
it inhabits
inhabit.”
Michael
Freeden,
Ideology:
Very Short Introduction.
Oxford UP,debate
2003.
– Kautz’
vision
clouded
by theA American
partisan/ideological
• “Liberal” has different meanings inside and outside the US
• “liberal” is an ideology
• “democrats” and “republicans” are coalition political parties in the US
•
Alternative principles of ideological preference
– Liberty
– Equality
– Order
Liberty, Equality, Order
• Widely held political principles
– Regardless of expressed ideology
– Held in different proportion by different ideological adherents
• Ideologies can be identified by different proportional
attachment to or rejection of these three principles
– Suggests measurability
– Attachment to: positive ideology
– Rejection of: negative ideology
• May be used to describe an ideological map with three
axes
– Liberty
– Equality
– Order
LEO Space
Three axial principles (Dimensions)
Liberty
Equality
Order
Six levels
Describe distance from ideological
center
Centrist
Moderate
Ideologue
Hard-Liner
Radical
Extremist
Ideological Regions in LEO Space
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
L+E+O+ (Standard Ideological Preference)
L-E+O+ (Anti-libertarian)
L+E-O+ (Anti-egalitarian)
L-E-O+ (Anti-libertarian and Anti-egalitarian)
L+E+O- (Anti-establishmentarian)
L+E-O- (Anti-communitarian)
L-E+O- (Anti-libertarian and Anti-establishmentarian)
L-E-O- (Universal Opposition)
Most ideological preferences found in only 1st region
LEO Made Simple
Principle Centrist Ideology
Libertarian Centrist
Libertarian
Left Libertarian
Right Libertarian
Liberal Centrist
Liberal (US), Labour (UK)
Liberal Egalitarian
Liberal Communitarian
Conservative Liberal
Liberty
Equality
Moderate Ideology
Conservative Centrist Conservative
Libertarian Conservative
Order
Conservative Communitarian
Liberal Conservative
Radical or Extreme Ideology
Anarchist
Anarcho-Communist
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Socialist
Communist
Statist
Fascist
Other Ideologies in LEO
• Communitarianism
– Equal parts Equality and Order
– Liberty subordinate
• The Reagan Coalition
– Equal Parts Liberty and Order
– Equality subordinate
• Thomas Hill Green’s Welfare Liberalism
– Equal Parts Liberty and Equality
– Order subordinate
Critique of the LEO Model
• Advantages
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Identifies a wider range of ideologies than either Spectrum or Compass
Suggests linkages between ideologies
Renders ideological claims testable
Distinguishes mere negative opposition from true preference
Predicts accusations of extremism by opponents
Independent of policy position
Independent of partisan assumptions
• Disadvantages
–
–
–
–
–
Complexity
Abstraction
Potentially awkward or unfamiliar ideological nomenclature
Posits potentially absurd ideological possibilities
Still unable to explain Nazism (fascist rhetoric, anarchist means)