essay about political ideology

Free Political Ideologies Essay Examples & Topics

A political ideology essay can be a struggle to write. It is especially the case if you are not a big fan of politics. So, let’s begin with the basic terms. You will definitely need them to complete such an assignment.

First and foremost, ideology is a set of collectively held ideas and beliefs. They explain a particular pattern of political, social, or economic relationships, agreements, etc.

Political ideology is a collection of ideas and political views on a social movement, class, or group of people. Nowadays, citizens of the USA usually relate themselves to either liberal, progressive, moderate, or conservative ideologies. Each of the political movements is based on a specific set of principles.

In this article, our team has analyzed key political ideologies in the United States. Moreover, we prepared some useful writing tips on how to structure your paper. Below, you will find political ideology essay examples written by fellow students.

Key Political Ideologies in the USA

Need to write a political ideologies essay? Then, you should know the key principles of these two concepts: conservatism and liberalism. In this section, you’ll get an explanation of the essential political ideologies of the USA.

Conservatism is a political ideology that stands for preserving traditional values. Its proponents aim to promote personal responsibility. They also argue for these aspects:

• the limited role of the government,
• free trade,
• individual freedom,
• and a strong national defense.

Liberalism is the second major political ideology in the USA. It highlights the idea of empowering the government with the purpose of achieving equal opportunities for all members of society. In other words, the government’s key aim is to solve community issues and protect human rights.

For a better understanding, we’ve decided to compare conservative and liberal political ideas. You can explore them in your essay about political ideology.

To see the differences, you should consider four key areas:

• Political ideas. In terms of politics, conservators are considered right-wing and anti-federalists. Naturally, liberalists are left-wing and federalists. Moreover, conservatism stands for a free market. In contrast, the proponents of liberalism aim to get free services (e.g., health care services) from the government.
• Economic Ideas. According to the principles of conservatism, taxation and government spending should decrease. People with high incomes should have an incentive to invest. In contrast, liberals claim that taxes can increase if it benefits society.
• Social Ideas. Conservatism has tighter social principles than liberalism. Its proponents fight against gay marriages and abortions. In contrast, liberals consider that each person has a right to marry or have an abortion. Plus, they oppose the death penalty that some conservatives accept. The proponents of conservatism stand for the legalization of guns. Meanwhile, liberals believe that gun usage should be restricted.
• Personal Responsibility Ideas. In conservatism, laws are enacted to reflect the interest of society as a whole. Liberals believe that legislation is intended to protect every person for an equal society. According to conservatives, everyone is responsible for solving their own problems. Liberals, however, rely on the government when it comes to solving some major issues.

How to Write a Political Ideology Essay

In a political ideologies essay, you can elaborate on a huge number of concepts, events, figures, etc. You may be assigned to compare and contrast some political movements or examine a famous manifesto. Here, we have explained how to how to write an ideology essay on situations from the past.

To compose an essay about political ideologies, you should try the following steps:

• Find or formulate a topic .

For your paper, select a topic that would create a space for substantive research. Keep in mind that you’ll have to describe the political ideology you’ve chosen. Thus, find something that is interesting for you and fits the assignment requirements. Our topic generator can help you with that.

• Conduct research.

Conduct preliminary research to have a general understanding of your topic. First, explore different political ideologies that fit your assignment. Get to know related personalities, examine various political parties and communities, etc. Only with a clear vision of the political ideas will you come up with a sufficient thesis statement.

• Develop a thesis.

Writing an effective thesis statement is the most significant part of the entire writing process. It’s the central point of your paper. Make sure it is stated clearly and concisely – you can let our thesis generator formulate one for you. Include your thesis statement at the end of the introduction. Here, the readers will quickly identify it.

• Organize your thoughts and arguments.

After you come up with your thesis statement, start structuring your ideas. Develop several arguments and devote a separate paragraph for each of them. Ensure your points are logical and relevant. Add solid supportive evidence (evidence, examples, etc.). As you’ve dealt with your arguments, write an introduction and conclusion to your paper.

• Pick quotes to use as your examples.

For political ideologies essay, quotes are the best examples! There is a great variety of sources. You can check the Constitution, remarks of famous politicians, doctrines, official documents. Just make sure the source is trustworthy. And don’t forget to cite your quotes appropriately.

• Write and proofread.

Never underestimate the power of proofreading! Ideally, do it twice. For the first time, pay attention to spelling, grammar, and punctuation. For the second time, concentrate on the structure:

• Are your arguments presented logically?
• Does the introduction correspond to the conclusion?
• Are your ideas clear and coherent?

Thanks for reading the article! Below you will find political ideology essay examples. They will help you explore the structure and format of such papers.

216 Best Essay Examples on Political Ideologies

What is politics, nationalism versus capitalism: compare & contrast.

• Words: 1979

Was Mao Zedong Correct to Argue “Political Power Grows out of the Barrel of a Gun”?

• Words: 2209

Hegemony and Ideology

• Words: 1714

Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Doctrine

Features of nationalism: types and stereotypes, affect of mccarthyism on society, democracy in modern world.

• Words: 2052

Isolationism or Internationalism in Foreign Policy?

“development as freedom” by amartya sen.

• Words: 1646

Lenin’s “What Is to Be Done?” Pamphlet Analysis

• Words: 3552

Communism and Totalitarianism: Political Ideologies Comparison

• Words: 1576

Mueller’s “The Banality of ‘Ethnic War’”

• Words: 3388

Inter-Jurisdictional Conflict Management

Karl marx theory and the russian revolution, human freedom: liberalism vs anarchism.

• Words: 1782

Israeli Apartheid Ideology Towards Palestinians

• Words: 3035

Realism in International Relations and History

• Words: 1110

Federalism Advantages and Disadvantages

Autocracy lesson in “the wave” film, conceptualization of politics.

• Words: 1023

Political Ideologies: A Comparative Analysis

Exploring democracy: comparison of two articles, manifest destiny and its ideological origins.

• Words: 1104

Exploring the Differences Between Globalism and Nationalism

Reconciling the tension between equality and meritocracy, indirect democracy: representative democracy, power-sharing systems and grant types in the u.s. federal system, types of democracy known to modern society, conservatism in the political currents of the 20th and 21st centuries.

• Words: 1505

The Ideas of Marxism: Marxism, Religion and Emancipatory Politics

Aspects of the zionist movement, “beyond the “add and stir” approach” article by wallace, aspects of classical liberalism, discussion of marxism impact on news, democracy and its crucial features, liberalism and conservatism in the us, the influence of personality and intelligence on political attitudes.

• Words: 2068

The Concept of the Bureaucracy

Aspects of democratic regimes, characteristics of american democracy, multiculturalism: welcome to my country.

• Words: 1212

McCarthyism and Anti-Communist Campaigns

Dimensions of insecurity: mena.

• Words: 1750

Plato’s Views on Democracy

The left-right spectrum overview.

• Words: 1726

Populism Discourse and Social Equality

• Words: 1200

Fascist Elements in Dictatorial Ideas of Mussolini and Hitler

Is there an ethical case for capitalism, political science: james daniel jordan, the islam ideology and politics, islam and politics: qaddafi’s ideology, imperialism and nationalism in middle eastern politics.

• Words: 1425

Political Identity and Governance: Hong Kong

• Words: 1078

Theories of Global Politics. Democracy Effectiveness

• Words: 2012

Comparison of the US Parties

Education in marxism: the communist manifesto, china’s nationalism: main aspects.

• Words: 1377

Analysis and Comparison of Determinism, Compatibilism and Libertarianism, Free Will

• Words: 1670

Democracy in Asia India and the Price of Peaceful Change

• Words: 1347

World History in The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx

• Words: 2218

Marxist Theory of History and of Culture in Politics

• Words: 1492

Politics – Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

James mayall’s book “world politics: progress and its limits”.

• Words: 1072

Political Subcultures Classification and Comparison

Factors influencing the success of insurgencies.

• Words: 1935

Anti-Capitalism: Social Phenomenon

10th amendment & federalism.

• Words: 1694

Imperialism as a Policy and an Ideology

• Words: 1139

End of Communism in Eastern Europe

• Words: 1188

Response to Statement of Sir Winston Churchill

• Words: 1401

Is the Constitution Supportive of Today’s Democracy?

• Words: 1150

Defining Politics, in the Contexts of the Canadian Society

• Words: 3911

Reasons for the Collapse of Communism

• Words: 1080

Benjamin’s Concept of Democracy Against Bennett’s Propositions on News and Democracy

• Words: 1967

Origin and History of the Democratic Party and the Federal Constitution

• Words: 2886

Political Cleavages and French Political Quarrels

Obama and sarkozy: political views and personalities.

• Words: 1416

Why Manifest Destiny Is Another Form of Imperialism

The jewish state: the struggle for israel’s soul.

• Words: 1732

The Labor Unions Effects on U.S. Economic Development

How useful is the concept of ‘hegemony’ for understanding international politics.

• Words: 3022

The Crises of Democracy, Society, and Environment

• Words: 3061

The Republican Party: History, Key Players and Fundamental Beliefs

• Words: 5693

Democracy Is the Best Form of Government for All the World’s Inhabitants

Elitism vs. egalitarianism, democrats vs. republicans: who is superior.

• Words: 1836

Constitutionalism & Absolutism

Absolute and constitutional monarchy, why anarchy cannot be transcended.

• Words: 1658

Authoritarian Versus Totalitarian State

• Words: 1626

Capitalism and Industrialization in the “Communist Manifesto” by Marx

How best to ensure us-style global capitalism.

• Words: 4511

Will China Become Democratic in Near Future?

Problematic aspects of the usa foreign policy, modern conservatism political ideology, peculiar properties of neo-conservatism.

• Words: 2929

Populist Politics in Latin America

Boltanski and chapello: new spirit of capitalism analysis.

• Words: 1341

Nationalism: Theories and Classification

• Words: 2447

Communism in the Soviet Union

• Words: 1727

Post-Communist Russian Politics

• Words: 1980

The Role of Education in Democracy

Descriptive meaning of democracy.

• Words: 2051

Henry David Thoreau vs. Richard Brautigan

Utopian society: national socialism and libertarian democracy.

• Words: 1237

Communism of Karl Marx and the Soviet Union

• Words: 3312

The Nature of Democracy in the Period 1871-1914

• Words: 1209

Elitism and Democracy Relations

Democratization of china: history.

• Words: 1656

Effects of Fall of Communism in Russia

Different aspects of socialism and communism.

• Words: 2101

The Ideologies of Western Civilization

Imperial state in china and confucianism as an ideology.

• Words: 1561

Liberal Definition of Freedom

Lenin’s ‘the state and revolution’.

• Words: 1062

Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto Analysis

Liberalism and nationalism in western civilization, a re-thinking on our way of thinking by karl marx.

• Words: 2063

Rousseau’s and Marx’s Works Problems: Discussion

• Words: 1905

Press ESC to close

Or check our popular categories....

Home » Political Theory » Liberalism: A Political Ideology Explained

Liberalism: A Political Ideology Explained

Definition of liberalism.

Liberalism is a political ideology that emphasizes individual rights , liberty, and limited government. It is based on the idea that individuals have certain inherent rights, such as the right to life, liberty, and property, and that the role of government is to protect these rights. Liberalism also emphasizes free markets and free trade, and advocates for the rule of law and limited government intervention in economic and social affairs. Liberalism has had a significant influence on the development of modern democratic systems, and it is often associated with ideas like individualism, progress, and the Enlightenment .

Brief History of Liberalism

The origins of liberalism can be traced back to the Enlightenment era in the 18th century, a period of intellectual and philosophical ferment in Europe. During this time, a number of influential thinkers emerged who laid the foundations for liberal thought.

John Locke, an English philosopher, argued that individuals have natural rights to life, liberty, and property, and that the role of government is to protect these rights. Locke’s ideas had a profound influence on the American Revolution and the development of the United States Constitution.

Adam Smith , a Scottish economist, is often referred to as the “father of capitalism.” In his influential work “The Wealth of Nations,” Smith argued that free markets, guided by the “invisible hand” of competition, would lead to economic growth and prosperity.

The French Revolution , which began in 1789, was a key moment in the spread of liberal ideas. The revolution overthrew the monarchy and established a constitutional monarchy in its place, and it also inspired similar movements in other countries. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which was adopted by the National Assembly in 1789, enshrined the principles of liberty , equality , and fraternity and became an important influence on liberal thought.

Liberalism became a dominant force in European and North American politics in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and it continues to be a major influence on political thought and policy today. However, it has faced various criticisms and challenges over the years, including from rival ideologies such as conservatism and socialism.

The Core Tenets of Liberalism

The main ideas and principles of liberalism include:

• Individual rights and liberty: Liberalism holds that individuals have inherent rights, such as the right to life, liberty, and property, and that the role of government is to protect these rights. This means that the government should not be able to dictate how people live their lives or what they can and cannot do.
• Limited government: In order to protect individual rights and liberty, liberals believe in limited government. They argue that the role of government should be restricted to certain essential functions, such as maintaining law and order, protecting property rights, and providing basic public goods like education and infrastructure. Anything beyond these core functions is seen as an unnecessary intrusion into people’s lives.
• Free markets and free trade: Liberalism emphasizes free markets and free trade, and holds that economic freedom is closely tied to political freedom. A free market system allows individuals to pursue their own economic interests and create wealth, and liberals argue that this leads to economic growth and prosperity.
• The rule of law: Liberalism places a strong emphasis on the rule of law, which means that everyone, including the government, must be subject to the same legal rules and principles. The rule of law ensures that individuals are treated fairly and that the government does not have arbitrary power to infringe on people’s rights.
• Democracy: Liberalism and democracy are often seen as closely related, and liberal principles have played a significant role in shaping modern democratic systems. In a liberal democracy, individual rights and liberty are protected, and the government is accountable to the people through regular elections and the rule of law. However, it’s important to note that democracy and liberalism are not the same thing, and there are many non-liberal democracies in the world.

Liberalism and Democracy

Liberalism and democracy are often seen as closely related, and liberal principles have played a significant role in shaping modern democratic systems. In a liberal democracy, individual rights and liberty are protected, and the government is accountable to the people through regular elections and the rule of law.

However, it’s important to note that democracy and liberalism are not the same thing, and there are many non-liberal democracies in the world. For example, some democracies have strong centralized governments that are more interventionist in economic and social affairs, while others have more decentralized systems with greater regional autonomy.

Moreover, not all liberal systems are democratic, and there are examples of liberal autocracies, in which the government is not democratically elected but still respects individual rights and liberties. Conversely, there are also examples of democratic systems that are not liberal, in which the government does not fully protect individual rights or the rule of law.

Overall, while liberalism and democracy often go hand in hand, they are not synonymous, and it is possible to have one without the other.

Liberalism has faced various criticisms and challenges over the years, including from rival ideologies such as conservatism and socialism . Some of the main criticisms of liberalism include:

• Lack of attention to social justice and equality: Some critics on the left argue that liberalism is too focused on individual rights and not enough on social justice and equality. They argue that a pure focus on individual liberty can lead to social and economic inequality, and that the government has a role to play in addressing these issues.
• Limited government intervention: Critics on the left also argue that liberalism’s emphasis on limited government intervention can be harmful, especially in cases where the market fails to address important social and economic issues. For example, they may argue that the government needs to play a more active role in addressing poverty, inequality, or environmental problems.
• Promotion of self-interest: Some critics argue that liberalism’s emphasis on individual rights and economic freedom promotes a culture of self-interest and greed, and that it is incompatible with the idea of the common good. They may argue that a more collectivist approach is needed to address societal problems.
• Critiques from the right: Critics on the right, such as conservatives, may argue that liberalism is too permissive and that it undermines traditional values and social order. They may also argue that liberalism’s emphasis on limited government is harmful, and that the government has a role to play in promoting certain moral or social values.

While liberalism has had a significant influence on political thought and policy, it is not without its detractors, and there are ongoing debates about the strengths and limitations of the ideology.

In conclusion, liberalism is a political ideology that emphasizes individual rights, liberty, and limited government. It originated in the Enlightenment era and has since become a dominant force in modern political thought.

The core tenets of liberalism include individual rights and liberty, limited government, free markets and free trade, and the rule of law. Liberalism and democracy are often seen as closely related, and liberal principles have played a significant role in shaping modern democratic systems.

However, liberalism has faced various criticisms and challenges over the years, including from rival ideologies such as conservatism and socialism. Despite these criticisms, liberalism remains an influential force in contemporary political discourse, and its ideas continue to shape political systems and policies around the world.

Categorized in:

Share Article:

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Related Articles

What is political theory, and why should we study it, explaining the growth and development of democracy in the twentieth century, compare the theory of natural rights with the marxist theory of rights, discuss the basic principles of rawls theory of justice, other stories, paper i: understanding political theory, discuss how democracy and development are co-related to each other., please enable javascript in your browser to visit this site..

If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website.

If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked.

To log in and use all the features of Khan Academy, please enable JavaScript in your browser.

US government and civics

Course: us government and civics   >   unit 5.

• Ideologies of political parties in the United States

Ideologies of political parties: lesson overview

• Ideologies of political parties

Dominant US ideologies and political parties

Other ideologies and parties, review questions, want to join the conversation.

• Upvote Button navigates to signup page
• Downvote Button navigates to signup page
• Flag Button navigates to signup page

Essay on Political Ideology

Students are often asked to write an essay on Political Ideology in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Political Ideology

What is political ideology.

Political ideology is a set of ideas that explains how society should work. People use these ideas to think about politics and decide what they believe is right or wrong in the world. It’s like a map that guides them to make choices about how to run a country.

Types of Political Ideologies

There are many different political ideologies. Some want less government control, like liberalism. Others, like communism, want more government control to make things equal for everyone. Conservatism likes to keep things as they are, while socialism wants to share wealth more fairly.

Why Political Ideologies Matter

Political ideologies are important because they shape our world. They influence laws, how schools teach, and even what people can say or do. Leaders use them to decide how to govern, and voters use them to choose which leaders they want. Ideologies help people make sense of complex political ideas.

Changing Ideologies

Ideologies can change over time. What was popular many years ago might not be today. For example, ideas about freedom and equality have changed a lot. As the world changes, so do the political beliefs of the people. This means new ideologies can emerge, while old ones may fade away.

250 Words Essay on Political Ideology

Political ideology is like a set of ideas that people have about how a country should be run. Think of it as a big rule book for the government that tells them what they should do and why. Just like we have rules at home or in school, political ideology gives rules to leaders and citizens about the best way to manage a country.

There are many different types of political ideologies, and each one has its own ideas about what’s important. For example, some people believe in freedom above everything else, so they support an ideology called liberalism. Others think that everyone should be equal and help each other, which is a key part of socialism. Then there are those who want to keep traditional ways and resist big changes; they lean towards conservatism.

Political ideologies are important because they help us understand different opinions and why people might disagree on big issues. They shape the decisions that leaders make, like whether to spend more money on schools or on the army. Ideologies also influence how citizens see the world and what they think the future should look like.

Political Ideologies in Action

In real life, political ideologies can be seen in the laws that countries make, the speeches of politicians, and even in everyday discussions between friends and family. They guide how people vote and the kinds of groups or parties they support. Understanding political ideologies can help us make sense of the news and the world around us.

500 Words Essay on Political Ideology

A political ideology is a set of ideas about how a country should be run. Think of it like a game plan for a team, but instead of playing a sport, it’s about leading a country. This plan includes thoughts on what is most important for a country, like freedom, equality, or tradition, and how the government should help achieve these goals.

There are many different political ideologies, but some are more common than others. For example, liberalism is an ideology that values freedom and equality. People who believe in liberalism want everyone to have the same chances in life and often think the government should help make this happen.

Conservatism is another ideology that focuses on keeping traditions and values that have been around for a long time. People who are conservative might not want too many changes too quickly and might believe that solving problems should be left to individuals rather than the government.

Socialism is an ideology that says the wealth of a country should be shared more equally among its people. This might mean the government owns things like factories and hospitals and runs them for the benefit of everyone.

Why Political Ideology Matters

Political ideologies are important because they help shape the rules and laws in a country. They influence how leaders make decisions and how they solve problems. For instance, if a leader believes in socialism, they might make laws that help spread wealth more equally. On the other hand, a leader who believes in conservatism might make laws that keep things the way they are.

Political Ideology in Everyday Life

You might not realize it, but political ideologies can affect everyday life. If your school gets new books or computers, it could be because of the government’s ideology about education. If your parents talk about taxes or healthcare, they’re discussing issues that are deeply connected to political ideologies.

Political Ideology and Democracy

In a democracy, people have the power to choose their leaders and have a say in what the government does. This is where political ideologies come into play. Different leaders have different ideologies, and when people vote, they are choosing the ideology they think is best for their country.

Political ideology is like a map that guides a country’s journey. It affects everything from schools to hospitals, jobs to taxes. Knowing about different political ideologies can help you understand why leaders make certain choices and how those choices can change a country. Just like in a game, it’s important to know the plan, so you can be part of the team that decides the direction your country takes.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Political Globalization
• Essay on Political Economy
• Essay on Political Dynasty

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

11.4 Political Ideologies

Learning objectives.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Identify key ideologies or theories in political philosophy, such as conservatism, liberalism, egalitarianism, socialism, and anarchism.
• Discuss distributive justice within political ideologies.
• Demonstrate how alienation continues to be a problem for workers in modern industrial societies.

When Bernie Sanders, the American senator from Vermont, ran for president of the United States in 2016 as a democratic socialist, he set off an intense debate in the country. What exactly was democratic socialism? This was a debate about political ideologies, or people’s beliefs about how a society should be run. Ideology can shape policies and laws, as the individuals holding office and positions of authority and the people who elect them are often influenced by ideological beliefs. This section looks at some key ideologies that have influenced how people think about their rights and the responsibilities of government.

Distributive Justice

One of the important differences among the ideologies examined below is how they approach the question of distributive justice . Distributive justice can be seen as a moral framework made up of principles that seek to ensure the greatest amount of fairness with respect to distributions of wealth, goods, and services (Olsaretti 2018). However, there is much debate surrounding what amounts to fairness. Is a just society one that provides for its members, allocating resources based on need, or is it one that allows for the greatest amount of personal freedom, even if that means that some members are radically better off than others? Furthermore, given that individuals begin at varying positions of social and economic status, should a society focus on meeting the needs of its disadvantaged members even if that results in an unequal distribution of goods, or should there be as little governmental interference as possible?

It is tempting to see distributive justice as a theoretical moral concern. However, views on what constitute basic needs, what resources should be considered public versus private, and whether or not there should be restrictions on the free market have real, practical ramifications when considered by governing bodies. Given this, it is important to keep in mind the role that principles of distributive justice play in the ideologies discussed below.

Conservatism

Conservativism is a political theory that favors institutions and practices that have demonstrated their value over time and provided sufficient evidence that they are worth preserving and promoting. Conservatism sees the role of government as serving society rather than controlling it and advocates gradual change in the social order, if and when necessary.

Edmund Burke and the French Revolution

Modern conservatism begins with the 18th-century Irish political theorist Edmund Burke (1729–1797), who opposed the French Revolution and whose Reflections on the French Revolution (1790) served as an inspiration for the development of a conservative political philosophy (Viereck et al. 2021). Shocked by the violence of the French Revolution, Burke advocated against radical revolution that destroyed functioning institutions that, though flawed, served a purpose. However, Burke supported the American Revolution because the colonists had already established political institutions, such as courts and administrations, and were taking the next gradual step: asking Britain to let them run these institutions on their own.

Fundamental Principles

Conservatives such as Burke are not opposed to reform, but they are wary of challenges to existing systems that have generally held up well. They believe that any sudden change is likely to lead to instability and greater insecurity. Moreover, conservatives are not against redistribution of resources, especially when it serves to alleviate severe poverty. However, they believe that such actions are best carried out at a local level (as opposed to a state or national level) by those who understand the needs of the individual community. Finally, conservatives are staunch supporters of property rights and oppose any system of reform that challenges them. Property rights serve as a check on governmental power and are seen as an essential part of a stable society (Moseley n.d.). As such, conservatism aligns with some principles of liberalism.

Conservatism maintains that human nature is fundamentally flawed and that we are driven more by selfish desires than by empathy and concern for others. Therefore, it is the job of social institutions such as church and school to teach self-discipline, and it is the job of the government to protect the established, fundamental values of society. Along with this rather Hobbesian view of humankind and belief in the preservation of historical traditions, conservatives believe that weaknesses in institutions and morals will become apparent over time and that they will either be forced to evolve, be discarded, or be gradually reformed (Moseley n.d.).

Liberalism in political philosophy does not have the same meaning as the word liberal in popular American discourse. For Americans, liberal means someone who believes in representative democracy and is politically left of center. For example, liberals generally favor regulating the activities of corporations and providing social welfare programs for the working and middle classes. Liberalism as a political philosophy, however, has quite a different emphasis.

Fundamental Principle of Liberty

British philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) expresses the fundamental principles of liberalism in his work On Liberty (1859), arguing for limited government on the grounds of utility. His interest is in “Civil, or Social Liberty: the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual” (Mill [1869] 2018). In this regard, he defends “one very simple principle,” which is the minimizing of government interference in people’s lives:

The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. . . . The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. (Mill [1869] 2018)

In Mill’s view, real freedom is when people are able to pursue their own individual idea of “the good” in a manner they see fit. Mill’s claim is at the heart of most variants of liberalism.

Positive and Negative Liberty

We are at liberty when we are neither constrained to act nor obligated to refrain from acting in a certain way. At least since Isaiah Berlin’s (1905–1997) “Two Concepts of Liberty” (1958), this sort of liberty has been called negative liberty . Berlin, a British political theorist, suggests that negative liberty is “the area within which a man can act unobstructed by others” (Berlin 1969, 122). Negative liberty in the political realm often refers to the absence of government control over the lives of individuals, or in what we are reasonably able to do without interference. Conversely, Berlin thinks of positive liberty as “the wish on the part of the individual to be his own master” (131). We want our life decisions to depend on ourselves and not on external forces. “I wish to be the instrument of my own, not of other men’s, acts of will,” says Berlin (131). The ability to participate in democratic institutions, for example, is a form of positive liberty.

The Welfare State and Social Justice

Some theorists hold that negative liberty has limits when it comes to how much liberty, in practice, a person has at their disposal. The theory of justice that sees individuals as having claims on resources and care from others is often called welfare liberalism . Such theorists are not in favor of limited government and believe that the well-being of citizens must be a vital component of our agreement to obey a government. American philosopher John Rawls (1921–2002) famously makes this argument in his seminal book A Theory of Justice (1971), in which he attempts to articulate an account of fairness that satisfies our intuition that human freedom and social welfare are both important.

Rawls begins with the idea that society is a system of cooperation for mutual advantage. Given the fact of today’s pluralistic societies, people reasonably disagree about many important issues, which means we must find a way to live peaceably together with our differences and collectively determine our political institutions. In addition, Rawls believes that there are deep inequalities embedded in any basic social structure, which result from the fact that we are all born into different positions and have different expectations of life, largely determined by the political, economic, and social circumstances that attend those positions. Therefore, Rawls says, we must find a way to distance ourselves from our own particular concepts of such ideas as justice, the good, and religion and begin with relatively uncontroversial facts about human psychology and economics. We should then imagine ourselves in an “original position” behind the “ veil of ignorance ”; that is, we should imagine we do not know any facts about our personal circumstances, such as our economic status, our access to education and health services, or whether we have any talents or abilities that would be beneficial to us (Rawls 1999, 11). We also remain ignorant of any social factors such as our gender, race, class, and so forth. Because Rawls assumes that no one wants to live in a society in which they are disadvantaged, operating from this position offers the greatest chance of arranging a society in a way that is as fair and equitable as possible. For instance, we would not support a system that forbade all left-handed individuals from voting because we ourselves might fall into that group.

Rawls argues that two major principles should govern society. First, the “liberty principle” states that each person has an equal right to the same basic, adequate liberties. Basic liberties are liberties such as freedom of speech, freedom to hold property, and freedom of assembly. Second, the “difference principle” states that any social and economic inequalities must satisfy two conditions: (1) they must be attached to offices and positions open to all under conditions of “fair equality of opportunity,” and (2) they must be to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged members of society. Note that Rawls is not advocating for an equal distribution of goods or advantages; rather, he says that any distribution of goods or power that is not equal can further disadvantage already disadvantaged individuals. His goal is to create a society that seeks to address inherent structural inequalities as well as possible (Rawls 1999, 13).

Egalitarianism

Rawls’s theory of justice has much in common with egalitarian theories. The term egalitarianism refers to a broad family of views that gives primary place to equality. The root egal (from the French) means “equal.” Egalitarian theories assert that all individuals should enjoy equal status and moral worth and that any legitimate system of government should reflect this value. More specifically, egalitarian theories do not argue that all individuals should be treated exactly the same; rather, they insist that individuals are all deserving of rights, including civil, social, and political rights.

Some theorists argue that equality of opportunity for welfare, meaning equality of opportunity to obtain resources, is the most important type of equality. In addition to resources, equality of opportunity includes a consideration of how individuals have acquired certain advantages. For example, nepotism (giving opportunities based on familial connections) and biases based on personal traits such as gender or race interfere with an individual’s ability to compete for resources. Any society that seeks a truly level playing field needs to contend with these issues.

One way to examine equality is to look at what individuals are able to do. The Indian economist Amartya Sen popularized a framework now known as the capability approach , which emphasizes the importance of providing resources to match individual need. This approach creates opportunities for each person to pursue what they need to live a flourishing life. An example of the capability approach is basic income, in which a city, state, or country might combat poverty by awarding everyone below a certain income level $1,000 per month.

The capability approach advocates “treating each person as an end” and “focus[ing] on choice and freedom rather than achievements” (Robeyns and Byskov 2021). According to American philosopher Martha Nussbaum (b. 1947), the capability approach would improve both justice outcomes and quality of life. She argues that a certain number of resources are necessary to enjoy a basic set of positive capabilities that all humans possess. Thus, each individual should be provided with those resources so that their life is not “so impoverished that it is not worthy of the dignity of a human being” (Nussbaum 2000, 72). What is beneficial about the capability approach is that it recognizes and respects the diverse needs of individuals based on different experiences and circumstances.

Listen to philosopher Martha Nussbaum discuss how the capabilities approach aids in creating a positive quality of life.

Martha Nussbaum

Rather than look to the individual, the often confused triad of socialism, Marxism, and communism examines inequality from an economic perspective. While socialism and communism both seek to address inequalities in goods and resources, socialism says that goods and resources should be owned and managed by the public and allocated based on the needs of the community rather than controlled solely by the state. A socialist system allows for the ownership of private property while relegating most control over basic resources to the government. Sometimes, as with democratic socialism, this is done through the democratic process, with the result that public resources, such as national parks, libraries, and welfare services, are controlled by a government of elected representatives.

Concepts of Socialism

Critique of capital.

While what are commonly called “Marxist ideals” did not originate solely with Karl Marx , he is responsible for coauthoring perhaps the most famous treatise criticizing capitalism, The Communist Manifesto (1848), and laying out a vision of a yet-unrealized true communist society. As such, it is important to examine his ideas in more detail.

Marx is critical of the private accumulation of capital , which he defines as money and commodities. Stockpiling of capital allows for private accumulation of power. Marx holds that the value of an object is determined by the socially necessary amount of labor used in the production of that object. In a capitalist system, labor is also a commodity, and the worker exchanges their work for a subsistence wage. In Marx’s view, workers’ labor in fact creates surplus value, for which they are not paid and which is claimed by the capitalist. Thus, the worker does not receive full value for their labor.

Marx identifies several kinds of alienation that result from the commodification of labor. To illustrate this, imagine some factory workers who have recently moved to a large city. Prior to the move, they lived in a small village, where they worked as furniture makers. They were responsible for each stage of the production, from imagining the design to obtaining the materials and creating the product. They sold the product and kept the profits of their labor. Now, however, they work on an assembly line, where they are responsible for producing a small part of an overall product. They are alienated both from the product and from their own productive nature because they have no hand in the product’s design and are involved in only a small part of its construction. They begin to see their labor, and by extension themselves, as a commodity to be sold.

The result of selling their labor is that they begin to see others as commodities as well. They begin to identify people not by who they are but by what they have accumulated and their worth as a product. In this way, they become alienated from themselves and from others, seeing them always as potential competition. For Marx, this leads to a sense of despair that is filled with material goods, thus solidifying the worker in their dependence on the capitalist system.

While the idea of negative liberty decries unnecessary government intervention in people’s lives, anarchism literally means “no ruler” or “no government.” The absence of a political authority conjures an image of the state of nature imagined by Thomas Hobbes—that is, a state of chaos. Anarchists, however, believe that disorder comes from government. According to this view, rational individuals mostly desire to live peaceful lives, free of government intervention, and this desire naturally leads them to create societies and institutions built on the principles of self-governance.

Motivations for Anarchism

One defense of anarchism is that governments do things that would be impermissible for private individuals. French philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865) observes that governments monitor citizens’ activities and attempt to control their behavior through force. The more technology governments have, the greater their attempts to control people. Proudhon ([1849] 2012) observes that such treatment is against human dignity.

Proudhonian anarchists are aware of the argument that people may have consented to give up some of their power to the government (as people do in a representative democracy, for example), which means that they must accept the treatment they receive. Yet Proudhon would deny that there is any example in history of a just government. Lysander Spooner (1808–1887), the 19th-century anarchist, says that all governments have come into existence through force and maintain their existence through force (Spooner 1870). Thus, some defend anarchism on the grounds that governments violate human rights.

Limits of Anarchism

Criticisms of anarchy are often twofold. The first is that without an organized police force, society would be unable to control outbreaks of violence. A related concern is that without a judicial system to arbitrate disputes and mete out justice, any resolution would be arbitrary. Anarchists, on the other hand, claim that most incidents of violence are the result of socioeconomic imbalances that would be resolved if the government were dismantled. Social anarchism, for instance, points to community involvement and mutual exchange of goods and services as a solution (Fiala 2021).

Yet some people associate anarchism with political violence, and in fact, some anarchists see violence as an unavoidable result of clashes with a violent and oppressive government. One of the most famous anarchists, Emma Goldman (1869–1940), wrote in her essay “The Psychology of Political Violence,” “Such acts are the violent recoil from violence, whether aggressive or repressive; they are the last desperate struggle of outraged and exasperated human nature for breathing space and life” (1917). However, many anarchists favor nonviolent tactics and civil disobedience, such as protests and the creation of autonomous zones, as opposed to political violence (Fiala 2018).

Anarchism and Feminism

Within anarchism, anarcha-feminism seeks to fight against gendered concepts that create inequity. Traditional gender roles only serve to cement unequal power distribution and further the class divide. Particularly, traditional concepts of women’s role in the domestic sphere mirror the depersonalization of the worker, with the woman seen as an extension of the home and domestic labor, rather than an independent autonomous person. It is worth noting that anarcha-feminism is in direct opposition to Proudhon, who believed that family was an essential aspect of society and that the traditional role of women within the family was necessary for its success (Proudhon 1875).

The author and poet bell hooks believes that the concerns driving anarchism can provide a motivation for current social action. She notes that the gaps between the rich and the poor are widening in the United States and that because of the “feminization of poverty” (by which she means the inequality in living standards due to gender pay disparity), a grassroots radical feminist movement is needed “that can build on the strength of the past, including the positive gains generated by reforms, while offering meaningful interrogation of existing feminist theory that was simply wrongminded while offering us new strategies” (hooks 2000, 43). She sees such a “visionary movement” (43) as grounded in the real-life conditions experienced by working-class and impoverished women.

Feminists historically have had to fight to make space for themselves within anarchist movements. The Spanish female collective Mujeres Libres formed during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) in reaction to what they saw as a dismissal of women’s issues by the anarchist movement. Members of Mujeres Libres sought to support female activists and improve the lives of working-class women through literacy drives, employment programs, and child care facilities in both neighborhoods and factories (Ackelsberg 1985). These and other initiatives that focused on creating opportunities for women helped develop a sense of social engagement and foster a desire for social change.

Table 11.2 summarizes the political ideologies discussed in this chapter.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

This book may not be used in the training of large language models or otherwise be ingested into large language models or generative AI offerings without OpenStax's permission.

Want to cite, share, or modify this book? This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution License and you must attribute OpenStax.

Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/introduction-philosophy/pages/1-introduction

• Authors: Nathan Smith
• Publisher/website: OpenStax
• Book title: Introduction to Philosophy
• Publication date: Jun 15, 2022
• Location: Houston, Texas
• Book URL: https://openstax.org/books/introduction-philosophy/pages/1-introduction
• Section URL: https://openstax.org/books/introduction-philosophy/pages/11-4-political-ideologies

© Dec 19, 2023 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.

• Search Menu
• Browse content in Arts and Humanities
• Browse content in Archaeology
• Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Archaeology
• Archaeological Methodology and Techniques
• Archaeology by Region
• Archaeology of Religion
• Archaeology of Trade and Exchange
• Biblical Archaeology
• Contemporary and Public Archaeology
• Environmental Archaeology
• Historical Archaeology
• History and Theory of Archaeology
• Industrial Archaeology
• Landscape Archaeology
• Mortuary Archaeology
• Prehistoric Archaeology
• Underwater Archaeology
• Urban Archaeology
• Zooarchaeology
• Browse content in Architecture
• Architectural Structure and Design
• History of Architecture
• Residential and Domestic Buildings
• Theory of Architecture
• Browse content in Art
• Art Subjects and Themes
• History of Art
• Industrial and Commercial Art
• Theory of Art
• Biographical Studies
• Byzantine Studies
• Browse content in Classical Studies
• Classical Literature
• Classical Reception
• Classical History
• Classical Philosophy
• Classical Mythology
• Classical Art and Architecture
• Classical Oratory and Rhetoric
• Greek and Roman Papyrology
• Greek and Roman Archaeology
• Greek and Roman Epigraphy
• Greek and Roman Law
• Late Antiquity
• Religion in the Ancient World
• Digital Humanities
• Browse content in History
• Colonialism and Imperialism
• Diplomatic History
• Environmental History
• Genealogy, Heraldry, Names, and Honours
• Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing
• Historical Geography
• History by Period
• History of Emotions
• History of Agriculture
• History of Education
• History of Gender and Sexuality
• Industrial History
• Intellectual History
• International History
• Labour History
• Legal and Constitutional History
• Local and Family History
• Maritime History
• Military History
• National Liberation and Post-Colonialism
• Oral History
• Political History
• Public History
• Regional and National History
• Revolutions and Rebellions
• Slavery and Abolition of Slavery
• Social and Cultural History
• Theory, Methods, and Historiography
• Urban History
• World History
• Browse content in Language Teaching and Learning
• Language Learning (Specific Skills)
• Language Teaching Theory and Methods
• Browse content in Linguistics
• Applied Linguistics
• Cognitive Linguistics
• Computational Linguistics
• Forensic Linguistics
• Grammar, Syntax and Morphology
• Historical and Diachronic Linguistics
• History of English
• Language Evolution
• Language Reference
• Language Variation
• Language Families
• Language Acquisition
• Lexicography
• Linguistic Anthropology
• Linguistic Theories
• Linguistic Typology
• Phonetics and Phonology
• Psycholinguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• Translation and Interpretation
• Writing Systems
• Browse content in Literature
• Bibliography
• Children's Literature Studies
• Literary Studies (Romanticism)
• Literary Studies (American)
• Literary Studies (Modernism)
• Literary Studies (Asian)
• Literary Studies (European)
• Literary Studies (Eco-criticism)
• Literary Studies - World
• Literary Studies (1500 to 1800)
• Literary Studies (19th Century)
• Literary Studies (20th Century onwards)
• Literary Studies (African American Literature)
• Literary Studies (British and Irish)
• Literary Studies (Early and Medieval)
• Literary Studies (Fiction, Novelists, and Prose Writers)
• Literary Studies (Gender Studies)
• Literary Studies (Graphic Novels)
• Literary Studies (History of the Book)
• Literary Studies (Plays and Playwrights)
• Literary Studies (Poetry and Poets)
• Literary Studies (Postcolonial Literature)
• Literary Studies (Queer Studies)
• Literary Studies (Science Fiction)
• Literary Studies (Travel Literature)
• Literary Studies (War Literature)
• Literary Studies (Women's Writing)
• Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
• Mythology and Folklore
• Shakespeare Studies and Criticism
• Browse content in Media Studies
• Browse content in Music
• Applied Music
• Dance and Music
• Ethics in Music
• Ethnomusicology
• Gender and Sexuality in Music
• Medicine and Music
• Music Cultures
• Music and Media
• Music and Culture
• Music and Religion
• Music Education and Pedagogy
• Music Theory and Analysis
• Musical Scores, Lyrics, and Libretti
• Musical Structures, Styles, and Techniques
• Musicology and Music History
• Performance Practice and Studies
• Race and Ethnicity in Music
• Sound Studies
• Browse content in Performing Arts
• Browse content in Philosophy
• Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art
• Epistemology
• Feminist Philosophy
• History of Western Philosophy
• Metaphysics
• Moral Philosophy
• Non-Western Philosophy
• Philosophy of Language
• Philosophy of Mind
• Philosophy of Perception
• Philosophy of Action
• Philosophy of Law
• Philosophy of Religion
• Philosophy of Science
• Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic
• Practical Ethics
• Social and Political Philosophy
• Browse content in Religion
• Biblical Studies
• Christianity
• East Asian Religions
• History of Religion
• Judaism and Jewish Studies
• Qumran Studies
• Religion and Education
• Religion and Health
• Religion and Politics
• Religion and Science
• Religion and Law
• Religion and Art, Literature, and Music
• Religious Studies
• Browse content in Society and Culture
• Cookery, Food, and Drink
• Cultural Studies
• Customs and Traditions
• Ethical Issues and Debates
• Hobbies, Games, Arts and Crafts
• Lifestyle, Home, and Garden
• Natural world, Country Life, and Pets
• Popular Beliefs and Controversial Knowledge
• Sports and Outdoor Recreation
• Technology and Society
• Travel and Holiday
• Visual Culture
• Browse content in Law
• Arbitration
• Browse content in Company and Commercial Law
• Commercial Law
• Company Law
• Browse content in Comparative Law
• Systems of Law
• Competition Law
• Browse content in Constitutional and Administrative Law
• Government Powers
• Judicial Review
• Local Government Law
• Military and Defence Law
• Parliamentary and Legislative Practice
• Construction Law
• Contract Law
• Browse content in Criminal Law
• Criminal Procedure
• Criminal Evidence Law
• Sentencing and Punishment
• Employment and Labour Law
• Environment and Energy Law
• Browse content in Financial Law
• Banking Law
• Insolvency Law
• History of Law
• Human Rights and Immigration
• Intellectual Property Law
• Browse content in International Law
• Private International Law and Conflict of Laws
• Public International Law
• IT and Communications Law
• Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law
• Law and Society
• Law and Politics
• Browse content in Legal System and Practice
• Courts and Procedure
• Legal Skills and Practice
• Primary Sources of Law
• Regulation of Legal Profession
• Medical and Healthcare Law
• Browse content in Policing
• Criminal Investigation and Detection
• Police and Security Services
• Police Procedure and Law
• Police Regional Planning
• Browse content in Property Law
• Personal Property Law
• Study and Revision
• Terrorism and National Security Law
• Browse content in Trusts Law
• Wills and Probate or Succession
• Browse content in Medicine and Health
• Browse content in Allied Health Professions
• Arts Therapies
• Clinical Science
• Dietetics and Nutrition
• Occupational Therapy
• Operating Department Practice
• Physiotherapy
• Radiography
• Speech and Language Therapy
• Browse content in Anaesthetics
• General Anaesthesia
• Neuroanaesthesia
• Clinical Neuroscience
• Browse content in Clinical Medicine
• Acute Medicine
• Cardiovascular Medicine
• Clinical Genetics
• Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
• Dermatology
• Endocrinology and Diabetes
• Gastroenterology
• Genito-urinary Medicine
• Geriatric Medicine
• Infectious Diseases
• Medical Toxicology
• Medical Oncology
• Pain Medicine
• Palliative Medicine
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Respiratory Medicine and Pulmonology
• Rheumatology
• Sleep Medicine
• Sports and Exercise Medicine
• Community Medical Services
• Critical Care
• Emergency Medicine
• Forensic Medicine
• Haematology
• History of Medicine
• Browse content in Medical Skills
• Clinical Skills
• Communication Skills
• Nursing Skills
• Surgical Skills
• Medical Ethics
• Browse content in Medical Dentistry
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Paediatric Dentistry
• Restorative Dentistry and Orthodontics
• Surgical Dentistry
• Medical Statistics and Methodology
• Browse content in Neurology
• Clinical Neurophysiology
• Neuropathology
• Nursing Studies
• Browse content in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• Gynaecology
• Occupational Medicine
• Ophthalmology
• Otolaryngology (ENT)
• Browse content in Paediatrics
• Neonatology
• Browse content in Pathology
• Chemical Pathology
• Clinical Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics
• Histopathology
• Medical Microbiology and Virology
• Patient Education and Information
• Browse content in Pharmacology
• Psychopharmacology
• Browse content in Popular Health
• Caring for Others
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• Self-help and Personal Development
• Browse content in Preclinical Medicine
• Cell Biology
• Molecular Biology and Genetics
• Reproduction, Growth and Development
• Primary Care
• Professional Development in Medicine
• Browse content in Psychiatry
• Addiction Medicine
• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Forensic Psychiatry
• Learning Disabilities
• Old Age Psychiatry
• Psychotherapy
• Browse content in Public Health and Epidemiology
• Epidemiology
• Public Health
• Browse content in Radiology
• Clinical Radiology
• Interventional Radiology
• Nuclear Medicine
• Radiation Oncology
• Reproductive Medicine
• Browse content in Surgery
• Cardiothoracic Surgery
• Gastro-intestinal and Colorectal Surgery
• General Surgery
• Neurosurgery
• Paediatric Surgery
• Peri-operative Care
• Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• Surgical Oncology
• Transplant Surgery
• Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery
• Vascular Surgery
• Browse content in Science and Mathematics
• Browse content in Biological Sciences
• Aquatic Biology
• Biochemistry
• Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
• Developmental Biology
• Ecology and Conservation
• Evolutionary Biology
• Genetics and Genomics
• Microbiology
• Molecular and Cell Biology
• Natural History
• Plant Sciences and Forestry
• Research Methods in Life Sciences
• Structural Biology
• Systems Biology
• Zoology and Animal Sciences
• Browse content in Chemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Computational Chemistry
• Crystallography
• Environmental Chemistry
• Industrial Chemistry
• Inorganic Chemistry
• Materials Chemistry
• Medicinal Chemistry
• Mineralogy and Gems
• Organic Chemistry
• Physical Chemistry
• Polymer Chemistry
• Study and Communication Skills in Chemistry
• Theoretical Chemistry
• Browse content in Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Architecture and Logic Design
• Game Studies
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Mathematical Theory of Computation
• Programming Languages
• Software Engineering
• Systems Analysis and Design
• Virtual Reality
• Browse content in Computing
• Business Applications
• Computer Games
• Computer Security
• Computer Networking and Communications
• Digital Lifestyle
• Graphical and Digital Media Applications
• Operating Systems
• Browse content in Earth Sciences and Geography
• Atmospheric Sciences
• Environmental Geography
• Geology and the Lithosphere
• Maps and Map-making
• Meteorology and Climatology
• Oceanography and Hydrology
• Palaeontology
• Physical Geography and Topography
• Regional Geography
• Soil Science
• Urban Geography
• Browse content in Engineering and Technology
• Agriculture and Farming
• Biological Engineering
• Civil Engineering, Surveying, and Building
• Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Energy Technology
• Engineering (General)
• Environmental Science, Engineering, and Technology
• History of Engineering and Technology
• Mechanical Engineering and Materials
• Technology of Industrial Chemistry
• Transport Technology and Trades
• Browse content in Environmental Science
• Applied Ecology (Environmental Science)
• Conservation of the Environment (Environmental Science)
• Environmental Sustainability
• Environmentalist Thought and Ideology (Environmental Science)
• Management of Land and Natural Resources (Environmental Science)
• Natural Disasters (Environmental Science)
• Nuclear Issues (Environmental Science)
• Pollution and Threats to the Environment (Environmental Science)
• Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Environmental Science)
• History of Science and Technology
• Browse content in Materials Science
• Ceramics and Glasses
• Composite Materials
• Metals, Alloying, and Corrosion
• Nanotechnology
• Browse content in Mathematics
• Applied Mathematics
• Biomathematics and Statistics
• History of Mathematics
• Mathematical Education
• Mathematical Finance
• Mathematical Analysis
• Numerical and Computational Mathematics
• Probability and Statistics
• Pure Mathematics
• Browse content in Neuroscience
• Cognition and Behavioural Neuroscience
• Development of the Nervous System
• Disorders of the Nervous System
• History of Neuroscience
• Invertebrate Neurobiology
• Molecular and Cellular Systems
• Neuroendocrinology and Autonomic Nervous System
• Neuroscientific Techniques
• Sensory and Motor Systems
• Browse content in Physics
• Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
• Biological and Medical Physics
• Classical Mechanics
• Computational Physics
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Electromagnetism, Optics, and Acoustics
• History of Physics
• Mathematical and Statistical Physics
• Measurement Science
• Nuclear Physics
• Particles and Fields
• Plasma Physics
• Quantum Physics
• Relativity and Gravitation
• Semiconductor and Mesoscopic Physics
• Browse content in Psychology
• Affective Sciences
• Clinical Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Criminal and Forensic Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Evolutionary Psychology
• Health Psychology
• History and Systems in Psychology
• Music Psychology
• Neuropsychology
• Organizational Psychology
• Psychological Assessment and Testing
• Psychology of Human-Technology Interaction
• Psychology Professional Development and Training
• Research Methods in Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Browse content in Social Sciences
• Browse content in Anthropology
• Anthropology of Religion
• Human Evolution
• Medical Anthropology
• Physical Anthropology
• Regional Anthropology
• Social and Cultural Anthropology
• Theory and Practice of Anthropology
• Browse content in Business and Management
• Business Ethics
• Business History
• Business Strategy
• Business and Technology
• Business and Government
• Business and the Environment
• Comparative Management
• Corporate Governance
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Entrepreneurship
• Health Management
• Human Resource Management
• Industrial and Employment Relations
• Industry Studies
• Information and Communication Technologies
• International Business
• Knowledge Management
• Management and Management Techniques
• Operations Management
• Organizational Theory and Behaviour
• Pensions and Pension Management
• Public and Nonprofit Management
• Strategic Management
• Supply Chain Management
• Browse content in Criminology and Criminal Justice
• Criminal Justice
• Criminology
• Forms of Crime
• International and Comparative Criminology
• Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
• Development Studies
• Browse content in Economics
• Agricultural, Environmental, and Natural Resource Economics
• Asian Economics
• Behavioural Finance
• Behavioural Economics and Neuroeconomics
• Econometrics and Mathematical Economics
• Economic History
• Economic Methodology
• Economic Systems
• Economic Development and Growth
• Financial Markets
• Financial Institutions and Services
• General Economics and Teaching
• Health, Education, and Welfare
• History of Economic Thought
• International Economics
• Labour and Demographic Economics
• Law and Economics
• Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics
• Microeconomics
• Public Economics
• Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics
• Welfare Economics
• Browse content in Education
• Adult Education and Continuous Learning
• Care and Counselling of Students
• Early Childhood and Elementary Education
• Educational Equipment and Technology
• Educational Strategies and Policy
• Higher and Further Education
• Organization and Management of Education
• Philosophy and Theory of Education
• Schools Studies
• Secondary Education
• Teaching of a Specific Subject
• Teaching of Specific Groups and Special Educational Needs
• Teaching Skills and Techniques
• Browse content in Environment
• Applied Ecology (Social Science)
• Climate Change
• Conservation of the Environment (Social Science)
• Environmentalist Thought and Ideology (Social Science)
• Natural Disasters (Environment)
• Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Social Science)
• Browse content in Human Geography
• Cultural Geography
• Economic Geography
• Political Geography
• Browse content in Interdisciplinary Studies
• Communication Studies
• Museums, Libraries, and Information Sciences
• Browse content in Politics
• African Politics
• Asian Politics
• Chinese Politics
• Comparative Politics
• Conflict Politics
• Elections and Electoral Studies
• Environmental Politics
• European Union
• Foreign Policy
• Gender and Politics
• Human Rights and Politics
• Indian Politics
• International Relations
• International Organization (Politics)
• International Political Economy
• Irish Politics
• Latin American Politics
• Middle Eastern Politics
• Political Behaviour
• Political Economy
• Political Institutions
• Political Theory
• Political Methodology
• Political Communication
• Political Philosophy
• Political Sociology
• Politics and Law
• Public Policy
• Public Administration
• Quantitative Political Methodology
• Regional Political Studies
• Russian Politics
• Security Studies
• State and Local Government
• UK Politics
• US Politics
• Browse content in Regional and Area Studies
• African Studies
• Asian Studies
• East Asian Studies
• Japanese Studies
• Latin American Studies
• Middle Eastern Studies
• Native American Studies
• Scottish Studies
• Browse content in Research and Information
• Research Methods
• Browse content in Social Work
• Addictions and Substance Misuse
• Adoption and Fostering
• Care of the Elderly
• Child and Adolescent Social Work
• Couple and Family Social Work
• Developmental and Physical Disabilities Social Work
• Direct Practice and Clinical Social Work
• Emergency Services
• Human Behaviour and the Social Environment
• International and Global Issues in Social Work
• Mental and Behavioural Health
• Social Justice and Human Rights
• Social Policy and Advocacy
• Social Work and Crime and Justice
• Social Work Macro Practice
• Social Work Practice Settings
• Social Work Research and Evidence-based Practice
• Welfare and Benefit Systems
• Browse content in Sociology
• Childhood Studies
• Community Development
• Comparative and Historical Sociology
• Economic Sociology
• Gender and Sexuality
• Gerontology and Ageing
• Health, Illness, and Medicine
• Marriage and the Family
• Migration Studies
• Occupations, Professions, and Work
• Organizations
• Population and Demography
• Race and Ethnicity
• Social Theory
• Social Movements and Social Change
• Social Research and Statistics
• Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility
• Sociology of Religion
• Sociology of Education
• Sport and Leisure
• Urban and Rural Studies
• Browse content in Warfare and Defence
• Defence Strategy, Planning, and Research
• Land Forces and Warfare
• Military Administration
• Military Life and Institutions
• Naval Forces and Warfare
• Other Warfare and Defence Issues
• Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution
• Weapons and Equipment

Liberalism as Ideology: Essays in Honour of Michael Freeden

• Cite Icon Cite
• Permissions Icon Permissions

Liberalism is the dominant ideology of our time, yet its character remains the subject of intense scholarly and political controversy. Debates about the liberal political tradition — about its history, its central philosophical commitments, its implications for political practice — lie at the very heart of the discipline of political theory. Many outstanding political theorists have contributed to the growing sophistication of these debates in recent years, but the original voice of Michael Freeden deserves particular attention. In the course of a body of work that spans over thirty years, Freeden's iconoclastic contributions have posed important challenges to the dominant understandings of liberal ideology, history, and theory. Such work has sought to redefine the very essence of what it is to be a liberal. This book brings together an international group of historians, philosophers, and political scientists to evaluate the impact of Freeden's work and to reassess its central claims.

Signed in as

Institutional accounts.

• GoogleCrawler [DO NOT DELETE]
• Google Scholar Indexing

Personal account

• Sign in with email/username & password
• Get email alerts
• Save searches
• Purchase content
• Activate your purchase/trial code

Institutional access

• Sign in with a library card Sign in with username/password Recommend to your librarian
• Institutional account management
• Get help with access

Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:

IP based access

Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.

Sign in through your institution

Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.

• Click Sign in through your institution.
• Select your institution from the list provided, which will take you to your institution's website to sign in.
• When on the institution site, please use the credentials provided by your institution. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.
• Following successful sign in, you will be returned to Oxford Academic.

If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.

Sign in with a library card

Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.

Society Members

Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:

Sign in through society site

Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:

• Click Sign in through society site.
• When on the society site, please use the credentials provided by that society. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.

If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.

Sign in using a personal account

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.

A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.

Viewing your signed in accounts

Click the account icon in the top right to:

• View your signed in personal account and access account management features.
• View the institutional accounts that are providing access.

Signed in but can't access content

Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.

For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.

Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.

• About Oxford Academic
• Publish journals with us
• University press partners
• What we publish
• New features  
• Open access
• Rights and permissions
• Accessibility
• Advertising
• Media enquiries
• Oxford University Press
• Oxford Languages
• University of Oxford

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide

• Copyright © 2024 Oxford University Press
• Cookie settings
• Cookie policy
• Privacy policy
• Legal notice

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

• 1(877)219-7556 1(877)733-3925

Fully unique works only

Your privacy is our concern

Writing that is plagiarism free

Free Political Ideology Essay Sample

Political ideology can be defined as a set of rules, regulations, values or beliefs that are held by a particular individual or group of individuals that defines or rather sets the standards on how the society should behave and present a guideline for a certain social order. With this in mind, it is therefore important to state that every person in the society belongs or holds in his or her life some form of ideologies (political) whose base defines the way he or she desires to view the society as a whole, thus meeting their expectations of in the society. There are different political ideologies that exist across the globe. However, the most common political ideologies that are well known in the contemporary society are liberalism and conservatism. Notably, most people in the current world belong either to conservatism or liberalism. Thus, as an individual, I belong to middle conservatism.

Consequently, there are general issues that are considered as important when one holds the conservative political ideology. To begin with, conservatism promotes the existence of traditional social institutions with a minimal support for changes in these institutions. As a result, conservatism argues that instead of imposing drastic or abrupt changes on social structures, this should be done gradually (Vincent 56). It is also important to note that there are various forms of conservatism that have been exhibited in the society. More so, whereas different types of conservatism are similar in character, they have variant area of focus. In other words, whereas they propose that the society should maintain traditional structures, they are persistent in certain areas than in others. For instance, some forms of conservatism focus more on religion than on any other area of social perspectives.

As a middle conservative, there are certain values that I believe are most important in the society. Among the first values that are important in the society include the power of choice and equality. Whereas there are many instances in which individuals in the society cannot be equal in any way, this does not eliminate the need to promote equality in the society. As a result, some of the values that promote equality that should be encouraged include the creation of a society where all people are given an equal access to life opportunities such education and employment (Krugman 2010). Equally, there should be a promotion of equal treatment of different races in the society, without any race being subjected to special treatment while ignoring the other race. Looking at it from another perspective, people in the society should be treated with equality by the rule of law. In this respect, there should be no one in the society who is treated with a certain scale of the rule of law while the other is treated otherwise.

Another conservative value that is promoted in the society is the power of choice. Different societies across the globe have continued to face a lot of challenges in regard to how people should make their choices in the society. However, humanity should recognize the power that lies in making of choices in the society (Gray 2010). With this in mind, whereas the government is an important part of the society, it should not in any way coerce its decisions on its citizens. Instead, the government should lay down the necessary policies and allow people to make their own choices without being influenced in any way. However, in as much as this should be the case, individuals need to be reminded on the consequences of making wrong choices in their daily lives. Some of these choices include a warped future and punishment from the existing government.

The issue of conservatism has continued to play an important in the US politics. In reference to this point, the question of taxes in the United States has caused a lot of contention between conservatives and liberals. According to the New York Times' Krugman (2010), there is a push by the Republicans who are generally conservatives and some conservative Democrats to maintain the Bush administration tax policies that benefit the middle class in the American society and thus promote equality by lowering the margin between the rich and the middle class. Whereas there has been an outcry from other quotas of the American government in regard to maintaining these tax cuts due to their cost to budget deficits, the proponents of these tax cuts are adamant and unwilling to change.

On the other hand, the freedom of choice is an important aspect of the conservatism. In line with this, one of the issue that has raised a lot of arguments in the recent times in the United States regards the health care financial system, whereby the government have been working on getting a government-supported healthcare system instead of allowing Americans to make their own choices in regard to what they want for themselves in terms of healthcare. According to Gray (2010), the American Legislative Exchange Council's Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act ensures a person's right to pay directly for medical care thus enabling Americans to make their own choices. Note that American Legislative Exchange Council is a conservative body.

In summation, it can be argued that conservatism entail the ability of the society to maintain traditional societal structures as opposed to embracing drastic and abrupt changes in these structures. On the other hand, conservatism promotes the power of choice whereby a person or the society as a whole embraces the ability to make a choice rather than being forced to accept certain issues in the society. In addition to this, conservatism also encourages equality, with an inclination towards equality in opportunities and exercising of the rule of law. Following these points, it can be concluded that conservatism plays an important role in the American society.

Have NO Inspiration to write your essay?

Ask for Professional help

Search Free Essay

Please note!

Some text in the modal.

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Guest Essay

Trump’s Backers Are Determined Not to Blow It This Time Around

By Thomas B. Edsall

Mr. Edsall contributes a weekly column from Washington, D.C., on politics, demographics and inequality.

In a rare display of unity, more than 100 conservative tax-exempt organizations have joined forces in support of Donald Trump and the MAGA agenda, forming a $2 billion-plus political machine.

Together, these organizations are constructing a detailed postelection agenda, lining up prospective appointees and backing Trump in his legal battles.

Most of the work performed by these nonprofit groups is conducted behind closed doors. Unlike traditional political organizations, these groups do not disclose their donors and must reveal only minimal information on expenditures. In many cases, even this minimal information will not be available until after the 2024 election.

Nonprofits like these are able to maintain a cloak of secrecy by positioning themselves as charitable organizations under section 501(c)(3 ) of the tax code or as social welfare organizations under section 501(c)(4 ).

Not only are these tax-exempt organizations attractive to large contributors who want to keep their roles secret; 501(c)(3) groups have an added benefit: Donors can deduct their gifts from their taxable incomes.

The benefits don’t end there. The minimal reporting requirements imposed on political nonprofits lend themselves to self-dealing, particularly the payment of high salaries and consulting fees, and the award of contracts to for-profit companies owned by executives of the charitable groups.

“The growth of these groups is largely flying under the radar,” Sean Westwood , a political scientist at Dartmouth, wrote by email in response to my inquiry. “This level of coordination is unprecedented.”

Theda Skocpol , a professor of government and sociology at Harvard, replying by email to my inquiry, wrote, “These are detailed plans to take full control of various federal departments and agencies from the very start and to use every power available to implement radical ethnonationalist regulations and action plans.”

This activity, Skocpol continued, amounts to a “full prep for an authoritarian takeover, buttressed by the control Trump and Trumpists now have over the G.O.P. and its apparatuses.”

In this drive by the right to shape policy, should Trump win, there are basically three power centers.

The first is made up of groups pieced together by Leonard Leo , a co-chairman of the Federalist Society, renowned for his role in the conservative takeover of the Supreme Court and of many key posts in the federal and state judiciaries.

If cash is the measure, Leo is the heavyweight champion. Two years ago, my Times colleagues Kenneth P. Vogel and Shane Goldmacher disclosed that a little-known Chicago billionaire, Barre Seid , who made his fortune manufacturing electronic equipment, turned $1.6 billion over to the Marble Freedom Trust , a tax-exempt organization created by Leo in 2021, helping to turn it into a powerhouse.

The second nexus of right-wing tax-exempt groups is the alliance clustered on Capitol Hill around the intersection of Third Street Southeast and Independence Avenue — offices and townhouses that fashion themselves as Patriots’ Row .

Former Trump campaign aides, lawyers and executive appointees, including Mark Meadows , Stephen Miller , Edward Corrigan and Cleta Mitchell , run these organizations. After Trump was defeated in 2020, the cash flow to these groups surged.

The third center is coordinated by the Heritage Foundation , which, under the leadership of Kevin D. Roberts , who assumed its presidency in 2021, has become a committed ally of the MAGA movement.

Heritage, in turn, has created Project 2025 in preparation for a potential Trump victory in November. In a statement of purpose, the project declared:

It is not enough for conservatives to win elections. If we are going to rescue the country from the grip of the radical left, we need both a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on Day 1 of the next conservative administration.

There are more than 100 members of Project 2025, and they include not only most of the Patriots’ Row groups but also much of the Christian right and the anti-abortion movement.

In the view of Lawrence Rosenthal , the chairman and founder of the Berkeley Center for Right-Wing Studies, the convergence of so many conservative organizations leading up to the 2024 election marks a reconciliation, albeit partial, between the two major wings of the Republican Party: the more traditional market fundamentalists and the populist nationalists.

“In 2024,” Rosenthal wrote by email,

the free-market fundamentalists are making their peace on a more basic level than simply tax cuts. Their historic long-term goal — rolling back the federal government to pre-New Deal levels — corresponds to the nationalists’ goal of “deconstruction of the administrative state.” This is what the likes of the now thoroughly MAGA-fied Heritage Foundation is putting together. Recasting the administrative state as the “deep state,” a veritable launchpad for conspiracy-mongering innuendo, easily brings the populists along for the ride despite a “What’s the Matter With Kansas”-like abandonment of their own economic interests on the part of a sector of the population particularly dependent on the range of targets like Social Security and Medicare that the administrative-state deconstructors have in their sights. In return the populists are seeing avatars of Christian nationalism in unprecedented roles of political power — to wit, the current speaker of the House.

The populist-nationalist wing has an agenda that “goes beyond what the free-market fundamentalists have had in mind,” Rosenthal continued:

The model here is by now explicitly Orbanism in Hungary — what Viktor Orban personally dubbed “illiberal democracy.” By now, MAGA at all levels — CPAC, media, Congress, Trump himself — has explicitly embraced Orban. Illiberal regimes claim legitimacy through elections but systematically curtail civil liberties and checks and balances, structurally recasting political institutions so as to make their being voted out of office almost unrealizable.

The centerpiece of Leo’s empire of right-wing groups is the Marble Freedom Trust. The trust described its mission in a 2022 report to the I.R.S.: “To maintain and expand human freedom consistent with the values and ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.”

In 2016, according to an April 2023 I.R.S. complaint against Leo filed by the Campaign for Accountability , a liberal reform advocacy group, Leo created a consulting company, BH Group, and in 2020 acquired a major ownership interest in CRC Advisors . Both are for-profit entities based in Virginia.

The Campaign for Accountability’s complaint alleges that “Leo-affiliated nonprofits” paid BH Group and CRC Advisors a total of $50.3 million from 2016 to 2020. During this period, according to the complaint, Leo’s lifestyle changed:

In August 2018, he paid off the 30-year mortgage on the McLean, Va., home, most of which was still outstanding on the payoff date. Later that same year, Leonard Leo bought a $3.3 million summer home with 11 bedrooms in Mount Desert, an affluent seaside village on the coast of Maine, using, in part, a 20-year mortgage of $2,310,000. Leonard Leo paid off the entire balance of that mortgage just one year later in July 2019. In September 2021, Leonard Leo bought a second home in Mount Desert for $1.65 million.

The complaint was based partly on a March 2023 Politico story by Heidi Przybyla. She wrote that her “investigation, based on dozens of financial, property and public records dating from 2000 to 2021, found that Leo’s lifestyle took a lavish turn beginning in 2016,” citing Leo’s purchases of the Maine properties, along with “four new cars, private school tuition for his children, hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to Catholic causes and a wine locker at Morton’s Steakhouse.”

In October 2023, Przybyla disclosed (also in Politico ) that Leo was refusing to cooperate with an investigation by Brian Schwalb , the attorney general for the District of Columbia, “for potentially misusing nonprofit tax laws for personal enrichment.”

In a study covering more recent data , Accountable US , another liberal reform group, reported that from 2020, when Leo acquired a share of CRC Advisors, to 2022, seven “groups with immediate ties to Leo’s network have made payments totaling at least $69.77 million to CRC Advisors.”

Those figures were confirmed by Bloomberg’s Emily Birnbaum , who reported that “the sums paid to CRC Advisors by seven nonprofit groups have doubled since Leo came aboard as co-owner and chairman in 2020.”

Leo defended the payments, telling Bloomberg that criticism of the money flowing to CRC Advisors is “baseless” and that CRC performs high-quality work. “CRC Advisors employs nearly 100 best-in-class professionals that put its clients’ money to work,” he told Bloomberg.

In the drive to set the stage for a future Trump administration, the second conservative power center is dominated by the Conservative Partnership Institute , which coordinates its own pro-Trump network.

From 2018 to 2020, the Conservative Partnership was a minor player in Washington’s right-wing community. In that period, according to its 990 report to the I.R.S., its revenues totaled $16.9 million. In the next two years, donations shot up to $80.7 million.

Seven executives at the partnership in 2022 made in excess of $300,000 a year, topped by Meadows, Trump’s last White House chief of staff, whose annual compensation at the Conservative Partnership totaled $889,687 in 2022.

The Conservative Partnership and allied groups do not disclose donors, and none of the data on how much they raised and spent in 2023 and 2024 — or the identities of grant recipients — will be available before Nov. 5, 2024, Election Day.

The Conservative Partnership, like many of its sister groups, filed its 990 reports to the I.R.S. for 2020, 2021 and 2022 on Nov. 15 of each following year. If that pattern continues, its reports covering 2023 and 2024 will not be filed until Nov. 15 of the next year.

The partnership lists its address as 300 Independence Avenue Southeast in Washington, a three-story office building on Patriots’ Row that was originally the German-American Building Association.

Groups using the same mailing address include the Center for Renewing America (“God, country and community are at the heart of this agenda”), the Election Integrity Network (“Conservative leaders, organizations, public officials and citizens dedicated to securing the legality of every American vote”), Compass Legal Group , American Creative Network (“We will redefine the future of media-related conservative collaboration”), the American Accountability Foundation (“Exposing the truth behind the people and policies of the Biden administration that threaten the freedoms of the American people”), America First Legal (“Fighting back against lawless executive actions and the radical left”), Citizens for Renewing America and Citizens for Sanity (“To defeat ‘wokeism’ and anti-critical-thinking ideologies that have permeated every sector of our country”).

Since it was formed in 2020, Stephen Miller’s America First Legal foundation has been a case study in rapid growth. In its first year, it raised $6.4 million. In 2021 this rose to $44.4 million and to $50.8 million in 2022.

America First lawyers wrote two of the amicus briefs arguing to the Supreme Court that Trump should be restored to Colorado’s ballot . In one of the briefs , America First defended Trump’s actions and language on Jan. 6, 2021:

President Trump did not “engage in” insurrection. To engage in something is to take an active, personal role in it. Comparisons in modern language abound. When news emerges that nations have “engaged in military exercises,” one expects to read that “ships and planes” have been deployed, not tweets or press releases. Similarly, if someone has been described as “engaging in violence,” one expects that the person being spoken about has himself used force on another — not that he has issued some taunt about force undertaken by a third party. Engaging in a matter and remarking publicly about it are not the same, even with matters as weighty as wars or insurrections.

While the Heritage Foundation had relatively modest revenues of $95.1 million in 2022, according to its I.R.S. filing , its Project 2025 has become an anchor of the MAGA movement.

Trump has said he does not feel bound to accept all of the Project 2025 proposals, but the weight of institutional support from the right and Trump’s lack of interest in detailed planning suggest that those proposals may well shape much of the agenda in the event of a Trump victory.

The authors of Project 2025 want to avoid a repetition of 2017, when Trump took office with scant planning and little notion of who should be appointed to key positions.

Spencer Chretien , an associate director of Project 2025, put this concern delicately in a January 2023 essay published by The American Conservative , pointedly avoiding any criticism of Trump:

In November 2016, American conservatives stood on the verge of greatness. The election of Donald Trump to the presidency was a triumph that offered the best chance to reverse the left’s incessant march of progress for its own sake. Many of the best accomplishments, though, happened only in the last year of the Trump administration, after our political appointees had finally figured out the policies and process of different agencies, and after the right personnel were finally in place.

One function of the project is to put as much ideological muscle as possible behind Trump to ensure that if he wins the White House again, he does not wander afield.

From the vantage point of the right, that muscle is impressive, ranging from Oren Cass’s populist American Compass to Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America , from the tradition-minded American Conservative to the Independent Women’s Forum .

In the foreword to the project’s nearly 1,000-page description of its 2025 agenda, “ Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise ,” Roberts, the president of Heritage, wrote:

This book is the work of the entire conservative movement. As such, the authors express consensus recommendations already forged, especially along four broad fronts that will decide America’s future: 1. Restore the family as the centerpiece of American life and protect our children. 2. Dismantle the administrative state and return self-governance to the American people. 3. Defend our nation’s sovereignty, borders and bounty against global threats. 4. Secure our God-given individual rights to live freely — what our Constitution calls “the blessings of liberty.”

Perhaps the most impressive part of Project 2025 is the detailed and ideologically infused discussion of virtually every federal department and agency, all guided by the goal of instituting conservative policies.

Take the 53-page chapter, including 87 footnotes, focused on the Department of Health and Human Services, written by Roger Severino , the vice president for domestic policy at Heritage. The top priority of the department in January 2025, he wrote, must be “protecting life, conscience and bodily integrity.” The secretary “must ensure that all H.H.S. programs and activities are rooted in a deep respect for innocent human life from Day 1 until natural death: Abortion and euthanasia are not health care.”

Going deeper, Severino contended that the department must flatly reject “harmful identity politics that replaces biological sex with subjective notions of ‘gender identity’ and bases a person’s worth on his or her race, sex or other identities. This destructive dogma, under the guise of ‘equity,’ threatens American’s fundamental liberties as well as the health and well-being of children and adults alike.”

Severino did not stop there. In his view, the department must be in the business of “promoting stable and flourishing married families” because “in the overwhelming number of cases, fathers insulate children from physical and sexual abuse, financial difficulty or poverty, incarceration, teen pregnancy, poor educational outcomes, high school failure and a host of behavioral and psychological problems.”

Regarding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Severino’s analysis:

By statute or regulation, C.D.C. guidance must be prohibited from taking on a prescriptive character. For example, never again should C.D.C. officials be allowed to say in their official capacity that schoolchildren “should be” masked or vaccinated or prohibited from learning in a school building. Such decisions should be left to parents and medical providers.

At the start of the book, Paul Dans , the executive director of Project 2025, pointedly wrote that “it’s not 1980,” when Heritage produced the first “Mandate for Leadership” to guide the incoming administration of Ronald Reagan. Instead, Dans argued, the United States in 2024 is at an apocalyptic moment:

The game has changed. The long march of cultural Marxism through our institutions has come to pass. The federal government is a behemoth, weaponized against American citizens and conservative values, with freedom and liberty under siege as never before. The task at hand to reverse this tide and restore our republic to its original moorings is too great for any one conservative policy shop to spearhead. It requires the collective action of our movement. With the quickening approach of January 2025, we have one chance to get it right.

This time, the conservative movement plans to exercise maximum surveillance over an incoming Trump administration. In other words, there will be no kidding around.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here's our email: [email protected] .

Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , WhatsApp , X and Threads .

An earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of an associate director of Project 2025. He is Spencer Chretien, not Chretian.

How we handle corrections

Thomas B. Edsall has been a contributor to the Times Opinion section since 2011. His column on strategic and demographic trends in American politics appears every Wednesday. He previously covered politics for The Washington Post. @ edsall

Home — Essay Samples — Government & Politics — Political Ideology — A Comparison Of Political Philosophy And Political Ideology 

A Comparison of Political Philosophy and Political Ideology 

• Categories: Political Ideology Political Participation Political Philosophy

About this sample

Words: 701 |

Published: May 31, 2021

Words: 701 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, the meaning of political philosophy and political ideology, the nature of political philosophy and ideology, the functions of political philosophy and ideology.

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Verified writer

• Expert in: Government & Politics Philosophy

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

1 pages / 666 words

1 pages / 513 words

1 pages / 467 words

1 pages / 480 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Political Ideology

Mannheim, Karl. Ideology and Utopia. Routledge, 1991.Marx, Karl. 'A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy.' Marxists Internet Archive, 1859, [...]

In George Orwell's novel Animal Farm, fear is a dominant and pervasive force that shapes the actions and behaviors of the animals. The animals' constant fear of Jones and the subsequent manipulation by the ruling pigs [...]

From the dawn of human history, cultures have always collided, leading to both conflict and innovation. The collision of cultures is a phenomenon that has shaped societies around the world, influencing everything from art and [...]

In the intricate mosaic that composes the United States Constitution, the First Amendment emerges as a foundational stone, enshrining the liberties that define the democratic ethos of the nation. More than just a legal [...]

The Mauryan Empire, one of the most powerful empires in ancient India, played a significant role in the spread and development of Buddhism. As Buddhism began to gain popularity during this time, Emperor Ashoka, a devout follower [...]

I’d be lying if I said my parents didn’t influence my political ideology. I believe any young man or woman our age would be lying if they said that their parents didn’t have any sort of influence on their political ideologies. [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free