CENTRE FOR LANGUAGE STUDIES

PBI 1032: ACADEMIC READING AND WRITING

SEMESTER 1 2013-2014

ASSIGNMENT 1

INFORMATION REPORT (25%)

TITLE OF ESSAY

Major Political Ideologies

ARW Group No

Instructor

Mr. Chuah Kee Man

No

Name of Student

Matric Number

Emir Farhan Fadzli Bin Mohamad Nasir

35960

Assignment deadline

24 April 2014

Assignment submitted on

24 April 2014

OVERALL SCORE: ________/ 25%

Signature

Major Political Ideologies

Ideologies term combines two Greek roots, eidos for knowledge and logos for word.
Literally, ideology means word of knowledge. An ideology is a system of values and beliefs
about the multiple institutions and process of society that is adopted as fact or truth by a
bunch of people (Sargent, 2009). Social ideology in instance, satisfies many basic human
needs by telling us how to meet them. As in political ideologies, it provides inspiration to
bring some governments into power and throws others out of power. This happens because,
ideology defines a particular political system, or a program of social action as legitimate and
worthy support. Political ideology is a form of thought that presents a pattern of complex
political ideas simply and in manner that inspires action to achieve certain goals (Skidmore,
1993). Nowadays, there are many ideologies implemented around the world but there are
three major political ideologies implemented globally (Refer to Figure 1).
The first major political ideology is liberalism. The name liberalism came from the
Latin word liber which means free or liberty. This will be enough to provide the ideas
behind what is actually liberalism. The idea of liberalism contends that society should be as
free as possible from government interference. An American scholar once stated that
government is best which governs least (Thoreau, 1849, p. 3). Liberalism is the idea of
where the new middle class grew to the position of political mastery (Laski as cited in
Eccleshall et al.,2003). Expressly liberalism is unique among ideology as it applies to all
persons regardless of race, class, religion, ethnicity or language. It is addressed to every
human being in the world as an individual and nothing else (Manning as cited in Skidmore,
1993, p.38). In politics, liberalism refers to some values such as the commitment to individual
freedom, an opposition to the role of military in politics, and a support of the welfare state.
Liberalism as political philosophy originated in the 17th century with a challenge to the
divine right theory of state which argues the claim that the monarch ruled by gift from god.
People who are influenced by the idea of liberalism at that time attempt to find the best ways
to limit the power of the state and maximise the rights of the individual. John Locke was the
early exponent of the liberal idea. He contends that individuals have been blessed with a lot
of rights, among these are life, liberty, and property and that it was the governments duty to
protect all of these rights, and the individual therefore had strong claims against the
government, including the right of revolution if the government failed in its protective
functions. Liberalism in the twentieth century was popularized by the United States. This
claims can be proven from the speech of John F. Kennedy in 1960 accepting the nomination

of New York Liberal Party defined what was then seen as liberalism by saying if by a
liberal they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someones who welcomes new
ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people- their
health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil libertiessomeone who believes that we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in
our policies abroad, if that what they mean by a liberal, then Im proud to say that Im a
liberal (Sargent, 2009, p. 141). On the other hand, in British politics environment,
Eccleshall (as cited in Leach, 1991) goes as far as to say There is a sense in which it is not
misleading to suggest that the disintegration of the Liberal Party signifies the triumph of
liberalism (Leach, 1991, p. 85). He points out that liberalism has been vulnerable to
ideological pillage from its inception , and concludes that if liberalism is now vague, this is
due to so many of its assumptions and aspirations have penetrated political practice and the
present consciousness.
Another major political ideology is the conservatism. Like the word liberalism
which its root word is liberty, the word conservatism rooting from the word conserve.
Skidmore (1993) claimed that conservatisms aim in general is to conserve; it tends to resist
transformation where conservatives generally see state or society as an organic whole which
composed not only of the current population, but as well from the people the past and future
where best to conclude this conservatives reject liberal individualism. Edmund Burke (17291797) is best known as the founder of modern conservatism (Sargent, 2009). He is most
noted for his emphasis on tradition which put him as a man with the ideology of
conservatism. In his work, Reflections on The French Revolution (1790), he argues that
society is a complex web of relationship among the past, present and future. He then argues
that social institutions evolve slowly over time to meet the needs and requirements that,
therefore, interferes with the tradition might bring sorrow and not improving. Cecil (as cited
in Freeden, 1996) believes that French Revolution brought conservatism into existence which
until 1790 there was not a definite Conservative Party nor even anything resembling a
consciously held body of conservative doctrine. The major characteritics that can be seen in
any conservatives is that they are resistance to changes. This characteristic leads to the belief
of any conservatives that something that has proven worked, is preferable than something that
is unusual and never been tried into implementation. Conservatives are also known for their
tribute for tradition including tradition in moral standards, tradition in religion but with a few
exceptions, and the thought and belief that of any institution that serve the longest is best to

be preserved. This is because conservatives trust tradition more than reason in which they
believe that tradition is the accumulated wisdom of past generations and it is the only solution
in improving humanity. Conservatives also believes that governments power should be
reduced, and individuals should make their own way in the world. The existence of
conservatism can still be seen today through the existence of Conservative Party in America
and Britain. Sargent (2009) also claimed that Rev. Jerry Falwell (1933-2007) changed the
Evangelical Christianity which before this not been involved in politics by founding the
Moral Majority as an explicitly political movement, to support conservative social causes,
particularly regarding abortion, the family, national defense and Israel.
The third ideology is democracy. The term democracy roots from two Greek words
which is demos which means people and kratos that means rule (Sargent, 2009). Thus,
we can simply conclude that democracy literally means rule by the people. Freeden (1996)
claimed that democracy is the idea of fairness, that is, equal rights for all members of society,
and this limits the majority rule. Democracy is the ideology that has a positive meaning
around the world. That is why some political parties around the world with minimum rule by
the so-called democracy people to relate themselves with this positive image. The
characteristics of democracy as it exist today are, the involvement of citizen in making
decision, implementation of representation system, the rule of law, applying of an electoral
system-majority rule with a little equality among citizens while some liberty retained by
citizens. Democracy are divided into two approaches. The first approaches is direct
democracy where citizens take part personally in deliberations and vote on issues while also
debate and vote on all laws. The second approach is representative democracy which is
globally implemented where citizens elect other citizen to debate and pass laws. Democrats
stressed on involvement, where they believe that being involved in decision making, even if
this means simply voting in an election, will increase the numbers of voters and makes them
more aware of issues. In the representative democracy approach, the skills of convincing of
the candidate is the most important as it will influence citizens in selecting their representator
to make decisions on behalf of them. According to Freedom House (2013) , as of 2012 there
are 60 percent or 117 countries out of 195 countries around the world that can be categorised
as electoral democracies country.

References:
Eccleshall, R., Finlayson, A., Geoghegan, V., Kenny, M., Lloyd, M. ,..., Wilford, R. (2003).
Political ideologies: An introduction. New York: Routledge
Freeden, M. (1996). Ideologies and political theories. New York: Oxford University Press.
Freedom House. (2013). Freedom in the world 2013 democratic breakthroughs in the
balance: Selected data from Freedom Houses annual survey of political rights and civil
liberties. Washington: Freedom House National Headquarters
Leach, R. (1991). British political ideologies. Great Britain: Billing and Sons Ltd.
Sargent, L. (2009). Contemporary political ideologies. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage
Learning.
Skidmore, M. J. (1993). Ideologies: Politics in action. Orlando: Harcourt Brace & Company.
Thoreau,

H.

D.

(1849).

On

the

duty

of

civil

disobedience.

www.ibiblio.org/ebooks/Thoreau/Civil%20Disobedience.pdf

Retrieved

from

Major Political
Ideologies

Liberalism

Conservatism

Democracy

*Definition

*Definition

*Definition

*Characteristic

*Characteristic

*Characteristic

*Implementation by
countries or individuals

*Implementation by
countries or individuals

*Implementation by
countries or individuals

Figure 1: Major Political Ideologies