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you are here: > Self > 5.
Society and ME
| 5.12 |
Socio-Political models
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| When you look at any encyclopedia on references to types of social systems, two broad categories are often defined- political philosophy and social philosophy. | ||
| Social philosophy is typically the overall category definining the behaviour of societies and social behaviour, while political philosophy is concerned with fundamental questions about the state, government, politics, liberty, justice, property, rights, law and the enforcement of a legal code by authority. | ||
| 5.12.1 | The dozens of different "isms" of political models | |
| Open any textbook on political science and/or political philosophy and you will see literally dozens of puportedly different models such as communism, socialism, liberalism, conservatism etc. | ||
| Each political philosophy or "ism" is claimed as distinct based on a number of criteria including (but not limited to:) | ||
| * original inventors/authors/promoters of the distinct political philosophy; | ||
| * examples of political parties and/or governments that have come to to power on the basis of such political ideologies; | ||
| * ability to define a unique set of approaches to the structure of government and policy. | ||
| 5.12.2 | The blurring of the lines between various "isms" | |
| One hundred and ten years ago when Europe was once again in dramatic political change and monarchies and wealthy classes were being challenged by a new breed of socialist ideologies, the differences between philosophies such as monarchism, liberalism, conservatism and socialism could not have been clearer. | ||
| Distinctions could be made by the absence of key elements such as constitutions under dictatorships and monarchies. Clear differences existed on approaches to policies and political apparatus such as the promotion of welfare, workers rights under modern liberalism and the support of business and lower taxes under conservatism. | ||
| However, the rise of the modern "global" economy and the pressures of modern cities for virtually every state means that even most dictatorships today have constitutional rule of law, even socialist states have workers rights and support of private property- the lines between these models have become blurred. | ||
| 5.12.3 | Dozens more "isms" and less clarity of difference | |
| Political science now finds itself in the strange position of dozens more "isms" yet less clarity between them. In a way, "isms" no longer represent genuinely different and wholly unique political philosophies rather than attempts of "brand differentiation" by authors, inventors, political parties and governments. | ||
| As a result, the value of meaning many methods of describing political ideologies have themselves become less meaningful and in some cases, merely an advertisement for a particular ideology. | ||
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