List of Political Ideologies

A political ideology is a collection of ethical ideals, principles, doctrines, myths or symbols of a social movement, institution, or a large group. These political ideologies describe how society should operate, and offers a layout for a certain social order.

The following table will give a list of political ideologies along with their subtypes.

List of Political Ideologies and their subtypes

From the viewpoint of Civil Services Examination; candidates should know the definition of the noted political ideologies. Many such terms are shown in the news frequently.

A short definition of such political ideologies is mentioned below:

1. Anarchism: Anarchism is a kind of political philosophy and movement that is against all types of authority and denies involuntary and forceful concepts of hierarchy. Anarchism calls for the eradication of the state, which it holds to be unpleasant, unnecessary and harmful. Anciently, it is often related with anti-capitalism and socialism.

2. Authoritarianism: Authoritarianism is a type of a political ideology that denies political pluralism. It appoints strong central power to protect its political status. Authoritarianism  system may be either oligarchic, autocratic and military in nature. Military dictatorships are the most usual examples of Authoritarianism.

3. Communitarianism: Communitarianism is an ideology which emphasizes on the relation between the individual and the community. Its vital belief is that an person’s identity and personality is framed by relationships within the community, with a smaller degree of development being emphasized upon individualism.

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4. Communism: Communism is a social, philosophical, political and economic ideology whose main aim is the generation of a society where there is common ownership and the means of production are owned by the common masses without the presence of social classes, money and the state.

5. Conservatism: Conservatism is a cultural, social and political philosophy that promotes and pursues to protect traditional social institutions. The important principles of conservatism may change from place to place depending on the traditions and practices of the place, but they all are against modernism and wants a return to traditional values.

6. Corporatism: Corporatism is a political ideology which prescribes the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, military, labour, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests.

7. Democracy: Democracy means a form of government where the people have the ability to opt their governing legislators or the authority to determine on the legislation.

8. Environmentalism: Environmentalism is a vast ideology and social movement that is dealt with environmental protection and development of the ecology so that both humans and animals can live in peace in their specific environments.

9. Fascism and Nazism: Fascism a political ideology, which adopts authoritarianism, ultranationalism, with characteristics of dictatorial power, coerced suppression of opposition and rigidity of society and economy. Nazism, on the other hand, is a type of fascism with a hatred for liberal democracy and parliamentary democracy.

10. Identity Politics: Identity politics is an ideological as well as a political approach, where people of a specific race, religion, gender, social background or any other identifying components emerge political agendas that are based on problems which may influence their lives.

11. Feminism: Feminism is a sort of social movements, political movements, and ideologies that aim to explain and set up the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the genders.

12. Liberalism: Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on liberty, assent of the governed and equality before the law.

13. Libertarianism: Libertarianism is a political ideology with liberalism as the main principle of its main foundation.

14. Nationalism: Nationalism is an idea and movement that grasps that the nation should be compatible with the state. As a movement, nationalism manages to upgrade the interests of a specific nation, especially with the goal of achieving and sustaining the nation’s sovereignty (self-governance) over its homeland.

15. Populism: Populism is a political stance that emphasizes on the notion of “people” and usually spins a narrative of people versus a group of elites.

17. Progressivism: Progressivism is a philosophy in politics that supports social reform. It is based on the idea that progress and advancements in science, technology, and economic development are vital to the improvement of humanity as a whole.

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Political Ideologies – Summary

• The word ideology came about during the French Revolution and was coined by Antoine Tarcy. It is the science of ideas.
• Political ideologies are a system of beliefs about politics.
• The role of political ideologies is to establish a set of ideas that can be used to provide the foundation of political organisation.
• All political ideologies have three specific features:

1. A realistic interpretation of society as it is currently.
2. An idealised interpretation of society. Essentially a picture of what society should be like.
3. An action plan on how to create a society that reflects the needs and wants of all its citizens. Essentially. a plan of how to get from number one to number two.

• Classical ideologies are ideologies that were developed prior to or in the midst of the emerging industrial revolution. These are some of the earliest political ideologies.
• The three main classical ideologies are conservatism, liberalism, and socialism
• Anarchism, nationalism, ecologism, feminism, multiculturalism, and political theology are other important ideologies to know for your political studies.
• Each political ideology can be divided into other ideologies.

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