History of ideas and IDEOLOGIES

Part 1
Ideologies based on common values
 PLAN
 Definition of ideology
 Type 1: Ideologies based on common values
 Conservatism
 Romantism
 Liberalism
 Socialism,
 Communism ; authoritarianism
 secularism
 Islamism
 Type 2: ideologies based on pre-belonging
 Nationalism
 Nazism
 Fascism
 Arab nationalism
 Feminism
 Corporatism
 Pan-africanism
 Asian values
 WHAT IS AN IDEOLOGY?
 Philosophy: people pursue in solitary contemplation, believing in wisdom for
wisdom’s sake. M: “philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways.
The point, however, is to change it.”
 Ideology
• Origin: the French Revolution and was coined by Antoine Tarcy.
• Meaning: the science of ideas.
• Beliefs + ideas through which people view the world and act.
• Action-oriented, people tend to act on what they believe.
• The political and collective functions: people who share similar ideas become
integrated into groups, organisations, parties and movements for political action.
 Political ideologies:
• strong agents of political change: the stronger it is, the greater is the inclination of
individuals and groups towards political action.
• set of ethical ideals, principles, doctrines, myths or symbols of a social movement,
institution, or a large group. They explain how society should function, and offers a
social order.
 Ideologies based on common values
1- Conservatism (18th )
 Leaders:
o Joseph de Maistre (French): human nature is basically bad, evil, and depraved. Only the
allied forces of a strong monarchy, a strong nobility, and a strong church could hold it,
o Edmund Burke (British lord): only the force of tradition could prevent political chaos.
Gradual reforms had the effect of unleashing a tidal wave of pent-up anger and, foolish
decisions by people who had no experience of making political decisions
o Arthur de Gobineau (French aristocrat): added the idea of racial hierarchy inspired the
Darwinism.
 The old traditions of rule were the best and most desirable principles of government,
 They brought stability and success over the course of 1,000 years of European history.
 Opposed to the idea of universal legal equality, suffrage (i.e. voting rights),
 For maintaining a legal political hierarchy to go along with the social and economic
hierarchy of society.
 Conservatism against:
The French Revolution
• FR had started out by arguing for the primacy of the
common people, and than:
• during the Terror, the king and queen were beheaded,
French society was riven with bloody conflict,
• tens of thousands were guillotined,
• the revolutionary government launched a
blasphemous crusade against the church.
• Napoleon’s takeover – itself a symptom of the anarchy
unleashed by the Revolution – led to almost 20 years
of war and turmoil across Europe.
Conservatism Starting from 19th , against:

nationalism, liberalism, and socialism:

• conservative order had to be disrupted or
dismantled entirely,
• they disagreed on how that should be
accomplished and, more importantly, what
should replace it.
In practice, conservatism often degenerated
into the stubborn defence of corrupt,
incompetent, or oppressive regimes.
 Romanticism 18 th

 It emerged before the French revolution and developed in the

end of 18th
 A movement : a profound reverence for nature + arts
• Central idea : there are great forces in the universe that
exceeded human kind’s rational ability to understand.
• the folk movement: (the Grimm brothers, Germany) the
essential truths of national character had survived among the
common people despite the harmful influence of so-called
civilization. Nations had spirits, which were invested with the
core identity of their people.
 Romanticism was, among other things, the search for stable
points of identity in a changing world.
 Liberalism 19 TH

 The word was used by 1830.

 Sociology of liberalism: 19th century educated men and women + the
elites of industry, trade + the middle classes.
 Core ideas:
 Free from: the despotic rule of kings, the obsolete privilege of nobles,
economic interference and religious intolerance, occupational
restrictions and limitations of speech and assembly—
 Individualism and Freedom : every individual must enjoy these rights;
happiness of individuals  progress and well-being in society.
 Equality before the law, in contrast to the old “feudal” order.
 Abolition of archaic economic interference from the state, including legal
monopolies on trade (e.g. in shipping between colonies).
 Reason, rationality, and progress inspired from the 18 th century ;
Political system: constitutional monarchy as the
most reasonable and stable form of government.
 Constitutions: to guarantee the fundamental rights
of the citizenry and to define, and restrict the
power of the king (avoiding tyranny).
 Elected parliament: voting should be restricted to
those who owned significant amounts of property,
thereby (they thought) guaranteeing social stability.
 Socialism 19 th

 French term, created in 1834rd , last of 19th new political ideologies,

 Origine: Utopian socialism: until mid 18th
 (the Saint-Simonians, the Owenites, and the Fourierists):
 Elite movement
 material goods should be held in common and that producers should keep the fruits
of their labor; ameliorate the suffering of workers.
 Core idea
 Opposing individualism, selfish and self-centered pursuit of wealth and power.
 Proposing a new moral order, one in which the members of a society would care not
only for themselves, but for one another. For the first decades of its existence
socialism was a movement with ethical and moral foundations + economic arguments.
 Causes:
 the ideological rupture with the society of orders that occurred with the French
Revolution,
 the growth of industrial capitalism.
Objectives :
Address the economic repercussions of the
industrial revolution, living conditions of
workers,
Provide a new moral order for modern society.
Militant socialism after 1948 (Friedrich Engels
and Karl Marx): given the strength of both
conservative and liberal opposition, socialism
won’t happen peacefully.
 Anarchist socialism 19 th

 Core idea : the rejection of the state, not the rejection of all forms of social
organization or even hierarchy. 2 major thinkers:
1. Pierre Proudhon (Fr):
 “property is theft.”
 replacing state by local cooperatives of workers in a kind of “economic federalism”
in which cooperatives would exchange goods and services, and each cooperative
would reward work with the fruits of that work.
 Against violence.
2. Mikhail Bakunin (Rus):
 Apocalyptic, violent revolution to wipe the slate clean for a new society of free
collectives (no traditional family structure).
 Sceptical about the industrial working class (all wished could be middle class), and
the western Europe (individualism, egoism, and the obsession with wealth).
 Organizing large anarchist movements in Europe’s “periphery,” especially in Italy
and Spain. By 1870 both countries had large anarchist movements.
 MARXISM 19-20th
 20th 1/3 of the world was governed by communist states nominally “Marxist”.
 History = class struggle. From ancient pharaohs to feudal kings and their nobles;
Rich and powerful abuse and exploit classes of the poor and weak.
 Following the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution:
• The bourgeoisie: rising middle classes, owners of factories and businesses, bankers…
• The proletariat: growing industrial working class; many people from the bourgeoisie
lost due to the competition.
• Industry produces more and more products + proletariat unable to buy them 
“crisis of overproduction” and a massive economic collapse.
• In a pre-modern economy, the essential problem was the scarcity of goods. Thanks
to the Industrial Revolution, however, products need consumers more than
consumers need products.
 Revolution: linked to each nation + a large and self-aware proletariat + harsh political
tactics of bourgeoisie + major economic crisis caused by overproduction (+
communist party in some writings).
 Arab socialism 20th
 Michel Aflaq, founder of Ba'athism and the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in Syria.
 Ba'athist : "unity, liberty, socialism".
 Classical international socialism of 19th century Europe is not suited to the Arab world,
 Western socialism was forced to stand up against capitalism and nationalism (which protected capitalism),
against religion (which defended it), and against conservatism (sanctification of the past).
 "The Arab nationalists are socialists“. Fighting for Arab liberation and unity = fighting for socialism, two
sides of the same coin. The goal is fighting imperialism and the ruling classes for social justice. Socialism
constitutes the ideal social order [for] the Arab people.
 In 1950, Aflaq defined socialism as "not an aim in itself, but rather a necessary means to guarantee society
the highest standard of production with the farthest limit of cooperation and solidarity among the
citizens ... It is"the sharing of the resources of the country by its citizens.“
 Against communism:
 the French Communist Party's support the French Mandate of Syria.
 communism considers that class struggle was the central piece throughout human history;
 Against communist internationalism
 refused to tie "the Arab destiny to the destiny of another state, namely Russia".
 Communism Authoritarianism
 Communism:
 a social, philosophical, political and economic ideology
 main objective is the formation of a society where there is
common ownership and the means of production are owned
by the common masses without social classes, money and the
state.
 Authoritarianism:
 political ideology that rejects political pluralism.
 It employs strong central power to preserve its political status.
 Authoritarianism regimes: autocratic, oligarchic and military.
Military dictatorships are the most common examples
 Secularism
Western Indian
1. Separating the state from all 1. The state is neutral to all
religious institutions and groups religious groups, not
2. total non-interference of separate
religion in the state. The state 2. The state must forge a
can limit the religious rights to
positive relationship with
guarantee the state functioning.
religion.
3. No religious show off except in
the religious places 3. expression of Religion is
4. Financing: all religions with equal with state support
equal indifference. No aid, no 4. The state gives financial aid
tax to any religious institutions to religious institutions and
taxes them
 ISLAMISM : 19th,
 Non secular ideology, considers that Islam should influence political systems
(Islamic legitimacy)
 Reformist Vs Conservative
 Violent VS non violent
 Pan-Islamism ( ‫)الوحدة اإلسالمية‬: a political movement which advocates the unity
of Muslims under one Islamic state (a caliphate).
 History: Pan-Islamism was promoted in the Ottoman Empire during the last quarter
of the 19th century by Sultan Abdul Hamid II for the purpose of preventing
secession movements of the Muslim peoples.
 The major leaders of the Pan-Islamist movement were:
 Jamal al-Din Afghani (1839–1897): against nationalism + pro revolution from bellow
(top)
 Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905): religious and educational reforms from above
 Rashid Rida (1865–1935): nostalgic for the early eras of Islam, restoration of an
Islamic caliphate which implements the Sharia
 Islamism 20th;
 Post colonial era
• Sayyid Qutb, Abul Ala Maududi, and Ayatollah Khomeini : return to traditional Sharia law would make
muslims united and strong again.
• Arabism VS Islamism: de-colonialism period following World War II, Arab nationalism minimised Islamism
which denounced nationalism as un-Islamic. Arabism suffers from the 1967 defeat. Secular pan-Arab
parties took power in Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Tunisia, Algeria, Yemen... Islamists suffered severe
repression; its major thinker Sayyid Qutb, was imprisoned, underwent torture and was later executed.
 Post 1979: Iranian Revolution and Afghan jihad
• 1979 the Iranian Revolution ousted Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi from power.
• 1989; the Afghan mujahidine forced USSR from Afghanistan, with support from the US.
• Pan-Islamic Sunni Muslims such as Mawdudi and the Muslim Brotherhood, embraced the creation of a
new caliphate, at least as a long-term project. In the Middle-East, and in particular Egypt, the various
branches of the Muslim Brotherhood have significantly challenged the secular nationalist or monarchical
Muslim governments. In Pakistan the Jamaat-e-Islami enjoyed popular support especially since the
formation of the MMA. In Algeria the FIS was expected to win the cancelled elections in 1992. Since the
collapse of the Soviet Union, Hizb-ut-Tahrir has emerged as a Pan-Islamist force in Central Asia.
 Islamism 21st
Turkish Pan-Islamism:
• the prime minister and founder of Millî Görüs
movement Necmettin Erbakan, who championed
the Pan-Islamic Union idea by establishing the
Developing 8 Countries (or D8, as opposed to G8) in
1996 with Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Nigeria and Bangladesh.
• the momentum was instantly lost when the Post-
Modern Coup of February 28, 1997 took down
Erbakan's government