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Political Lexicon: Philosophies, Ideas, & Theories ? RI8
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posted Sunday, 26 March 2006
Political Lexicon:
Philosophies, Ideas,
& Theories – RI8
Luminaries, in italics, are those most closely associated with that particular philosophy.
*/** Implies that philosophy or factor applies in whole** or in part* to the United States of America.
Anarchism, as a political philosophy, is the belief that rulers, governments, and hierarchal social relationships are unnecessary and should be abolished, although there are differing interpretations of what this means. Anarchism also refers to related social movements that advocate the elimination of authoritarian institutions. It does not imply chaos or nihilism, but rather an harmonious, anti-authoritarian society that is based on individual self-determination and personal involvement. – William Goodwin (1)
Aristocracy: The Ancient Greek term aristocracy meant a system of government with "rule by the best". This is the first definition given in most dictionaries. The word is derived from two words, "aristo" meaning the "best" and "kratia" "to rule". Because everyone has different ideas about what is "best", especially in relation to government, the term is tricky to apply in this sense. Aristocracies have most often been hereditary plutocracies (see below), where a sense of historical gravitas and noblesse oblige demands high-minded action from its members.
* Authoritarianism describes a form of government characterized by strict obedience to the authority of the state, which often maintains and enforces social control through the use of oppressive measures. The term may also be used to describe the personality or management style of an individual or organization, which seeks to dominate those within its sphere of influence and has little regard for building consensus.
In an authoritarian state, citizens are subject to state authority in many aspects of their lives, including many that other political philosophies would see as matters of personal choice. There are various degrees of authoritarianism; even very democratic and liberal states will show authoritarianism to some extent, for example in areas of national security.
Authoritarianism often arises from the governing bodies' presumption that they know what is right or wrong for the country and from intolerance of dissent. The government then enforces what it thinks is right, often with use of considerable force and sometimes in blatant violation of human rights. Dissenting voices are ignored, or, more strikingly, are considered to be plotting against the best interests of the country. Such was, for instance, the case during the Reign of Terror in France and in Spain under Francisco Franco.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarianism
Tabacco: I inserted the Wikipedia site here for fear that someone would think Tabacco made it up. It describes you-know-who to a “T”! Wikipedia did everything but mention the USA & GWB by name.
Autocracy is a form of government where unlimited political power is held by a single individual. An emperor may rise to power through heredity, but is referred to as an autocrat rather than a monarch when his power overshadows his bloodline.
Bolsheviks were members of the Marxist Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party's Bolshevik faction. Bolsheviks had an extreme socialist and internationalist outlook, and were opponents of the Russian traditional statehood and the Russian Orthodox Church. The other faction of the RSDLP was known as the Mensheviks, derived from the word men'shinstvo ("minority"). The split into two factions occurred at the Second Party Congress in 1903. (2)
Communism refers to a conjectured future classless, stateless social organization based upon common ownership of the means of production, and can be classified as a multivariant branch of the broader socialist movement. Communism also refers to a variety of political movements, which claim the establishment of such a social organization as their ultimate goal. Early forms of human social organization have been described as "primitive communism." However, communism as a political goal generally is a conjectured form of future social organization, which has never been implemented. (2)
* Compulsory Sterilization programs are government policies, which attempt to force people to undergo surgical sterilization. In the first half of the twentieth century, many such programs were instituted in many countries around the world, usually as part of eugenics programs intended to prevent the reproduction of members of the population considered to be carriers of undesirable genetic traits.
Usually such programs advocated sterilization by means of vasectomy in males and salpingectomy or tubal ligation in females, as they were not operations, which significantly affected sexual drive or the personality of the individuals operated upon (unlike, for example, castration). It has been argued that this increased the seemingly innocuous nature of the operations, adding a veneer of scientific objectivity and detachment. Some of these operations were carried out not only against the will of the patient, but without their knowledge, at the same time as other operations.
Today compulsory sterilization programs are usually seen as overly coercive and blunt attempts at genetic engineering, which focused disproportionately on poor and disenfranchized groups. The most well-known compulsory sterilization program was that of Nazi Germany (which sterilized over 400,000 individuals in the 1930s and 1940s), that of the United States (which sterilized over 64,000 individuals from 1900s through the 1970s), and of many Scandinavian countries (Sweden, for example, sterilized around 62,000 individuals from the 1930s through the 1970s).
Plans for forced sterilization for the purposes of avoiding overpopulation are sometimes, but not usually, directly related to a eugenic intent. (See population control for more information on this type of sterilization.) (5)
* Conservatism [derivative of conserve; from Latin conservare, to keep, guard, observe] is a broad political philosophy defined by Edmund Burke as "a disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve". Classical conservatism does not readily avail itself to the ideology of objectives. It is a philosophy primarily concerned with means over ends. To a classical conservative, the goal of change is less important than the insistence that change be effected with a respect for the rule of law and traditions of society.
Because conservatism is deeply rooted in tradition, it does not hold any single, universal meaning across the world. Rather, different ideas are considered conservative in different places, depending on local tradition and customs. Likewise, since traditions change over time, conservatives usually select a certain time period from the past, which they view as superior to the present and defend the particular laws and customs that existed in that time period. Misinterpretation or idealization of the past can lead some conservatives to advocate a return to something that never existed, while in other cases conservative ideas are combined with the ideas of a certain other ideology (such as economic liberalism, in most of the present day Western world) to create a hybrid ideology that wishes to undo some social changes while promoting others.
Conservatism is older than the left-right division in politics, and conservatives may be either left or right depending on the time and place. Most conservatives in the Western world today are right-wing.
Constitutional Monarchy is a form of monarchical government established under a constitutional system, which acknowledges an elected or hereditary monarch as head of state. Modern constitutional monarchies usually implement the concept of trias politica or "separation of powers", where the monarch either is the head of the executive branch or simply has a ceremonial role.
Where a monarch holds absolute power, it is known as an absolute monarchy. The process of Government and law within an absolute monarchy can be very different from that in a constitutional monarchy.
In representative democracies that are constitutional monarchies, like the United Kingdom, the sovereign may be regarded as the head of state but the Prime Minister, whose power derives directly or indirectly from elections, is head of government.
* Democracy is a form of government where the population of a society controls the government. Direct democracy is a political system where the people vote on government decisions, such as questions of whether to approve or reject various laws. Historically, this form of government has been rare, due to the difficulties of getting all the people of a certain territory in one place for the purpose of voting.
* Representative democracy is a political system where the people vote on government members, who are then expected to make decisions in accordance with the interests of their voters. It is called representative because the people do not vote on government decisions directly, but elect representatives to decide for them.
* Liberal democracy is a type of representative democracy where the ruling government is subject to rule of law and separation of powers, while the people are guaranteed certain inviolable rights. Illiberal democracy is a type of representative democracy where there are no effective limits on the power of elected representatives to rule as they please.
Dictatorship, in contemporary usage, refers to absolute rule by a leadership (usually one dictator) unrestricted by law, constitutions, or other social and political factors within the state.
* Egalitarianism is any moral belief that emphasizes the equality of morally-significant beings. Such theories claim that political, economic, social, or civil equality should prevail throughout human society. One can best understand various types of egalitarianism by asking, "Who is supposed to be equal?" and "In what respect are they supposed to be equal?"
* Elitism is a belief or attitude that an elite — a selected group of persons whose personal abilities, specialized training or other attributes place them at the top of any field (see below) — are the people whose views on a matter are to be taken most seriously, or who are alone fit to govern. Elites may also treat others as not being good enough to be their companions. Thus elitism sees an elite as occupying a special position of authority or privilege in a group, set apart from the majority of people who do not match up with their abilities or attributes. Thus this selected elite is treated with favoritism. Members of an inherited elite are aristocrats and naturally tend towards preserving the status quo.
Eugenics is a social philosophy, which advocates the improvement of human hereditary traits through social intervention. The goals have variously been to create healthier, more intelligent people, save society's resources, and lessen human suffering. Proposed means of achieving these goals most commonly include prenatal testing and screening, genetic counseling, birth control, selective breeding, In vitro fertilization, and genetic engineering. Critics argue that eugenics is a pseudoscience. Historically, eugenics has been used as a justification for coercive state-sponsored discrimination, and severe human rights violations, such as forced sterilization and even genocide. (5)
Fascism was the authoritarian political movement, which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. Similar political movements, including Nazism, spread across Europe between World War I and World War II.
The most restrictive definitions of fascism include only one government, that of Mussolini in Italy. However, the term is frequently applied to Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler, and is used to refer to similar regimes and movements across Europe in the same time period, such as Hungary's Arrow Cross Party, Romania's Iron Guard, Spain's Falange, and the French political movements led by Marcel Déat and Jacques Doriot. More broadly, it is sometimes (by both supporters and opponents) applied to other authoritarian regimes of the period such as those of Imperial Japan under Hideki Tojo, Austria under Engelbert Dollfuss, and Greece under Ioannis Metaxas. Its use for similar but longer-lived regimes such as Spain under Francisco Franco and the Estado Novo of António de Oliveira Salazar in Portugal is widespread among opponents of those regimes but is often disputed by their supporters.
** Foreign Policy is a set of political goals that seeks to outline how a particular country will interact with the other countries of the world. Foreign policies generally are designed to help protect a country's national interests, national security, ideological goals, and economic prosperity. This can occur as a result of peaceful cooperation with other nations, or through aggression, war, and exploitation. The 20th century saw a rapid rise in the importance of foreign policy, with virtually every nation in the world now being able to interact with one another in some diplomatic form.
Creating foreign policy is usually the job of the head of government and the foreign minister (or equivalent). In some countries the legislature also has considerable oversight.
* Genocide is defined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) article 2 as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: "Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group." (5)
Isolationism is a foreign policy, which combines a non-interventionist military and political policy with a policy of economic nationalism (protectionism). In other words, it asserts both of the following:
1. Political rulers should avoid entangling alliances with other nations and avoid all wars not related to direct territorial self-defense.
2. There should be legal barriers to prevent trade and cultural exchange with people in other states.
The term "isolationism" was coined by military interventionists as a pejorative term during World War I to refer to people who opposed the United States' entry into that war. Later, the term "isolationism" was used 1939-41 to refer to opponents of United States' entry into World War II. The two most prominent leaders were Charles Lindbergh and historian Charles A. Beard. See America First Committee.
"Isolationism" is often misused to refer to non-interventionism in general, rather than non-intervention conjoined with economic nationalism.
* Kakistocracy refers to any system of management controlled by the least competent, least qualified or most unreliable members of a society.
The term is used by critics of an established government and not in scholarly analysis or academic research.
Kakistocracy refers to rule by incompetents, rather than outright evil or larcenous people, as is the case with a kleptocracy. However, the two are not entirely mutually exclusive, as it is possible to be both incompetent and greedy. (3)
* Kleptocracy is a pejorative, informal term for a government so corrupt that no pretense of honesty remains. In a kleptocracy the mechanisms of government are almost entirely devoted to taxing the public at large, or using their control of government processes in order to amass substantial personal fortunes for the rulers and their cronies (collectively, kleptocrats), or to keep said rulers in power. Kleptocrats typically use money laundering and/or anonymous banking to protect and conceal their illegal gains.
Kleptocracies are by and large dictatorships or some other form of autocratic government, since democracy makes thievery more difficult to accomplish and conceal. Kleptocratic states consistently tend to be politically and socially unstable, while being stably kleptocratic. That is, the political governance of such states typically consists of one set of thieves displacing their predecessors by subversive or violent means. (3)
Tabacco: The Bush administration has made democratic kleptocracy practical through the use of fear, terrorism & war. Wikipedia must revise its definition. Bush and his comrades are both kakistocrats and kleptocrats; some of the former and much more of the latter.
* Left-Wing Politics refers to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism or social democracy/Social liberalism, and defined in contradistinction to its polar opposite, the right-wing.
The term originates from the French Revolution, when liberal deputies from the Third Estate generally sat to the left of the president's chair, a habit that began in the Estates General of 1789. The nobility, members of the Second Estate, generally sat to the right.
As this original reference became obsolete, the meaning of the term has changed, and is now used to denote a broad variety of political philosophies and principles. In contemporary Western political discourse, the term is most often used to describe forms of socialism, social democracy, or, in the sense in which the term is understood in the United States, liberalism.
The left-wing attribution is very broadly employed as a political descriptor, and a single definition is elusive. The use of the phrase in the democratic West is quite distinct from the usage in most Communist states - where the term has connotations associated with Bukharin and the democratization of all human activities (see also deviationism). (7)
* Liberalism is an ideology, philosophy, political tradition, and current of political thought, which holds liberty as the primary political value. Broadly speaking, liberalism seeks a society characterized by freedom of thought for individuals, limitations on the power of government and religion (and sometimes corporations), the rule of law, the free exchange of ideas, a market economy that supports private enterprise, and a system of government that is transparent. This form of government favors liberal democracy with open and fair elections, where all citizens have equal rights by law, and an equal opportunity to succeed. Liberalism rejected many foundational assumptions, which dominated most earlier theories of government, such as the Divine Right of Kings, hereditary status, and established religion. Fundamental human rights that all liberals support include the right to life, liberty, and property. In many countries, modern liberalism differs from classical liberalism by asserting that government provision of some minimal level of material well-being takes priority over freedom from taxation. Liberalism has it roots in the Western Enlightenment, but the term now encompasses a diversity of political thought, with adherents spanning a large part of the political spectrum, from left to right. In academia, in the context of economics, the term "liberalism" refers to economic liberalism. (7)
Malthusian Catastrophe, sometimes known as a Malthusian check, Malthusian crisis, Malthusian dilemma, Malthusian disaster or Malthusian trap, is a return to subsistence-level conditions as a result of agricultural (or, in later formulations, economic) production being eventually outstripped by growth in population. Theories of Malthusian catastrophe are very similar to the subsistence theory of wages. The main difference is that the Malthusian theories predict over several generations or centuries whereas the subsistence theory of wages predicts over years and decades. (6)
Meritocracy is, as the suffix "-cracy" implies, a system of government based on rule by ability (merit) rather than by wealth, race or other determinants of social position.
However, the word "meritocracy" is now often used to describe a type of society where wealth, income, and social status are assigned through competition, on the assumption that the winners do indeed deserve (merit) their resulting advantage. As a result, the word has acquired a connotation of Social Darwinism, and is used to describe aggressively competitive societies, with large inequality of income and wealth, contrasted with egalitarian societies.
Meritocratic governments and organizations stress talent, formal education, and competence, rather than existing differences such as social class, ethnicity, or sex. In practice, research on social mobility indicates that all these supposedly neutral criteria favor the children of those who are already privileged in some way.
In a representative democracy where power is theoretically in the hands of the elected representatives, meritocratic elements include the use of expert consultants to help formulate policies, and a meritocratic civil service to implement them. The perennial problem in advocating meritocracy is defining exactly what one means by merit.
Tabacco: You need not concern yourself with this term: meritocracy; no such political thinking exists anywhere in the United States of America. So be not alarmed!
* Miscegenation (Latin miscere "to mix" + genus "kind") is the mixing of different ethnicities, especially in marriage, cohabitation, or sexual relations. Interracial marriage or interracial dating may be more common in contemporary usage. While the English word has a history of ethnocentrism, the Spanish and French words, mestizaje and métissage, connote a positive melting-pot of cultures. (5)
Monarchy is a form of government that has a monarch as Head of State. One of the distinguishing characteristics of monarchy is that the Head of State usually reigns for life; in a republic, the Head of State (often called the president) is normally elected for a certain amount of time. There are currently 29 extant monarchies in the world.
The term monarchy is also used to refer to the people (especially the dynasty, also known as 'royalty') and institutions that make up the royal or imperial establishment, or to the realm over which the monarch reigns.
* Nazism was the ideology held by the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, commonly called NSDAP or the Nazi Party), which was led by its Führer (leader), Adolf Hitler. The word Nazism is most often used in connection with the dictatorship of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 (the "Third Reich"), and it is derived from the term National Socialism (German: Nationalsozialismus, often abbreviated NS).
Adherents of the Nazi ideology held that the Aryan race was superior to other races, and they promoted Germanic racial supremacy and a strong, centrally governed state. Nazism has been outlawed in modern Germany (including all types of its propaganda), yet small remnants and revivalists, known as "Neo-Nazis", continue to operate in Germany and abroad. (2)
* Neoconservatism refers to the political movement, ideology, and public policy goals of "new conservatives" in the United States, who are mainly characterized by critics as having relatively interventionist and hawkish views on foreign policy, and a lack of support for the "small government" principles and restrictions on social spending, when compared with other American conservatives such as traditional or paleoconservatives.
In the context of United States foreign policy, neoconservative has another, narrower definition: one who advocates the use of military force, unilaterally if necessary, to replace autocratic regimes with democratic ones. This view competes with liberal internationalism, realism, and non-interventionism. (4)
Tabacco: Any similarity between Conservatives and Neoconservatives is purely coincidental and unintentional. Neocons are like snakes, which mimic the markings of their poisonous cousins, to keep predators at bay. However, in this instance, the mimicry is in reverse – the Neocons are the poisonous cousins pretending to be innocuous Conservatives – beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing!
Neo-Jacobinism regards America as founded on universal principles and assigns to the United States the role of supervising the remaking of the world. Its adherents have the intense dogmatic commitment of true believers and are highly prone to moralistic rhetoric. They demand, among other things, "moral clarity" in dealing with regimes that stand in the way of America's universal purpose. They see themselves as champions of "virtue." (p. 384).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservative#Jacobinism.2C_Bolshevism
Nihilism as a philosophical position argues that the world, and especially human existence, is without objective meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, or essential value. Nihilists generally believe all of the following: God does not exist, traditional morality is false, and secular ethics are impossible; therefore, life has no meaning, and no action is preferable to any other.
Nihilism is often more of a charge leveled against a particular idea than a position to which someone overtly subscribes. Movements such as Dadaism, Deconstructionism, and punk have been described by various observers as "nihilist". Usually this simply means or is meant to imply that the beliefs of the accuser are more "substantial" or "truthful", whereas the beliefs of the accused are nihilistic, and thereby comparatively amount to "nothing".
Nietzsche described Christianity as a nihilistic religion because it evaded the challenge of finding meaning in earthly life, creating instead a spiritual projection where mortality and suffering were removed instead of transcended. He believed nihilism resulted from the "death of God", and insisted that it was something to be overcome, by returning meaning to a monistic reality (he sought instead a "pragmatic idealism," in contrast to the prominent influence of Schopenhauer's "cosmic idealism"). Heidegger described nihilism as the state where "there is nothing left of Being as such," and argued that nihilism rested on the reduction of Being to mere value. - Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger
* Oligarchy is a form of government where most or all political power effectively rests with a small segment of society (typically the most powerful, whether by wealth, family, military strength, ruthlessness, or political influence). The word oligarchy is from the Greek words for "few" (oligo) and "rule" (arkhos). Some political theorists have argued that all governments are inevitably oligarchies no matter the supposed political system.
Oligarchies are often controlled by a few powerful families whose children are raised and mentored to be heirs of the power of the oligarchy, often at some sort of expense to those governed. In contrast to aristocracy ("government by the 'best'"), this power may not always be exercised openly, the oligarchs preferring to remain "the power behind the throne", exerting control through economic means. Although Aristotle pioneered the use of the term as a synonym for rule by the rich, for which the exact term is plutocracy, oligarchy is not always a rule by wealth, as oligarchs can simply be a privileged group.
Overpopulation occurs when the population of a living species exceeds the carrying capacity of its ecological niche. In common parlance, the term usually refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment, Earth.
Overpopulation is not a function of the number or density of the individuals, but rather the number of individuals compared to the resources they need to survive. In other words, it is a ratio: population over resources. If a given environment has a population of 10, but there is food and drinking water enough for only 9 people, then that environment is overpopulated, while if the population is 100 individuals but there are food and water enough for 200, then it is not overpopulated.
Overpopulation can result from increases in births, a decline in mortality rates, which is linked to increases in life expectancy, or from an unsustainable use and depletion of resources. Advances in technology can reduce the threat of overpopulation by making new resources available, or by increasing the productivity of existing resources. (6)
* Patriarchy is the anthropological term used to define the sociological condition where male members of a society tend to predominate in positions of power; with the more powerful the position, the more likely it is that a male will hold that position.
Pluralism is, in the general sense, the affirmation and acceptance of diversity. The concept is used, often in different ways, in a wide range of issues. In politics, the affirmation of diversity in the interests and beliefs of the citizenry is one of the most important features of modern democracy.
** Plutocracy is a form of government where all the state's decisions are centralized in an affluent wealthy class of citizenry, and the degree of economic inequality is high while the level of social mobility is low. This can apply to a multitude of government systems, as the key elements of plutocracy transcend and often occur concomitantly with the features of those systems. The word "plutocracy" itself is derived from the ancient Greek root ploutos, meaning wealth.
** Political Science is a social science discipline that deals with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior. It is oriented around academia, theory, and research.
** Politics, sometimes defined as "the art and science of government.", is a process by which collective decisions are made within groups. Although the term is generally applied to behavior within governments, politics is observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions. Politics is also observed, to varying degrees, in certain Mammal species.
Politics by Country
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_politics_by_country_articles
Population Control is the practice of limiting population increase, usually by reducing the birth rate. The practice has sometimes been voluntary, as a response to poverty, or out of religious ideology, but in some times and places it has been government-mandated. This is generally done to try to prevent a believed threat of Malthusian catastrophe, or overpopulation in general. (6)
Populism is a political philosophy or rhetorical style that holds that the common person's interests are oppressed or hindered by the elite in society, and that the instruments of the state need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and used for the benefit and advancement of the people as a whole. Hence a populist is one who is perceived to craft their rhetoric as appeals to the economic, social, and common sense concerns of average people. Most scholarship on populism since 1980 has discussed it as a rhetorical style that can be used to promote a variety of ideologies.
Individual populists have variously promised to stand up to corporate power, remove "corrupt" elites, and "put people first." Populism incorporates anti-regime politics, and sometimes nationalism, racism or religious fundamentalism. Many populists appeal to a specific region of a country or to a specific social class, such as the working class, middle class, or farmers. Often they employ dichotomous rhetoric, and claim to represent the majority of the people.
* Quasiconservatism is defined as pseudo-conservatism, erroneously and innocuously referred to as neoconservatism, which term defines nothing and neither quantifies nor qualifies that group. The definition is the same as for “neoconservatism”; but that term is worthless. (4)
Tabacco coined this word.
* Racial Purity is the belief that people of different race should not intermarry or reproduce, purportedly to protect the "purity" of one or both races.
The belief is often viewed as intrinsically linked to racism and eugenics. Although some have attempted to justify it on biological grounds (eg. Richard Lynn), others contend that it is entirely without scientific merit (eg. Stephen Jay Gould). Those who use the term may also refer to "miscegenation". Both terms are typically used by those who believe that the concept of race is a valid and useful concept when applied to humans. (5)
* Republic is a state whose political organization rests on the principle that the citizens or electorate constitute the ultimate root of legitimacy and sovereignty. Several definitions, including that of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, stress the importance of autonomy and the 'rule of law' as part of the requirements for a Republic. Nonetheless, in practice most nations that do not have a hereditary monarchy call themselves a Republic, and in its broadest sense the idea of a Republic can include almost any form of government that is not a Monarchy.
* Right-Wing refers to the segment of the political spectrum often associated with any of several strains of conservatism, the religious right, and areas of classical liberalism, or simply the opposite of left-wing politics. In some contexts, the term right-wing also can include authoritarian nationalism, but that is generally considered part of the far right. In recent times, the term almost always includes some forms of conservatism. (4)
* Secularism is commonly defined as the idea that religion should not interfere with or be integrated into the public affairs of a society. It is often associated with the Age of Enlightenment in Europe, and plays a major role in Western society. The principles, but not necessarily practices, of separation of church and state in the United States and laïcité in France draw heavily on secularism.
Social Darwinism is a term used to describe a style or trend in social theory, which holds that Darwin's theory of evolution of biological traits in a population by natural selection can also be applied to derive an ethic and underpin a political ideology and to critique human social institutions.
Historically, proponents of Social Darwinism often used the theory to justify social inequality as being meritocratic, and it has also been used to justify racism and imperialism, in a cultural application of Herbert Spencer's idea of the "survival of the fittest." Thus, Herbert Spencer's notion of the evolution of society and man's moral faculty had been altered to something quite contrary to his philosophy. Social Darwinism itself does not necessarily engender a political position. Some Social Darwinists argue for the inevitability of progress and social reform, while others emphasize the potential for the degeneration of humanity. To a certain extent, Social Darwinism, like Darwinian evolution, has been associated with the controversial field of eugenics. (5)
Social Engineering is a concept in political science that refers to efforts to systematically manage popular attitudes and social behavior on a large scale, whether by governments or private groups.
The term has a negative connotation, and is sometimes used as an accusation against any who propose to use law, tax policy, or other kinds of state influence to accomplish social goals. For instance, political conservatives in the United States have accused their opponents of "social engineering" through their promotion of political correctness, on the basis that political correctness is an attempt to change social attitudes by defining "acceptable" and "unacceptable" language.
However, virtually all law and governance has the effect of changing behavior and can be considered "social engineering" to some extent. Thus, whether any specific policy is labeled as "social engineering" is often a question of degree and intent. Prohibitions on murder, rape, suicide and littering are all policies aimed at discouraging perceived undesirable behaviors, and have positive social consequences. Governments also influence behavior more subtly through incentives and disincentives built into economic policy and tax policy, for instance, and have done so for centuries. Therefore the exact boundaries of social engineering are hard to pinpoint.
Stalinism is a brand of political theory, and the political and economic system named after Joseph Stalin, who implemented it in the Soviet Union.
The term "Stalinism" was first used by Trotskyites opposed to the regime in the Soviet Union, particularly in an attempt to separate the policies of the Soviet government from those they regarded as more true to Marxism. It was soon adopted by anarchists and anti-communists.
Like many other "-isms" it is also used as a pejorative term when referring to nation-states, political parties, or the ideological stance(s) of individuals.
* Theocracy is commonly used to describe a form of government in which a religion or faith plays the dominant role. Properly speaking, it refers to a form of government in which the organs of the religious sphere replace or dominate the organs of the political sphere.
Totalitarianism is a typology employed by political scientists, especially those in the field of comparative politics, to describe modern regimes in which the state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private behavior.
The most influential scholars of totalitarianism, such as Karl Popper, Hannah Arendt, Carl Friedrich, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Juan Linz have each defined totalitarianism in a slightly different way. Common to all definitions is the mobilization of entire populations in support of the state and a political or religious ideology, and the intolerance of activities, which are not directed towards the goals of the state, such as involvement with labor unions, churches or political parties. They also maintain themselves in political power by means of secret police, propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, regulation and restriction of free discussion and criticism, the use of mass surveillance, and widespread use of terror tactics.
Sources: Wikipedia, UOIBN (Unless Otherwise Indicated By Name)
The correct answers to the questions in the Excerpt are: Bush is both a kakistocrat and a kleptocrat. America now is g) all of the above. To differentiate between kakistocrat and kleptocrat, read the definitions above.
T.A.B.A.C.C.O. (Truth About Business And Congressional Crimes Organization)
Philosophies, Ideas,
& Theories – RI8
Political Philosophies
Luminaries, in italics, are those most closely associated with that particular philosophy.
*/** Implies that philosophy or factor applies in whole** or in part* to the United States of America.
Anarchism, as a political philosophy, is the belief that rulers, governments, and hierarchal social relationships are unnecessary and should be abolished, although there are differing interpretations of what this means. Anarchism also refers to related social movements that advocate the elimination of authoritarian institutions. It does not imply chaos or nihilism, but rather an harmonious, anti-authoritarian society that is based on individual self-determination and personal involvement. – William Goodwin (1)
Aristocracy: The Ancient Greek term aristocracy meant a system of government with "rule by the best". This is the first definition given in most dictionaries. The word is derived from two words, "aristo" meaning the "best" and "kratia" "to rule". Because everyone has different ideas about what is "best", especially in relation to government, the term is tricky to apply in this sense. Aristocracies have most often been hereditary plutocracies (see below), where a sense of historical gravitas and noblesse oblige demands high-minded action from its members.
* Authoritarianism describes a form of government characterized by strict obedience to the authority of the state, which often maintains and enforces social control through the use of oppressive measures. The term may also be used to describe the personality or management style of an individual or organization, which seeks to dominate those within its sphere of influence and has little regard for building consensus.
In an authoritarian state, citizens are subject to state authority in many aspects of their lives, including many that other political philosophies would see as matters of personal choice. There are various degrees of authoritarianism; even very democratic and liberal states will show authoritarianism to some extent, for example in areas of national security.
Authoritarianism often arises from the governing bodies' presumption that they know what is right or wrong for the country and from intolerance of dissent. The government then enforces what it thinks is right, often with use of considerable force and sometimes in blatant violation of human rights. Dissenting voices are ignored, or, more strikingly, are considered to be plotting against the best interests of the country. Such was, for instance, the case during the Reign of Terror in France and in Spain under Francisco Franco.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarianism
Tabacco: I inserted the Wikipedia site here for fear that someone would think Tabacco made it up. It describes you-know-who to a “T”! Wikipedia did everything but mention the USA & GWB by name.
Autocracy is a form of government where unlimited political power is held by a single individual. An emperor may rise to power through heredity, but is referred to as an autocrat rather than a monarch when his power overshadows his bloodline.
Bolsheviks were members of the Marxist Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party's Bolshevik faction. Bolsheviks had an extreme socialist and internationalist outlook, and were opponents of the Russian traditional statehood and the Russian Orthodox Church. The other faction of the RSDLP was known as the Mensheviks, derived from the word men'shinstvo ("minority"). The split into two factions occurred at the Second Party Congress in 1903. (2)
Communism refers to a conjectured future classless, stateless social organization based upon common ownership of the means of production, and can be classified as a multivariant branch of the broader socialist movement. Communism also refers to a variety of political movements, which claim the establishment of such a social organization as their ultimate goal. Early forms of human social organization have been described as "primitive communism." However, communism as a political goal generally is a conjectured form of future social organization, which has never been implemented. (2)
* Compulsory Sterilization programs are government policies, which attempt to force people to undergo surgical sterilization. In the first half of the twentieth century, many such programs were instituted in many countries around the world, usually as part of eugenics programs intended to prevent the reproduction of members of the population considered to be carriers of undesirable genetic traits.
Usually such programs advocated sterilization by means of vasectomy in males and salpingectomy or tubal ligation in females, as they were not operations, which significantly affected sexual drive or the personality of the individuals operated upon (unlike, for example, castration). It has been argued that this increased the seemingly innocuous nature of the operations, adding a veneer of scientific objectivity and detachment. Some of these operations were carried out not only against the will of the patient, but without their knowledge, at the same time as other operations.
Today compulsory sterilization programs are usually seen as overly coercive and blunt attempts at genetic engineering, which focused disproportionately on poor and disenfranchized groups. The most well-known compulsory sterilization program was that of Nazi Germany (which sterilized over 400,000 individuals in the 1930s and 1940s), that of the United States (which sterilized over 64,000 individuals from 1900s through the 1970s), and of many Scandinavian countries (Sweden, for example, sterilized around 62,000 individuals from the 1930s through the 1970s).
Plans for forced sterilization for the purposes of avoiding overpopulation are sometimes, but not usually, directly related to a eugenic intent. (See population control for more information on this type of sterilization.) (5)
* Conservatism [derivative of conserve; from Latin conservare, to keep, guard, observe] is a broad political philosophy defined by Edmund Burke as "a disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve". Classical conservatism does not readily avail itself to the ideology of objectives. It is a philosophy primarily concerned with means over ends. To a classical conservative, the goal of change is less important than the insistence that change be effected with a respect for the rule of law and traditions of society.
Because conservatism is deeply rooted in tradition, it does not hold any single, universal meaning across the world. Rather, different ideas are considered conservative in different places, depending on local tradition and customs. Likewise, since traditions change over time, conservatives usually select a certain time period from the past, which they view as superior to the present and defend the particular laws and customs that existed in that time period. Misinterpretation or idealization of the past can lead some conservatives to advocate a return to something that never existed, while in other cases conservative ideas are combined with the ideas of a certain other ideology (such as economic liberalism, in most of the present day Western world) to create a hybrid ideology that wishes to undo some social changes while promoting others.
Conservatism is older than the left-right division in politics, and conservatives may be either left or right depending on the time and place. Most conservatives in the Western world today are right-wing.
Constitutional Monarchy is a form of monarchical government established under a constitutional system, which acknowledges an elected or hereditary monarch as head of state. Modern constitutional monarchies usually implement the concept of trias politica or "separation of powers", where the monarch either is the head of the executive branch or simply has a ceremonial role.
Where a monarch holds absolute power, it is known as an absolute monarchy. The process of Government and law within an absolute monarchy can be very different from that in a constitutional monarchy.
In representative democracies that are constitutional monarchies, like the United Kingdom, the sovereign may be regarded as the head of state but the Prime Minister, whose power derives directly or indirectly from elections, is head of government.
* Democracy is a form of government where the population of a society controls the government. Direct democracy is a political system where the people vote on government decisions, such as questions of whether to approve or reject various laws. Historically, this form of government has been rare, due to the difficulties of getting all the people of a certain territory in one place for the purpose of voting.
* Representative democracy is a political system where the people vote on government members, who are then expected to make decisions in accordance with the interests of their voters. It is called representative because the people do not vote on government decisions directly, but elect representatives to decide for them.
* Liberal democracy is a type of representative democracy where the ruling government is subject to rule of law and separation of powers, while the people are guaranteed certain inviolable rights. Illiberal democracy is a type of representative democracy where there are no effective limits on the power of elected representatives to rule as they please.
Dictatorship, in contemporary usage, refers to absolute rule by a leadership (usually one dictator) unrestricted by law, constitutions, or other social and political factors within the state.
* Egalitarianism is any moral belief that emphasizes the equality of morally-significant beings. Such theories claim that political, economic, social, or civil equality should prevail throughout human society. One can best understand various types of egalitarianism by asking, "Who is supposed to be equal?" and "In what respect are they supposed to be equal?"
* Elitism is a belief or attitude that an elite — a selected group of persons whose personal abilities, specialized training or other attributes place them at the top of any field (see below) — are the people whose views on a matter are to be taken most seriously, or who are alone fit to govern. Elites may also treat others as not being good enough to be their companions. Thus elitism sees an elite as occupying a special position of authority or privilege in a group, set apart from the majority of people who do not match up with their abilities or attributes. Thus this selected elite is treated with favoritism. Members of an inherited elite are aristocrats and naturally tend towards preserving the status quo.
Eugenics is a social philosophy, which advocates the improvement of human hereditary traits through social intervention. The goals have variously been to create healthier, more intelligent people, save society's resources, and lessen human suffering. Proposed means of achieving these goals most commonly include prenatal testing and screening, genetic counseling, birth control, selective breeding, In vitro fertilization, and genetic engineering. Critics argue that eugenics is a pseudoscience. Historically, eugenics has been used as a justification for coercive state-sponsored discrimination, and severe human rights violations, such as forced sterilization and even genocide. (5)
Fascism was the authoritarian political movement, which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. Similar political movements, including Nazism, spread across Europe between World War I and World War II.
The most restrictive definitions of fascism include only one government, that of Mussolini in Italy. However, the term is frequently applied to Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler, and is used to refer to similar regimes and movements across Europe in the same time period, such as Hungary's Arrow Cross Party, Romania's Iron Guard, Spain's Falange, and the French political movements led by Marcel Déat and Jacques Doriot. More broadly, it is sometimes (by both supporters and opponents) applied to other authoritarian regimes of the period such as those of Imperial Japan under Hideki Tojo, Austria under Engelbert Dollfuss, and Greece under Ioannis Metaxas. Its use for similar but longer-lived regimes such as Spain under Francisco Franco and the Estado Novo of António de Oliveira Salazar in Portugal is widespread among opponents of those regimes but is often disputed by their supporters.
** Foreign Policy is a set of political goals that seeks to outline how a particular country will interact with the other countries of the world. Foreign policies generally are designed to help protect a country's national interests, national security, ideological goals, and economic prosperity. This can occur as a result of peaceful cooperation with other nations, or through aggression, war, and exploitation. The 20th century saw a rapid rise in the importance of foreign policy, with virtually every nation in the world now being able to interact with one another in some diplomatic form.
Creating foreign policy is usually the job of the head of government and the foreign minister (or equivalent). In some countries the legislature also has considerable oversight.
* Genocide is defined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) article 2 as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: "Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group." (5)
Isolationism is a foreign policy, which combines a non-interventionist military and political policy with a policy of economic nationalism (protectionism). In other words, it asserts both of the following:
1. Political rulers should avoid entangling alliances with other nations and avoid all wars not related to direct territorial self-defense.
2. There should be legal barriers to prevent trade and cultural exchange with people in other states.
The term "isolationism" was coined by military interventionists as a pejorative term during World War I to refer to people who opposed the United States' entry into that war. Later, the term "isolationism" was used 1939-41 to refer to opponents of United States' entry into World War II. The two most prominent leaders were Charles Lindbergh and historian Charles A. Beard. See America First Committee.
"Isolationism" is often misused to refer to non-interventionism in general, rather than non-intervention conjoined with economic nationalism.
* Kakistocracy refers to any system of management controlled by the least competent, least qualified or most unreliable members of a society.
The term is used by critics of an established government and not in scholarly analysis or academic research.
Kakistocracy refers to rule by incompetents, rather than outright evil or larcenous people, as is the case with a kleptocracy. However, the two are not entirely mutually exclusive, as it is possible to be both incompetent and greedy. (3)
* Kleptocracy is a pejorative, informal term for a government so corrupt that no pretense of honesty remains. In a kleptocracy the mechanisms of government are almost entirely devoted to taxing the public at large, or using their control of government processes in order to amass substantial personal fortunes for the rulers and their cronies (collectively, kleptocrats), or to keep said rulers in power. Kleptocrats typically use money laundering and/or anonymous banking to protect and conceal their illegal gains.
Kleptocracies are by and large dictatorships or some other form of autocratic government, since democracy makes thievery more difficult to accomplish and conceal. Kleptocratic states consistently tend to be politically and socially unstable, while being stably kleptocratic. That is, the political governance of such states typically consists of one set of thieves displacing their predecessors by subversive or violent means. (3)
Tabacco: The Bush administration has made democratic kleptocracy practical through the use of fear, terrorism & war. Wikipedia must revise its definition. Bush and his comrades are both kakistocrats and kleptocrats; some of the former and much more of the latter.
* Left-Wing Politics refers to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism or social democracy/Social liberalism, and defined in contradistinction to its polar opposite, the right-wing.
The term originates from the French Revolution, when liberal deputies from the Third Estate generally sat to the left of the president's chair, a habit that began in the Estates General of 1789. The nobility, members of the Second Estate, generally sat to the right.
As this original reference became obsolete, the meaning of the term has changed, and is now used to denote a broad variety of political philosophies and principles. In contemporary Western political discourse, the term is most often used to describe forms of socialism, social democracy, or, in the sense in which the term is understood in the United States, liberalism.
The left-wing attribution is very broadly employed as a political descriptor, and a single definition is elusive. The use of the phrase in the democratic West is quite distinct from the usage in most Communist states - where the term has connotations associated with Bukharin and the democratization of all human activities (see also deviationism). (7)
* Liberalism is an ideology, philosophy, political tradition, and current of political thought, which holds liberty as the primary political value. Broadly speaking, liberalism seeks a society characterized by freedom of thought for individuals, limitations on the power of government and religion (and sometimes corporations), the rule of law, the free exchange of ideas, a market economy that supports private enterprise, and a system of government that is transparent. This form of government favors liberal democracy with open and fair elections, where all citizens have equal rights by law, and an equal opportunity to succeed. Liberalism rejected many foundational assumptions, which dominated most earlier theories of government, such as the Divine Right of Kings, hereditary status, and established religion. Fundamental human rights that all liberals support include the right to life, liberty, and property. In many countries, modern liberalism differs from classical liberalism by asserting that government provision of some minimal level of material well-being takes priority over freedom from taxation. Liberalism has it roots in the Western Enlightenment, but the term now encompasses a diversity of political thought, with adherents spanning a large part of the political spectrum, from left to right. In academia, in the context of economics, the term "liberalism" refers to economic liberalism. (7)
Malthusian Catastrophe, sometimes known as a Malthusian check, Malthusian crisis, Malthusian dilemma, Malthusian disaster or Malthusian trap, is a return to subsistence-level conditions as a result of agricultural (or, in later formulations, economic) production being eventually outstripped by growth in population. Theories of Malthusian catastrophe are very similar to the subsistence theory of wages. The main difference is that the Malthusian theories predict over several generations or centuries whereas the subsistence theory of wages predicts over years and decades. (6)
Meritocracy is, as the suffix "-cracy" implies, a system of government based on rule by ability (merit) rather than by wealth, race or other determinants of social position.
However, the word "meritocracy" is now often used to describe a type of society where wealth, income, and social status are assigned through competition, on the assumption that the winners do indeed deserve (merit) their resulting advantage. As a result, the word has acquired a connotation of Social Darwinism, and is used to describe aggressively competitive societies, with large inequality of income and wealth, contrasted with egalitarian societies.
Meritocratic governments and organizations stress talent, formal education, and competence, rather than existing differences such as social class, ethnicity, or sex. In practice, research on social mobility indicates that all these supposedly neutral criteria favor the children of those who are already privileged in some way.
In a representative democracy where power is theoretically in the hands of the elected representatives, meritocratic elements include the use of expert consultants to help formulate policies, and a meritocratic civil service to implement them. The perennial problem in advocating meritocracy is defining exactly what one means by merit.
Tabacco: You need not concern yourself with this term: meritocracy; no such political thinking exists anywhere in the United States of America. So be not alarmed!
* Miscegenation (Latin miscere "to mix" + genus "kind") is the mixing of different ethnicities, especially in marriage, cohabitation, or sexual relations. Interracial marriage or interracial dating may be more common in contemporary usage. While the English word has a history of ethnocentrism, the Spanish and French words, mestizaje and métissage, connote a positive melting-pot of cultures. (5)
Monarchy is a form of government that has a monarch as Head of State. One of the distinguishing characteristics of monarchy is that the Head of State usually reigns for life; in a republic, the Head of State (often called the president) is normally elected for a certain amount of time. There are currently 29 extant monarchies in the world.
The term monarchy is also used to refer to the people (especially the dynasty, also known as 'royalty') and institutions that make up the royal or imperial establishment, or to the realm over which the monarch reigns.
* Nazism was the ideology held by the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, commonly called NSDAP or the Nazi Party), which was led by its Führer (leader), Adolf Hitler. The word Nazism is most often used in connection with the dictatorship of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 (the "Third Reich"), and it is derived from the term National Socialism (German: Nationalsozialismus, often abbreviated NS).
Adherents of the Nazi ideology held that the Aryan race was superior to other races, and they promoted Germanic racial supremacy and a strong, centrally governed state. Nazism has been outlawed in modern Germany (including all types of its propaganda), yet small remnants and revivalists, known as "Neo-Nazis", continue to operate in Germany and abroad. (2)
* Neoconservatism refers to the political movement, ideology, and public policy goals of "new conservatives" in the United States, who are mainly characterized by critics as having relatively interventionist and hawkish views on foreign policy, and a lack of support for the "small government" principles and restrictions on social spending, when compared with other American conservatives such as traditional or paleoconservatives.
In the context of United States foreign policy, neoconservative has another, narrower definition: one who advocates the use of military force, unilaterally if necessary, to replace autocratic regimes with democratic ones. This view competes with liberal internationalism, realism, and non-interventionism. (4)
Tabacco: Any similarity between Conservatives and Neoconservatives is purely coincidental and unintentional. Neocons are like snakes, which mimic the markings of their poisonous cousins, to keep predators at bay. However, in this instance, the mimicry is in reverse – the Neocons are the poisonous cousins pretending to be innocuous Conservatives – beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing!
Neo-Jacobinism regards America as founded on universal principles and assigns to the United States the role of supervising the remaking of the world. Its adherents have the intense dogmatic commitment of true believers and are highly prone to moralistic rhetoric. They demand, among other things, "moral clarity" in dealing with regimes that stand in the way of America's universal purpose. They see themselves as champions of "virtue." (p. 384).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservative#Jacobinism.2C_Bolshevism
Nihilism as a philosophical position argues that the world, and especially human existence, is without objective meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, or essential value. Nihilists generally believe all of the following: God does not exist, traditional morality is false, and secular ethics are impossible; therefore, life has no meaning, and no action is preferable to any other.
Nihilism is often more of a charge leveled against a particular idea than a position to which someone overtly subscribes. Movements such as Dadaism, Deconstructionism, and punk have been described by various observers as "nihilist". Usually this simply means or is meant to imply that the beliefs of the accuser are more "substantial" or "truthful", whereas the beliefs of the accused are nihilistic, and thereby comparatively amount to "nothing".
Nietzsche described Christianity as a nihilistic religion because it evaded the challenge of finding meaning in earthly life, creating instead a spiritual projection where mortality and suffering were removed instead of transcended. He believed nihilism resulted from the "death of God", and insisted that it was something to be overcome, by returning meaning to a monistic reality (he sought instead a "pragmatic idealism," in contrast to the prominent influence of Schopenhauer's "cosmic idealism"). Heidegger described nihilism as the state where "there is nothing left of Being as such," and argued that nihilism rested on the reduction of Being to mere value. - Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger
* Oligarchy is a form of government where most or all political power effectively rests with a small segment of society (typically the most powerful, whether by wealth, family, military strength, ruthlessness, or political influence). The word oligarchy is from the Greek words for "few" (oligo) and "rule" (arkhos). Some political theorists have argued that all governments are inevitably oligarchies no matter the supposed political system.
Oligarchies are often controlled by a few powerful families whose children are raised and mentored to be heirs of the power of the oligarchy, often at some sort of expense to those governed. In contrast to aristocracy ("government by the 'best'"), this power may not always be exercised openly, the oligarchs preferring to remain "the power behind the throne", exerting control through economic means. Although Aristotle pioneered the use of the term as a synonym for rule by the rich, for which the exact term is plutocracy, oligarchy is not always a rule by wealth, as oligarchs can simply be a privileged group.
Overpopulation occurs when the population of a living species exceeds the carrying capacity of its ecological niche. In common parlance, the term usually refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment, Earth.
Overpopulation is not a function of the number or density of the individuals, but rather the number of individuals compared to the resources they need to survive. In other words, it is a ratio: population over resources. If a given environment has a population of 10, but there is food and drinking water enough for only 9 people, then that environment is overpopulated, while if the population is 100 individuals but there are food and water enough for 200, then it is not overpopulated.
Overpopulation can result from increases in births, a decline in mortality rates, which is linked to increases in life expectancy, or from an unsustainable use and depletion of resources. Advances in technology can reduce the threat of overpopulation by making new resources available, or by increasing the productivity of existing resources. (6)
* Patriarchy is the anthropological term used to define the sociological condition where male members of a society tend to predominate in positions of power; with the more powerful the position, the more likely it is that a male will hold that position.
Pluralism is, in the general sense, the affirmation and acceptance of diversity. The concept is used, often in different ways, in a wide range of issues. In politics, the affirmation of diversity in the interests and beliefs of the citizenry is one of the most important features of modern democracy.
** Plutocracy is a form of government where all the state's decisions are centralized in an affluent wealthy class of citizenry, and the degree of economic inequality is high while the level of social mobility is low. This can apply to a multitude of government systems, as the key elements of plutocracy transcend and often occur concomitantly with the features of those systems. The word "plutocracy" itself is derived from the ancient Greek root ploutos, meaning wealth.
** Political Science is a social science discipline that deals with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior. It is oriented around academia, theory, and research.
** Politics, sometimes defined as "the art and science of government.", is a process by which collective decisions are made within groups. Although the term is generally applied to behavior within governments, politics is observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions. Politics is also observed, to varying degrees, in certain Mammal species.
Politics by Country
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_politics_by_country_articles
Population Control is the practice of limiting population increase, usually by reducing the birth rate. The practice has sometimes been voluntary, as a response to poverty, or out of religious ideology, but in some times and places it has been government-mandated. This is generally done to try to prevent a believed threat of Malthusian catastrophe, or overpopulation in general. (6)
Populism is a political philosophy or rhetorical style that holds that the common person's interests are oppressed or hindered by the elite in society, and that the instruments of the state need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and used for the benefit and advancement of the people as a whole. Hence a populist is one who is perceived to craft their rhetoric as appeals to the economic, social, and common sense concerns of average people. Most scholarship on populism since 1980 has discussed it as a rhetorical style that can be used to promote a variety of ideologies.
Individual populists have variously promised to stand up to corporate power, remove "corrupt" elites, and "put people first." Populism incorporates anti-regime politics, and sometimes nationalism, racism or religious fundamentalism. Many populists appeal to a specific region of a country or to a specific social class, such as the working class, middle class, or farmers. Often they employ dichotomous rhetoric, and claim to represent the majority of the people.
* Quasiconservatism is defined as pseudo-conservatism, erroneously and innocuously referred to as neoconservatism, which term defines nothing and neither quantifies nor qualifies that group. The definition is the same as for “neoconservatism”; but that term is worthless. (4)
Tabacco coined this word.
* Racial Purity is the belief that people of different race should not intermarry or reproduce, purportedly to protect the "purity" of one or both races.
The belief is often viewed as intrinsically linked to racism and eugenics. Although some have attempted to justify it on biological grounds (eg. Richard Lynn), others contend that it is entirely without scientific merit (eg. Stephen Jay Gould). Those who use the term may also refer to "miscegenation". Both terms are typically used by those who believe that the concept of race is a valid and useful concept when applied to humans. (5)
* Republic is a state whose political organization rests on the principle that the citizens or electorate constitute the ultimate root of legitimacy and sovereignty. Several definitions, including that of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, stress the importance of autonomy and the 'rule of law' as part of the requirements for a Republic. Nonetheless, in practice most nations that do not have a hereditary monarchy call themselves a Republic, and in its broadest sense the idea of a Republic can include almost any form of government that is not a Monarchy.
* Right-Wing refers to the segment of the political spectrum often associated with any of several strains of conservatism, the religious right, and areas of classical liberalism, or simply the opposite of left-wing politics. In some contexts, the term right-wing also can include authoritarian nationalism, but that is generally considered part of the far right. In recent times, the term almost always includes some forms of conservatism. (4)
* Secularism is commonly defined as the idea that religion should not interfere with or be integrated into the public affairs of a society. It is often associated with the Age of Enlightenment in Europe, and plays a major role in Western society. The principles, but not necessarily practices, of separation of church and state in the United States and laïcité in France draw heavily on secularism.
Social Darwinism is a term used to describe a style or trend in social theory, which holds that Darwin's theory of evolution of biological traits in a population by natural selection can also be applied to derive an ethic and underpin a political ideology and to critique human social institutions.
Historically, proponents of Social Darwinism often used the theory to justify social inequality as being meritocratic, and it has also been used to justify racism and imperialism, in a cultural application of Herbert Spencer's idea of the "survival of the fittest." Thus, Herbert Spencer's notion of the evolution of society and man's moral faculty had been altered to something quite contrary to his philosophy. Social Darwinism itself does not necessarily engender a political position. Some Social Darwinists argue for the inevitability of progress and social reform, while others emphasize the potential for the degeneration of humanity. To a certain extent, Social Darwinism, like Darwinian evolution, has been associated with the controversial field of eugenics. (5)
Social Engineering is a concept in political science that refers to efforts to systematically manage popular attitudes and social behavior on a large scale, whether by governments or private groups.
The term has a negative connotation, and is sometimes used as an accusation against any who propose to use law, tax policy, or other kinds of state influence to accomplish social goals. For instance, political conservatives in the United States have accused their opponents of "social engineering" through their promotion of political correctness, on the basis that political correctness is an attempt to change social attitudes by defining "acceptable" and "unacceptable" language.
However, virtually all law and governance has the effect of changing behavior and can be considered "social engineering" to some extent. Thus, whether any specific policy is labeled as "social engineering" is often a question of degree and intent. Prohibitions on murder, rape, suicide and littering are all policies aimed at discouraging perceived undesirable behaviors, and have positive social consequences. Governments also influence behavior more subtly through incentives and disincentives built into economic policy and tax policy, for instance, and have done so for centuries. Therefore the exact boundaries of social engineering are hard to pinpoint.
Stalinism is a brand of political theory, and the political and economic system named after Joseph Stalin, who implemented it in the Soviet Union.
The term "Stalinism" was first used by Trotskyites opposed to the regime in the Soviet Union, particularly in an attempt to separate the policies of the Soviet government from those they regarded as more true to Marxism. It was soon adopted by anarchists and anti-communists.
Like many other "-isms" it is also used as a pejorative term when referring to nation-states, political parties, or the ideological stance(s) of individuals.
* Theocracy is commonly used to describe a form of government in which a religion or faith plays the dominant role. Properly speaking, it refers to a form of government in which the organs of the religious sphere replace or dominate the organs of the political sphere.
Totalitarianism is a typology employed by political scientists, especially those in the field of comparative politics, to describe modern regimes in which the state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private behavior.
The most influential scholars of totalitarianism, such as Karl Popper, Hannah Arendt, Carl Friedrich, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Juan Linz have each defined totalitarianism in a slightly different way. Common to all definitions is the mobilization of entire populations in support of the state and a political or religious ideology, and the intolerance of activities, which are not directed towards the goals of the state, such as involvement with labor unions, churches or political parties. They also maintain themselves in political power by means of secret police, propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, regulation and restriction of free discussion and criticism, the use of mass surveillance, and widespread use of terror tactics.
Sources: Wikipedia, UOIBN (Unless Otherwise Indicated By Name)
The correct answers to the questions in the Excerpt are: Bush is both a kakistocrat and a kleptocrat. America now is g) all of the above. To differentiate between kakistocrat and kleptocrat, read the definitions above.
T.A.B.A.C.C.O. (Truth About Business And Congressional Crimes Organization)
comments (2)
1. The Angry Chinese Blogger left...
Monday, 27 March 2006 8:35 am :: http://angrychineseblogger.blog-city.com
I can't help ut notice that your poll has not options for
2. amy left...
Tuesday, 23 May 2006 6:40 am :: http://southern43.blog-city.com/
When does the Bush rule end, expire. I am sick of 'baldy,' as he refers to
his Aussie Mate, follows his every move, recently getting all this fanfare,
say 'he speaks for all Australians!'