REVIEWER – FINALS MANIFESTATIONS OF SOVEREIGNTY:

– Internal – The supremacy of a person or

INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE body of persons in the state over individuals
or associations of individuals within the area
POLITICS – The interaction of humans towards of its jurisdiction.
Power. – External – The absolute independence of a
– It is the interaction of people in any unit state from outside influences or foreign
or State for power to make, preserve, intervention.
and amend the general rules under
which they live. NATION – Group of people bound together by
certain characteristics such as common social
POWER – The basic unit of measurement of Politics origin, language, customs, and traditions, and
and Political Science. In politics, it refers who believe that they are one and distinct
to the ability to exercise control or from the others (Hector de Leon)
impose restrictions over individuals, as
well as compel other people to do certain FORMS OF GOVERNMENT
tasks 1. Monarchy – political power is in the hands of
a single person without regard to the source
POLITICAL SCIENCE – the study of politics. The one of his election or the nature or duration of his
responsible in institutionalizing human tenure
politics.
– It deals with the study of systems of Classifications of Monarchy:
government and the analysis of political • Absolute monarchy – ruler rules by
activity, political behavior, and political divine right
theories and practices • Limited monarchy – ruler rules in
accordance with a constitution
STATE - A community of persons more or less 2. Aristocracy – political power is exercised by
numerous, permanently occupying a definite a few privileged class
portion of territory, independent of external 3. Authoritarianism – form of government
control and possessing an organized characterized by strong central power and
government to which the great body of limited political freedoms
inhabitants render habitual obedience. 4. Totalitarianism – form of government that
seeks to subordinate all aspects of individual
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF A STATE: life to the authority of the state.
1. People – mass of population within a state; Democracy – political power is exercised by
neither too small nor too large, and small enough a majority of the people.
to be well-governed and large enough to be self-
sufficing Classifications of Democracy:
2. Territory – the aerial, terrestrial, fluvial, and • Direct or pure – will of the state is
maritime domain of the states formulated and expressed directly and
3. Government – agency through which the will of immediately through the people in a
the state is formulated, expressed and carried out mass meeting or assembly
4. Sovereignty – supreme power of the state to • Indirect or representative (Republic)–
command and enforce obedience to its will from will of the state is formulated and
people within its jurisdiction and to have expressed through the small and select
freedom from foreign control body of persons chosen by the people as
their representatives

1
 FOUNDATIONS OF POLITICAL THOUGHT • The shipowner, who represents the general
populace, has no knowledge of seafaring.
PLATO: PHILOSOPHER KING • The sailors, who represent politicians, vie
MAIN ASSUMPTIONS: with each other for the shipowner’s favor.
➢ The primary role of the State was promote ideal • The navigator, who represents the
virtues which can lead people to eudaimonia or philosopher, is not involved in the struggle
“good life” for power.
➢ These virutes were disregarded which eventually
lead to evils And since the Philosophers, the navigator, knew
➢ Understanding these virtues can only be done by where to go, the State should be governed instead by
those with intellectual ability and knowledge of him to reach the Eudaimonia.
ethics and morality – Philosophers
➢ Philosophers must become kings for state to EDUCATION ONLY FOR FEW
achieve eudaimonia Plato recognizes that this is a utopian stance, and
goes on to say, “…or those now called kings must
TRIPARTITE OF SOUL: genuinely and adequately philosophize,” suggesting
• Reason the education of a potential ruling class as a more
• Soul practical proposition.
• Appetite
However, he points out that not every citizen has the
THE CARDINAL VIRTUES: aptitude and intellectual ability to learn these skills.
• Wisdom – the virtue for Reason He suggests that where this education is
• Courage – the virtue for Soul appropriate—for a small, intellectual elite—it
• Moderation – the virtue for Appetite should be enforced rather than offered. Those chosen
Justice – the virtue for balance of all virtues for power because of their “natural talents” should
be separated from their families and reared in
THE GROUPS IN SOCIETY communes, so that their loyalties are to the state.
• Rulers
• Guardians ARISTOTLE: POLITICAL ANIMAL
• Producers MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
• Humans, by nature, tend to come together as a
Eudaimonia – the state of justice in a society wherein community or polis – Political Animals
the groups are fulfilling their respective virtues for • Although we are “animals”, we are still different
the state from other species because of our ability to
reason and speech
For Plato, if there is no balance between all these • The purpose of the polis is to achieve virtuous
virtues there there will be ignorance, pleasure of life
wealth, and pleasure of honor in society which can • Different species of government can achieve
resulty to disunity between groups and instability. such virtuous life. Yet, everything will depend on
excessiveness, scarcity or balance of these
The only way to achieve these virtues are through virtues.
letting the Philosopher/s rule. He advocated for a
totalitarian government lead by a Philosopher, like HUMANS AS SPECIES
himself, as the king – the Philosopher King. Aristotle identified various “species” and “sub-
species”. He found that what distinguishes man from
WHY PHILOSOPHERS DON’T RULE? the other animals is his innate powers of reason and
Plato used an analogy in the boat to understand the faculty of speech, which give him a unique
Philosopher King. In his book, The Republic, he ability to form social groups and set up communities
narrates a story about a ship. and partnerships.
2
WHY POLITICAL ANIMAL? CICERO: THE REPUBLIC
For Aristotle, it is our natural tendencies to be part of MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
a community. This community which can eventually • The State (Rome) should be a republic with
lead to establishment of city-states or Polis can make combined elements: Monarchy (Consuls),
us attain Autonomy and Autarky. Aristocracy (The Senate), and Polity (Tribune).
• Granting dictatorial powers to a Consul would
The different ways of organizing the life of the polis prompt a return to a destructive cycle of
exist not so that people can live together (since they governments.
do this by their very nature), but so that they can • Without checks and balances of a mixed
live well. constitution, the government will “bandied about
like a ball.”
Polis – the city-states. The end goal of community of
persons according to Aristotle. THE STRUCTURE OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC:
• The Consul – the General who have conquered a
The main goal establishing Polis: lot of land for Rome and/or has the lragest
• Security number of Legions. Usually two (2) Consuls for
• Economic stability checks and balances
• Justice • The Senate – the group of usually old people
from the noble families of Rome. They check and
IS THERE AN IDEAL GOVERNMENT? balance the Consuls and create the laws for the
While Plato had reasoned theoretically about the Republic.
ideal form of government, Aristotle chose to examine • The Tribune – the assembly of Roman men
existing regimes to analyze their strengths and gathering usually in the Forum. They usually
weaknesses. To do this, he asked two simple discuss the political issues in Rome. They were
questions: who rules, and on whose behalf do they given power to check and balance the Senate
rule? during the reign of Julius Caesar.

SPECIES OF GOVERNMENT This structure of Roman Republic was challenged

Rule by when Julius Caesar, after First Triumvirate with
Rule by Rule by
Single Crassus and Pompey the Great, made himself the
Few Many
Person dictator and put himself as the Consul for life.
True Monarchy Aristocracy Polity Although Julius Caesar made huge reforms for Rome,
Government his imposition to be Consul for life became a threat to
Corrupt Tyrrany Oligarchy Democracy the Political Structure of the Republic.
Government
According to Cicero, break-up of the Republic would
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF INDIVIDUALS? prompt a return to a destructive cycle of
Aristotle stresses Man’s natural inclination to social governments – bandied about like a ball. If the
interaction, and defines the citizen as one who shares Republic let Caesar to rule forever, it will just result
in the structure of the civil community, not merely by to government transfering power from one dictator
electing representatives, but through active to another.
participation. When this participation is within a
“good” form of government (monarchy, aristocracy,
CONFUCIUS: THE JUNZI
or polity), it fosters the ability of the citizen to lead
MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
a virtuous life.
• A leader should be a junzi, a “superior man.”
Less than perfect people can be changed by an
example of sincere goodness.

3
• The junzi possesses the qualities of virtue, IMPORTANCE OF RITUALS
faithfulness, and sincerity, which he shows in Confucius laid great emphasis on ceremonies and
rituals and ceremonies. rituals. The ceremonies and rituals allowed people to
• The junzi therefore sets a good example for his manifest their devotion to those above them in
people. the hierarchy and their consideration toward those
• If a leader’s desire is for good, the people will be below them.
good.
SUN TZU: THE ART OF WAR
MORAL STANDPOINT OF CONFUCIUS: MAIN ASSUMPTIONS
Confucius’s moral standpoint was firmly rooted in • War punishes those who threaten or harm the
Chinese convention, and had at its heart the state. Planning, waging, and avoiding war
traditional virtues of loyalty, duty, and respect. The determines foreign policy.
“gentleman” or “superior man,” whose virtue • Military strategies provide a framework for
would act as an example to others. domestic political organization to ensure a stable
and prosperous state.
GOLDEN RULE: • The art of war is of vital importance to the state.
“What you do not desire for yourself, do not do to
others” MILITARY STRATEGY AS THE CENTER OF THE
CONFUCIUS SOCIAL STRUCTURE FOREIGN POLICY
“The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is
a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to
ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no
account be neglected.”

STATE STRUCTURE
• SOVEREIGN: The role of the sovereign is to
provide moral leadership.
• GENERAL: The “bulwark of the state”, the
general acts as both advisor to the ruler and
ON TOP: The sovereign was regarded by Confucius administrator of his commands.
as inherently superior. His task was to model perfect
behavior, setting a good example to those below him. THE IDEAL GENERAL
ON MIDDLE: Ministers and advisors played an • A good general should know when to fight and
important role as “middle men” between the when not to fight, remembering that an enemy’s
sovereign and his subjects. They had a duty of loyalty resistance can often be broken without armed
to both parties. conflict.
ON BOTTOM: The people, given a good example to • A general should first try to thwart the enemy’s
follow and a clear idea of what was expected of them, plans; failing that, he should defend against
would behave correctly, according to Confucius. attack; only failing that should he launch an
offensive.
FAMILY-BASED SOCIETY • Sun Tzu advocated maintaining a strong defense
Just as the family provided a model for the and forming alliances with neighboring states.
relationships within society, the traditional respect • Prolonged campaigns, especially tactics such as
shown to parents (especially fathers) extended also laying siege to an enemy’s city, are such a drain
to ancestors, and this justified the hereditary on resources that their cost often outweighs the
principle. Just as a father was considered the head of benefits of victory
the family, the state should naturally be ruled over
by a paterfamilias figure—the sovereign.

4
FIVE FUNDAMENTALS OF WARFARE it required knowledge and wisdom that was only
• The Dao, or the Way, allows all soldiers to be of available to the learned.
one mind with their rulers.
• Generals must be aware of Heaven, which is Yin HAN FEI TZU: STATE OVER INDIVIDUALS
and Yang, and the cycle of the seasons. MAIN ASSUMPTIONS
• A strategist must take into account the Earth: • People naturally acted to avoid punishment and
high and low, near and distant, open and confined achieve personal gain
• Command is shown by wisdom, integrity, • There should be a system that emphasized the
wellbeing of the state over the rights of the
compassion, and courage. individual, with strict laws to punish undesirable
• Organization and the proper chain of command behavior – Legalism
instill Discipline. • Administration of these laws was handled by the
ruler’s ministers, who in turn were subject to
laws that held them accountable, with
MOZI: MERIT AND FITNESS punishments and favors given by the ruler.
MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
• Only capable people should be given positions of CORRUPTION IN THE BUREAUCRACY
authority. Only virtuous people should be given The hierarchy with the ruler at the top could be
positions of authority. maintained, and corruption and intrigue among
• Virtue and ability do not necessarily come from the bureaucracy could be controlled. It was vitally
adherence to tradition or belonging to a noble important to the safety of the state in times of war
family. that the ruler could rely on his ministers and that
• Virtue and ability can be learned through study. they should be acting in the interests of the state
• Plans for the country are only to be shared with rather than for their own personal advancement.
the learned.
LEGALISM - Chinese political philosophy based on
MERIT AND FITNESS the idea that a highly efficient and powerful
• Both Confucius and Mozi believed that the well- government is the key to social order.
being of the state relied on the competence and
dependability of the bureaucratic class, but CHANAKYA: ARTHASHASTRA
they differed over the way that administrators MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
should be chosen.
• A ruler is responsible for the welfare, security,
• However, compared to Confucius, Mozi felt that and discipline of his people.
the qualities and skills for high office resulted
• He needs to have a wide range of knowledge,
from aptitude and study, regardless of
skills, and personal qualities.
background or from what noble family you
• He must be trained in self-discipline and
camed from.
statecraft before taking office. While in office, he
must be advised by able and experienced
UNIVERSAL CODE
ministers.
• Mozi believed in the inherent goodness of people,
• Governance is possible only with assistance. A
and felt that they should live in an atmosphere of
single wheel does not move.
“universal love.”
• According to Mozi, in such situations of conflict
THE IDEA OF ARTHASHASTRA
arose not from a lack of morality, but from
• Chanakya wrote a treatise on statecraft titled
differing ideas of what is morally correct.
Arthashastra, meaning “the science of material
• The task of political leaders to unite the people
gain” or “the art of polity.” Arthashastra
with a coherent moral code that was enforced
combined the accumulated wisdom of the art of
by a strong and ethical system of government.
politics with Chanakya’s own ideas, and was
This code would be based on what was necessary
remarkable in its dispassionate, and at times
for the greatest good of society, and formulating
ruthless, analysis of the business of politics.

5
• A commitment to the prosperity of the state lies TYPES OF HUMAN COMMUNITIES
at the heart of Chanakya’s political thought, and • Civitas Terrena – The Kingdom on Earth. Earthly
he makes repeated references to the welfare of city represents vanity and power.
the people as the ultimate goal of government. • Civitas Dei – The Kingdom of God. It is where the
faithful can form a relation with God and where
STATE STRUCTURE: spiritual power is stronger than worldly power.
• THE SOVEREIGN: has the central role in this
system of government. with appropriate EMPHASIS ON GOD
qualities, personal qualities of leadership are not De civitate Dei is a historical-philosophical writing in
sufficient on their own which Augustine describes the attitude of Christians
• THE ADVISERS: provide a range of knowledge towards culture and their dealings with earthly
and skills. They must be utterly trustworthy, not goods, keeping the Kingdom of God in mind as the
only so that the sovereign, but also to ensure that ultimate goal. Augustine points out that one should
decisions are made in the interests of the state be grateful for the earthly goods given by God. He
and its people explains world history as a battle between those who
WAYS TO MANAGE THE STATE FOR CHANAKYA believe in the love of God and those who focus on
• Ruler and his ministers should carefully assess earthly matters.
the strength of their enemies before deciding
on a strategy to undermine them. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: JUST WAR
• Ranging from conciliation, encouraging dissent MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
in the enemy’s ranks, and forming alliances of • The purpose of the state is to enable people to
convenience with other rulers, to the simple live a good life. A state can only deem war
use of military force necessary when it promotes good and avoids
• The ruler should be ruthless, using trickery, evil.
bribery, and any other inducements deemed • While War can only be fought with the authority
necessary. of the sovereign or government. To have
• Chanakya reminds rulers that military advisors authority, a sovereign or government must rule
are also needed, and the gathering of with justice.
information is important for decision-making. • For war to be just, there is required a just
• This amoral approach to taking and holding on cause.
to power, and the advocacy of a strict
enforcement of law and order, can be seen INCORPORATING REASON TO STATE
either as shrewd political awareness or as • Aquinas explicitly examines political issues,
ruthlessness stressing that reasoning is as important in
political thinking as it is in theological
ST. AUGUSTINE: CITY OF GOD argument.
MAIN ASSUMPTIONS: • For Aquinas, steeped in the works of Plato and
• States have a ruler or government, and laws Aristotle, justice was the prime political virtue
governing conduct and the economy. States led that underpinned his entire political
by unjust rulers wage war on their neighbors to philosophy, and the notion of justice was the
seize territory and resources. key element in governance.
• Robbers band together under a leader and have • Just laws were the difference that distinguished
rules for discipline and dividing their booty. good government from bad, bestowing upon it
Each band has its own territory and steals from the legitimacy to rule. It was also justice that
neighboring territories. determined the morality of the actions of the
• Governments are only but great bands of state, a principle that can most clearly be seen in
robbers? Aquinas’s theory of a “just war.”

6
REQUISITES TO JUST WAR: MUHAMMAD AND MEDINA
• Rightful Intention • Revered by Muslims as the prophet of the
• War under an authority of the sovereign Islamic faith, Muhammad also laid the
• War has to have Just cause foundations for an Islamic empire. Exiled from
Mecca because of his faith, in 622 he traveled to
LAWS BASED ON NATURAL LAW Yathrib (on a journey that became known as the
The laws that we create for ourselves and for our Hijra), where he gained huge numbers of
societies must be based on natural law, which in followers, and ultimately organized the city into
itself is a reflection of the eternal law that guides the a unified Islamic city-state.
entire universe. • The city was renamed Medina (“city of the
Prophet”), and it became the world’s first Islamic
Types of Laws: state. Muhammad created constitution for the
• Eternal Laws – is divine, and one came directly state—the Constitution of Medina—which
from God. The eternal law rules the entire formed the basis of an Islamic political tradition.
universe.
• Natural Laws – made clear to us through our ISLAM COMMITMENT TO PEACE
God-given gift of reason. It guides our moral and • In the Quran, Islam is described as a peace-
ethical values. loving religion, but not a pacifist religion.
• Human Laws – crime and punishment must be Muhammad repeatedly stresses that Islam
based on reason, so that they relate to the value should be defended from unbelievers, and
we deduce from the natural. implies that this may in some case mean taking
preemptive action. Although violence should be
SOCIAL COMMUNITIES abhorrent to a believer in Islam, it can be a
• While Aquinas attributes natural law to our necessary evil to protect and advance the
propensity for rational thought, the emergence religion, and Muhammad states that it is the
of human laws is explained by another aspect of moral obligation of all Muslims to defend the
human nature—our need to form social faith.
communities. • This duty is encapsulated in the Islamic idea of
• The role of political society was to enable its jihad (literally “struggle” or “striving”), which
citizens to develop their powers of reason, was originally directed against neighboring
and through this, to acquire an understanding of cities that attacked Muhammad’s Islamic state.
moral sense— in other words, the natural law. • While the Quran describes jihad as a religious
They would then be able to live well, in duty, and fighting as hateful but necessary, it
accordance with natural law, and—as also states that there are strict rules governing
Christians—in accordance with divine law. the conduct of war.

MUHAMMAD: JIHAD AL FARABI: PHILOSOPHER PROPHET

MAIN ASSUMPTIONS: MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
• Islam is a peaceful religion and all Muslims • A model state, which does not yet exist, would
wish to live in peace. ensure that its people lived virtuously.
• But even believers in Islam need to defend • To achieve this, it would need virtuous rulers.
themselves against invasion and attack the But people do not understand that true
unbelievers who threaten their peace and happiness comes from living a virtuous life.
religion. • Instead they prefer to seek wealth and
• Fighting has been enjoined upon you while it pleasure, and live in ignorant, perverted, or
is hateful to you. mistaken societies.

7
AL-FARABI AND PLATO • By placing utility above morality, his ideas for the
Like Aristotle, Al-Farabi believed that man by nature desirable qualities of a successful leader are
needs to live in a social structure such as a city-state based on effectiveness and prudence rather
in order to lead a good and happy life. However, it than any sort of ideology or moral rectitude.
was Aristotle’s teacher, Plato, who most influenced • His view is realistic, if somewhat cynical, and very
Al-Farabi’s political thinking, in particular with his different from those of previous political
vision of the ideal state and how it would be ruled. thinkers. While they might appear to be an
obstacle to creating an efficient, stable society,
IMAM: PHILOSOPHER PROPHET Machiavelli argues that some of these human
Where Al-Farabi differs from Plato is in his failings can in fact be useful in establishing a
conception of the nature and origin of the ideal successful society, though this requires the
ruler’s virtue, which for Al-Farabi was divine wisdom. correct leadership.
Rather than a philosopher king, Al-Farabi advocated • Machiavelli draws a distinction between an
rule by a “philosopher prophet” or, as he describes original, fundamental human nature that has
it, a just Imam. no virtues, and a socially acquired nature that
acts in a virtuous manner and is beneficial to
WHY STATES FAIL? society.
He identifies three major reasons why they fall short
of his ideal: they are ignorant, mistaken, or THE REPUBLIC
perverted. In his less well-known work, Discourses on Livy, he
• In an ignorant state, the people have no strongly advocated republicanism rather than any
knowledge of how true happiness comes from form of monarchy or oligarchy. The form of
leading a virtuous life government he favored was modeled on the Roman
• In a mistaken state, the people Republic, with a mixed constitution and participation
misunderstand the nature of virtue by its citizens, protected by a properly constituted
• In a perverted state, they know what citizens’ army as opposed to a militia of hired
constitutes a virtuous life, but choose not to mercenaries. This, he argued, would protect the
pursue it. liberty of the citizens, and minimize any social
conflict between the common people and a ruling
NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI: THE PRINCE elite.
MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
• The well-being of the state is the responsibility of IDEOLOGIES - is a fairly coherent and
the ruler and should be achieved by any means comprehensive set of ideas that explains and
possible, including deception and intrigue. evaluates social conditions, helps people
• The ruler’s own morality is less important than understand their place in society, and provides
the good of the state and he will be judged on the a program for social and political action
results rather than the means he has used.
• A prudent ruler cannot, and must not, honor his KARL MANNHEIM: IDEOLOGIES AND UTOPIAS
word.
Karl Mannheim is most well-known for his study
POLITICAL REALISM and analysis of ideologies and utopias. One of his
• Rather than seeing society in terms of how it main ideas regarding utopias is what he considers
ought to be, Machiavelli tried to “go directly to the "utopian mentality", which Mannheim describes
the effectual truth of the thing rather than to in four ideals types:
the imagination of it,” meaning that he sought to 1. organic chiliasm
get to the heart of the matter and treat politics 2. liberal humanist utopias
not as a branch of moral philosophy or ethics, but 3. the conservative idea which
rather in purely practical and realistic terms. 4. modern Communism

8
RELATIVISM? ANALYSIS ON THE POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES
• Mannheim points out social class, location and People Society IDEOLOGY
generation as the greatest determinants of Capitalist
knowledge. He feared this could lead to Changeable Unchangeable Romanticism -
relativism but proposed the idea of relationism Neoliberal
as an antidote. Socialist Realism
Unchangeable Changeable
• To uphold the distinction, he maintained that the – Socialism
recognition of different perspectives according to Capitalist
Unchangeable Unchangeable Romanticism –
differences in time and social location appears
Populism
arbitrary only to an abstract and disembodied
Socialist
theory of knowledge. Romanticism –
Changeable Changeable
Marxism /
LOUIS ALTHUSSER: IDEOLOGY AND IDEOLOGICAL Communism
STATE APPARATUSES

Louis Althusser draws upon the works of later POLTICAL PHILOSOPHIES

theorists such as Antonio Gramsci, Sigmund Freud
and Jacques Lacan to proffer a more elaborate LIBERALISM
redefinition of the theory. Althusser's theory of THE SOCIAL CONTRACT
ideology has remained influential since it was Human Social Form of
written. Nature Contract Government
Thomas People are For self Leviathan
THE SOCIAL FORMATION ANDF Hobbes self- preservation, (Totalitarian)
SUPERSTRUCTURES interested submit
Social formation is required to essentially, rights
continuously and perpetually reproduce the John People For Government
productive forces (Labour power), the conditions of Locke naturally protections by consent
production and the relations of production. are free and enlarge
with rights Freedom
In social formation, there are superstructures (Life,
consisting of two floors: Liberty,
Property)
• The law/the state (the politico-legal floor) –
Jean- People are General Will Popular
Repressive State Apparatus
Jacques naturally (will of the Sovereignty
• Ideology – Ideological State Apparatus Rousseau happy people)
(amour de
REPRESSIVE STATE APPRATUS (RSA) – The basic, soi)
social function of the RSA (government, courts, police THOMAS HOBBES: LEVIATHAN
and armed forces, etc.) is timely intervention to MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
politics in favour of the interests of the ruling class, • Left ungoverned, men will terrorize each other in
by repressing the subordinate social classes as a state of nature in which individuals will stop at
required, either by violent or non-violent coercive nothing to ensure their own self-preservation
means. or self-promotion.
• In the state of nature, the condition of man is a
IDEOLOGICAL STATE APPARATUSES (ISA) – The condition of war of everyone against
use methods other than physical violence to achieve everyone.
the same objectives. They may include educational • To avert a descent into the state of nature, men
institutions (e.g. schools), media outlets, churches, must enter into a social contract, submitting to
social/sports clubs and the family. It is diverse in the authority and protection of a sovereign.
nature and plural in function.

9
• The sovereign must be an absolute ruler with • The end of law should be to preserve and
indivisible and unlimited power, to prevent enlarge freedom.
factional strife and chaos.
• If a sovereign fails in their duty, the social LOCKEAN STATE OF NATURE
contract is broken and individuals may take For John Locke, human are naturally free rational
action, leading back to a state of nature. agents with fundamental natural rights. These rights
inherently important for people.
HOBBESIAN STATE OF NATURE
• In the state of nature, men are naturally free and THREE NATURAL RIGHTS FOR JOHN LOCKE
independent, with no duties to others. • Life
• Hobbes portrays humans as rational agents who • Liberty
seek to maximize power and act according to self- • Property
interest, because acting otherwise would
threaten their self-preservation. CONCEPTION OF LIBERALISM
• There is a war because of: (1) Competition, (2) • Liberalism is a reaction against two features of
Glory, (3) Distrust medieval society in Europe: religious
• Life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and conformity and ascribed status.
short” • John Locke was the first to articulate the liberal
principles of government: namely that the
THE LEVIATHAN purpose of government was to preserve its
• With no common authority to solve disputes or citizens’ rights, to pursue the public good; and to
protect the weak, it would be up to each punish people who violated the rights of others.
individual to decide what he or she needs—and
needs to do—to survive. People will create trade- ROLE OF THE GOVERNMENT
offs. • The primary role of the Government was just to
• In order to prevent it, the state needs to have be the neutral body that can manage disputes on
indivisible power and authority to control its rights.
subjects. Hobbes argued that humans had two • Locke was able to describe the characteristics of
principal choices in life—they could either live an illegitimate government. It followed that a
without government (the state of nature) or government that did not respect and protect
with government. people’s natural rights—or unnecessarily
• Leviathan is the name of a monster in the biblical constrained their liberty—was not legitimate.
book of Job, and for Hobbes the state is the “great Locke was therefore opposed to absolutist rule.
Leviathan… which is but an Artificial Man; though Locke maintained that the powers and functions
of greater stature and strength than the of government had to be limited.
Natural, for whose protection and defense it was
intended; and in which, the Sovereignty is an 3 ROLES OF THE GOVERNMENT
Artificial Soul, as giving life and motion to the 1. Government must craft good laws
whole body.” 2. Laws that protect the rights of the people
• The state is thus a cruel, artificial construct, but 3. Government that enforce laws with the
is necessary nonetheless for the sake of the public good in mind.
protection of its citizens.
JOHN LOCKE: GOVERNMENT BY CONSENT EMPHASIS ON LAW
MAIN ASSUMPTIONS: • Much of Locke’s writing on political philosophy
• Humans are rational, independent agents with centered on rights and laws. He defined political
natural rights. power as “a Right of making Laws with
• They join political society to be protected by the Penalties of Death”.
rule of law.

10
• It was preferable to grant government a • Only two principles guided them: the first, a
monopoly on violence and sentencing to ensure natural selflove and desire for self-preservation
fair rule of law. (amour de soi); the second, a compassion for
their fellow human beings.
SOCIAL CONTRACT: GOVERNMENT BY CONSENT
• Locke agrees with Hobbes that a legitimate WHAT BROUGHT STATE OF NATURE DOWN?
government is based on a social contract • This happy condition was, however, brutally
between individuals in a society. brought to a close by the creation of civil society
• Another aspect of legitimate government is rule and, in particular, the development of private
by consent of the people. For Locke, this did property. This lead to the development of self-
not have to mean democracy—a majority of love with insecurity and jealousy (amore
people could reasonably decide that a monarch, propre).
aristocracy, or a democratic assembly should • The arrival of private property imposed an
rule. The important point was that the people immediate inequality on humanity that did not
granted the right to rule, and were entitled to previously exist—between those who possessed
take back this privilege. property, and those who did not. By instituting
this inequality, private property provided the
WHEN TO REBEL? foundations of further divisions in society—
• Locke describes a range of scenarios in which between those of master and slave, and then in
people would have a right to revolt in order to the separation of families.
take back the power they had given the • On the foundation of these new divisions, private
government. property then provided the mechanism by which
• For example, people can legitimately rebel if: a natural self-love turned into destructive love
1. elected representatives of the people are of self, now driven by jealousy and pride, and
prevented from assembly capable of turning against other human beings. It
2. foreign powers are bestowed with became possible to possess, and acquire, and to
authority over people; judge oneself against others on the basis of this
3. the election system or procedures are material wealth. Civil society was the result of
changed without public consent; division and conflict working against a natural
4. the rule of law is not upheld; or harmony.
5. the government seeks to deprive people of
their rights. POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS AS THE REASON
• Locke regarded illegitimate rule as tantamount • The ancient Greeks and others writing on society
to slavery. viewed political processes as subject to their own
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU: SOCIAL CONTRACT laws, working with an unchanging human nature.
MAIN ASSUMPTIONS: • Rousseau disagreed. If, as he argued, society
• Humans existed in a state of nature before could be shaped by its political institutions, there
society. They were free and happy, close to was—in theory—no limit to the ability of political
animals but they swapped this liberty for a action to reshape society for the better.
social contract and laws. • This new theory begged an obvious question: If
• To renounce liberty is to renounce being a human society was open to political change, why,
man. then was it so obviously imperfect?
• We cannot return to a state of nature but we can
write a new social contract, promoting freedom BASIS OF TRADITIONAL POLITICAL
through law. INSTITUTIONS
ROUSSEAU STATE OF NATURE • Natural Authority
• Human beings free from society were well- • Right of the Strongest
disposed, happy creatures, content in their state • Slavery
of nature.
11
SOCIAL CONTRACT: GENERAL WILL and amending the laws of a state; judicial branch,
• The state and civil society were burdens on responsible for interpreting the laws of a state.
individuals, depriving them of a natural freedom. • Since these powers are separate from and
But they could be changed into positive dependent on one another, the influence of any
extensions of our freedom, if political institutions one power cannot exceed that of the other two.
and society were organized effectively.
• The social contract, instead of being a pact AVOIDING DESPOTISM
written in fear of our evil natures, could be a • Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et
contract written in the hope of improving de Montesquieu or simply Montesquieu was less
ourselves. The state of nature might have been concerned with who took the reins of
free, but it meant people had no greater ideals government; of more importance to him was the
than that of their animal appetites. More existence of a constitution that would protect
sophisticated desires could only appear outside against despotism. This could be achieved, he
the state of nature, in civil society. To achieve argued, by a separation of the powers of
this, a new kind of social contract would be government.
written. • Montesquieu argued that despotism was the
• Social Contract should be based from following single greatest threat to the liberty of the citizens,
beliefs: and both monarchies and republics risked
1. A belief that freedom and equality were degeneration into despotism unless regulated by
partners, not enemies; a constitution that prevented it.
2. A belief in the ability of law and the state to
improve society; TRIAS POLITICA
3. A belief in the people as a sovereign entity,
from which the state gained its legitimacy.

ON STABILITY AND LAWS

• Rousseau’s recommendation for dealing with
faction dilemma was to recognize the
inevitability of factions, and to multiply them
indefinitely—making so many particular wills
that no one of them would stand a chance of
HENRY DAVID THOREAU: CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
representing the general will, nor would any one
MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
faction be dominant enough to oppose the
• Progress comes from the ingenuity of the
general will.
people, not from government.
• If the apparent contracts between rulers and
• Governments can be useful, but they often bring
ruled were illegitimate, based on a denial of
about harm and injustice.
people’s sovereignty rather than its
• The best thing governments can do is to let
expression, it would follow that the people had
people flourish.
every right to depose their rulers.
• That government is best which governs not
• Rousseau himself was at best ambiguous on the
at all.
issue of outright revolt, frequently denouncing
violence and civil unrest and urging respect
MORAL CONSCIENCE OVER STATE
for existing laws.
American writer Henry David Thoreau argued that an
MOSTESQUIEU: SEPARATION OF POWERS individual should do what his moral conscience, not
MAIN ASSUMPTIONS: the law, tells him is right. If he does not do this,
• A government’s administrative duties should be governments will quickly become the agents of
split between three powers: an executive injustice.
branch, responsible for enforcing the laws of a
state; a legislative branch, responsible for passing
12
LIMITED GOVERNMENT EQUAL FOOTING CONTRACUAL SITUATION
• According to Thoreau, progress in America came • Since inequalities are part of the reality of any
not from government but from the ingenuity of society, Rawls concludes that “the arbitrariness of
the people, so the best thing government could do the world must be corrected for by adjusting the
was to get out of people’s way and let them circumstances of the initial contractual situation.”
flourish. • By “contractual situation,” he means a social
• Thoreau said that a disaffected individual must contract between individuals—both with each
do more than just register disapproval at election other and with all the institutions of the state,
time: the ballot box is part of the state, but the even including the family. However, this social
individual’s moral conscience stands above and contract involves agreements between
outside such institutions. individuals on an unequal footing. Since the
• An individual’s sense of natural justice may call state has an equal responsibility toward each
for direct actions independent of the machinery citizen, justice can only be secured if this
of government or the views of the majority. For inequality is corrected at its root.
Thoreau, these actions were: the withdrawal of
recognition of the state; non-cooperation with its REDISTRIBUTION
officials; or the withholding of taxes. • For Rawls, social institutions are key to making
• This has become the inspiration of many reforms this correction—by ensuring that all
like Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi individuals have equal access to them, and by
JOHN RAWLS: SOCIAL JUSTICE developing a redistribution mechanism that
MAIN ASSUMPTIONS: makes everyone better off. Rawls considers
• The key to a fair society is a just social contract liberalism and liberal democracies to be the
between the state and individuals. political systems best suited to ensuring that this
• For a social contract to be just, the needs of all redistribution is done fairly.
individuals party to it must be treated equally.
• Only just institutions can produce a fair society. VEIL OF IGNORANCE
• Justice is the first virtue of social institutions. • Rawls suggests that you imagine yourself in an
original position behind a veil of ignorance.
UNEQUAL SYSTEM Behind this veil, you know nothing of yourself
• Rawls was particularly concerned with the and your natural abilities, or your position in
society. You know nothing of your sex, race,
process by which wealth inequalities translated
nationality, or individual tastes.
into different levels of political influence, with the
result that the structure of social and political • Because people behind the Veil of Ignorance do
institutions was inherently biased in favor of not know who they will be in this new society,
wealthy individuals and corporations. any choice they make in structuring that society
• Rawls argued that civil disobedience needs to be could either harm them or benefit them.
understood as the necessary action of a just CONSERVATISM
minority appealing to the conscience of the
majority. EDMUND BURKE: IN RESPONSE TO FRENCH
REVOLUTION
PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE MAIN ASSUMPTIONS
1. The principle of liberty - the first is that • Government is a human invention to oversee
everyone has an equal claim to basic liberties. human needs in society.
2. The principle of difference - The second is that • But some human needs and desires conflict with
“social and economic inequalities are to be those of other people.
arranged so that they are both reasonably • Government must judge between conflicting
expected to be to everyone’s advantage, and wants to produce the fairest outcome.
attached to positions and offices open to all.” • The individual’s passions must be subjected to
the government’s laws.
13
LIVING GOVERNMENT 3. Third, conservatives believe in what may be
• Burke sees government as a complex organism called the principle of prescription.
that grows over time into the subtle, living Conservatives very often emphasize the
form that it is today. The nuances of its political importance of prescription—that is, of things
being—from the behavior of monarchs to the established by immemorial usage, so that the
inherited aristocratic codes of behavior—have mind of man runneth not to the contrary
developed over generations in such an elaborate 4. Fourth, conservatives are guided by their
way that nobody can understand how it all principle of prudence. Burke agrees with Plato
works. that in the statesman, prudence is chief among
• The habit of government is so deep-rooted among virtues. Any public measure ought to be judged
the ruling class, he says, that they barely have to by its probable long-run consequences, not
think about it. Anyone believing they can use merely by temporary advantage or popularity.
their powers of reason to destroy society and 5. Fifth, conservatives pay attention to the
build a better one from scratch—such as principle of variety. For the preservation of a
Enlightenment thinker Jean-Jacques healthy diversity in any civilization, there must
Rousseau—is foolish and arrogant. survive orders and classes, differences in
material condition, and many sorts of inequality.
RESTRAINED NATURAL RIGHTS The only true forms of equality are equality at the
• Burke is particularly damning of the Last Judgment and equality before a just court of
Enlightenment concept of natural rights. They law; all other attempts at levelling must lead, at
may be all very well in theory, he says, but that’s best, to social stagnation.
where the problem lies: “their abstract 6. Sixth, conservatives are chastened by their
perfection is their practical defect.” principle of imperfectability. Human nature
• In reality, rights are simply what people want, suffers irremediably from certain grave faults, the
and it is the government’s task to mediate conservatives know. Man being imperfect, no
between the wants of people. Some wants can perfect social order ever can be created.
even include restraint on the wants of others. 7. Seventh, conservatives are persuaded that
freedom and property are closely linked.
SOCIETY FIRST BEFORE INDIVIDUAL Separate property from private possession, and
• It is a fundamental rule of any civil society, Burke Leviathan becomes master of all. Upon the
says, “that no man should be judge in his own foundation of private property, great civilizations
cause.” To live in a free and just society, a man are built.
must give up his right to determine many things 8. Eighth, conservatives uphold voluntary
he deems essential. community, quite as they oppose involuntary
• “the passions of individuals should be collectivism. In a genuine community, the
subjected” decisions most directly affecting the lives of
• If everyone can behave as he wishes, expressing citizens are made locally and voluntarily.
every passion and whim, the result is chaos. 9. Ninth, the conservative perceives the need for
prudent restraints upon power and upon
RUSSELL KIRK: TEN CONSERVATIVE PRINCIPLES
human passions. Politically speaking, power is
the ability to do as one likes, regardless of the
1. First, the conservative believes that there exists
wills of one’s fellows.
an enduring moral order. That order is made for
10. Tenth, the thinking conservative understands
man, and man is made for it: human nature is a
that permanence and change must be
constant, and moral truths are permanent.
recognized and reconciled in a vigorous
2. Second, the conservative adheres to custom,
society. The conservative is not opposed to social
convention, and continuity. It is old custom that
improvement, although he doubts whether there
enables people to live together peaceably; the
is any such force as a mystical Progress, with a
destroyers of custom demolish more than they
Roman P, at work in the world. When a society is
know or desire.
14
 progressing in some respects, usually it is
declining in other respects.
CARL SCHMITT: THE CONCEPT OF THE POLITICAL
MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
• The political life of a country always includes
exceptional circumstances.
• The judgments of the courts depend on historical
precedents, so can only be applied in “normal”
situations.
• When an exceptional situation occurs one person
must be able to operate above the law,
suspending it and taking all steps necessary to
save the state.
• The only person capable of this is the sovereign.
Sovereign is he who decides on the exception.
MICHAEL OAKESHOTT: RATIONALISM IN
“POLITICAL” POLITICS
• Schmitt’s criticism of liberalism was directly tied MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
to his unique understanding of “the political” as • Parliamentary institutions grew out of the
the constant possibility of struggle between practical art of governing. They have existed for
both friends and enemies. He anticipated this generations and govern based on experience
struggle at both the international level—with and history.
feuding nations—and the domestic level—with • Rationalist politics is based on ideology and
feuding individuals. abstract notions. It engages in destruction and
the creation of a new order.
NATURAL CIRCUMSTANCE V. EXCEPTIONAL • Parliamentary government and rationalist
CIRCUMSTANCES politics do not belong to the same system.
• He envisioned the individual as potentially
dangerous; and consequently this provides a POLITICAL “RATIONALISM”
constant political danger, with the ever-present • The political extremism that engulfed much of the
possibility of war. Schmitt considered that this world in the 20th century, with the rise of Hitler
constant possibility should be the ultimate guide in Germany, Stalin in Russia, and Mao in China,
for the sovereign, who must always be prepared stirred Michael Oakeshott’s careerlong
for it. investigation into the nature of political
• The law might work adequately through the ideologies and their impact on the lives of
courts and their associated bureaucracy under nations.
normal conditions, but in politics, exceptional • He considered that Marxist and fascist leaders
conditions—even chaos—can erupt, and the had seized on the thought of political theorists
courts are not equipped to make good or rapid like “an infection,” with disastrous consequences
judgments under these conditions. Someone must for millions. Oakeshott named this contagious
be entitled to suspend the law during exceptional disease “rationalism.”
circumstances.
• Schmitt concluded that sovereign power, in its IDEOLOGIES AS FIXED BELIEFS
full form, requires the exercise of violence, • Oakeshott saw rationalism in politics as a fog
even when not otherwise legitimate under the obscuring the real-life, day-to-day practicalities
law. that all politicians and parties must address. The
rationalist’s actions are a response to his fixed

15
 theoretical beliefs rather than to objective or ALIENATION
“practical” experience. • In the Manuscripts, Marx developed the notion of
• He was wary of ideologies, seeing them as “alienated labor,” the separation of human
abstract, fixed beliefs that cannot explain what is beings from their true nature and potential for
inexplicable. Allergic to uncertainty, they fulfillment. Marx saw various kinds of alienation
convert complex situations into simple as inevitable in capitalist labor markets.
formulas. The rationalist politician’s impulse is • Marx believed that work has the potential to be
to act from within the “authority of his own one of the most fulfilling of all human activities.
reason”—the only authority he recognizes. But, because of Industrial capitalism, Labor
• Oakeshott believed, to act according to an becomes a commodity to be bought and sold,
artificial ideology rather than real experience and workers are hired by capitalists to produce
of government. Practical knowledge is the best goods that are then sold for profit. Marx argued
guide and ideology is false knowledge. that this removes the fulfilling quality of work,
MARXISM leading to alienation and dissatisfaction

ST. THOMAS MORE: UTOPIA

• St. Thomas More created a literary book about
“Utopia” in which he described the ideal socialist
state.
• He satirically criticized the existence of private
property and described it as the primary cause of
deterioration of European States
• He compared his ficitional state to other state
living under the accumulation of wealth

ROBERT OWEN: THE NEW LANARK, SCOTLAND FORMS OF ALIENATION

• In 1800, the wealthy industrialist Robert Owen • From the goods produced
(1771–1858) took control of a cotton mill in New • From the activity of work
Lanark, Scotland. Unlike other mill owners, Owen • From human identity
took great interest in the living conditions of his
workers, providing them with decent housing COMMUNISM AS THE SOLUTION
and schools for their children. New Lanark • For Marx, communism resolves the tension
became a great success, as Owen indicates in this caused by the alienation f the worker by
excerpt from his address to his workers, and this abolishing private property, and finally solves the
success encouraged Owen to engage in other riddle thrown out by capitalism.
social experiments on a broader scale. • It resolves the conflict between man and nature,
KARL MARX AND FRIEDRICH ENGELS: and between human beings, and in so doing
COMMUNIST MANIFESTO reconnects man to his fundamental humanity.
MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
• Capitalism and private property make labor OVERTURNING CAPITALISM
into a commodity. • Capitalism—a particular way of organizing
• This alienates workers from what they produce, production—is a response to the material needs
from their work, from their human identity, and of human beings. Capitalism arose as older feudal
from their fellow humans. forms of production died out. As the forces of
• Communism abolishes private property and production develop under capitalism, the
brings the end of alienation. suffering of workers becomes obvious, and
• Communism is the riddle of history solved. history moves inevitably toward revolution and
the ushering in of communism to replace it.

16
• The prediction that he and Friedrich Engels made BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION
in their Communist Manifesto of 1848—that the • His Bolshevik party had seized power from the
end of capitalism would be brought about transitional government the preceding October
through communist revolution—profoundly was essentially a bloodless coup d’etat. They were
influenced 20th-century politics. They called for the first successful communist revolutionaries in
an international merger of the proletariat across the world. Even though Russia was a poor
Europe. country within the capitalist finance system, with
a relatively weak proletariat, its bourgeois state
MARXISTS AFTER THE DEATH OF KARL MARX was even weaker, and the masses of working-
class urban workers had been mobilized to
dispossess it, resulting in an “easy victory.”

LENIN MODEL OF REVOLUTION: THE BOLSHEVIK

PARTY

MARXIST-REVOLUTIONIST

VLADIMIR LENIN: REVISIONISM,IMPERIALISM,

AND REVOLUTION
MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
• To be successful, an insurrection must rely on
the actions of the masses. MAO ZEDONG: REVOLUTION OF THE PEASANTS
• To inspire the masses into action, a vanguard MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
party is needed. • China is an agrarian rather than an industrial
• The aims and interests of the vanguard party society.
must be in tune with those of the masses to carry • Therefore peasants are China’s proletariat class.
the masses with them. • Peasants have no power against armed capitalist
• Politics begin where the masses are. exploiters. In order to get rid of the gun, it is
necessary to take up the gun.
THE VANGUARD PARTY • Political power grows out of the barrel of a
• As the peasants aspired to own their own land, gun.
Lenin realized they would not be the class to
bring about a socialist revolution, one of whose PEASANT REVOLUTION
central aims was the eventual ending of private • This violent conflict was the crucible from which
ownership. It was clear to Lenin that the driving the doctrine of “Maoism” emerged as a
force of the revolution would have to be the guerrilla-style rural Marxian revolutionary
burgeoning industrial working class. strategy.
• Lenin understood that a revolution required • He maintained that in a China that was still
leadership and organization, and he championed semifeudal, the truly revolutionary class was the
Engels’ and Marx’s idea of a “vanguard party”— peasantry, and only military struggle could
a group of “resolute individuals” of clear achieve revolution; demonstrations, protests,
political understanding, mostly recruited from and strikes would never be enough.
the working class, who would spearhead the
revolution.

17
 COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA Marx’s theories into practice as the two men led
• In 1921, Mao attended the First Congress of the the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.
Communist Party of China (CPC) in Shanghai, and • However, following Lenin’s death in 1924, Joseph
in 1923 he was elected to the party’s Central Stalin’s absolutist bureaucracy soon crushed any
Committee. hope of such a mass movement, imposing a
• The CPC shared the ideological outlook of dictatorship of one man instead.
Marxist-Leninism with the Kuonmintang
(KMT)—China’s nationalist and antimonarchist PERMANENT REVOLUTION
party founded by Sun Yat-Sen, with links to Soviet • Trotsky had hoped to safeguard the advances he
Russia—and both had the overall aim of national believed had been made in the revolution
unification. through a strategy of “permanent revolution,”
• Communists’ popular movement of peasants and which would be guaranteed by the ongoing
workers was too radical for the KMT, who turned support of an international working class.
on their CPC allies in 1927, crushing them and • For Marx, “until all the more or less propertied
suppressing their organizations in the cities. classes have been driven from their ruling
positions…not only in one country but in all the
MAO MODEL OF REVOLUTION: PEASANT leading countries of the world.”
REVOLUTION • Lenin had insisted that the socialist revolution in
Russia could triumph only if supported by
workers’ movements in one or several other
economically advanced countries.
• Trotsky’s followers have since argued that this
failure to achieve a critical mass of support
internationally was the reason that the Soviet
Union fell into Stalin’s hands.

ABOLITION OF POWER
• For Trotsky, the end is justified if it “leads to the
increasing power of man over nature and to the
abolition of the power of man over man.” In other
words, the end can itself be seen as a means to
this ultimate end.
ANTONIO GRAMSCI: CULTURAL HEGEMONY
LEON TROTSKY: PERMANENT REVOLUTION
MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
• The struggle to tackle the dominance of the ruling
 If the end justifies the means, what
classes was a cultural battle as much as a
justifies the end?
revolutionary one.
 The end is itself a means to another end.
• Ideological and cultural control of the working
 Any end is justified if it is itself a means to
classes that goes beyond coercion to the
achieve the increasing power of man over
development of systems of thought—reinforcing
nature and the abolition of the power of man
the position of the powerful through consent.
over man.
 Only actions that ultimately advance this end MARXIST-REVISIONIST
are “moral.”
EDUARD BERNSTEIN: EVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM
TROTSKY AGAINST STALIN MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
• Leon Trotsky always sought to promote what he • Socialists expected capitalism to produce
saw as a truly Marxist position. He worked poverty.
closely with Vladimir Lenin to translate Karl • Yet capitalism has increased the wealth of
workers.
18
• Capitalism has proved to be a stable, secure • This national spirit forges a community with a
system. This means that workers accept particular national character.
capitalism. • People depend on this national community for
• We have to take working men as they are. happiness.
• Socialists should argue for piecemeal reforms • Each nationality contains its center of
under capitalism. happiness within itself.

REFORMING CAPITALISM CONCEPT AND ORIGINS OF NATIONALISM

• Eduard Bernstein pointed out that the party • Herder argued that language is crucial in
(German Socialist Democratic Republic or SPD) forming a sense of self, and so the natural
was dedicated to a socialist future and its policy grouping for humanity is the nation—not
was guided by Marxism. But as the party became necessarily the state, but the cultural nation
more established, and without the pressure- with its shared language, customs, and folk-
cooker conditions of illegality, its day-to-day memory.
activities lacked direction. While SPD members • He believed that a community is forged by a
still pronounced on the need for the national spirit—the Volksgeist—which emerges
transformation of society, in practice it followed a from language and reflects the physical
gradualist path, eking out changes through character of the homeland.
parliamentary legislation. BENEDICT ANDERSON: IMAGINED COMMUNITY
FRANKFURT SCHOOL: CRITICAL THEORY MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
• The discussion about method has been always a • Anderson depicts a nation as a socially
constant topic for those critical theorists who constructed community, imagined by the people
have attempted since the beginning to clarify the who perceive themselves as part of that group.
specificity of what it means to be “critical”. A • Nationalism was actually created using the
primary broad distinction that Horkheimer drew prescribed manuscript which access is only
was that of the difference in method between limited to those who can understand them.
social theories, scientific theories and critical • The media also creates imagined communities,
social theories. through usually targeting a mass audience or
generalizing and addressing citizens as the
ANTI-TRADITIONAL public.
• Traditional theory, whether deductive or
analytical, has always focused on coherency and DEFNING NATION
on the strict distinction between theory and He defined a nation as "an imagined political
praxis. community". As Anderson puts it, a nation "is
• Accordingly, traditional theory has proceeded to imagined because the members of even the smallest
explain facts by application of universal laws, that nation will never know most of their fellow-members,
is, by subsumption of a particular to a universal meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of
in order to either confirm or disconfirm this. A each lives the image of their communion”.
verificationist procedure of this kind was what JOSEPH-ARTHUR DE GOBINEAU: CIVILIZATION
positivism considered to be the best explicatory AND RACE
account for the notion of praxis in scientific • He argues that there are differences between
investigation. human races, that civilizations decline and fall
FASCISM when the races are mixed and that the white race
is superior. It is today considered to be one of the
NATIONALISM: JOHANN GOTTFRIED HERDER earliest examples of scientific racism.
MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
• People are shaped by the places they grow up
because shared languages and landscapes help to
create a national spirit, or Volksgeist.
19
RACE AS DETERMINANT OF HISTORY
• Gobineau aimed for an explanatory system FASCISM AS TRUE ANTI-THESIS
universal in scope: namely, that race is the • For Rocco, Socialism-Liberalism-Democracy are
primary force determining world events. not the anti-thesis against each other. Liberalism
• Using scientific disciplines as varied as linguistics ensures liberty, Democracy ensures people
and anthropology, Gobineau divides the human controlled the State, Socialism ensures economic
species into three major groupings: white, justice. They just differ to methods, but
yellow and black, claiming to demonstrate that technically same ends.
"history springs only from contact with the white • This understanding makes these three not the
races." anti-thesis against each other. Hence, Fascism is
• Among the white races, he distinguishes the the only true anti-thesis
Aryan race as the pinnacle of human GIOVANNI GENTILE: THE DOCTRINE OF FASCISM
development, comprising the basis of all MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
European aristocracies. However, inevitable • The law and will of the nation take precedence
miscegenation led to the "downfall of over individual will.
civilizations". • All human and spiritual values lie within the
state.
“BIBLICAL” ORIGINS • All individual action serves to preserve and
• The book was dedicated to King George V of expand the state.
Hanover (1851–66), the last king of Hanover. In • The fascist conception of the state is all-
the dedication, Gobineau writes that he presents embracing.
to His Majesty the fruits of his speculations and
studies into the hidden causes of the "revolutions, COLLECTIVISM
bloody wars, and lawlessness" of the age. • Gentile rejected the idea of individualism and
• In Vol I, chapter 11, "The ethnic differences are thought the answer to both the people’s need for
permanent", Gobineau writes that "Adam is the purpose and the state’s need for vitality and
originator of our white species", and creatures cohesiveness lay in collectivism.
not part of the white race are not part of that
species. FASCIST STATE
• The biblical division into Hamites, Semites, and • In order to create the new fascist nation, it was
Japhetites is for Gobineau a division within the necessary to mold all individual wills into one. All
white race. In general, Gobineau considers the forms of civil society outside the state were
Bible to be a reliable source of actual history, repressed, and all spheres of life—economic,
and he was not a supporter of the idea of social, cultural, and religious—became
polygenesis. subordinate to the state. The state also aimed to
grow through colonial expansion, which was
ITALIAN FASCISM mainly to be achieved through conquests in North
Africa.
ALFREDO ROCCO: THE POLITICAL THEORY OF GIUSEPPE MAZZINI: THE DUTIES OF MAN
FASCISM MAIN ASSUMPTIONS:
MAIN ASSUMPTIONS: • The pursuit of individual rights is insufficient
• Liberalism, Socialism, and Democracy are not for the social good because not everyone is able
different from each other. The true anti-thesis to to exercise their rights and because the pursuit
these is Fascism of individual interests leads to greed and
• Societal interests should be above from the conflict.
individual interests • Individual rights should be subsumed under the
• Capital is still vital for production but it should be duty to one’s country.
controlled by the State
• Individuals should, therefore, submit to the State
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INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY blind and unswerving obedience to leaders
• Mazzini argued that the pursuit of rights came appointed from above.
second to a higher call of duty towards humanity. • It also emphasized the inequality of men and
This duty required individuals to cooperate races and the right of the strong to rule the weak;
toward common aims. sought to purge or suppress competing political,
• A country was the “workshop” through which the religious, and social institutions; advanced an
individual could serve mankind. Duty to ethic of hardness and ferocity; and partly
country—thinking in terms of “we,” not “I”— destroyed class distinctions by drawing into the
would connect individuals to the broader movement misfits and failures from all social
collective of humanity. classes. Although socialism was traditionally an
• For Mazzini, a country was much more than a internationalist creed, the radical wing of Nazism
group of individuals in a geographical area: it knew that a mass base existed for policies that
was an association of people united by were simultaneously anti-capitalist and
brotherhood. nationalist. However, after Hitler secured power,
NAZISM: ADOLF HITLER this radical strain was eliminated.
• National Socialism, German Nationalsozialismus, MASS PROPAGANDA
totalitarian movement led by Adolf Hitler as head • Hitler’s most important individual contribution to
of the Nazi Party in Germany. In its intense the theory and practice of Nazism was his deep
nationalism, mass appeal, and dictatorial rule, understanding of mass psychology and mass
Nazism shared many elements with Italian propaganda. He stressed the fact that all
fascism. However, Nazism was far more extreme propaganda must hold its intellectual level at the
both in its ideas and in its practice. In almost capacity of the least intelligent of those at whom
every respect it was an anti-intellectual and it is directed and that its truthfulness is much less
atheoretical movement, emphasizing the will of important than its success.
the charismatic dictator as the sole source of
inspiration of a people and a nation, as well as a ANTI-JEWISH SENTIMENT
vision of annihilation of all enemies of the Aryan • Hitler found this common denominator in the
Volk as the one and only goal of Nazi policy. Jews, whom he identified with both Bolshevism
and a kind of cosmic evil. The Jews were to be
ITALIAN FASCISM V. NAZISM discriminated against not according to their
religion but according to their “race.” Nazism
declared the Jews—whatever their educational
and social development—to be forever
fundamentally different from and inimical to
Germans.

CONSERVATIVES AND NAZIS

• Nazism attempted to reconcile conservative,
nationalist ideology with a socially radical
doctrine. In so doing, it became a profoundly
revolutionary movement—albeit a largely
negative one. Rejecting rationalism, liberalism,
democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and all
movements of international cooperation and
peace, it stressed instinct, the subordination of
the individual to the state, and the necessity of
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