Ideology is one of the most controversial terms in the political vocabulary, exciting both revulsion and inspiration. This book examines the reasons for those views, and explains why ideologies deserve respect as a major form of political thinking. It investigates the centrality of ideology both as a political phenomenon and as an organizing framework of political thought and action. It explores the changing understandings of ideology as a concept, and the arguments of the main ideologies. By employing the latest insights (...) from a range of disciplines, the reader is introduced to the vitality and force of a crucial resource at the disposal of societies, through which sense and purpose is assigned to the political world. (shrink)

The chapter examines the recent approach to ideology as an actual and ubiquitous combination of decontested political concepts, whose micro-morphological arrangements are the key to the specific meaning each ideological family contains. Shifting proximities and relative weights accorded to those concepts produce multiple ideological variants. Ideologies are pivotal to the discipline of political theory, discernible both in professional and vernacular thinking, and serve as discursive competitions over the control of public political language. Notions of essential contestability, theories of symbolic mapping, (...) and a focus on actual rather than normative political thinking shed light on their semantic significance. Ideologies are permanent phenomena ranging from the flexible to the rigid, and the boundaries that seem to separate one ideology from another may be loose and mutating, challenging the traditional association of ideologies with political parties. In parallel, the study of ideology involves decoding and interpretation, not its juxtaposition with truth. (shrink)

This Oxford Handbook will be the definitive study of political ideologies for years to come. The diversity of ideology studies is represented by a mixture of the range of theories that illuminate the field, combined with an appreciation of the changing complexity of concrete ideologies and the emergence of new ones.

This edited book introduces students and scholars to Comparative Political Thought.

Theorizing about political thinking -- Language, emotion, and political thought -- The arrogance of politics -- Ranking and the distribution of significance -- The scramble for acceptance : mobilizing and withholding support -- Stability, order, and disruption : discourses of balance and contention -- Visions and prescriptions : temptations and failures of political thinking -- Power patterns and power surges : organizing and intensifying speech acts.

"The collection of essays assembled in this volume constitute the bulk of the annual editorials I [Michael Freeden] penned as founder of the Journal of Political Ideologies and its editor for twenty-five years from 1996 to 2020"--Introduction page.

First published in 1988. This anthology from the major writings of J. A. Hobson helps to establish his reputation as one of the most influential social, economic and political theorists of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Britain. The wide range of his writings makes him essential reading for historians, economists, political theorists, students of imperialism and of international relations. In a general introduction Michael Freeden analyses the key organizing concepts of Hobson's work, identifying the main areas of (...) impact and controversy, and he suggests a framework of interpretation that demonstrates Hobson's innovatory radicalism. He emphasizes Hobson's humanist, qualitative understanding of economics, his significant contributions to the transformation of liberal theory, his trenchant critique of imperialism and his 'heretical' theory of underconsumption. Hobson is placed in the intellectual context of his times and shown to be an important member of groups that helped to formulate the ideology of the modem welfare state. A wide selection of Hobson's writings is made available for student and scholar alike. Grouped thematically, extracts include pieces from major works such as The Problem of the Unemployed, Imperialism: A Study, The Crisis of Liberalism and The Industrial System and span a period from 1896 to 1938. (shrink)

After examining different liberal narratives and suggesting that liberalism is open to a range of legitimate methodologies, the fluidity of liberalism is offered as a basis for a study in comparative political thought. Ten propositions on liberalism's structural and semantic features are listed and brought to bear on its adaptations, appropriations and misappropriations in Europe. They are tested in relation to various combinations of liberal components within and outside the family of liberalisms. Different views about the role of the state (...) in Eastern and Western Europe are considered, as is the distinction between constitutional and welfare liberalism in Western Europe. Individual development versions are contrasted with market versions, and the problematic role of civil society is discussed. Finally, some misappropriations are explored with a view to assessing their claims to represent liberal positions. European liberalism emerges as a loosely assembled yet durable ideology around a strong core of value-commitments. (shrink)

This book investigates silence as a normal, ubiquitous and indispensable element of political thinking, theory, and language. It explores the diverse dimensions in which silences mould the different core features of the political-by summoning-up finality, by contributing to rendering support for communities or withholding it, by processing consent or dissent, by the manner in which it secures continuities or generates ruptures, and by its role in shaping national time, public memory and collective identity. Not least, silence is a highly flexible (...) power resource, both enabling and constraining major social practices, traditions, and currents. The emphasis of this study is primarily on the concealed, unintentional, and unrecognized ways through which silence pervades socio-political life, departing from the typical focus on intentional silencing and the dominance of logos. Instead, silence adopts the guises of the unspeakable, the ineffable, the inarticulable, and the unconceptualizable. En route, silence is juxtaposed with stillness, absence contrasted with lack, agency set against undetected conventions, and the veiled paired with the wondrous. Drawing extensively from historical, philosophical, anthropological, psychoanalytical, theological, linguistic, and literary viewpoints, the book demonstrates the common threads that connect silences to those different disciplines, alongside the features that pull them asunder. In extracting and decoding their political implications, it explores both academic literature and colloquial, everyday discourse. Selected case-studies elaborating the overall analysis include topics such as Buddhist nondualism, Locke's tacit consent, the submerging of historical narratives, state neutrality, Pinter's miscommunications and menace, and the separate ways ideologies integrate silence into their beliefs. (shrink)

This paper examines the relationship between the fields of moral and political philosophy and the study of ideology. It begins by addressing a number of reservations philosophers usually have regarding the scholarly status of ideology research. It then proceeds to highlight the distinct style of philosophical inquiry, namely, its seamless continuity between the study of philosophy and the arguments it examines, which contrasts with the professional language of the study of ideologies, clearly distinguished from that of ideologues. The paper then (...) presents a conceptual perspective for the study of ideologies that complements the contributions from moral and political philosophy. Arguably, moral and political philosophy and ideology studies can fruitfully share methods and insights. (shrink)

Modus vivendi theories are caught in an uneasy relationship with a substantive, normative pluralism of toleration and a conceptual and structural awareness of the unavoidability of sociopolitical diversity and contestation. The chapter explores the semantic space occupied by modus vivendi and the kind of political thinking it represents, in particular as a variant of the quest for order and the inevitability of ranking priorities. The implicit boundary drawn by ‘modus vivendi’ theorists between solid blocs of ideas and practices is questioned. (...) When larger magnification orders are employed, points of contact and intertwining may reveal a messiness with which conventional modus vivendi approaches cannot engage. Modus vivendi would consequently benefit from a micro-analysis of its various components instead of being subject to broad-brush treatment, particularly in view of a morphological approach to political concepts. Modus vivendi is also examined in contrast to consensus theories, compromise theories, and agonism, and some of its different forms—fragmentation, segmentation, and asymmetry—are discussed. Finally, modus vivendi is interrogated as an interpretative rather than a prescriptive thought-practice, relating it to a realism based on the ascertainable core characteristics of the political. (shrink)

J. A. Hobson was one of the most influential social, economic and political theorists of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Britain. In this volume, first published in 1990, eight scholars reassess the importance and relevance of his work today and affirm him as a major British thinker. These original studies place Hobson in context by explaining his intellectual antecedents: Cobden, Ruskin, nineteenth-century social and psychological theories and economic thought. The book provides an overview of the novelty and incisiveness of Hobson's (...) contribution to British liberal theory and radical practice. Historians, economists, social and political theorists and students of international affairs will find this an important book for a fuller understanding of early twentieth-century British progressive thought. (shrink)

This book is a high-level examination of each of the major ideologies that have shaped political thinking, action and conflict. Each chapter provides a critical overview of the current state of the major ideologies and a retrospective assessment of the strengths, weaknesses, developments and transformations of these ideologies over the past century. The volume poses a strong challenge to those who have loudly proclaimed the "end of ideology", by demonstrating that it is impossible to understand current political developments without an (...) appreciation of their ideological context. It features internationally respected contributors who are authorities in their fields, and will be an invaluable resource for both students and specialists in areas including Politics and International Relations. (shrink)

Ideologies are still very much in evidence, although some of their configurations are novel. Their denial typifies utopian and neutralist approaches, but those are instances of misrecognition. Liberal epistemology (as distinct from liberal theory) has contributed to an awareness of ideological diversity, but also to the possibility of choice among ideologies, as items of eclectic ? and occasionally inventive ? consumption. Pluralism may hence become fragmentation, albeit a constrained one. Liberalism also encourages uncertainty and multiple future paths, endorsing the impermanence (...) and non?doctrinaire nature of much contemporary political thinking. The mass media, social movements and networks, and popular political language have disseminated new vehicles and forms of ideology, and the notion of a ?post?ideological? age is itself a masking device. Ideologies mutate regularly, their boundaries are porous, and ideological delocalization is countered by cultural decentralization. Yet the fragility of particular ideological arrangements must not be confused with ideological fragility in general. (shrink)

The chapter explores the many varieties of liberal thinking that have developed over time, often in parallel. Those include theories of liberty, individualism, and autonomy alongside notions of community, progress, and welfare, some of which intersect, and all involving different degrees of state intervention or restraint. Constitutionalism, entrepreneurship, individual development as epitomized by Mill, and cultural pluralism are identified as four separate tendencies that both co-exist and clash within the liberal tradition. Their institutional manifestations oscillate between a welfare state and (...) a market society, and between universalistic and particularistic practices. American liberalism in particular emerged as rights-based, but was also prone to criticism that policies undertaken in its name fell short of its own principles, deviating from the ethical and utopian desiderata of Rawls’ philosophical liberalism. Importantly, liberalism has also been surrounded by pretenders eager to exploit its mantle rather than commit to its substance. (shrink)

This collection of papers challenges the notion that we are living in post-ideological age. It offers a theoretical framework for exploring some of the new manifestations of ideologies, and combines this with a series of case-studies relating to recent ideational phenomena, such as populism, environmentalism and Islamic fundamentalism. It reassesses some typologies, such as the left-right axis, as an explanatory device." "The purpose of the essays is to revitalize the scholarly understanding of ideology as central to the concerns of political (...) science. Recent political movements are reinterpreted through using new approaches to the analysis of ideology. In so doing we seek to bridge the gap between empirical and theoretical research in the field."--Jacket. (shrink)

A crise da representação política e as atuais ameaças às democracias liberais consistem em temas de grande reflexão e debate na filosofia política contemporânea, o que explica, em parte o renovado interesse pelo conceito de representação política. O presente artigo defende que a compreensão das ideologias políticas, a partir da abordagem morfológica de Michael Freeden, possibilita novas formas de pensar sobre a representação e sua relação com a democracia. Ao atribuírem significados determinados e estáveis a conceitos políticos essencialmente (...) contestados, as ideologias disputam o controle da linguagem política, desempenhando também uma função integrativa, ao vincular simbolicamente o indivíduo à sociedade a qual pertence, permitindo, assim, o compartilhamento de conteúdos da consciência individual. A partir da obra de Nadia Urbinati, defende-se a centralidade da recuperação da dimensão ideológica da política para uma noção de representação efetivamente democrática, o que passa pela compreensão do papel deliberativo das ideologias e o caráter híbrido destes sistemas de pensamento, que agregam elementos racionais e não-racionais. (shrink)

Liberalism is the dominant ideology of our time, yet its character remains the subject of intense scholarly and political controversy. Inspired by the work of Michael Freeden, this book brings together an internationally-respected cast of scholars to debate liberalism and to redefine the very essence of what it is to be a liberal.

This chapter draws upon Michael Freeden's morphological approach to examine the various ways freedom has been conceptualized within the anarchist tradition. It determines how and to what extent these conceptions serve to differentiate anarchism from liberalism and other ideologies that claim freedom as a core concept. The chapter explores the role they play in the formulation of diverse anarchist tendencies. It argues that prevailing anarchist conceptions of freedom uniformly obviate the "assumed tension between the freedom of the individual (...) and the good of society" as well as "between negative and positive definitions of the concept". The rejection of such dichotomies is a unifying theme in anarchism more generally and a key aspect of its ideological distinctiveness. When anarchism is defined solely in terms of what it opposes, the underlying motivations for that opposition tend to be obscured. For social anarchists, any concept of freedom that lacks an explicitly teleological dimension is an abstraction devoid of concrete moral significance. (shrink)

The ‘liberal-communitarian’ debate arose within anglophone political philosophy during the 1980s. This essay opens with an account of the main outlines of the debate, showing how liberals and communitarians tended to confront each other with opposing interpretations of John Rawls’ Theory of Justice (1999; originally published in 1971) and Political Liberalism (2005; originally published in 1993). The essay then proceeds to discuss four forms of ‘liberalism after communitarianism’: Michael Freeden’s account of liberalism as an ideology; Joseph Raz and (...) Will Kymlicka’s perfectionist liberalisms; the liberalism of value pluralists such as Isaiah Berlin and Bernard Williams; and Judith N. Shklar’s liberalism of fear. It concludes with the suggestion that there are times when liberals of every kind should set aside their ideology, even if only temporarily, in order to listen to their interlocutors with truly open minds. (shrink)

This chapter draws upon Michael Freeden’s morphological theory of ideology to examine diverse conceptions of the State within the anarchist tradition. Its principal aim in so doing is twofold: first, to determine how and to what extent these conceptions serve to distinguish anarchism from other libertarian ideologies, and second, to explore the role they play in the formulation of diverse anarchist tendencies. As I shall argue, the particular meaning and degree of relative significance that a given conception assigns (...) to the State depends on the internal arrangement of its ‘micro-components’ and/or on its relation to other concepts within the ideological morphology. Both of these factors must be taken into account in order to understand anarchism’s internal diversity as well as its distinctiveness among ideologies. (shrink)