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1 1 LIBERALISM Unit Structure : 1.0 Objectives 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Historical background 1.3 John Locke 1.4 The Revolutions and spread of modern ideas 1.5 Elements of Liberalism 1.6 Classical Liberalism 1.7 Modern Liberalism 1.8 Industrial Revolution, World Wars and the Great Depression 1.9 Comparison between Classical Liberalism and Modern Liberalism 1.10 Evolution of Liberalism 1.11 Critique of Modern Liberalism 1.12 Summary 1.13 Suggested Reading 1.0 OBJECTIVES The aim of this unit is to familiarize students with the meaning, significance and approaches to Liberalism. After studying this unit, the student should be able to: • To understand the concept of liberalism • To differentiate between classical and modern liberalism • To know the limitations of modern liberalism 1.0 INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS LIBERALISM? The term “Liberalism” is derived from the Latin word, “liber” meaning “free.” Liberalism is plainly speaking is an ideology which stands for individual freedom, equality and liberty. Politically speaking it stands for an individual-centric polity wherein the individuals had a say in choosing their own government. Liberalism emerged with the growth of middle class in Europe where monarchy was still the dominant form of the government. So, in a way Political Liberalism refers to individual freedom and choice to make their own laws and choose their own government. Economic munotes.in
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2 Liberalism refers to free markets and abolition of duties on movement of goods from one territory to another. 1.2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Liberalism emerged in Europe during the Age of Enlightenment (period between late 17th century and 18th century where new ideas about government, personal freedom and religious beliefs began to appear in Europe) as an idea which spread quickly among the western philosophers, economists and political scientists. Liberalism challenged the existing practice of monarchy, hereditary succession of power, divine rights of the king and so on. In short, it rejected what is termed as “classical conservatism” and orthodoxy and replaced it with the new ideas of representative democracy and rule of law. Liberalism in the economic sense meant ending up of royal monopolies, mercantilist policies and other trade barriers. Liberalism advocated free trade, globalism, and market economy. 1.3 JOHN LOCKE 17th century thinker, John Locke (1632–1704) is considered to be the “father of liberalism.” In his Two Treatises of Civil Government (1690), Locke made a case against the divine rights of the king to justify the overthrowing of James II and instead mooted for a government based on consent of the ones being governed. In addition to be being a philosopher, Locke was also a political activist who was greatly admired by Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of American declaration of independence and one of the founding fathers of United States of America. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” – Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), American Declaration of Independence. John Locke is regarded as a remarkable philosopher, regardless of political opinions. According to Locke, every human possesses a right to life, liberty and property, which governments must strive to protect instead of violating. He believed that all men were free and equal and that the authority of government comes only from the consent of the governed. This simply meant that the state’s legitimate interference must only and only be based on the consent of the governed. He made a case that “the only task of the government is the protection of private property.” Economist Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) added that private property needs to be understood in the broader sense of the word by suggesting “the programme of liberalism if condensed in to a single word, would have to read property, that is private ownership of means of production.” munotes.in
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Liberalism John Locke asserted that a legitimate government is based on social contract with the people and not by force or violence. As per him in the state of nature, people have some natural inalienable rights and to protect these natural rights peacefully, the people enter in to a contract to form a government with a hope to preserve the natural rights. Simply put “Life, liberty and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place”. – Frédéric Bastiat (1801–50), The Law. 1.4 THE REVOLUTIONS AND SPREAD OF MODERN IDEAS The glorious revolution of 1688, American Revolution of 1775, and French Revolution of 1789 further added to the spread of Liberal ideas. The French Revolution led to the dissemination of idea across the world with the spread of ideas of the likes of French philosopher and writer Francois Marie Voltaire who attacked the authority of the religious institutions and the governments of the day and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who was passionate about individual freedom and was of the opinion that people should not obtain more possession or power than needed. Francois Marie Voltaire (1698-1774) was exiled from France for his liberal views by the aristocratic government. He went to England attracted by its civil liberties, constitutional government and classical liberal thinking. It was here that Voltaire decided to dedicate the rest of his life to cause of promotion of freedom, free speech and free trade. His “Philosophical Letters on the English” (1734) criticised the illiberalism of France; he urged the overthrow of aristocratic powers and criticised the intolerance of the Church. Despite his imprisonment in Bastille, he continued to write against repression in Europe. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) considered to be the father of French Revolution was a voracious advocate of individual freedom. His quotes “I prefer liberty with danger than peace with slavery” and ““Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains” set the alarm bells ringing as a run up to the French revolution. He too propounded the theory of social contract and published the Social Contract in 1762 leading to its immediate ban and he had to seek refuge in Switzerland before eventually moving back to France incognito before spending time in Berlin and England. Voltaire along with Rosseau challenged the idea of absolute monarchy and the traditional that the nobility and clergy were entitled to special privileges. Other thinkers like economist Adam Smith, historian David Hume, philosopher Immanuel Kant, political philosophers Montesquieu and Thomas Hobbes and writers Mary Wollstonecraft and Samuel Johnson immensely contributed towards the spread of liberalism in the western world. munotes.in
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4 The new ideas proposed by these thinkers spread to the masses through their works publishes in pamphlets, books, news articles, lectures and even plays and through popular art and culture. Industrial Revolution helped the spread the ideas with both emergence of a new socio-political-economic class i.e. the middle class along with inventions like the printing press which helped in the dissemination of the ideas. 1.5 ELEMENTS OF LIBERALISM According to John Gray, there are four common elements shared across different strands of Liberalism. They are, Individualism: Humans are foremost individuals and should be regarded as one before subjecting them to collectivity or a group is the first and the most basic element of Liberalism. Liberals thus aim to create a society wherein the individual is the most important aspect of the society. Equality: Human beings are born equal with regards to political and legal rights can be called the second element of Liberalism. Though liberalism believes that individuals can possess different talents and abilities and hence liberals are committed to providing equal opportunities for everyone to help reach their full potential. Universalism: Human beings irrespective of their geographical location or difference in culture should be considered as humans first. Reasoning: Human beings possess a unique trait which other animals don’t – reasoning. Other animals act out of their instincts whereas humans use reasoning. Based on reasoning, individuals make judgements. 1.6 CLASSICAL LIBERALISM As mentioned earlier, classical liberalism gave emphasis to individual freedom. Classical Liberalism can be summed up in the words of Thomas Paine, who called the government, a “necessary evil.” It primarily means opposing monarchy, feudal privileges, structures and absolutism while emphasising on constitutionalism and representative government. “When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner.” – Montesquieu. These words laid the foundations of division of power within the government and the system of checks and balances. Classical Liberalism also gave birth to economic liberalism whose foundations were laid by Adam Smith (1723-1790) published in his book “Wealth of Nations” in 1776 where he made a case for free trade for the betterment of individual prosperity. Economic Liberalism believed in the Laissez-Faire model of that government is the best, which governs the least munotes.in
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Liberalism which stood for minimum government intervention and market driven commerce. “It is the highest impertinence and presumption … in kings and ministers, to pretend to watch over the economy of private people, and to restrain their expense…. They are themselves always, and without any exception, the greatest spendthrifts in the society. Let them look well after their own expense, and they may safely trust private people with theirs. If their own extravagance does not ruin the state, that of their subjects never will.” Wrote Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations. The philosophical justification of Classical Liberalism is supplemented by the concept of Utilitarianism but forward by Jeremey Bentham, James and JS Mill. Utilitarianism simply stood for “the greatest happiness of the greatest number” and a representative government upholding the values of liberty and equality was seen to be the ideal manifestation of utilitarianism. Ideas of right to private property, democracy, limited government, capitalism and market-economy were prominent ideas promoted by classical liberalism. 1.7 MODERN LIBERALISM By the end of the 19th century, both Europe and North America were experiencing democratic governments and free market economies. This age also saw the impact of the industrial revolution in a democratic world with the profits getting concentrated in the hands of a few. As then rich gained more and the poor became poorer along with the birth of idea of communism. It is in this background that liberals like TH Green started to think and evolve liberalism. Modern liberalism believes that individual freedom does not mean being left alone as being left alone makes human being weaker. Humans would be stuck in poverty, hunger and other things which will deprive them of their liberty to be happy and to realise their fullest potential. Thus, the concept of a welfare state came in to being. John Rawls and his theory of justice provided philosophical backing to modern liberalism. He suggested two principles to justify redistribution – All individuals have an equal right to basic liberty Inequality is justified only if it promotes the well-being of the worse-offs in terms of liberty. The theory is of great importance as it not only claimed that equality is an indispensable principle of liberalism but also said that practice of inequality is justified to promote equality among the unequal. This theory of justice also created grounds for positive discrimination and the concept of reservation. munotes.in
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6 1.8 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, WORLD WARS AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION People had by now begun to question the way they were being governed. Though the 19th century saw liberal regimes replacing conservative regimes across Europe and America, liberalism saw a new challenge in the form of world wars, industrial revolution, the great depression and growing ideologies of communism and fascism. The ideas of classical liberalism were questioned and the model of laissez-faire was rejected by modern liberals. In “The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money,” English Economist JM Keynes argued against laissez-faire policies suggesting the model had resulted in large scale unemployment and economic instability and thus made a case for the government to manage “aggregate demand” in the economy through taxation and spending policies. And hence, it was during this time that we see an increased spending of the government towards social welfare starting with free education and insurance. Franklin D Roosevelt’s New Deal successfully lifted United States of America out of the Great Depression which proved that the “visible hand” of the government in economic affairs can obtain great results. In 1913, before World War I, government expenditure was just 17 per cent of GDP in France, 15 per cent in Germany and 13 per cent in the United Kingdom. It is now roughly three times that as a percentage of GDP, and many times more in absolute terms. With every war, the government increase its spending but failed to shrink it back after the war. 1.9 COMPARISON BETWEEN CLASSICAL LIBERALISM AND MODERN LIBERALISM The difference between classical liberalism and modern liberalism is obvious if we go through the above explanations of classical and modern liberalism. We can say the primary differences between the two waves of liberalism are as follows, Definition Classical liberalism primarily stood for individual liberty. Modern liberalism stands for social justice. Role of Government Classical liberalism believed government was considered as a necessary evil. Modern liberalism believes in a greater role of government to provide social security and services. munotes.in
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Liberalism Taxation and Tariffs Classical liberalism believed in low taxation and tariffs. Modern liberalism believes in higher taxations for the rich. Economics Classical Liberalism stood for a market-driven economy and free markets. Modern Liberalism stands for a mixed economy. 1.10 EVOLUTION OF LIBERALISM Liberalism started as an idea to promote individual liberty. The first wave of liberalism played an important role in establishing constitutional government and end absolute monarchy. After establishing the ideas of constitution, democracy, independent judiciary and abolition of aristocratic privileges, the next wave of liberalism saw a welfare state shape up which strived to protect the rights of the poor and downtrodden by providing them with social security. Eventually in the later waves, the need to advance the scope of rights was felt with concepts of gender equality, racial equality and so on. 1.11 CRITIQUE OF MODERN LIBERALISM Modern Liberalism tried to answer the limitations of classical liberalism which perhaps promoted absolute greed and caused inequality among people. But then the evolved form of liberalism had its share of criticism as well. They were Affirmative action against the fundamental principle of equality The first and foremost critique of modern liberalism is that affirmative action ends up promoting inequality than equality. The debate on reservations in India is one such debate which divides the liberals. Excessive welfare would make the people dependent Excessive welfare would make an individual lazy and dependant on the government. More than using welfare as a last mode of survival and existence, such schemes encourage the poor and deprived to continue being in the same condition without giving them an incentive or a disincentive to come out of the vicious circle they are in. The very fact that states with minimal government interference compared to communist or socialist states are much more prosperous makes a case for reduced welfare. Protectionism hampers growth For a long time, several countries followed socialist policies and kept certain non-strategic industries and market protected but it led to their own munotes.in
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8 industries losing out the competitive edge in protected markets and their consumers missing out on better goods. In terms of economic growth, since the end of protectionism the country has only grown and the people benefitted at large. Regulation and economic planning never succeed There are many examples to prove that government planning and excessive regulation doesn’t succeed as intended to. The economic crisis of 2007-08 originating in the financial system in the U.S. exemplified the shortcoming of government regulation of the financial system. How much control is limited control? How much control is limited control and how much control is not too much control is something which supporters of modern liberalism are unable to come to terms with. With increased government control, there is a possibility of the government turning in to a totalitarian or a communist regime. Increased government interference leads to increased corruption They say increased government interference leads to increased corruption, because the more channels one needs to interact with in the government, the more possibilities of the government extracting money through corruption. Modern concepts of maximum governance with minimum government aim to reduce the government interference in economic life. Thus, we see in many sectors today self-regulation is being promoted. 1.12 SUMMARY We can summarise liberalism as, Liberalism stood for individual freedom and equality before law. It was against autocracy and questioned the divine right of the king. Politically it stood for a government with the consent of the governed. Liberal ideas led to the end of monarchy, and made way for a democratic and constitutional government. Private property was central to the idea of classical liberalism. Economically economic liberalism stood for free trade and free markets and minimal or no government interference. Modern liberalism speaks for social justice more than individual rights and freedom. Modern liberalism differs from classical liberalism by suggesting the necessary intervention of government to overcome inequality. munotes.in
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Liberalism 1.13 EXERCISE • What is liberalism? • What is classical liberalism? • What is modern liberalism? • What is the difference between classical and modern liberalism? • Critically evaluate modern liberalism. • Name a few thinkers who held shape up the idea of liberalism and how? 1.14 SUGGESTED READINGS • Francis Fukuyama – Liberalism and its Discontents • J. S. Mills – On liberty • Jacob S Hacker and Paul Pierson - Winner-Take-All Politics • John Steinbeck – The Grapes of Wrath • Butler Eamonn (2015). Classical Liberalism: A Primer. The Institute of Economic Affairs • Gauba OP (2017). Western Political Thought. Mayur Paperback. • Dewey John (1999). Liberalism and Social Action. Prometheus Books munotes.in
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10 2 SOCIALISM Unit Structure : 2.0 Objective 2.1 Introduction: What is Socialism 2.2 Emergence of Socialism 2.2.1 Impact of Capitalism 2.2.2 Growth of Socialism 2.3 Forms of Socialism 2.4 Nature of Socialism 2.4.1 Marxian Socialism 2.4.2 Marxism vs. Communism 2.5 Challenges to Socialism 2.6 Summary 2.7 References 2.0 OBJECTIVE: The main objective of studying Socialism is to understand to what extent society would be better if the individuals work in cooperation, instead of being isolated or alienated. It is needed be bring equality in socio-economic strata of the society by removing any sort of economic exploitation that would create a rift between a rich and a poor. And who would be the regulatory body? Of course it’s the State that has to take upon it that responsibility to bring in equality and justice in the society by curbing any economic oppression existing in the society. Socialism has also been demonstrated through a cooperative system in which each member of the society owns a share of communal resources. The rule of engagement in a socialistic system is that each person receives and contributes according to his ability. Thus by the completion of this module, the students shall be able to know how the ideology of Socialism became a hope for the oppressed class of the society in the midst of liberalism as well as capitalism. 2.1 INTRODUCTION: The word “Socialism” finds its roots in the Latin word “sociare” that means to combine or share. Hence if we characterise Socialism, we may call it as a supporter of public ownership of property, support to equality and equal opportunity, provision of basic needs and social welfare, its base over community as well as cooperation, lack of competition. Social class based on Egalitarian society and a centralised planning. Its earliest usage was in 1827 in Britain in Cooperative Magazine. munotes.in
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Socialism
By 1830s the followers of Robert Owen in Britain and Saint Simon in France had started to refer to their belief in Socialism. By 1840s the term was familiar in a range of industrialized nations. Socialism emerged as a response to the inequalities present in and reproduced by the industrial capitalist economy. The major objective of Socialism was to minimise existing inequality and distribute resources in a just manner. It supports that sort of government that come for regulations, planning and control over key areas such as health care, education etc. It was a direct attack over industrial capitalist society. Capitalism is based on individual initiative and favours market mechanisms over governmental intervention. While Socialism is based on government planning and limitations on private control of resources. C.E.M.Joad quoted in his work, An Introduction to Modern Political Theory “Socialism is like a hat that has lost its shape because everybody wears it”. Another notable scholar Joseph A.Schumpeter in his book Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy defined Socialism as that organisation of society in which the means of production are controlled and the decisions on how and what to produce and on who is to get are made by public authority instead of by privately owned and privately managed firms. Hence Socialism as an ideology had originated to overcome the defects of capitalism and to provide an individual a dignified life. In the words of Hughan “Socialism is the political movement of the working classes which aims to abolish exploitation by means of the collective ownership and democratic management of the basic instruments of production and distribution”. It is an ideology that supports public ownership of property and natural resources. It is opposed to Liberalism that believes in the private ownership of property. Libertarians aim to maximise autonomy and political freedom and minimize the state’s violation of individual liberty. It also advocates for free association, freedom of choice, individualism and voluntary association. Check Your Progress Exercise 1 Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
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12 1. Discuss the meaning of Socialism in brief. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 2.2 EMERGENCE OF SOCIALISM:
2.2.1: Impact of Capitalism: Capitalism was self-interested, competitive and largely motivated by material incentives. Its stress was on individualism and there was a trend towards private ownership over means of production that was absolute in nature. The surplus labour was taken away by the capitalist class. Ii was also visualised that there were impersonal social relation mediated by market manifest in class relationship. It gave formal equality of opportunity only that was basically legal and political equality-based. It stood for negative freedom and individual rights. The ideology of Socialism totally negated the capitalistic trend that was actually degrading the economic structure of the society. Its concept was social as well as co-operative in nature and greatly motivated by moral incentives. It called for social and collective ownership of production with the abolition of private property. The surplus profit was to be divided among labour class. The social relationship was guided by universal brotherhood. Its basic features were social equality, positive freedom and common good. 2.2.2: Growth of Socialism: Socialism as an intellectual heritage that goes back to Plato’s Republic which depicts an austere society in which men and women of the "guardian"
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Socialism class share not only their few material possessions but also their spouses and children or Thomas More’s Utopia that combines Christianity and Platonism, and it appears to advocate communal ownership as a means of overcoming the sins of pride, envy, and greed. On More's imaginary island of Utopia, land and houses are common property, with everyone working for at least two years on communal farms and people changing houses every ten years so that no one develops a sense of ownership. Money has been abolished and now people are free to take what they need from common storehouses. It was Robert Owen who started the cooperative movement and experimental socialist communities in England to realize the betterment of the workers. The Utopians like Saint Simon and Charles Fourier (1772-1837) appealed to the capitalist class to work for improving the miserable condition of the workers or the non-capitalist class. Another notable effort that needs to be mentioned historically is the Protestant Reformation that remarked the brief Anabaptist regime in Münster, Westphalia which aimed for common ownership, and several communist or socialist sects arose in England in the aftermath of the Civil Wars (1642–51). Further, the French Revolution of 1789 and the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution had a great impact over its emergence. The famous quotation given by Jean-Jacques Rouseau in his work “Social Contract” where he mentions “Man is born free, and he is everywhere in chains” greatly influenced the socialist ideology. Another remarkable impact was the Babeufs Conspiracy or Conspiracy of Equals that was an attempt to bring a change in the history of Socialism. Babeuf ( Father of Socialism) was born in 1760 and had participated in the French Revolution. He organised a Secret Society called as the “Society of the Equals” .He declare “ Nature gave everyone an equal right to enjoyment of all goods… in a true society, there is no room for either rich or poor”. Although Babeuf’s attempt at overthrowing the autocratic government has failed, but his ideas led an important influence in the historical development of Socialism. Perhaps it arose in 19th century as a reaction against the socio-economic conditions that originated in Europe by the development of Industrial Capitalism that was the main cause for the uncontrolled spread of poverty and degradation of economy to a great extent to a particular class of people. The later phase of Socialism that is in late 19th century, its nature and characteristics gradually transformed into improving the living standards of the working class. It was coupled with the advancement of political democracy. The growth of trade unions, working class, political parties etc. served to the advanced industrial societies of Western Europe. While the 20th century witnessed the spread of socialist idea into Afro-Asian and Latin American nations or to say the Developing countries. These nations had little or no experience of industrialised capitalism. This phase of Socialism did not considered property as a theft but it viewed it as the appropriation and accumulation of the surplus value that the workers produces. Hence, Socialism is a set of doctrine that emerged at the beginning of the 19th century. It was influenced by the inhumane condition in which the industrial working class lived and worked. The Laissez-Faire policies of the early 19th century gave factory owners a free hand when setting wage levels and factory conditions. Although earlier Socialism did not grow into any clear cut doctrine but a set munotes.in
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14 of values and beliefs that strictly advocated for replacing private ownership of production. The modern proponents of Socialism included Lenin who talked about democratic centralism. He led Russian Revolution led by his vanguard party. He condemned imperialism as a height to capitalism and hence it is needed to bring in Socialism. His Comintern was the worldwide network of revolutionary activities. Next one to mention is Mao Zedong led revolution in China in 1949 totally rejected eliticism. His major ideas were over communalism, social experimentation, state as an educator and militant nationalism. Check Your Progress Exercise 2 Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer. 1. Examine the effects of Capitalism in the growth of Socialism? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 2.3 FORMS OF SOCIALISM: There were various forms of Socialism that was growing up the thoughts of its own protagonists right from the Utopians to the realist thinkers. The ideas of Utopians like Moore, Saint Simon and Charles has been explained earlier in the historical background itself. So we need to explore more forms that tried to improve the ideology of Socialism with the pace of time and circumstances. The Evolutionary Socialism comes forth with the idea of having a compromise between capitalism and socialism to ensure that capitalism continues in the direction of socialism. Its terminology may be traced in Liberal Socialism. Initially it was advocated by Ferdinand Lassalle. Later on, Eduard Bernstein wrote the book “Evolutionary Socialism” that attacked many supports like Jaures in France, Anseele in Italy, Bauer in Austria etc. It suggested for evolutionary change in capitalism and gradual tactics towards social change. It also called for progressive taxation. The Guild Socialists emerged in Great Britain in the first two decades of the 20th century. To mention its prominent supporters like G.D.H.Cole who in his book “Guild Socialism; A Plan for Economic Recovery’ advocated that in any society there are various professions, trades and occupations. One profession cannot represent the interests and welfare of members of another profession. Therefore every profession needs to have its own organisation. A national-level confederation of guilds is very much required to handle all the grievances of various professions on equitable basis, but by peaceful and democratic means only.. Another form of Socialism that was developing was the Revolutionary Socialism that munotes.in
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Socialism seeks to replace capitalist system in its totality by the socialistic pattern. It trends could be seen in the Marxist tradition that is often termed as Marxian Socialism. It developed in the form of Syndicalism in France and Latin America and was associated with French Labour movement that considered labour union and its federations as a cells of the future socialist order. It emphasised on the complete independence of labour unions from political parties. It also accepted the class struggle theory of Marx and preached abolition of the political state. The Fabian Socialism is an offshoot of Evolutionary Socialism that appeared in England and sought to modify Marxian concept in many ways. It rectified the Ricardian law of rent to create equilibrium in the economy and aimed at gradual democratization of society in the political, economic and intellectual areas. Its main protagonist were George Bernard Shaw, Sydney Web, Graham Wallas etc. It assumed Capitalism as an exploitative system. It suggested for de-centralisation of power in order to promote social welfare. It opined that the State should be led by the experts, not the laymen. Another form of Socialism is necessary to be examined is the German Social Democracy that was also a form of Evolutionary Socialism developed by Ferdin and Lasselle. They accepted the Marxian doctrine of Economic Interpretation of History that the rise of the working class and the consequent decline of Capitalism was inevitable in future. It advocated that the working class should organize itself into a political party in order to achieve universal, equal and direct suffrage so as to ascertain legal power. The most notable form of Socialism is the Democratic Socialism that combines the two systems of socialism and democracy that aims at achieving “Political Democracy within a socially owned economy’. It assumed State as an instrument of social welfare that could bring change in the socialistic fervour though its evolutionary and peaceful means. It also stands for establishing harmonious relationship among classes and to achieve the ultimate goal of ending the exploitation of workers as well as promoting equality among the people at large. Check Your Progress Exercise 3 Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer. 1. What is the difference between the Utopian Socialism and the Evolutionary Socialism? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ munotes.in
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16 2.4 NATURE OF SOCIALISM: 2.4.1 Marxian Socialism
Karl Marx in his “Communist Manifesto” ( first appeared in German in February 1848) stated that the aim of all workers over the world was to overthrow the capitalistic order with an aim to establish a socialistic pattern. The book also included the contributions of Frederick Engels who was Marx lifelong associate. He quoted “In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class differences, it appears an association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all”. It realised that socialism was not merely desirable, but also a compulsion. Capitalism does not serve to the needs of the people. It is perhaps working for the interests of a particular elite economic class only. So it is needed to replace it with a social and political order that will work for the society at large. Marxism tried to develop a new form of Socialism that was scientific in nature. It was concerned particularly with disclosing the nature of social and historical development. He analysed the working of capitalism is only paving paths for economic destruction. In his book “Das Kapital”, he said that the workers produce more “value” than they get in the form of wages. The differences are being appropriated by the capitalists in the form of profits.it led to economic crisis because there was the discrepancy between the purchasing power of workers and total production. Marx examined that such economic crisis would be resolved only by the abolition of the private ownership of the means of production and the profit motive. It will pave way for social profit instead of private profit. The exploiting class will vanish and a classless society would emerge in which there would be no difference between what was good for the individual and for the society as a whole.
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Socialism Marx had the belief that the emancipation of the working class would emancipate the whole humankind from all traces of social justice. The revolutions in Europe during 1848 aimed at the overthrow of autocratic governments, establishment of democracy and also in the nations like Italy and Germany, their national unifications. The workers were the main participants of these revolutions. The contributions of Communist League were also remarkable. It had members in many countries of Europe. Its slogan was ‘All men are brothers”. Its journal carried the slogan, “Proletarians of all land, unite”! It instructed Karl Marx and Engels to draft a manifesto. 2.4.2: Marxism vs. Communism: Marxism is a theory and Communism is the practical implementation of Marxism. Marxism which is also known as “Scientific Socialism’ uncovered the fundamental laws of social development in general and the modern capitalist system in particular. He scientifically analysed that the whole course of human development along with its infinite variety and contradictions is governed by definite laws. He said science itself moves in a dialectic way from induction to deduction, from analysis to synthesis and from the concrete to the abstract and back again. The same methodology Karl Marx used in its Scientific Socialism. Communism is the realisation of Stateless society where all are equal. Marxism is a framework by which such a state shall develop. It is a social, political and economic theory originated from Karl Marx that focuses on the struggle between capitalists and the working class. It is basically a system of analysis in a way to see the world in order without any exploitation. Communism is just a political movement, a form of government and a condition of society. It is based on the ideas of common ownership and the absence of social classes and the state. Hence, Marxism is often referred to Socialism as the foremost and a necessary phase on its way from capitalism to communism. Under Communism, most property and economic resources are owned and controlled by the state rather than individual. While in Socialism, all individuals share equality in the distribution of economic resources. They are perhaps determined by a democratically-elected government in totality. Check Your Progress Exercise 4 Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer. 1. Discuss the concept of Scientific Socialism of Marxism. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ munotes.in
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18 2. What do you understand by Communism? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 2.5 CHALLENGES TO SOCIALISM: It is argued that the value of State or Society is more than an Individual. It is very much bureaucratic in nature that means it adheres to strict regulations that sometimes might be not suitable for all issues of individuals living in different circumstances and problems. It is also alleged that it lowers efficiency in production at the cost of equitable distribution. It also creates more burden on State. Sometimes it is also seen that it puts restrictions over individual liberty on the issues of social welfare. The entire political system becomes highly centralised. Socialism fails to understand economics, specifically the role of property rights, prices, and profits-and-losses. The Socialist state requires central planning and government ownership of all property. Socialism fails to understand or promote human flourishing. Early socialists thought that central planning and government ownership of property would ensure a comfortable living for everyone and provide the time and resources for them to pursue higher things-philosophy, literature, and art, for instance. Unfortunately, the socialist solution led inevitable not to freedom and flourishing but to oppression, poverty, and many more. Socialists desire government ownership of the means of production, the destruction of private property, central planning, and an economy where everyone works for the state. This would be the destruction of liberty. Other threats of socialism include slow economic growth, less entrepreneurial opportunity and competition, and a potential lack of motivation by individuals due to lesser rewards. Socialism depends upon the decision-making of a central government. The Nobel laureate F. A. Hayek put it succinctly: “Planning leads to dictatorship.” Without exception, every leader from Lenin to Castro promised to initiate basic freedoms such as free elections, a free press, free assembly, and religious freedom. None fulfilled these promises. Is a world without freedom, without choice, without basic human rights the world that millennials would choose if they had a choice? Socialism’s central philosophical weakness is its dependence upon the errant thought of its founder, Karl Marx. Marx insisted that his version of Hegelian dialectic—thesis, antithesis, synthesis—was scientific and without flaw. He asserted that feudalism had been replaced munotes.in
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Socialism by capitalism which would be replaced by socialism and then communism in an irreversible process. But 200 years after the publication of “The Communist Manifesto,” capitalism rather than socialism dominates the global economy. According to the Heritage Foundation’s “2018 Index of Economic Freedom,” 102 countries, many with less developed or emerging economies, showed advances in economic growth and individual prosperity. As the esteemed economist Paul Samuelson wrote, “As a prophet Marx was colossally unlucky and his system colossally unuseful.” Check Your Progress Exercise 5 Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer. 1. What are the major challenges of Socialism? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 2.6 SUMMARY: Socialism is credited as the cherished goal in a political system. It lays emphasis on the welfare of the people. It seeks to ensure economic and political equality to the people and tries to remove exploitation of one class by the others. Socialism is a left-wing political, social, and economic philosophy encompassing a range of economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It includes the political theories and movements associated with such systems. As it is based on public benefits, it has the greatest goal of common good. Since the government controls almost all of society's functions, it can make better use of resources, labours and lands. Socialism reduces disparity in wealth, not only in different areas, but also in all societal ranks and classes. It is a populist economic and political system based on public ownership of the means of production. Those means include the machinery, tools, and factories used to produce goods that aim to directly satisfy human needs. Social Justice: This is perhaps the greatest advantage of socialism. Socialism advocates for elimination of economic inequalities and the even and equitable distribution of the national income. Under socialism, everyone gets their fair share of the national wealth. munotes.in
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20 2.7 REFERENCES: 1. G. D. H. Cole, A History of Socialist Thought (5 vol., 1953–60); 2. J. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (3d ed. 1950, repr. 1962); 3. G. Lichtheim, A Short History of Socialism (1970); 4. M. Harrington, Socialism (1972); 5. W. Lerner, A History of Socialism and Communism in Modern Times (1982); 6. A. S. Linemann, A History of European Socialism (1984); 7. H. Davis and R. Scase, Western Capitalism and State Socialism (1985); 8. D. Sassoon, One Hundred Years of Socialism (1997). munotes.in
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21 3 COMMUNITARIANISM Unit Structure : 3.0 Objective 3.1 Introduction: What is Communitarianism 3.2 Historical Background 3.3 Important protagonists 3.4 Nature of Communitarianism 3.4.1 Communitarian Critique of Rawls’s Theory of Justice 3.4.2: Communitarianism vs. Libertarianism 3.5 Challenges to Communitarianism 3.6 Summary 3.7 References 3.0 OBJECTIVE: To move from the tendency from “Me” to “We” is definitely a very good sign for the community development in the society when an individual begin to give priority to community well-being in place of individual interest. This political process gives us a new concept to study and that is perhaps “Communitarianism’. The basic objective of studying the topic of Communitarianism is to inculcate the feeling of community belongingness among the students. It is now a time to think not for our own interests just by expecting from the state that they need to do only regulatory functions. No! It is a need to strike a balance between the individual interest with the social and community interest. And that is possible only if we gather a knowledge to know how to accomplish it. For this purpose, the concept of Communitarianism is a very relevant topic to study and understand. And the best part shall be how the students learn to put its theoretical part into practice. It also attempts to provide the students a comprehensive understanding on contemporary political theory. It attempts to introduce students to the entire gamut of political thinking from the beginning to the present. 3.1 INTRODUCTION Communitarianism is a political ideology that examines the relation
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22 between the individual and the community. It is perhaps a social and political philosophy that gives a meaning to values and morality in context to social and welfare-oriented community aspect. It emerged at the time when there was a strict adherence to Liberalism that talked about much more individual autonomy, private good as well as individual freedom. The ideology believed that the essence of human nature lies in the spirit of cooperation, not in conflict. This mutual cooperation is the foundation of political entity. Communitarianism hence gained prominence in 1980s particularly due to the efforts of American thinkers like Micheal Sandel, Alasdair Macintyre, Charles Taylor, Micheal Walzer, Ferdinand Tonnies, Amitai Etzioni and Dorothy Day. etc. It was an attack over modern liberalism, based on Rawls’s theory of Justice (1971) and Libertarianism (Nozick and Hayek). To quote William Galston “Every community represents a cooperative endeavour in pursuit of shared purposes. Each term of this proposition offers a key major of community aspirations.” Cooperation leads to mutual trust and well- being, rather than the exploitation of certain people by others through force or fraud. It implies that the good must be created, rather than passively received or consumed. It is seen that the shared purposes often define a common good that the community try to bring and to sustain, not merely private individual advantage. The most common reason for the rise of this theory was excessive importance given to the individuals that resulted to atomize society, alienation, crisis of identity, materialistic culture (Marxian ideology) and resource abuse. These situations made a platform from where a new wave of thought started emerging in the name of Communitarianism that began its march towards finding a smooth way for Community Good in the midst of Individual Good. Its basic principle is based upon the belief that a person’s social identity and personality are largely moulded by community relationship, with a smaller degree of development being placed on individualism. It aims to maintain an equilibrium between individual rights and social responsibilities. It stands for the moral integrity of a caring society and the unique character of mutual faith and understanding. Hence, it is a 20th Century political and social ideology which is often considered the opposite of liberalism which places the individual interest above those of community. For example- a communitarian individual who is very well self-sustained will always try his/her level best to contribute to the community welfare out of his/her own resources without being too much concerned about its own self. Further, Communitarianism is also an attack over Communism and Socialism and also never favours totalitarianism or any autocratic state. They supports democracy, social order, good and virtuous individual life (as Rouseau in his General Will concept had pointed out) and above all flourishing community feeling for the sake of common good. So it talks about a balance between individual interest and community feeling. Check Your Progress Exercise 1 Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer. 1. Discuss the basic principles of the communitarian school of thought. munotes.in
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Communitarianism ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 3.2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Historically, the communitarianism tradition can be found far back as monasticism in270 A.D. and also in Old and New Testament of the Bible, Islamic concept of “shura”, Confucianism and somewhere in Hindu tradition also. We also find its resemblance in the works of Aristotle, Rouseau (1712-78), G.W.F.Hegel (1770-1831) and in the writings of moderate conservatism of Edmund Burke and Social Fabianism. As per research, we find its archaic in the Christian Books of Acts, where the Apostle Paul quoted, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything”. It was Plato and Aristotle who in their works had pointed out about a Republican state which is based upon a communitarian set of values where ‘good precedes the right’. Further, Aristotle in his theory of ‘moral virtue’ argued that even the individualistic behaviour is shaped by the socio-economic and political education and especially the educational institution which he thought had shaped an individual’s point of view. In fact, the Communitarianism perhaps began in the 20th century where the term "communitarian" was first coined in 1841, by John Goodwyn Barmby, who was a leader of the British Chartist movement. He used it in referring to utopian socialists and other idealists who experimented with communal styles of life. The origins of this concept can be found back to the 1980s in the work of Michael Sandal named, “Liberalism and the Limits of Justice” where it developed as a strong opposition to the ideology of liberalism that gave priority to individual rights over anything. The most particular aspect that resulted to communitarian-individualistic dichotomy is the creation of government policies. While the Communitarianism favours for a more community-based welfare approach, the Individualism encourages individual autonomy in the decision-making process. To note, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in their book ‘The Communist Manifesto’ highlighted the importance of ‘development for all’ which is the core ideology of this proposition. After that similar tenants were introduced by Tony Blair in UK’s political system and George W Bush in USA. Tony Blair highlighted the idea of ‘stakeholder society’ where he gave the idea where all the businesses within a nation must be sensitive and take into consideration the needs of the consumers and other working class people. On the other hand, George Bush pointed out that there is a need to follow the concept of ‘compassionate conservatism’ to enhance the well- being of society. Check Your Progress Exercise 2 munotes.in
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24 Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer. 1. Critically examine the drawbacks of Liberalism that pave way for Communitarianism ? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 3.3 IMPORTANT PROTAGONISTS: Many early sociologists had enhanced communitarian ethics in their work. It was Ferdinand Tönnies and Emile Durkheim's who had talked the relations between the individual and society and how they play an integrating role in a society. These sociologists saw the emergence of a mass society and the decline of communal bonds and respect for traditional values and authority in the United States during 1960s. Communitarianism also began to be discussed by Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement. Thus, communitarianism is the reaction of some intellectuals to the problems of Western society, an attempt to find flexible forms of balance between the individual and society, the autonomy of the individual and the interests of the community, between the common good and freedom, rights and duties. Asian communitarians argued that in order to maintain social harmony, individual rights and political liberties must be put under certain limitations. Some scholars rely heavily on the state to maintain social order (for example, leaders of the regime in Singapore and Malaysia), and some on strong social bonds and moral culture as Japan does. The Communitarians from Asia hold that the West's notion of liberty actually amounts to ‘anarchy’; that strong economic growth that requires to limit political freedoms. The West uses its idea of legal and political rights to rebuke other cultures that have inherent values of their own. During 1990s a new school of communitarianism was founded. Among its prominent scholars are William A. Galston (political theory), Mary Ann Glendon (law), Thomas Spragens Jr. (political science), Alan Ehrenhalt (writer), and sociologists Philip Selznick, Robert Bellah and his associates, and Amitai Etzioni, who wrote books that, in 1990, laid the foundations for responsive (democratic) communitarianism. Reference to few protagonists: munotes.in
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Communitarianism (a) Micheal Sandel: ( March 5,1953)
Micheal Sandel is perhaps best known for his critique of John Rawls’s theory of Justice. He believes that justice is what the right thing to do. He argue that Rawls exaggerates our capacity to stand back from and question our social roles and views the self as “unencumbered”. On the contrary, communitarians argue that the self is “embedded” in existing social practices. For example if someone does not adhere to the communitarian beliefs one may be shunned from society and their acts for personal benefit might be interpreted as an act of deviance. He added that the picture of individuals picking and choosing their conceptions of the good is facile. However resilient and independent people outside social and community life are unthinkable. Sandel gave a very lively example of a family. He said that family ties are such ties that we do not make by conscious choice but we are born with it. Such feeling further paves way for communitarianism. He criticises individualism for holding a mistaken or a false understanding of the relationship between the individual self and its ends. Individualism understands the self prior to its ends in the sense that individuals reserve the right to question, revise and reject their most deeply held notion about the nature of good life, if these are found to be no longer worth chasing. (b) Ferdinand Tonnies: (July 26, 1855-April 9, 1936)
Ferdinand Tonnies was a German sociologist, economist and a philosopher. His theory reconciled the organic and social-contract conceptions of
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26 society. He pioneered the concept in his essay titled, “Gemeinschaft (community) and Gesellschaft” (society) in which he tried to categorize social relationships into two dichotomous sociological types which defines each other. He drew contrasts over individuals leading individualistic and personal lives reside in a more oppressive environment rather than nurturing societies. Gemeinschaft describes groups in which the members attach so much where they share space and beliefs and are often characterized by ascribed status or kinship. These societies were racially and ethnically homogeneous and such expressions, according to Ferdinand Tonnies could be seen in families. (c) Amitai Etzioni: (January 4, 1929)
Amitai Etzioni is an Isreali and American sociologist who is well known for his socio-economic and communitarian ideas. He founded the Communitarian Network during 1990s which is a non-profitable and non-partisan organization. It is working for social, moral and political foundations of society. He supports the view that no society can prosper without a shared responsibility to the common good. He talked about a carefully crafted balance between individual rights as well as social responsibilities in a social structure. Check Your Progress Exercise 3 Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer. 1. Write notes on any of the protagonist of Communitarianism. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________
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Communitarianism 3.4 NATURE OF COMMUNITARIANISM: 3.4.1 Communitarian Critique of Rawls’s theory of Justice: The main objective of the communitarian critique has a long history but in the contemporary era, it began in the upper reaches of Anglo-American academia in the form of a critical reaction to John Rawls’s landmark book “A Theory of Justice” (1971). He point about nature of the self. He also said that Justice is the first virtue of social institution. He supported Universal rights and freedom. Finally about the nature of the state, he said that it is needed to have a neutral government that main area of concern should be to secure and distribute fair liberties and economic resources to the individuals so that an individual may lead freely chosen lives according to their own conception of life. Over all these four areas that Rawls depicted as mentioned above, the Communitarian thinkers has totally contradicted by their arguments. Where Rawls said that ‘Self is prior to its ends i.e. individual is free and capable to choose the very meaning of their good life, the Communitarians argued that “End is prior to self” because an individual is a social being who is totally committed to common good. He never chooses but only discovers them. Self is always defined by social roles that an individual plays and are really prone to situated self and community attachments. An individual can never run away from these grounded truths of community belongingness. How long a person could ignore the troublesome life of his fellow-beings. A day would come when he himself out of his virtues be provoked to ask them why are you in trouble? May I help you? So that’s the Communitarian thought! Further, Rawls declared Justice as the first virtue of social system. Justice is universal and fair in nature and a just way of distributing common goods. It specify and protect rights and hence does not require any justification on its conception of a good life and morality. A just society regulates the individual in a way compatible with a same liberty for all. The Communitarians critically argued that Justice is relative to the common good and is not something “independent’. The principle of justice must have intrinsic moral worth of the goals (Ends) they serve. Here an individual identity are socially made to flourish common good. This common feeling or belongingness will lead to enlarged affection and close feeling to the community. About Rights, the Communitarianism related it with social responsibility that is to maintain a balance between individual freedom and social order. Rights are not absolute or universal in nature. They are indeed contextual. It is different from one society to another. Nature of Punishment may differ from one society to another and even its justification may vary. They just need a healthy social order that aims at “Common Good”. So the Communitarianism supports positive rights to help in getting good life in contrary to Rawl’s theory of negative rights that totally supported individual to be left free to enjoy their rights without any undue interference by the state. This is the basic difference between the libertarian view and the communitarian view. munotes.in
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28 Regarding the role and functions of the state, the Communitarianism said that it is not possible for the state to be neutral in nature. It is needed to nurture communities and a shared environment of self-understanding of good life is needed. A proper equilibrium between individual freedom and social order is required. State cannot get itself away from morality and community needs. We need to have a welfare state. 3.4.2 : Communitarianism vs. Libertarianism:
Hence apart from above mentioned points, we may move further in identifying other major points. The Communitarians points out the lacunae of liberalism and attempts to redefine the relationship between individual and the community. While liberals talked about primacy of rights which according to them is universal, the Communitarians said that there is a primacy of Common Good and it is needed to maintain balance between rights and responsibilities. The Liberals supported Deontological ethics that means basic standards for an action’s being morally right are independent of the end. The Communitarians talked about Teleological ethics where actions are moral and good only if it produces end which is good. But to end up we may say that now we need both liberals as well as communitarians because both are needed for Common Good. Only thing is required that is to maintain a balance between individual freedom and community good for a better social order. To summarize, communitarians have attacked the liberal ideology on the ground that it is too focussed on the importance of individual liberty and rights. Another communitarian T.H.Green in his work “Lectures on the Principles of Political Obligation” (1982) argued that individuals as self-conscious beings attain the knowledge of the common good in relation to their community only. They knew the common good more intimately than their self-interest or individual good. Even in Marxism, we find essence of Communitarianism. They visualize community as something that can only be achieved by a revolutionary change in society, by completely eradicating capitalism with a motto of establishing a socialist society.
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Communitarianism Check Your Progress Exercise 4 Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer. 1. To what extent do you realize that human beings are "atomic individuals" or are they "imbedded in communities?" Explain. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 2. Discuss Communitarian Critique of Liberal Self. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Check Your Progress Exercise 6 Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer. 1. Do you use the word "virtue" in your everyday moral discussions? Should the government attempt to shape the character of its citizens? ____________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 3.5 CHALLENGES TO COMMUNITARIANISM: Communitarianism supports for the good life for a community. Thus, some social customs and traditions becomes an essential phenomena in the community over a long period of time. But the Liberalism alleged over this argument of Communitarians by claiming that the traditions are actually a reflection of the effectiveness of a community's coercive measures. They munotes.in
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30 are not actually indicating any objective "Goodness." It is found that sometimes the majoritarian communitarian ideas try to override the minority views. That creates a biggest challenge to it. For example to call for mass strike on public roads may lead to community disturbances too. Communitarians often viewed the satisfaction of at least some collective wants and desires as "positive rights". But these are not grounded in a theory of justice, but rather in the primary virtues of love, care, and friendship. Even it is found some objections among the communitarians also regarding their ideological standpoint. In practice all communitarian beliefs do not glorify these virtues. There are two particular ideological differences within communitarians itself. The first one is over scale or degrees of the ideal community, the another one is over the role of free ideas and the impact of democratic political institutions. The question of scale recognizes that there are dissimilar notions about the possibility of creating large-scale or global political structures that actually promote society as a whole. Large-scale communitarians, like Karl Marx, believed that it is possible to create large political units that develop human well- being. e.g. Communist China. On the other hand the small-scale communitarians argued that individual desires are often found in small, inter-personal relationships as are found in families, religious organizations etc. Therefore, many individuals seek alienated from the tyranny of small communities in larger-scale political forms that offer safety as well as protection. Other critics of small-scale communitarianism argue that the expansion of independent, autonomous, self- defining communities invariably leads to large-scale relativism between those communities and the denial of any universal, inter-communal concept of the good. It is also alleged that the theory is infringing on individual rights for the sake of common good. It might increase the level of dependency as well as encourage laziness among people who just wait for the benefit they get out of principle of community good. Communitarianism has been criticized for its strong ethical base. It is alleged that it has no mechanism to ensure that its principles will be followed as the general rule of behaviour. It is also not founded in equally strong political ideology. The clamour for individual autonomy and social pluralism has always been a threat to communitarians. According to John Rawls the fact of pluralism means that the hope of political community must be abandoned, if the “a community mean a political society united in affirming a general and broad conception of the good”. Another point of differences is based on the communitarian objection to the neutral state. They believe it should be left for a politics of the common good. It was Stephen Holmes who said that the contrast between the politics of neutrality and communitarian’s politics of the common good can be misleading because the conception of common good is present in liberal view as well. Another point of ideological differences between communitarians is their disagreement over the use of coercive measures. Of course, most communities are roaming around common belief systems marinated in customs and tradition. No doubt all communitarians are enthusiastic about these communitarian values over individual values. However, if individualism and their free will are totally rejected as moral values, then the political question arises as to what sorts of techniques or ideas can a munotes.in
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Communitarianism community apply in its endeavour to insure conformity to their collective acceptance. For example, some religious groups employ well-known psychological techniques to produce similar ideological faith; known as "brain-washing" or "indoctrination." Other religious groups do not rely upon such coercive methods but merely have followed educational principles. However, critics point out that as a actually society grows in population and geographical bases, it becomes more difficult to maintain one’s own separate regime to prosper. Check Your Progress Exercise 5 Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer. 1. Briefly write any two major challenges of Communitarianism. ____________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 3.6 SUMMARY: The requirements of society can sometimes override individual rights. It brings about a sense of disinterested and selfless concern for the well- being of others that highlights the need for the individual’s own sense of duty to look into the overall interest of the society. No doubt communitarianism is a small ideological entity, but it has had considerable positive impact on public dialogues and politics. Hence communitarianism emphasizes the importance of social responsibility and how that responsibility achieves freedom and justice for individuals. The idea of communitarianism and its virtues is the most relevant ideology today. Really Good precedes the right. Here it is remarkable to give the example of India. India has followed the ethics of communitarianism as well as individualism while working on its constitutionalism. It ensures that individual choices with community feelings are not hurt and this duality is the main crux of the Indian constitution. It attempts to outline individual rights but also doesn’t give it extreme power to exercise itself beyond the fabric of the Indian community. munotes.in
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32 3.7 REFERENCES: 1. Amitai Etzioni, 1996, The New Golden Rule, Basic Books ISBN 0465049990. 2. Andrew Heywood, Political Ideas and Concepts: An Introduction, Macmillan, 1994 3. Andrew Heywood, Political Ideologies, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, 5th edition 4. Avineri, S.and de-Shalit, Avner. (1992) Communitarianism and Individualism, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 5. Beckert, Jen. "Communitarianism." International Encyclopedia of Economic Sociology. London:Routledge, 2006. 81. 6. David Held, Political Theory Today, Stanford University Press,, 1991 7. Ehrenhalt Ehrenhalt, Alan, The Lost City: The Forgotten Virtues Of Community In America. New York:BasicBooks, 1995. 8. H.Hallowell, Main currents in Modern Political Thought, New York, Holt, 1960 9. Micheal Sandel, Justice:What’s the Right Thing to Do? New York:Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010 10. O.P.Gauba, An Introduction to Political Theory, Macmillan India Ltd., 2009 11. Obama, Barack. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. New York: Crown Publishers, 2006. 12. The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020, ISBN 9780374289980 13. Tonnies, Ferdinand, Tonnies: Community and Civil Society:, edited by Jos Harris, Cambridge University Press,2001 munotes.in
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33 4 NATIONALISM Unit Structure : 4.0 Objectives 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Nation and nation state 4.3 Liberal and Civic Nationalism 4.4 Cultural Nationalism 4.5 Nationalism as an “imagined community” 4.6 Ethnicity and Identity 4.7 Summary/Conclusion 4.8 Exercises 4.9 References 4.0 OBJECTIVES This chapter proposes to define the concept of nationalism and to trace the evolution of this concept at a global level Next, the chapter shall discuss the differences between the terms ‘nation’ and ‘nation state’ and explore the differences between these two concepts that are often wrongly used interchangeably Next, the chapter shall identify the various bases on which the concept of nationalism is structured Lastly, the chapter shall examine the fate of nationalism in the era of globalization. 4.1 INTRODUCTION The word nationalism is etymologically derived from the Latin word natio which means birth or children of same birth or refers to individuals sharing a common group of origin or common ancestors. A nation, by derivation, becomes the same geographical space with which a group of people identify themselves as their homeland and trace the history of their ancestors. Nationalism is most commonly identified as the feeling of love, attachment and pride that one takes in belonging to a particular group or community united by a common history, language, race, ethnicity and sometimes, religion. Nationalism portrays the country of origin as ‘motherland’ or ‘fatherland’ indicating the extremely intimate connection that an individual feels towards the country of birth as being similar to the filial connection between parents and their children. Conceived in this manner, nationalism is a positive, emotional, unifying bond that binds multiple generations of people together to a particular geo-political space. Nationality becomes one of the primary identities of an individual and extracts or demands loyalty, munotes.in
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34 self-sacrifice and service to the nation, especially during times of crises, natural or man-made. The term nationalism was first used in 1789 by the French priest Augustin Barruel in the backdrop of the French Revolution. Check Your Progress: Exercise 1 Use the space given below to answer the following question: 1. Define Nationalism and discuss the etymological root of this term. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 4.2 NATION AND NATION STATE As indicated above, nation refers to the place of birth or the country of origin of an individual. Being born in a particular country (or state, as the modern political jargon prefers) automatically confers an individual other identity like that of race, ethnicity, cultural specifications like religion, language, systems of social stratification (like caste or sect) and also entitles them to a particular history which may be one of struggle and subjugation or one of victory and expansion. The word nation has been used since the thirteenth century and usually refers to a group of people sharing a common birthplace. One should note that the word nation did not have any political significance until the eighteenth century. It was in the context of the French Revolution that the spirit of nationalism swept through the whole of Europe and carried forward some of the tenets of the Peace Treaties of Westphalia (1648) regarding the right of national self determination of nations, consciousness regarding the internal and external boundaries of nations and so on. Nations, are primarily considered to be the most basic political organizations that enable people belonging to a common cultural group united by a common territory, history and the element of self-government, also known as the right to national self -determination. Secondly, nations are conceived and constructed around cultural indices like language, religion and ethnicity to identify themselves as members of a particular community and distinguish others as non-members of that community. National identities are thus permanent in the sense that one is born with these identities and cannot or do not give up on these identities without going through a legal process. Nationality becomes a primordial identity based on powerful emotional attachments to language, religion, the way of life of a group of people that has been conformed to for generations, united by common historical experiences of victory or losses. This is the primordial view of nationalism which sees nations as ancient, deep-rooted entities carved out of a combination of psychological, cultural and munotes.in
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Nationalism biological factors. The more recent understanding of nationality is that of civic nationality, that is more open, inclusive, diverse and tolerant. Civic nationalism promotes acceptance of groups of culturally diverse people living within the boundaries of a nation as equal members of the national community. Nation state on the other hand, has all the components of a nation but also the additional component of political sovereignty. In other words, nation states of the modern times emphasize more upon four components: a specific territory or geographical space with well-marked borders (territorial border, aerial border and fluvial border), a population of considerable size, a government to manage the population’s social, economic, political and cultural interactions through laws, policies and justice dispensation and most importantly, this government is run by the people of that nation itself, in other words, there is sovereignty. A fifth feature has been added to the list in recent times, i.e., conformity to international law. Check Your Progress: Exercise 2 Use the space given below to answer the following question: 2. What are the differences between nation and nation state? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 4.3 LIBERAL AND CIVIC NATIONALISM Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712 – 1778), is often referred to as the father of political nationalism. His writings emphasized on the fundamental importance of individual liberty and the sovereignty of the ‘general will’. Liberalism emphasized upon the importance of individual liberty, expressed in terms of rights, highest amongst which was the right to self-determination by a nation. Liberal nationalism thus acknowledged the right to freedom and the right to equality of all countries, big or small. It demanded that the international arena be more inclusive and give equal opportunity for participation and interaction to all nation states. The participation in international politics, according to Liberal nationalism would be voluntaristic and based on rational principles. Such a variety of nationalism is believed to be progressive, based as it is on constitutionalism aiming for the highest protection and promotion of human rights. It is further cosmopolitan as it accepts within its folds the culturally, ethnically, racially diverse groups of people as equal members of the world community and embarks upon the journey of supranationalism. This idea of supranationalism is unavoidable in case of Liberal nationalism as the munotes.in
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36 Liberal economy inevitably leads to globalization and liberalization. As a result, the economies and polities of the world are so interconnected and interdependent that territorial borders become fluid and porous and the road to ‘a world government’ becomes visible. The mobility of men material and money across borders renders the borders facile and nationalism exists but has the potential to transcend towards supranationalism. Check Your Progress: Exercise 3 Use the space given below to answer the following question: 3. What are the key features of Liberal Nationalism? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 4. What do you understand by Constitutionalism? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 4.4 CULTURAL NATIONALISM Johann Gottfried Herder (1744 – 1803) is known as the father of Cultural nationalism. His major work, Reflections on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind (1784 – 91) opined that each nation is originally an organic community of people united by the bonds of a common language, culture, a collective history that culminates in the spirit of the nation. It is the cultural components taken together that give birth to a nation. A classic example here would be the German term Volksgeist which literally means the spirit of the people, as reflected in their culture, especially, language. Proponents of Cultural nationalism is based on the premise that cumulative culture as expressed through songs, art forms, folk tales, epics, myths are the fore-ground upon which the edifice of nationalism is built. In the European context as well as in most, if not all, non-European countries, cultural regeneration was often the first step towards the creation of a ‘national identity’. German nationalism, Chinese nationalism and Indian nationalism are excellent examples of this genre of nationalism. This variety of nationalism looks upon the nation as an ancient organic unity of people that grew up on the basis of common and collective experiences of the life of the people. The nation as such is the product and manifestation of collective munotes.in
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Nationalism history. Cultural nationalism is however, different from Liberal nationalism as it is exclusive, it endorses the idea of ‘the Self’ and ‘the Other’. ‘Otherization’ is the tool of construction of the unique identity of the nationhood of a particular people. It sets boundaries and distinguishes one set of people from another. As opposed to the universalism of Liberal nationalism, there is emphasis upon the particularism of the unique cultural attributes of a nation. Needless to say, that the collective history that lies at the foundation of Cultural nationalism, is often ‘constructed’, depending upon the particular perspective and selective memory of the makers of this history. Myths, epics, folk tales of bravery, courage, high moral character of a people are written and propagated in order to create a feeling of pride, honour and sense of belonging to a particular community, so that, in times of threat or crises these elements of history to be harked upon to inspire people to fight for their nation. Cultural nationalism obviously then, is based entirely upon descent or birth and has deep ethnic and/ racial overtones. While in most cases, Cultural nationalism has been successful in creating the formative stages of nationalism in both European and non-European countries, it is also true that this type of nationalism has its own dilemmas. Since cultural nationalism is based upon birth or descent, the common characteristics assigned to a particular community persist through generations and may create biases against or in favour of that community in the eyes of others. This further creates the possibility of a ‘closed nationalism’ as opposed to the ‘open political nationalism’ endorsed by the Liberals and may be looked upon as being chauvinistic, exclusive and aggressive. Check Your Progress: Exercise 4 Use the space given below to answer the following question: 5. Explain through examples of your own how culture acts as a basis of Nationalism. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 6. Are there any limitations or inherent threats in the concept of Cultural Nationalism? Give reasons in favour of your answer. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ munotes.in
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38 4.5 NATIONALISM AS AN “IMAGINED COMMUNITY” Benedict Richard O’Gorman Anderson (1936 – 2015) in his famous work, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (1983) described the nation as “an imagined political community”, “imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign”. Anderson believes that nationalism originated in Western Europe, in response to the radical changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution that led to radical changes in the economic sphere, scientific discoveries and technologies related to transport and communication. These changes led to the rise of communities or nations that were “limited” in the sense that each such nation had its territorial borders and “sovereign” in the sense that political revolutions and the Age of Enlightenment had rendered the idea of Divine Right of Kings to rule obsolete. Anderson began this famous book with ‘three paradoxes of Nationalism’: he considered nationalism to be a fairly modern phenomenon, though nations were/are believed to be ancient, timeless, in fact. Further, nations are universal, as every individual belongs to some nation or the other, yet it is proposed that each nation is absolutely unique or distinct from all others. Lastly, that nations are powerful, in the sense that the emotion of loyalty to the nation is so strong that people may even be willing to die voluntary for their nations. Yet when one closely examines the construct of a nation is hard to pin down. Having put forth these paradoxes, Anderson proposes that nations are “imagined communities”. However, by using the word ‘imagined’, Anderson does not intend to state that nations do not exist in reality but rather that the feeling of ‘nationhood’ is realized and established through the invisible “deep horizontal comradeship” that individuals belonging to a particular nation imagine with the seen and unseen members of their community from ancient to present times. This makes the nation a social construct and one that is exists in the imagination of a community, a sentiment that is so strong that one is prepared to both die as well as kill, for the sake of it. Anderson’s approach towards understanding nations and nationalism is part of the Modernist approaches to nationalism that state that nations arose in response to socio-economic changes and historical challenges or crises. Ernest Gellner (1925 – 1995), in Nations and Nationalism (1983) also believed that the newly industrialized societies that were far more mobile, competitive and strove for recognition as sovereign states for which a new source of cultural cohesion was required and this could be provided by nationalism. Check Your Progress: Exercise 5 Use the space given below to answer the following question: 7. In your opinion, are nations ‘imagined’ or ‘invented’? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ munotes.in
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Nationalism 8. Mention any two changes that brought about the Modernist approach to Nationalism. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 4.6 ETHNICITY AND IDENTITY Anthony D. Smith (1939 – 2016) is one of the foremost proponents of primordial nationalism or primordialism that proposes that the primordial identities of common cultural heritage, especially language, is the common link between pre-modern and post-modern states. The Primordialists are of the opinion that bonds of kinship and cultural ties go back to man’s ancient past, long before the quest for sovereign statehood began. Smith particularly calls communities formed on the basis of these bonds ethnies in his work The Ethnic Origins of Nationalism (1986). The focus of Primordialism is on the essence of ethnic identity which is spontaneous, ancient, unchanging in its essence, that lies at the heart of nations. They view nations as modern political structures that are created or constructed for the purpose of making these ethnic groups functional in modern times, it is however, the ethnic and cultural or ethnocultural bonds that keep the nations alive. To Smith, ethnies were a collective or group of people united by common language, religion, myths, epics, elites, history or better to say, common collective memory of the past whereas nations are modern apparatuses which demarcate the territory containing usually, one such ethnic group that has political sovereignty or is under self-rule. Smith is considered to be one of the founding fathers of ethnosymbolism which focuses upon the importance of symbols, values, beliefs, traditions and myths in the sustenance of nations and nationalism in modern sates. Check Your Progress: Exercise 6 Use the space given below to answer the following question: 9. What does Adam D. Smith refer to as ‘ethnies’? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ munotes.in
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40 10. What, in your understanding, is the difference between ethnicity and nationality? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 4.7 SUMMARY/CONCLUSION Having considered some of the bases and dimensions of nationalism, let us now look at the status of nationalism as an ideal and an ideology in the present age, that is, in a post-globalization world order. There are primarily two opposite views regarding the present and the future of nationalism in the context and background of globalization. One view believes that with the increasing economic liberalization and cultural-political globalization, it has become impossible for nationalism to survive. The intensive integration of world economies, the rising interdependence and interconnectedness of these economies and the increasing and easy movement of people across borders, has made it almost impossible for one to find a mono-cultural state or a state whose territorial boundaries coincide with the majority/ dominant nation within it. Ethical nationalism, which traditionally upheld that an individual owed greater loyalty and allegiance to one’s own nation and national interest has now been replaced to a large extent by Cosmopolitanism. The word Cosmopolitanism has been derived from the word cosmopolis which literally means ‘world state’. Moral Cosmopolitanism is the belief that all individuals are first and foremost members of the human species and that each individual is morally bound to promote and participate in all activities that protect the collective well-being of all humans, irrespective of their racial, ethnic, religious, cultural or national identities. Political Cosmopolitanism (also known as Legal or Institutional Cosmopolitanism) is the belief that a common set of laws and institutions should be created in order to cater to the common needs of humans across borders irrespective of their other primordial identities. Secondly, with the rapid improvement in technologies of transport and communication, especially the arrival of social media platforms that are global (almost, with the exception of very few countries, like China) Transnational Communities have emerged as the world is intimately ‘glocalized’ and humanitarian issues in one corner of the world generate positive or negative public opinion in other parts of the world immediately. On the other hand, there is the belief that nationalism has been able to successfully overcome the threat posed to it by globalization has successfully been used to motivate citizens of a nation state to unite and work hard in order to expedite the process of economic development. The quick and intense industrial development seen in China and Japan in the post Second World War (1939-45) period are definitely cases in favour of munotes.in
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Nationalism this view. Further, the numerous instances of ‘ethnic cleansing’ as seen in Yugoslavia, genocides in Rwanda in the 1990s, secessionist movements in Chechnya are just few examples that show that nationalism and the elements on which it is based, is definitely not a thing of the past. Lastly, in many countries like India, the spirit of nationalism has been successfully fused with select elements of the predominant religion and given the shape of a political ideology. This makes nationalism a formidable force to reckon with and further deepens its roots. The future of nationalism is for all of us to see but at this juncture one must become aware of the dangers of aggressive nationalism, or national chauvinism or extremist nationalism that had, during the eighteenth century led to the colonization of more than one-fourth area of the world and caused some of the worst crimes against humanity. Violence and bloodshed has been and inalienable part of this type of nationalism. As opposed to this narrow aggressive form of nationalism, is the ideal of internationalism. Internationalism is the polar opposite of nationalism and creates the scope for dialogue and mediation of international conflicts of national interests. It gives international peace a chance and recognizes the equal right of all people to lead dignified lives, promotes international fraternity and sees the future of world politics in a world government. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Rabindra Nath Tagore were two of the earliest Indian proponents of internationalism. 4.8 EXERCISES 1. Answer the following questions: a. Define nation. Distinguish between nation and nationalism. b. Trace the origin of nationalism. c. Write a critical note on Liberal Nationalism. d. What do you understand by Cultural Nationalism? What do you think are the limitations of Cultural Nationalism? e. What is the fundamental principle of Primordialist approaches to Nationalism? f. What is the fundamental principle of the Modernist approaches to Nationalism? g. What, in your opinion, is the fate of Nationalism in the era of Globalization? munotes.in
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42 4.9 REFERENCES 1. Heywood, Andrew, Political Ideologies An Introduction, Sixth Edition, Palgrave, London, 2017 2. Bhargava, Rajeev and Achayra, Ashok (eds) Political Theory An Introduction, Pearson, Delhi, 2016 3. Anderson, Benedict, Imagined Communities Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, Verso, London, 1991 4. Gellner, Ernest, Nations and Nationalism, Blackwell, Oxford, 1983 5. Hobsbawm, E.J., Nations and Nationalism since 1780, Programme, Myth, Reality, Cambridge University Press, London, 1990 6. Baradat, Leon P, Political Ideologies: Their Origins and Impact, Eighth Edition, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, 2003 7. Bellamy, Richard, Liberalism and Modern Society, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1992 8. Friedan, Michael, Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1996 9. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/world/asia/benedict-anderson-scholar-who-saw-nations-as-imagined-dies-at-79.html accessed on 2/03/2022 at 10:30 pm IST 10. https://nationalismstudies.wordpress.com/2013/10/09/ernest-gellner-2/ accessed on 28/02/2022 at 8:24 p.m. IST munotes.in