Egalitarianism (20TH CENTURY)

Principle for guiding treatment of individuals. A preliminary assumption that all people should, in the absence of good reason to the contrary, be treated equally. Thus the onus is on those who argue that sex should be a disqualification to a career, or that poverty should be a barrier to the provision of education,

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Electoral competition (20TH CENTURY)

Theory of party behavior in democracies. Political parties compete for votes, and their policies and conduct are explained by this more than by any other single factor. In so doing they frequently raise the expectations of voters and the expenses to which governments are then committed. Source: Patrick Dunleavy et al., eds, Developments in

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Elitism

Explanatory and normative theory of politics, originated by Italian social scientists Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1933) and GAETANO MOSCA (1858-1941). Power and initiative have always been and will always be exercised by a cohesive minority who are marked off from the mass of the population by some particular skill, or quality, or insight. One version of the theory does

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Embourgeoisement (20TH CENTURY)

Alternative to theory of immiseration. Members of the working class under capitalism, far from becoming worse off and increasingly discontented, have become ‘seduced’ by bourgeois values. They are second class members of the system it is in their interests to overthrow. Embourgeoisement is the theory that posits the migration of individuals into the bourgeoisie as a result of their own

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Encroaching control (1920)

  Theory of workers’ control, developed by British socialist, historian and political scientist George Douglas Howard Cole (1889-1959). Workers’ control of industry is to be achieved by a slow extension of power from the bottom up, until the overall balance of power within an industry, factory, or firm tips decisively in favor of the workers within it. Source: Theory of workers’

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End of ideology (20TH CENTURY)

Anglo-American liberal conservative theory of the 1950s and 1960s. Ideology as a complete explanation of everything, and a blueprint for a Utopian society, had been a delusion which had none the less justified tyranny in Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. But ideology had come to an end, and the future, at least in the Western capitalist

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Equal freedom (19TH CENTURY)

Account of freedom given by the English social theorist HERBERT SPENCER (1820-1903). All people have a right to freedom up to the point at which they infringe upon the equal right of others. Source: D Wiltshire, The Social and Political Thought of Herbert Spencer (Oxford, 1978) Arts and entertainment Equals (film), a 2015 American science

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Equality of states doctrine (20TH CENTURY)

Theory of the equality in law of all sovereign states. The principle is clearer than is the descriptive accuracy. But belief in the principle itself can become a factor in international relations if expressed through institutions such as the United Nations. Source: Graham Evans and Jeffrey Newnham, The Dictionary of World Politics (Hemel Hempstead,

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Equilibrium theory

Optimistic and consensual view of politics. Societies achieve stability through an equilibrium of competing but not conflicting forces, and social structures have a natural tendency to move towards such balance. Source: Roger Scruton, A Dictionary of Political Thought (London, 1982) Overview Broadly speaking, general equilibrium tries to give an understanding of the whole economy

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Erastianism (16TH CENTURY- )

Named after the Swiss theologian ERASTUS (1524-1583). The state should exercise supremacy over the church. Source: Roger Scruton, A Dictionary of Political Thought (London, 1982) Erastianism, doctrine that the state is superior to the church in ecclesiastical matters. It is named after the 16th-century Swiss physician and Zwinglian theologian Thomas Erastus, who never held such a doctrine. He opposed

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Escalation (20TH CENTURY)

A theory of war which asserts that in military encounters there is a tendency (which can be checked or avoided) for each action by one side to be met by a more violent response by the other. Hence a conventional war can escalate into a nuclear one. Source: David Robertson, The Penguin Dictionary of

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Essential contestability (20TH CENTURY)

A number of concepts in political theory, such as power or ‘freedom’ are debated by people whose fundamental conceptions or values are so at odds that no resolution is possible. Thus there is no ‘true’ meaning to such terms. Source: Alan Bullock, Oliver Stallybrass, and Stephen Trombley, eds, The Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought, 2nd edn

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Essentialism

A belief about human nature. There are ‘essential’ features of human character which constitute the timeless and universal foundations of human nature. Depending on the version of this theory, this essence may divide people into males and females, or leaders and led; or unite them as all equally aggressive, or self-seeking, or co-operative. Source: Maggie Humm,

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Evolutionism (19TH CENTURY- )

Optimistic theory of history. Human society is steadily and slowly developing by successive improvements, either by reform and adaptation, or by the NATURAL SELECTION of superior values and institutions. Also see: THEORY OF EVOLUTION, dialectical materialism, social Darwinism Source: Roger Scruton, A Dictionary of Political Thought (London, 1982) 19th-century teleological use Before its use to describe

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Exclusion theory (20TH CENTURY)

Also referred to as social closure theory. Groups maximize their own benefits by excluding non-members. At the same time they establish their identity as much by excluding non-members as by defining the characteristics of membership. Identity thus depends on the identification of ‘outsiders’ or ‘enemies’. Source: Frank Parkin, Marxism and Class Theory: A Bourgeois Critique

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Exit, voice and loyalty (1970)

Theory of dissidence described by American political scientist Albert Otto Hirschman (1915- ). Those who are dissatisfied with the policies or general character of an organization have three choices: they can leave (exit); they can oppose (voice); or they can keep quiet (loyalty). Source: Albert O Hirschman, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty (Cambridge, Mass., 1970) Summary The

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Fabianism (19TH CENTURY- )

British theory of socialism associated with the Fabian Society; particularly with its leading early members Beatrice and Sidney Webb (1859-1943 and 1858-1947). Named after Roman general Q Fabius Maximus Verrucosus ( -203) – nicknamed ‘Cunctator’ meaning ‘the delayer’ – who won his battles by slow attrition of the enemy. Capitalist societies are evolving peacefully towards the

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False consciousness (19TH CENTURY- )

Marxist theory of ‘deception’ of the working class. Members of the working class in capitalist societies have interests which would rationally lead them to revolutionary action against the system. However ideology creates a ‘false consciousness’ which hides this reality from them. They therefore require leading into ‘correct’ political activity by a vanguard party, a central concept of Leninism. Also see: bolshevism

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Fascism (20TH CENTURY)

Named after Italian Fascist Party of Benito Mussolini (1883-1945). Advocacy of deferential national unity under a leader, without the liberal or democratic forms of politics and government which are regarded as an obstacle to the implementation of the national will. Ordinary people, rather than being democratic citizens, are to be organized in corporations according to the

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Federalism

Theory of divided legislative power. Government and legislation are best divided between a federal state and its constituent states, departments, or areas. Such division of power is normally regulated by a written constitution, with a supreme or constitutional court to adjudicate in disputes between the overall federal states and the separate component states. Source: K Sawer,

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