Political Parties
A political party is a group which holds, or aims to hold, political power by becoming the government. The government is the group responsible for making political decisions and carrying out policies: it guides and directs the country. They make decisions about health care, unemployment, education and national defence.
When a political party tries to introduce extreme changes in a system, it is called a radical party.
In some countries many political parties compete to become the government e.g. Portugal and England. In others, only one party exists e.g. China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba etc.
Different Forms of Governance
There are several forms of governance: monarchies, democracies, dictatorships, anarchies and oligarchies.
Monarchies are governments that are headed by a King or Queen, e.g. Brunei and Bhutan.
Democratic governments are ruled by a leader of a party that is voted in by the people of the country: they depend on the people to stay in power e.g. Portugal, England, USA, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and many more.
A dictatorship is a government that has one person in power and their power is usually gained by force. e.g. Togo
An oligarchy is a government that is led by a group of people.
DIFFERENT IDEOLOGIES
What is an ideology?
Throughout history, people have invented theories about how a country should be run and what the order of priorities should be when decisions are made on political issues. These theories are called ideologies.
There are many different political ideologies. Some of these are: Communism, Socialism, Fascism, Conservatism and Liberalism.
Socialism
Socialism is the belief that income and wealth should be equal. It argues that it is a government’s responsibility to work towards equality for all. For many people socialism is the pathway to communism. There are many different forms of socialism. Many democratic countries have some socialist policies such as free education, public health services and state-owned facilities (eg, media, transport services etc)
Communism e.g. Lenin and Chairman Mao
Communism is about the eradication of social class and private property (people could still own clothes and cars etc) There is a famous saying that says that the state/government will eventually wither away because people will operate in harmony – there will be cooperation between people as they will all have the same. There will be no rich or exploited people; this will lead to less dissatisfaction as everybody will be the same. Communists are generally atheists, as some people believe that religion is about the control of people.
Fascism e.g. Hitler and Mussolini
Many people argue that fascism is not an ideology; it is more of an attitude. It is not based on a set of beliefs. Instead it describes certain attitudes and types of behaviour.
Fascists in Hitler’s Germany were racist. They believed that one race was superior to another. Hitler believed that ‘true’ German people (Aryans) were destined to rule the world. Hitler was particularly hostile to Jewish people (anti-semitism). He believed that Germany’s past failures were the result of an international conspiracy against Germany organised by the Jews.
Liberalism and Conservatism
These ideologies first began during the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century. Some people were fighting for individual rights and freedoms. They were liberals. They believed that a government should interfere in peoples’ lives as little as possible.
After the revolution, those who disagreed with the liberals began to call themselves conservatives. Conservatives believe in tradition – why change things if they work? Things become traditions and customs because they are successful, so why change them?
