Ideology & Politics:
PART 1:
As a nationalist, I believe that the core of nationalism as an ideology is reducible to four propositions. Nationalists tend to believe in a given set of principles, namely:
. That the world is 'naturally' divided into nations;
. Each nation has its own unique character resulting from its history and culture including, especially, its language;
. Each nation should be independent or, at least, should possess a large measure of autonomy; only in running its own affairs can it achieve self-realisation, and
. The first loyalty, the primary allegiance of the individual, is to the nation-state.
The Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) is the political party that governs Scotland. Before Mr. Salmond was elected as First Minister, recently, even so-called respectable people tried calling the bluff of those opposed to a tired union. There attempts back-fired, as now they swallow-hard at the laughable contempt they had for those opposed to the present political settlement. Why do we not hear much from those people now? What do I feel when I see someones back: that someone who was adamant that the continuity of the union was as good as when it was forced upon the will of Scotland by those who had governmental influence and wealth prior to 1707?
The course of Scotland will change further. I have no-doubt about that, and the sooner the better. However, this is a topic that is focused around the concept of 'ideology', nationalism is only just one small part of a larger jigsaw in the overall context of things.
An ideology is basically a belief-system which serves as a guide to action. The importance of ideologies in politics is that they shape political behaviour. They do this by providing pictures of the world which shows how it has come to be as it is; how it is likely to change; what changes are desirable and undesirable, how the former can be facilitated and the latter controlled. Ideologies appeal to people as members of particular social groups - governing, business, ethnic, racial, national, religious - as classes, and as sexes. Ideologies aim, intrinsically, to extend such groupings by, for example, building up morale. It is interesting to note that empirical evidence suggests that in extending such groups this may also include 'sympathisers' - those who are able to add - but, who are not actually 'members'.
The word 'extend' - being used here - I believe, calls for further explanation. It is obviously not possible for a socialist to increase the actual numbers of the working class, for a Scottish Nationalist to make the population of Scotland greater than it is or for a feminist to augment the number of women in society. What each ideologist can, and does, strive to do is to enlist more workers, Scots and women to their respective causes. A shift in individual perspectives on the world and to effect a more intense identification with a specific category of people are prerequisites for extending an ideological belief system further than the current parameters. To an extent, the Scottish Nationalist Party has slowly used these underlying principles to great effect. More needs to be done, however, in rolling out those aspects that are having a significant and involuntary bearing and influence on Scotland such as the continuing influence of the English legislature on Scotland. Scotland is a separate country, not a mere extension or region of England. Scotland has its own unique legal, educational and religious establishments.
The core of a political ideology, then, is its commitment to some political ideal, be it national independence or resurgence, the social ownership of the means of production or the equality of the sexes.
"Ideology is any set of ideas about human nature, society and history which can gain the commitment of significant numbers of individuals for or against political change." (Dowe, July 2007)
PART 2:
I believe that ideologies make politics more than a struggle for power and material benefits. I suggest to you that ideologies are called upon in providing legitimacy both for forms of varying government and for economic systems. Inherent within any form of government or economic structure belies an ideology that will ultimately attempt to endorse the existing social and political systems and, pertinently, set goals that may yet be achieved. This might not necessarily imply that ideological beliefs leads directly to political action or discourse.
No straight line can be drawn between beliefs and action, the relationship between what we believe and what we do often being indirect, and usually subtle. Can Marx be held responsible either for the Bolshevik Revolution (1917) or for the French Revolution set-out by Rousseau?
The intention of ideology is to persuade. It was the ideologue in Marx who was speaking when he said that whereas in the past philosophers had sought to understand the world, the point was to change it. Academic disciplines - history, for example, or philosophy or physics - aims at understanding which is very much distinct from an ideologue that persuades change.
Ideology aims to convince that this or that course of action is the right one; and it is, of course, true that we expect people to act upon their convictions. Ideology need not act as a powerful influence upon political behaviour, but in practice it often does so. Do people, for instance, wish to do anything regarding a freer and more tolerant society, in today's climate of fear and anxiety? If they do, ideologies kick-start that process.
Interestingly, the forms taken by ideologies vary from country to country and from century to century. In the former USSR, for instance, the official ideology is the Marxist-Leninism model. The writings of Marx and Lenin are regarded as sacred texts and were continually used as justifications in either setting or changing policies. Throughout Africa and Asia, nationalism has been the predominant ideology since 1945 - to rally peoples against the occupying power in anti-colonial liberation wars, to integrate disparate tribal elements in post-independence regimes and - often allied to some variant of Socialism - to mobilise the new country behind a drive to modernisation. In the West, liberal values are generally all pervasive and deeply rooted advocating and supporting individualism, with its associated ideas and practices - freedom of conscience, speech and association, legal and political equality, the rights of private property, toleration, and the separation of State and civil society.
Ideologies may change their function over time. The same ideology appearing as revolutionary to one generation may appear later for conservative purposes in the future. Liberalism was certainly a revolutionary ideology in the late eighteenth century: as encapsulated in such slogans like, 'the rights of man' and 'liberty, equality, fraternity', it expressed the demands of the American and French Revolutionaries. By the mid-nineteenth century, it had become the dominant ideology in Britain - the so called 'ideology of age' - but, was itself under attack from Socialists, the new enemies on the left.
PART 3:
Ideology is also closely related to those versions of the past which mould social and political behaviour - namely, myth and tradition. The link between ideology and myth can be simply illustrated by reference again to socialism, nationalism and feminism. Each of these ideologies seeks to mobilise and spur to action the particular groups to which it appeals (respectively, the working class, the nation and women) and accordingly, allocates each a specific role; respectively, to fight the capitalist, imperialist and male oppressor.
Looking at history is an important factor because, invariably, roles are often presented in an ideal light, an idealisation which, extending into the past, can involve a highly selective version of history? Past moments of ‘heroic’ activity by a group in question can receive especial stress: for example, the mass action in the streets of Paris in 1789 which overthrew the French old regime, Petrograd in 1917 which broke the tsarist autocracy (by Socialists); past battles (not always victorious) and charismatic leaders (by nationalists), and historical campaigns like the one for political equality led by the Suffragettes (by feminists). The point here is not that the episodes referred to are not true; they often do contain a great deal of truth. The point is rather the ideological intention of such exercises: there is no attempt to be critical, to depict the protagonists on the ‘right’ side in such struggles with all their failings, ‘warts and all’; only to persuade. They appeal to the romantic in all of us, our liking for the heroic, our desire to be identified with a group in the achievement of a good cause, our sociability.
Ideology can make use of another selective version of a particular past – a political tradition. The concept of political tradition refers to those modes of political behaviour, a mixture of values and practices, which have come to be widely-accepted in a society. In Britain, for instance, the political tradition includes a respect for parliament as an institution, a belief in free speech, tolerance of what in many other countries would be regarded as a very secretive system of government, and a repugnance for violent behaviour and behaviour which is outside the law. Part of the answer lies in how political parties have used an ideology in shaping how the party befits society. The proposal for proportional representation (already activated in Scotland) has had to contend with not only the opposition of the party in government which is content with the electoral system by which it has gained power but also with the general public belief that the existing system ‘works’, a belief which the governing party itself, acting ideologically, seeks to mobilise.
The leading ideologies of the modern world include conservatism, nationalism, fascism, liberalism and socialism. For interests of this article I will be focussing attention towards nationalism. For example, what is nationalisms concept of human nature? What are its leading tenets or articles of faith? What about social class, nation, progress, history, participation, power and authority? At the beginning of this article I suggested to you that the core of nationalism as an ideology was reducible to four propositions.
Conservatives may, as of right, be deemed strongly patriotic, potentially nationalistic in their outlook. Conservative perspective on the world is demonstrated, normally, by the very high political priority they accord to the preservation of the integrity of the 'nation'
against internal separatist pressures and external threats. Distaste for behaviour which divides rather than binds together the nation, including that which exacerbates class hatred as well as ethnic disintegration; a pride in the nation's historical achievements - political, literary, scientific, military; and a permanent preoccupation with matters of national security and defence, which may well include shame for policy episodes when the country's external posture was weak, such as appeasement. It might sound familiar to you, and I hope it does because trait theory in any individual is easy to detect - and yet, many attempt to hide from it. All the aspects I mentioned are of an ideology which sees the 'nation' as the primary historical and political unit. Conservatives will attempt to unify in religion, where no base actually exists, for example. In Scotland, 'conservatism' has been stripped virtually clean and yet, it is there, underlying, hoping and anticipating a move towards a more unified Britain, as in the historical sense. Those days are gone. Move forward.
Ladies and gentlemen, as is perhaps immediately apparent, the central concept of nationalistic ideology is the idea of the 'nation'. Its basic political doctrine flows from this idea: that each 'nation' should form itself into a State. It has proved to be a doctrine of striking potency in the modern world.
For the emergence of nationalism as an ideology, the era of the French Revolution (1789-1815) was decisive. During those years a number of ideas fused in creating that modern doctrine.
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© Copyright Mark Dowe 2007: all rights protected
