Simply explained: Political Ideologies

We have heard many words which end with "ism", have read "right-wing" and "left-wing" countless times. But what are they? Here is a simple explanation for it all.

Political ideologies are the defining principles based on which a governmental system is formed. India, for example, is a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic and has a parliamentary form of government. "Socialist Secular Democratic Republic" are the country's political ideology, and "parliamentary" is the form in which India follows the ideologies mentioned above.

Obviously, you would be wondering why India follows so many different ideologies? It is because a country cannot follow a single ideology - it is a natural thing. A nation comprises many socio-economic aspects, and no single ideology can rightfully encapsulate all those varying aspects. Hence, due to the vastness of things a country is made up of - a country must also pick a range of political ideologies to follow.

Here are the most popular political ideologies and what they mean in simple terms:

Anarchism: the state of no governance. This political ideology believes in no hierarchy - it abolishes all governmental systems and believes in trust, mutual aid and cooperation. There is no government, and all people are trusted to support each other as equals.

Authoritarianism: the rejection of political plurality. This ideology believes in a single party governing everything, with no opposition. It favours blind submission to the authorities.

Communism: state owns everything. The government will distribute all resources equally amongst the population, but the citizens amongst who the resources are divided - they do not own any of the said resources. The idea is to create a society without social classes.

Democracy: rule of the majority. The system is where the general population decides their representatives in the government through a periodical voting procedure.

Fascism: rule through suppression. This is a generally more aggressive governmental system where oppositions are forcefully silenced, and power is maintained through unethical means.

Liberalism: preservation of freedom. The idea is to preserve and sustain every individual's freedom. Liberal ideologies focus on maintaining individuality within the masses and equality under the law.

Progressivism: an improvement over time. It is an adaptive ideology which wishes to improve human conditions constantly. In this case, the government's focus is to implement social welfare policies based on advancements in technology, economic ideologies, and social changes.

Socialism: community ownership. The ideology believes that production, distribution of resources, and control should be within the hands of the general public/mass. The difference between socialism and communism is that socialism places ownership in the citizens' hands.

We must also note that we should not judge a book by its cover. Classically we believe that democracy and liberalism are the best political ideologies. They have great principals - however - we must remember that many violent global leaders were democratically elected. For example, Hitler rose to power through democratic means. Moreover, liberalism can lead to anarchy.

We also believe that communism and authoritarianism is bad, however, we fail to acknowledge that the political leaders are the ones who were "bad" and not the ideology itself.

We must keep an unbiased opinion towards political ideologies and judge "good" and "bad" based on the leaders.

Another question people usually have is "What is right and left-wing?" The answer is simple:

Right-wing: a range of political ideologies which belief in social hierarchies and private ownerships. Something like capitalism, feudalism and authoritarianism.

Left-wing: a range of political ideologies that believe in social equality and public welfare. Ideologies like communism, socialism and progressivism fall into this category.

This is the end of this simply explained. Thanks for reading. If I misdescribed something, please comment below.