1.
Political party
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A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes, with a view to promoting the good or furthering their supporters interests. While there is some international commonality in the way political parties are recognized, and in how they operate, there are many differences. Many political parties have a core, but some do not. In many democracies, political parties are elected by the electorate to run a government, many countries, such as Germany and India, have several significant political parties, and some nations have one-party systems, such as China and Cuba. The United States is in practice a two-party system, but with smaller parties also participating. Its two most important parties are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, the first political factions, cohering around a basic, if fluid, set of principles, emerged from the Exclusion Crisis and Glorious Revolution in late 17th century England. The leader of the Whigs was Robert Walpole, who maintained control of the government in the period 1721–1742, as the century wore on, the factions slowly began to adopt more coherent political tendencies as the interests of their power bases began to diverge. The Whig partys initial base of support from the aristocratic families widened to include the emerging industrial interests. A major influence on the Whigs were the political ideas of John Locke. They acted as a united, though unavailing, opposition to Whig corruption and they finally regained power with the accession of George III in 1760 under Lord Bute. Out of this chaos, the first distinctive parties emerged, the first such party was the Rockingham Whigs under the leadership of Charles Watson-Wentworth and the intellectual guidance of the political philosopher Edmund Burke. A coalition including the Rockingham Whigs, led by the Earl of Shelburne, took power in 1782, the new government, led by the radical politician Charles James Fox in coalition with Lord North, was soon brought down and replaced by William Pitt the Younger in 1783. It was now that a genuine two-party system began to emerge, by the time of this split the Whig party was increasingly influenced by the ideas of Adam Smith, founder of classical liberalism. As Wilson and Reill note, Adam Smiths theory melded nicely with the political stance of the Whig Party. The modern Conservative Party was created out of the Pittite Tories of the early 19th century, in the late 1820s disputes over political reform broke up this grouping. A government led by the Duke of Wellington collapsed amidst dire election results, following this disaster Robert Peel set about assembling a new coalition of forces. However, a consensus reached on these issues ended party politics in 1816 for a decade, Party politics revived in 1829 with the split of the Democratic-Republican Party into the Jacksonian Democrats led by Andrew Jackson, and the Whig Party, led by Henry Clay
2.
Political spectrum
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A political spectrum is a system of classifying different political positions upon one or more geometric axes that symbolize independent political dimensions. Most long-standing spectra include a wing and left wing, which originally referred to seating arrangements in the French parliament after the Revolution. According to the simplest left–right axis, communism and socialism are usually regarded internationally as being on the left, liberalism can mean different things in different contexts, sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right. Those with an intermediate outlook are classified as centrists or moderates, politics that rejects the conventional left–right spectrum is known as syncretic politics. Political scientists have noted that a single left–right axis is insufficient for describing the existing variation in political beliefs. As seen from the Speakers seat at the front of the Assembly, the aristocracy sat on the right, originally, the defining point on the ideological spectrum was the Ancien Régime. The Right thus implied support for aristocratic or royal interests, and the church, while The Left implied support for republicanism, secularism, and civil liberties. Because the political franchise at the start of the revolution was relatively narrow, the original Left represented mainly the interests of the bourgeoisie and their political interests in the French Revolution lay with opposition to the aristocracy, and so they found themselves allied with the early capitalists. However, this did not mean that their interests lay with the laissez-faire policies of those representing them politically. As capitalist economies developed, the aristocracy became less relevant and were replaced by capitalist representatives. This evolution has often pulled parliamentary politicians away from laissez-faire economic policies, for almost a century, social scientists have considered the problem of how best to describe political variation. In 1950, Leonard W. Submitting the results to factor analysis and this system was derived empirically, rather than devising a political model on purely theoretical grounds and testing it, Fergusons research was exploratory. As a result of method, care must be taken in the interpretation of Fergusons three factors, as factor analysis will output an abstract factor whether an objectively real factor exists or not. Although replication of the Nationalism factor was inconsistent, the finding of Religionism and Humanitarianism had a number of replications by Ferguson, shortly afterward, Hans Eysenck began researching political attitudes in Great Britain. He believed that there was something similar about the National Socialists on the one hand. Submitting this value questionnaire to the process of factor analysis used by Ferguson. Such analysis produces a factor whether or not it corresponds to a real-world phenomenon, Eysencks dimensions of R and T were found by factor analyses of values in Germany and Sweden, France, and Japan. According to Eysenck, members of both ideologies were tough-minded, in this context, Eysenck carried out studies on nazism and communist groups, claiming to find members of both groups to be more dominant and more aggressive than control groups
3.
Left-wing politics
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Left-wing politics supports social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy and social inequality. The term left wing can also refer to the radical, reforming, use of the term Left became more prominent after the restoration of the French monarchy in 1815 when it was applied to the Independents. The word wing was appended to Left and Right in the late 19th century, usually with disparaging intent, throughout the 19th century in France, the main line dividing left and right was between supporters of the French Republic and those of the Monarchy. The June Days Uprising during the Second Republic was an attempt by the Left to assert itself after the 1848 Revolution, in the mid-19th century, nationalism, socialism, democracy, and anti-clericalism became features of the French Left. After Napoleon IIIs 1851 coup and the subsequent establishment of the Second Empire, Marxism began to rival radical republicanism, the influential Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, published in 1848, asserted that all human history is the history of class struggle. They predicted that a revolution would eventually overthrow bourgeois capitalism and create a classless, stateless. It was in period that the word wing was appended to both Left and Right. Following a split between supporters of Marx and Mikhail Bakunin, anarchists formed the International Workers Association, the Second International became divided over the issue of World War I. Those who opposed the war, such as Vladimir Lenin and Rosa Luxemburg, in the United States after Reconstruction, the phrase the Left was used to describe those who supported trade unions, the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement. More recently in the United States, left-wing and right-wing have often used as synonyms for Democratic and Republican. Since the Right was populist, both in the Western and the Eastern Bloc, anything viewed as art was called leftist in all Europe. The following positions are typically associated with left-wing politics, during the industrial revolution, leftists supported trade unions. At the beginning of the 20th century, many leftists advocated strong government intervention in the economy, leftists continue to criticize what they perceive as the exploitative nature of globalization, the race to the bottom, and unjust lay-offs. Other leftists believe in Marxian economics, which are based on the theories of Karl Marx. Marxian economics does not exclusively rely upon Marx, it draws from a range of Marxist and non-Marxist sources, the political relevance of farmers has divided the left. In Das Kapital, Marx scarcely mentioned the subject, Mao Zedong believed that it would be rural peasants, not urban workers, who would bring about the proletarian revolution. Both Karl Marx and the early socialist William Morris arguably had a concern for environmental matters, according to Marx, Even an entire society, a nation, or all simultaneously existing societies taken together. Are not owners of the earth and they are simply its possessors, its beneficiaries, and have to bequeath it in an improved state to succeeding generations
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Far-left politics
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Far-left politics or extreme-left politics is a branch of politics further to the left of the left-right spectrum than the standard political left. Far-left politics are generally the province of extra-governmental groups and those espousing them are typically opposed to their governments, dr. March sees four major subgroups within contemporary European far-left politics, communists, democratic socialists, populist socialists and social populists. Hloušek and Kopeček add secondary characteristics to those identified by March and Mudde, such as anti-Americanism, anti-globalization, opposition to NATO and these people include both authoritarians and libertarians. McClosky and Chong surveyed a number of militant, revolutionary groups in the US and they argue that, like far-right extremists. The term ultra-leftism has two overlapping uses, one usage is a generally pejorative term for certain types of positions on the far left that are extreme or intransigent. The term is also used—pejoratively or not—to refer to a current of Marxist communism. Ultra-left currents within left communism are often subject to criticisms from other factions of the left, the left communist organization International Communist Current refuses to work with leftist groups except for other left communists or anarchists. Gilles Dauvé, a left communist theorist, argues that all bourgeois regimes should be opposed, the term ultra left is rarely used in English, in which people tend to speak broadly of left communism as a minor variant of traditional Marxism. In opposition to Bolshevism, the left generally places heavy emphasis upon the autonomy. The term has been popularised in the United States by the Socialist Workers Party, a number of far-left parties gave birth to militant organisations during the 1960s and 1970s, such as the Red Brigades and the Red Army Faction. These groups generally aimed to overthrow capitalist systems and replace them with socialist societies
5.
Centrism
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Centre-left and centre-right politics both involve a general association with centrism combined with leaning somewhat to their respective sides of the spectrum. It has been suggested that individuals vote for centrist parties for purely statistical reasons, Centrists usually support a degree of equal opportunity and economic freedom. They can generally lean conservative on issues and lean liberal on social issues. However, centrism itself is location-dependent and exact policies can vary depending on geographical, Indian National Congress was centrist in its ideology. It is one of the oldest parties in the world, under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru the party sought to build a modern secular democratic republic in India. Its support is has different ups and downs from the late 1990s, people change their support base to other political parties but choose it again after period of 5 years. It acts as a party, presently, in Indian Parliament. There have been centrists in both sides of politics, who alongside the various factions within the Liberal and Labor parties. In addition, there are a number of groups that have formed in response to the bipartisan system who uphold centrist ideals. South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon had launched his own centrist political party called the Nick Xenophon Team in 2014, the Palmer United Party has been suggested as being a centrist party as well, however, the party itself does not make such formal claims of being politically centrist. The Australian Sex Party is also a centrist political party and they have just one seat and control the balance of power, with a huge political responsibility within the Victorian Legislative Council since 2014. The New Flemish Alliance is the largest, and since 2009, among French speaking Belgians the Humanist Democratic Centre is a centre-right or centre party as it is considerably less conservative than its Flemish counterpart, Christian Democratic & Flemish. Another party in the centre of the spectrum is the liberal Reformist Movement. The Liberals are currently the largest party in Canadas House of Commons, although, some may argue that the Liberal Party is more of a Centre-Left then a Centrist party. Czech Republic has two main centrist political parties which are currently in the government, liberal ANO and Christian democratic Christian, france has a tradition of parties that call themselves centriste. The most notable centrist party, often also called liberal, was the Union for French Democracy, among its successors belongs the small Centrist Alliance, the most successful of them is the Democratic Movement of François Bayrou, founded in 2007. However, the centrist parties often oppose to the parties such as Socialists. It often support the centre-right Gaullist parties and join several coalitions governed by Jacques Chirac, zentrismus is a term only known to experts, as it is easily confused with Zentralismus, so the usual term in German for the political centre/centrism is politische Mitte
6.
Radical centrism
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At first it was defined in a variety of ways, but at the beginning of the 21st century a number of texts and think tanks gave the philosophy a more developed cast. The radical in the term refers to a willingness on the part of most radical centrists to call for reform of institutions. The centrism refers to a belief that genuine solutions require realism and pragmatism, not just idealism, thus one radical centrist text defines radical centrism as idealism without illusions, a phrase originally from John F. Kennedy. Most radical centrists borrow what they see as good ideas from left, right, most support market-based solutions to social problems with strong governmental oversight in the public interest. There is support for increased engagement and the growth of an empowered middle class in developing countries. Many radical centrists work within the political parties, but also support independent or third-party initiatives and candidacies. Criticism of radical centrist policies and strategies has mounted as the philosophy has developed. One common criticism is that radical centrist policies are only different from conventional centrist policies. Another criticism is that the radical centrist penchant for third parties is naive, some observers see radical centrism as primarily a process of catalyzing dialogue and fresh thinking among polarized people and groups. Some influences on radical centrist political philosophy are not directly political, however, most commonly cited influences and precursors are from the political realm. One of the first people to develop a positive definition was Renata Adler, in the introduction to her second collection of essays, Toward a Radical Middle, she presented radical centrism as a healing radicalism. It rejected the violent posturing and rhetoric of the 1960s, she said, in favor of such values as reason, decency, prosperity, human dignity. She called for the reconciliation of the working class and African-Americans. In the 1970s, sociologist Donald I, although they might vote for Democrats or Republicans, or for populists like George Wallace, they felt politically homeless and were looking for leaders who would address their concerns. In the 1980s and 1990s, several authors contributed their understandings to the concept of the radical center, for example, futurist Marilyn Ferguson added a holistic dimension to the concept when she said, Radical Center. Is not neutral, not middle-of-the-road, but a view of the whole road, african-American theorist Stanley Crouch upset many political thinkers when he pronounced himself a radical pragmatist. In the 1990s, political independents Jesse Ventura, Angus King, according to John Avlon, they pioneered the combination of fiscal prudence and social tolerance that has served as a model for radical centrist governance ever since. They also developed a style, a combination of common sense
7.
Right-wing politics
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Hierarchy and inequality may be viewed as natural results of traditional social differences or the competition in market economies. The term right-wing can generally refer to the conservative or reactionary section of a party or system. The original Right in France was formed as a reaction against the Left, and comprised those politicians supporting hierarchy, tradition, the use of the expression la droite became prominent in France after the restoration of the monarchy in 1815, when it was applied to the Ultra-royalists. The people of English-speaking countries did not apply the terms right, from the 1830s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from nobility and aristocracy towards capitalism. This general economic shift toward capitalism affected centre right movements such as the British Conservative Party, in the United States, the Right includes both economic and social conservatives. The nobility, members of the Second Estate, generally sat to the right, in the successive legislative assemblies, monarchists who supported the Ancien Régime were commonly referred to as rightists because they sat on the right side. A major figure on the right was Joseph de Maistre, who argued for a form of conservatism. Throughout the 19th century, the line dividing Left and Right in France was between supporters of the republic and supporters of the monarchy. In British politics, the right and left came into common use for the first time in the late 1930s in debates over the Spanish Civil War. The meaning of right-wing varies across societies, historical epochs, and political systems, according to The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics, in liberal democracies, the political Right opposes socialism and social democracy. Right-wing parties include conservatives, Christian democrats, classical liberals, nationalists and, on the far Right, Roger Eatwell and Neal OSullivan divide the Right into five types, reactionary, moderate, radical, extreme, and new. Chip Berlet argues that each of these styles of thought are responses to the left, including liberalism and socialism, the reactionary right looks toward the past and is aristocratic, religious and authoritarian. Often the moderate right promotes nationalism and social welfare policies, radical right is a term developed after World War II to describe groups and ideologies such as McCarthyism, the John Birch Society, Thatcherism, and the Republikaner Party. Eatwell stresses that use has major typological problems and that the term has also been applied to clearly democratic developments. The radical right includes right-wing populism and various other subtypes, Eatwell argues that the extreme right has four traits, 1) anti-democracy, 2) nationalism, 3) racism, and 4) the strong state. The New Right consists of the conservatives, who stress small government, free markets. Other authors make a distinction between the centre-right and the far right, parties of the centre-right generally support liberal democracy, capitalism, the market economy, private property rights, and a limited welfare state. They support conservatism and economic liberalism, and oppose socialism and communism, typical examples of leaders to whom the far right label is often applied are Francisco Franco in Spain and Augusto Pinochet in Chile
8.
Far-right politics
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Far-right politics are right-wing politics further on the right of the left-right spectrum than the standard political right. Far-right politics often involve a focus on tradition, real or imagined, as opposed to policies, right-wing populism, a political ideology often combines laissez-faire, nationalism, ethnocentrism and anti-elitism is often described as far-right. Right-wing populism often involves appeals to common man and opposition to immigration, far-right politics include but are not limited to aspects of authoritarianism, anti-communism, and nativism. Claims that superior people should proportionally have greater rights than people are sometimes associated with the far right. The far right has historically favoured an elitist society based on its belief in the legitimacy of the rule of a supposed superior minority over the inferior masses. However, right-wing populist ideologies which are described by commentators as far-right often use appeals to the common man as opposed to the appeals of the elites. Far-right politics sometimes involves anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are deemed inferior, hence, far right politics is associated with Othering. According to Christina Liang, this field is especially peculiar about its terminology. Each label carries with it a specific understanding of family of political parties as well as a particular set of assumptions regarding their origins. In an extensive survey of the literature, academic Cas Mudde found 26 definitions of right-wing extremism that contained 57 different ideological features, there is also debate about how appropriate the labels fascist or neo-Fascist are. Mudde lists nativism, authoritarianism, and populism as core elements of populist radical right political parties, in the United States, the term hard right and Alt-right have been used to describe groups such as the Tea Party movement and the Patriot movement. The term has also used to describe ideologies such as Paleoconservatism, Dominion Theology. The German political scientist Klaus von Beyme describes three phases in the development of far-right parties in Western Europe after World War II. From 1945 to the mid-1950s, far-right parties were marginalised, and their ideologies were discredited due to the recent existence and defeat of Nazism. Thus in the immediately following World War II, the main objective of far-right parties was survival. From the mid-1950s to the 1970s, the so-called populist protest phase emerged with sporadic electoral success, the most common demand-side theories are the social breakdown thesis, the relative deprivation thesis, the modernisation losers thesis and the ethnic competition thesis. The rise of political parties has also been viewed as a rejection of post-materialist values on the part of some voters. This theory which is known as the reverse post-material thesis blames both left-wing and progressive parties for embracing a post-material agenda that alienates traditional working class voters, another study argues that individuals who join far-right parties determine whether those parties develop into major political players or whether they remain marginalized
9.
Party platform
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Plank is the term often given to the components of the political platform – the opinions and viewpoints about individual topics, as held by a party, person, or organization. The word plank depicts a component of a political platform. The metaphor can return to its origin when public speaking or debates are actually held upon a physical platform. A party platform is referred to as a manifesto or a political platform. Research on American politics suggests that platform positions offer important clues as to the policies that U. S. parties will enact, over the past 30 years, Democratic and Republican congresspeople voted in line with their respective party platforms 74% and 89% of the time, respectively. The first known use of the platform was in 1535. The word platform comes from Middle French plate-forme, literally meaning flat form, the political meaning of the word to reflect statement of party politics is from 1803, probably originally an image of a literal platform on which politicians gather, stand, and make their appeals. S
10.
Extremism
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Extremism means, literally the quality or state of being extreme or advocacy of extreme measures or views. Nowadays, the term is used in a political or religious sense. But extremism can, for example, also be meant in an economic sense, the term extremism is usually meant to be pejorative, that is, to express disapproval. However, it may also be meant in an academic, purely descriptive. Extremists are usually contrasted with centrists or moderates, for example, in contemporary discussions in Western countries of Islam or of Islamic political movements, the distinction between extremist and moderate Muslims is typically stressed. Political agendas perceived as extremist often include those from the politics or far-right politics, as well as radicalism, reactionism, fundamentalism. There have been many different definitions of extremism, Peter T. Coleman and Andrea Bartoli give short observation of definitions, Extremism is a complex phenomenon, although its complexity is often hard to see. Most simply, it can be defined as activities of a character far removed from the ordinary, in conflict settings it manifests as a severe form of conflict engagement. However, the labeling of activities, people, and groups as extremist, *In addition, ones sense of the moral or immoral nature of a given act of extremism may change as conditions change. Thus, the current and historical context of extremist acts shapes our view of them, *Power differences also matter when defining extremism. When in conflict, the activities of members of low power groups tend to be viewed as more extreme than similar activities committed by members of groups advocating the status quo. In addition, extreme acts are more likely to be employed by marginalized people, however, dominant groups also commonly employ extreme activities. Again, low power groups are likely to employ direct, episodic forms of violence. For instance, individual members of Hamas may differ considerably in their willingness to negotiate their differences with the Palestinian Authority and, ultimately, the terms extremism or extremist are almost always exonymic—i. e. Applied by others to a rather than by a group labeling itself. Rather than labeling themselves extremist, those labeled as such might describe themselves as, for example, there is no political party that calls itself right-wing extremist or left-wing extremist, and there is no sect of any religion that calls itself extremist or which calls its doctrine extremism. The term extremist is used to describe groups and individuals who have become radicalized, in some way, the term radical is one not normally regarded as pejorative and, unlike extremist, is sometimes used by groups in their description of themselves. The word violence cannot be regarded as value-neutral, ideology and methodology often become inextricably linked under the single term extremism
11.
Reformism
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In contrast, reformism posits that a capitalist economy can be gradually transformed into a qualitatively different socialist system through political and economic reform. There are two types of reformism, one has no intention of bringing about socialism or fundamental economic change to society and is used to oppose such structural changes. The debate on the ability for social democratic reformism to lead to a socialist transformation of society is over a century old, according to Rosa Luxemburg, under reformism, is not overthrown, but is on the contrary strengthened by the development of social reforms. The French social theorist Andre Gorz criticized reformism by advocating an alternative to reformism. One of the delegates to the SPD congress, Eduard Bernstein, expanded on the concept, Bernstein was a leading social democrat in Germany. Reformism was quickly targeted by revolutionary socialists, with Rosa Luxemburg condemning Bernsteins Evolutionary Socialism in her 1900 essay Reform or Revolution. In 1959, the Godesberg Program marked the shift of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from a Marxist program espousing an end to capitalism to a reformist one focused on social reform. After Joseph Stalin consolidated power in the Soviet Union, the Comintern launched a campaign against the Reformist movement by denouncing them as social fascists, in modern times, reformists are seen as centre-left. Some social democratic parties, such as the Canadian NDP and the Social Democratic Party of Germany, are considered to be reformist. The term was applied to elements within the British Labour Party in the 1950s and subsequently, anthony Crosland wrote The Future of Socialism as a personal manifesto arguing for a reformulation of the term. Left reformism, the state and the problem of socialist politics today
12.
Liberalism
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Liberalism is a political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of liberty and equality. Liberalism first became a political movement during the Age of Enlightenment. Liberalism rejected the social and political norms of hereditary privilege, state religion, absolute monarchy. The 17th-century philosopher John Locke is often credited with founding liberalism as a philosophical tradition. Locke argued that man has a natural right to life, liberty and property. Liberals opposed traditional conservatism and sought to replace absolutism in government with representative democracy, prominent revolutionaries in the Glorious Revolution, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution used liberal philosophy to justify the armed overthrow of what they saw as tyrannical rule. Liberalism started to spread rapidly especially after the French Revolution, the 19th century saw liberal governments established in nations across Europe, South America, and North America. During the 20th century, liberal ideas spread even further as liberal democracies found themselves on the side in both world wars. In Europe and North America, the establishment of social liberalism became a key component in the expansion of the welfare state, today, liberal parties continue to wield power and influence throughout the world. Words such as liberal, liberty, libertarian, and libertine all trace their history to the Latin liber, which means free. One of the first recorded instances of the word occurs in 1375. The words early connection with the education of a medieval university soon gave way to a proliferation of different denotations and connotations. In 16th century England, liberal could have positive or negative attributes in referring to someones generosity or indiscretion, in Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare wrote of a liberal villaine who hath. confest his vile encounters. With the rise of the Enlightenment, the word acquired decisively more positive undertones, being defined as free from narrow prejudice in 1781, in 1815, the first use of the word liberalism appeared in English. In Spain, the Liberales, the first group to use the label in a political context. From 1820 to 1823, during the Trienio Liberal, King Ferdinand VII was compelled by the liberales to swear to uphold the Constitution, by the middle of the 19th century, liberal was used as a politicised term for parties and movements worldwide. Over time, the meaning of the word began to diverge in different parts of the world. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, In the United States, liberalism is associated with the policies of the New Deal programme of the Democratic administration of Pres
13.
Conservatism
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Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes retaining traditional social institutions in the context of culture and civilization. The term, historically associated with right-wing politics, has since used to describe a wide range of views. There is no set of policies that are universally regarded as conservative, because the meaning of conservatism depends on what is considered traditional in a given place. Thus conservatives from different parts of the world—each upholding their respective traditions—may disagree on a range of issues. In contrast to the definition of conservatism, political theorists such as Corey Robin define conservatism primarily in terms of a general defense of social. In Great Britain, conservative ideas emerged in the Tory movement during the Restoration period, Toryism supported a hierarchical society with a monarch who ruled by divine right. Tories opposed the idea that sovereignty derived from the people, and rejected the authority of parliament, Robert Filmers Patriarcha, or the Natural Power of Kings, published posthumously in 1680 but written before the English Civil War of 1642–1651, became accepted as the statement of their doctrine. However, the Glorious Revolution of 1688 destroyed this principle to some degree by establishing a government in England. Faced with defeat, the Tories reformed their movement, now holding that sovereignty was vested in the three estates of Crown, Lords, and Commons rather than solely in the Crown, Toryism became marginalized during the long period of Whig ascendancy in the 18th century. Conservatives typically see Richard Hooker as the father of conservatism, along with the Marquess of Halifax, David Hume. Halifax promoted pragmatism in government, whilst Hume argued against political rationalism and utopianism, Burke served as the private secretary to the Marquis of Rockingham and as official pamphleteer to the Rockingham branch of the Whig party. Together with the Tories, they were the conservatives in the late 18th century United Kingdom, Burkes views were a mixture of liberal and conservative. He supported the American Revolution of 1765–1783 but abhorred the violence of the French Revolution and he insisted on standards of honor derived from the medieval aristocratic tradition, and saw the aristocracy as the nations natural leaders. That meant limits on the powers of the Crown, since he found the institutions of Parliament to be better informed than commissions appointed by the executive and he favored an established church, but allowed for a degree of religious toleration. Burke justified the order on the basis of tradition, tradition represented the wisdom of the species and he valued community. Burke was a leading theorist in his day, finding extreme idealism an endangerment to broader liberties, despite their influence on future conservative thought, none of these early contributors were explicitly involved in Tory politics. Hooker lived in the 16th century, long before the advent of toryism, whilst Hume was an apolitical philosopher, Burke described himself as a Whig. Shortly after Burkes death in 1797, conservatism revived as a political force as the Whigs suffered a series of internal divisions
14.
Reactionary
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As an adjective, the word reactionary describes points of view and policies meant to restore the status quo ante. The French Revolution gave the English language three politically descriptive words denoting anti-progressive politics, reactionary, conservative and right, Reactionary derives from the French word réactionnaire and conservative from conservateur, identifying monarchist parliamentarians opposed to the revolution. In this French usage, reactionary denotes a movement towards the reversal of a tendency or state. The Oxford English Dictionary cites the first English language usage in 1799 in a translation of Lazare Carnots letter on the Coup of 18 Fructidor, in France, supporters of traditional rule by direct heirs of the House of Bourbon dynasty were labelled the legitimist reaction. In the Third Republic, the monarchists were the reactionary faction, in Protestant Christian societies, reactionary has described those supporting tradition against modernity. Those labelled as reactionary favoured the aristocracy instead of the middle class, the Thermidorian Reaction was a movement within the revolution against perceived excesses of the Jacobins. On 27 July 1794, Maximilien Robespierres Reign of Terror was brought to an end, the overthrow of Robespierre signalled the reassertion of the French National Convention over the Committee of Public Safety. The Jacobins were suppressed, the prisons were emptied and the Committee was shorn of its powers and this instance of reaction was surpassed by a movement that developed in France when, after the second fall of Napoleon, the Bourbon Restoration or reinstatement of the Bourbon dynasty, ensued. This time it was to be a monarchy, with an elected lower house of parliament. The Franchise was restricted to men over the age of forty, nevertheless, King Louis XVIII was worried that he would still suffer an intractable parliament. He was delighted with the ultra-royalists, or Ultras, whom the election returned, declaring that he had found a chambre introuvable, literally and it was the Declaration of Saint-Ouen that prepared the way for the Restoration. Everything new had to be expressed as a revival of something old that had lapsed and had been forgotten. This was also the used for diminished aristocrats to get themselves a bigger piece of the pie. In the 18th century, those gentry whose fortunes and prestige had diminished to the level of peasants would search diligently for every ancient feudal statute that might give them something, the ban, for example, meant that all peasants had to grind their grain in their lords mill. Therefore, these came to the French States-General of 1789 fully prepared to press for the expansion of such practices in all provinces. They were horrified when, for example, the French Revolution permitted common citizens to go hunting and it is this which clearly distinguishes a reactionary from a conservative. The conservative would have accepted many improvements brought about by the revolution, use of the word reactionary in later days as a political slur is thus often rhetorical, since there is nothing directly comparable with the Chambre Introuvable in the history of other countries. In the revolutions aftermath, France was continually wracked with the quarrels between the right-wing legitimists and left-wing revolutionaries, since then, Frances political spectrum has featured similar divisions
15.
Tradition
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A tradition is a belief or behavior passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes, there are about 150 new traditions made each year. Traditions can persist and evolve for thousands of years—the word tradition itself derives from the Latin tradere or traderer literally meaning to transmit, to hand over, to give for safekeeping. While it is assumed that traditions have ancient history, many traditions have been invented on purpose, whether that be political or cultural. Various academic disciplines also use the word in a variety of ways, one way tradition is used more simply, often in academic work but elsewhere also, is to indicate the quality of a piece of information being discussed. For example, According to tradition, Homer was born on Chios and this tradition may never be proven or disproven. In another example, King Arthur, by tradition a true British king, has inspired many well loved stories, of course whether they are documented fact or not does not decrease their value as cultural history and literature. Aside from this use in describing the quality of information, various scholarly fields define the term differently, for example, anthropology and biology have each defined tradition it more precisely than in conventional, as described below, in order to facilitate scholarly discourse. The concept of tradition, as the notion of holding on to a time, is also found in political and philosophical discourse. For example, it is the basis of the concept of traditionalism. In artistic contexts, tradition is used to decide the correct display of an art form, for example, in the performance of traditional genres, adherence to guidelines dictating how an art form should be composed are given greater importance than the performers own preferences. A number of factors can exacerbate the loss of tradition, including industrialization, globalization, in response to this, tradition-preservation attempts have now been started in many countries around the world, focusing on aspects such as traditional languages. Tradition is usually contrasted with the goal of modernity and should be differentiated from customs, conventions, laws, norms, routines, rules and similar concepts. The English word tradition comes from the Latin traditio, the noun from the verb traderere or tradere, it was used in Roman law to refer to the concept of legal transfers. As with many other terms, there are many definitions of tradition. Tradition can also refer to beliefs or customs that are Prehistoric, with lost or arcane origins, originally, traditions were passed orally, without the need for a writing system. Tools to aid this process include poetic devices such as rhyme, the stories thus preserved are also referred to as tradition, or as part of an oral tradition. Even such traditions, however, are presumed to have originated at some point, Traditions are often presumed to be ancient, unalterable, and deeply important, though they may sometimes be much less natural than is presumed
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Two-party system
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A two-party system is a party system where two major political parties dominate the government. One of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is referred to as the majority or governing party while the other is the minority or opposition party. Around the world, the term has different senses, in such arrangements, two-party systems are thought to result from various factors like winner takes all election rules. The reasons why a country with free elections will evolve into a two-party system have been debated, a leading theory, referred to as Duvergers law, states that two parties are a natural result of a winner-take-all voting system. There is general agreement that the United States has a two-party system, historically, in the First Party System, only Alexander Hamiltons Federalist Party and Thomas Jeffersons Democratic-Republican Party were significant political parties. Toward the end of the First Party System, the Republicans dominated a one-party system, under the Second Party System, the Democratic-Republican Party split during the election of 1824 into Adams Men and Jacksons Men. In 1828, the modern Democratic Party formed in support of Andrew Jackson, the National Republicans were formed in support of John Quincy Adams. After the National Republicans collapsed, the Whig Party and the Free Soil Party quickly formed and collapsed, in 1854, the modern Republican Party formed from a loose coalition of former Whigs, Free Soilers and other anti-slavery activists. Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican president in 1860, during the Third Party System, the Republican Party was the dominant political faction, but the Democrats held a strong, loyal coalition in the Solid South. During the Fourth Party System, the Republicans remained the dominant Presidential party, although Democrats Grover Cleveland, in 1932, at the onset of the Fifth Party System, Democrats took firm control of national politics with the landslide victories of Franklin D. Roosevelt in four consecutive elections. Other than the two terms of Republican Dwight Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961, Democrats retained firm control of the Presidency until the mid-1960s. In the election of 2012, only 4% separated the popular vote between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, although Obama won the vote by a landslide. Throughout every American party system, no party has won a Presidential election or majorities in either house of Congress. Despite that, third parties and third party candidates have gained traction, in the election of 1912, Theodore Roosevelt won 27% of the popular vote and 88 electoral votes running as a Progressive. In the 1992 Presidential election, Ross Perot won 19% of the popular vote, sometimes these systems are described as two-party systems but they are usually referred to as multi-party systems. There is not always a sharp boundary between a two-party system and a multi-party system, Democrats in the United States and the Conservative Party vs. the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. Other parties in these countries may have seen candidates elected to local or subnational office, historian John Hicks claims that the United States has never possessed for any considerable period of time the two party system in its pure and undefiled form. In some governments, certain chambers may resemble a two-party system, for example, the politics of Australia are largely two-party for the Australian House of Representatives, which is elected by instant-runoff voting, known within Australia as preferential voting
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Multi-party system
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First-past-the-post requires concentrated areas of support for large representation in the legislature whereas proportional representation better reflects the range of a populations views. Proportional systems have multi-member districts with more than one elected from a given district to the same legislative body. Duvergers Law states that the number of political parties is one plus the number of seats in a district. In these countries, usually no single party has a majority by itself. Instead, multiple political parties form coalitions for the purpose of developing power blocks for governing, a system where only two parties have the possibility of winning an election is called two-party system. A system where three parties have a realistic possibility of winning an election or forming a coalition is sometimes called a Third-party system. Usually this is because the electoral system penalises the third party, in the 2010 elections, the Liberal Democrats gained 23% of the total vote but won less than 10% of the seats due to the First-Past-The-Post electoral system. Despite this, they still had enough seats to form coalitions with one of the two parties, or to make deals in order to gain their support. An example is the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition formed after the 2010 general election, another is the Lib-Lab pact during Prime Minister James Callaghans Minority Labour Government, when Labour lost its three-seat majority in 1977, the pact fell short of a full coalition. Unlike a one-party system, a multi-party system encourages the general constituency to form distinct, officially recognized groups. Each party competes for votes from the enfranchised constituents, a multi-party system prevents the leadership of a single party from controlling a single legislative chamber without challenge. If the government includes an elected Congress or Parliament, the parties may share power according to proportional representation or the first-past-the-post system, in proportional representation, each party wins a number of seats proportional to the number of votes it receives. In first-past-the-post, the electorate is divided into a number of districts and this gravitation is known as Duvergers law. Proportional representation, on the hand, does not have this tendency. But, recent coalition governments, such as that in the U. K. represent two-party systems rather than multi-party systems and this is regardless of the number of parties in government. A two-party system requires voters to align themselves in large blocs, some theories argue that this allows centrists to gain control. On the other hand, if there are multiple parties, each with less than a majority of the vote. This also promotes centrism, as well as promoting coalition-building skills while discouraging polarization, coalition Polarized pluralism Political organisation Ingroups and outgroups
18.
Government of the Soviet Union
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The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was the main body of the executive branch of government in the Soviet Union. Its head of government was the generally known in the West as the Premier of the Soviet Union. The members of the Soviet Government—peoples commissars, ministers, and heads of state committees—were recommended by the Premier, the Government of the Soviet Union exercised its executive powers in conformity with the Soviet Constitution and legislation enacted by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. However eventually no new government was formed due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. These were accompanied by a number of government ministers and state committee chairmen, recommended by the premier. The executive branch was responsible for both short- and long-term economic, social and cultural development, the Governments official residence was at the Kremlin Senate in Moscow. The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics exercised its powers in conformity with the Soviet Constitution and legislation enacted by the Supreme Soviet. Its structure, operational procedures and decision-making processes were defined by the 1977 Soviet constitution, the decisions and ordinances of the Council of Ministers of the USSR shall be binding throughout the USSR—these decisions and ordinances were binding throughout the country. The Government also controlled trade and had directed the general development of the Soviet armed forces. The Government managed the internal sphere of the Union of Soviet of Socialist Republics social policy and it was responsible for implementing measures which would either promote or ensure the well-being of Soviet citizens through economic, social and economic development. For instance, the Government controlled the State Bank and was responsible for the organisation of state insurance, both the five-year plan and the budget needed approval from the Supreme Soviet to be implemented. It was responsible for socialist property, public order and the protection of its citizens, the Government was responsible to the Soviet Parliament, and the parliament could in theory force the resignation of the Government as a whole or any Government appointees by a simple majority vote. The Premier and the members of the Government were jointly responsible for decisions passed by the Government and were responsible for their respective portfolios. The Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, literally head of state, appointed government ministers, the Premier could recommend civil servants to government to the Presidium, which could then either pass or reject the nominee
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Class conflict
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The view that the class struggle provides the lever for radical social change for the majority is central to the work of Karl Marx and the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin. In the past the term Class conflict was a term used mostly by socialists, from this point of view, the social control of production and labor is a contest between classes, and the division of these resources necessarily involves conflict and inflicts harm. It can involve ongoing low-level clashes, escalate into massive confrontations, however, in more contemporary times this term is striking chords and finding new definition amongst capitalistic societies in the United States and other Westernized countries. This was only a potential, and class struggle was, he argued, not always the only or decisive factor in society, by contrast, Marxists argue that class conflict always plays the decisive and pivotal role in the history of class-based hierarchical systems such as capitalism and feudalism. Marxists refer to its overt manifestations as class war, a struggle whose resolution in favor of the class is viewed by them as inevitable under plutocratic capitalism. Where societies are socially divided based on status, wealth, or control of production and distribution. It is well documented since at least European Classical Antiquity and the popular uprisings in late medieval Europe. One of the earliest analysis of these conflicts is Friedrich Engels The Peasant War in Germany, one of the earliest analyses of the development of class as the development of conflicts between emergent classes is available in Peter Kropotkins Mutual Aid. In this work, Kropotkin analyzes the disposal of goods after death in pre-class or hunter-gatherer societies, chris Hedges wrote a column for Truthdig called Lets Get This Class War Started, which was a play on Pinks song Lets Get This Party Started. And I think that can go on for so long without there being more and more outbreaks of what used to be called class struggle. The particular implementation of government programs which may seem purely humanitarian, such as disaster relief, in the USA class conflict is often noted in labor/management disputes. Although Thomas Jefferson led the United States as president from 1801–1809 and is considered one of the founding fathers, among the former, public opinion is in the place of law, & restrains morals as powerfully as laws ever did anywhere. Among the latter, under pretence of governing they have divided their nations into two classes, wolves & sheep and this is a true picture of Europe. Cherish therefore the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention, do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to the affairs, you & I, & Congress & Assemblies, judges & governors shall all become wolves. In 2005 Buffet said to CNN, Its class warfare, my class is winning, but they shouldnt be. In a November 2006 interview in The New York Times, Buffett stated that here’s class warfare all right, but it’s my class, the class, that’s making war. Later Warren gave away more than half of his fortune to charitable causes through a developed by himself
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Culture of the Soviet Union
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The culture of the Soviet Union passed through several stages during the 69-year existence of the Soviet Union. It was contributed to by people of nationalities from every of 15 union republics. The Soviet state supported cultural institutions, but also carried out strict censorship, in many respects, the NEP period was a time of relative freedom and experimentation for the social and cultural life of the Soviet Union. The government tolerated a variety of trends in fields, provided they were not overtly hostile to the regime. In art and literature, numerous schools, some traditional and others radically experimental, communist writers Maxim Gorky and Vladimir Mayakovsky were active during this time, but other authors, many of whose works were later repressed, published work lacking socialist political content. Film, as a means of influencing a largely illiterate society, received encouragement from the state, education, under Commissar Anatoliy Lunacharskiy, entered a phase of experimentation based on progressive theories of learning. At the same time, the state expanded the primary and secondary school system, under NEP the state eased its active persecution of religion begun during war communism but continued to agitate on behalf of atheism. The party supported the Living Church reform movement within the Russian Orthodox Church in hopes that it would undermine faith in the church, in family life, attitudes generally became more permissive. The state legalized abortion, and it made divorce progressively easier to obtain, many writers were imprisoned and killed or died of starvation, examples being Daniil Kharms, Osip Mandelstam, Isaac Babel and Boris Pilnyak. Andrei Platonov worked as a caretaker and wasnt allowed to publish, the work of Anna Akhmatova was also condemned by the regime, although she notably refused the opportunity to escape to the West. After a short period of the renaissance of the Ukrainian literature more than 250 Soviet Ukrainian writers died during the Great Purge, texts of imprisoned authors were confiscated by the NKVD and some of them were published later. Books were removed from libraries and destroyed, in addition to literature, musical expression was also repressed during the Stalin era, and at times the music of many Soviet composers was banned altogether. Dmitri Shostakovich experienced a long and complex relationship with Stalin, during which his music was denounced and prohibited twice. Sergei Prokofiev and Aram Khachaturian had similar cases, although Igor Stravinsky did not live in the Union, his music was officially considered formalist and anti-Soviet. In the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the Brezhnev era, in the late Soviet Union Soviet popular culture was characterized by fascination with American popular culture as exemplified by the blue jeans craze. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who wrote the critical One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, greater experimentation in art forms became permissible in the 1970s, with the result that more sophisticated and subtly critical work began to be produced. In music, although the continued to frown on such Western phenomena as jazz and rock. But the native balladeer Vladimir Vysotsky, widely popular in the Soviet Union, was denied official recognition because of his iconoclastic lyrics
21.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
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Communist Party of the Soviet Union
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The Communist Party of the Soviet Union, abbreviated in English as CPSU, was the founding and ruling political party of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The party was founded in 1912 by the Bolsheviks, a group led by Vladimir Lenin which seized power in the aftermath of the October Revolution of 1917. The party was dissolved on 29 August 1991 on Soviet territory soon after a failed coup détat and was abolished on 6 November 1991 on Russian territory. The highest body within the CPSU was the party Congress, which convened every five years, when the Congress was not in session, the Central Committee was the highest body. Because the Central Committee met twice a year, most day-to-day duties and responsibilities were vested in the Politburo, the Secretariat, and the Orgburo. The party leader was the head of government and held the office of either General Secretary, Premier or head of state, or some of the three offices concurrently—but never all three at the same time. The CPSU, according to its party statute, adhered to Marxism–Leninism, a based on the writings of Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx. The party pursued state socialism, under which all industries were nationalized, a number of causes contributed to CPSUs loss of control and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Some historians have written that Gorbachevs policy of glasnost was the root cause, Gorbachev maintained that perestroika without glasnost was doomed to failure anyway. Others have blamed the stagnation and subsequent loss of faith by the general populace in communist ideology. The Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the worlds first constitutionally socialist state, was established by the Bolsheviks in the aftermath of the October Revolution. Immediately after the Revolution, the new, Lenin-led government implemented socialist reforms, including the transfer of estates, in this context, in 1918, RSDLP became Russian Communist Party and remained so until 1997. Lenin supported world revolution he sought peace with the Central Powers. The treaty was voided after the Allied victory in World War I, in 1921, Lenin proposed the New Economic Policy, a system of state capitalism that started the process of industrialization and recovery from the Civil War. On 30 December 1922, the Russian SFSR joined former territories of the Russian Empire in the Soviet Union, on 9 March 1923, Lenin suffered a stroke, which incapacitated him and effectively ended his role in government. He died on 21 January 1924 and was succeeded by Joseph Stalin, after emerging victorious from a power struggle with Trotsky, Stalin obtained full control of the party and Stalinism was installed as the only ideology of the party. The partys official name was All-Union Communist Party in 1925, Stalins political purge greatly affected the partys configuration, as many party members were executed or sentenced for slave labour. Happening during the timespan of the Great Purge, fascism had ascened to power in Italy, seeing this as a potential threat, the Party actively sought to form collective security alliances with Anti-fascist western powers such as France and Britain
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Popular front
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A popular front is a broad coalition of different political groupings, usually made up of leftists and centrists. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal forces as well as social-democratic, Popular fronts are larger in scope than united fronts. During this time in France, the front populaire referred to the alliance of political parties aimed at resisting Fascism, not all coalitions who use the term popular front meet the definition for popular fronts, and not all popular fronts use the term popular front in their name. The same applies to united fronts, the Popular Fronts thus formed proved to be successful in forming the government in France, and Spain, and also China. It was not a success elsewhere. The Popular Front policy of the Comintern was introduced in 1934, the new policy was signalled in a Pravda article of May 1934, which commented favourably on socialist-Communist collaboration. In June 1934, Léon Blums Socialist Party signed a pact of united action with the French Communist Party, in May 1935, France and the Soviet Union signed a defensive alliance and in August 1935, the 7th World Congress of the Comintern officially endorsed the Popular Front strategy. In the elections of May 1936, the Popular Front won a majority of parliamentary seats, in Italy, the Comintern advised an alliance between the Italian Communist Party and the Italian Socialist Party, but this was rejected by the Socialists. The CPUSA also offered support to Franklin Roosevelts New Deal in this period, the Popular Front period in the USA saw the CP taking a very patriotic and populist line, later called Browderism. Many Communist party members quit the party in disgust at this compromise between Hitler and Stalin, leon Trotsky and his far-left supporters roundly criticised the Popular Front strategy. Trotsky believed that only united fronts could ultimately be progressive, and this view is now common to most Trotskyist groups. Left communist groups also oppose popular fronts, but they came to oppose united fronts as well, in a book written in 1977, the Eurocommunist leader Santiago Carrillo offered a positive assessment of the Popular Front. For example, East Germany was ruled by a National Front of all anti-fascist parties, at legislative elections, voters were presented with a single list of candidates from all parties. In practice, however, only the Communist Party had any real power, by ensuring that Communists dominated the candidate lists, it effectively predetermined the composition of the legislature. All parties in the front had to accept the role of the Communist Party as a condition of being allowed to exist. By the 1950s, the non-Communist parties had pushed out their more courageous members and had taken over by fellow travelers willing to do the Communists bidding. The Peoples Republic of Chinas United Front is perhaps the best known example of a popular front in modern times. In the Republics of the Soviet Union, between around 1988 and 1992, the term Popular Front had quite a different meaning and it referred to movements led by members of the liberal-minded intelligentsia, in some republics small and peripheral, in others broad-based and influential
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United Front (China)
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The United Front in the Peoples Republic of China is a popular front of the legally permitted parties in the country, led by the Communist Party of China. Besides the CPC, it includes eight minor parties and the All-China Federation of Industry and it is managed by the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Its current department head is Sun Chunlan, the United Front is represented together with other mass organizations such as trade unions, womens and youth organizations, minorities etc. in the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference. The United Front holds no real power independent of the CPC and its leaders are mostly selected by the Communist Party of China, or are themselves CPC members. The member parties which exist are almost completely subservient to the CPC, thus, China is a de facto one-party state. However, the United Front parties have representation in the National Peoples Congress. Seymour, Chinas Satellite Parties, Routledge, ISBN 978-0873324120 Official website of the United Front Work Department, Central Committee of CPC
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National Front (East Germany)
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The NF was controlled by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and was formed to stand in elections to the East German parliament, the Volkskammer. The Front itself was founded on March 30,1950 and it operated through the issuing of a generally consistent proportion of seats submitted in the form of a single list of candidates during each election to the Peoples Chamber. Seats were awarded on the basis of a set rather than vote totals. As voters only had the option of approving or rejecting the list in far-from-secret conditions, although nominally a broad-based coalition of parties, in practice the SED was the only one with any real power. By ensuring that Communists dominated the lists, the SED essentially predetermined the composition of the Peoples Chamber. In 1950-1951, the rejection of the validity of the list by some German politicians resulted in some of them being imprisoned for rejecting the electoral law of the German Democratic Republic. Although the SED had already become a full-fledged Stalinist party of the new type by the formation of the GDR, the other parties did not completely bend to the SEDs will for a time. By the mid-1950s, however, the more members of the constituent parties had been pushed out. By this time, the SED itself had purged its few independent-minded members as well, the Front now took on a character similar to other groupings in the Eastern Bloc. For the next three decades, the parties in the Front had to accept the SEDs leading role as a condition of their continued existence. On December 1,1989, the Front was effectively rendered impotent when the Volkskammer deleted the provision of the Constitution of East Germany that gave the SED a monopoly of power. Four days later, the Christian Democratic Union and Liberal Democratic Party, having thrown out their pro-Communist leaderships, on December 16 the SED, having transformed itself into a democratic socialist party, reformed itself into the Party of Democratic Socialism. On February 20,1990, an amendment to the constitution removed mention of the Front, Prof. Erich Correns Prof. Lothar Kolditz Politics of East Germany List of Volkskammer members United Front for a currently running system similar to the National Front of the DDR
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East Germany
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East Germany, formally the German Democratic Republic, was an Eastern Bloc state during the Cold War period. The Soviet zone surrounded West Berlin, but did not include it, as a result, the German Democratic Republic was established in the Soviet Zone, while the Federal Republic was established in the three western zones. East Germany, which lies culturally in Central Germany, was a state of the Soviet Union. Soviet occupation authorities began transferring administrative responsibility to German communist leaders in 1948, Soviet forces, however, remained in the country throughout the Cold War. Until 1989, the GDR was governed by the Socialist Unity Party, though other parties participated in its alliance organisation. The economy was centrally planned, and increasingly state-owned, prices of basic goods and services were set by central government planners, rather than rising and falling through supply and demand. Although the GDR had to pay war reparations to the USSR. Nonetheless it did not match the growth of West Germany. Emigration to the West was a significant problem—as many of the emigrants were well-educated young people, the government fortified its western borders and, in 1961, built the Berlin Wall. Many people attempting to flee were killed by guards or booby traps. In 1989, numerous social and political forces in the GDR and abroad led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the following year open elections were held, and international negotiations led to the signing of the Final Settlement treaty on the status and borders of Germany. The GDR was dissolved and Germany was unified on 3 October 1990, internally, the GDR also bordered the Soviet sector of Allied-occupied Berlin known as East Berlin which was also administered as the states de facto capital. It also bordered the three sectors occupied by the United States, United Kingdom and France known collectively as West Berlin. The three sectors occupied by the Western nations were sealed off from the rest of the GDR by the Berlin Wall from its construction in 1961 until it was brought down in 1989, the official name was Deutsche Demokratische Republik, usually abbreviated to DDR. West Germans, the media and statesmen purposely avoided the official name and its abbreviation, instead using terms like Ostzone, Sowjetische Besatzungszone. The centre of power in East Berlin was referred to as Pankow. Over time, however, the abbreviation DDR was also used colloquially by West Germans. However, this use was not always consistent, for example, before World War II, Ostdeutschland was used to describe all the territories east of the Elbe, as reflected in the works of sociologist Max Weber and political theorist Carl Schmitt
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North Korea
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North Korea, officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, is a country in East Asia, constituting the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang is both the capital as well as its largest city. To the north and northwest the country is bordered by China and by Russia along the Amnok, the country is bordered to the south by South Korea, with the heavily fortified Korean Demilitarized Zone separating the two. Negotiations on reunification failed, and in 1948 two separate governments were formed, the communist Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea in the north, an invasion initiated by North Korea led to the Korean War. The Korean Armistice Agreement brought about a ceasefire, and no peace treaty was ever signed. North Korea officially describes itself as a self-reliant socialist state and formally holds elections, critics regard it as a totalitarian dictatorship. Various outlets have called it Stalinist, particularly noting the elaborate cult of personality around Kim Il-sung, International organizations have assessed human rights violations in North Korea as belonging to a category of their own, with no parallel in the contemporary world. Over time, North Korea has gradually distanced itself from the world communist movement, Juche, an ideology of national self-reliance, was introduced into the constitution as a creative application of Marxism–Leninism in 1972. The means of production are owned by the state through state-run enterprises, most services such as healthcare, education, housing and food production are subsidized or state-funded. From 1994 to 1998, North Korea suffered from a famine that resulted in the deaths of between 0.24 and 3.5 million people, and the continues to struggle with food production. North Korea follows Songun, or military-first policy and it is the country with the highest number of military and paramilitary personnel, with a total of 9,495,000 active, reserve, and paramilitary personnel. Its active duty army of 1.21 million is the fourth largest in the world, after China, North Korea is an atheist state with no official religion and where public religion is discouraged. The name Korea derives from the name Goryeo, the name Goryeo itself was first used by the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo in the 5th century as a shortened form of its name. The 10th-century kingdom of Goryeo succeeded Goguryeo, and thus inherited its name, the modern spelling of Korea first appeared in the late 17th century in the travel writings of the Dutch East India Companys Hendrick Hamel. After the division of the country into North and South Korea, the two sides used different terms to refer to Korea, Chosun or Joseon in North Korea, in 1948, North Korea adopted Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea as its new legal name. After the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, Korea was occupied by Japan, Japan tried to suppress Korean traditions and culture and ran the economy primarily for its own benefit. Korean resistance groups known as Dongnipgun operated along the Sino-Korean border, some of them took part in allied action in China and parts of South East Asia. One of the leaders was the communist Kim Il-sung, who later became the leader of North Korea
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Taiwan
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Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, is a state in East Asia. Neighbours include China to the west, Japan to the northeast, Taiwan is the most populous state that is not a member of the United Nations, and the one with the largest economy. The island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa, was inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before the 17th century. After a brief rule by the Kingdom of Tungning, the island was annexed by the Qing dynasty, the Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after the Sino-Japanese War. While Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the Republic of China was established on the mainland in 1912 after the fall of the Qing dynasty, following the Japanese surrender to the Allies in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan. However, the resumption of the Chinese Civil War led to the ROCs loss of the mainland to the Communists, and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. As a founding member of the United Nations, the ROC continued to represent China at the United Nations until 1971, in the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization, creating a stable industrial economy. In the 1980s and early 1990s, it changed from a one-party military dictatorship dominated by the Kuomintang to a multi-party democracy with universal suffrage, Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy. It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, health care, public education, economic freedom, the PRC has consistently claimed sovereignty over Taiwan and asserted the ROC is no longer in legitimate existence. Under its One-China Policy the PRC refused diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the ROC, the PRC has threatened the use of military force in response to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan or if PRC leaders decide that peaceful unification is no longer possible. There are various names for the island of Taiwan in use today, the former name Formosa dates from 1542, when Portuguese sailors sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa, which means beautiful island. The name Formosa eventually replaced all others in European literature and was in use in English in the early 20th century. This name was adopted into the Chinese vernacular as the name of the sandbar. The modern word Taiwan is derived from this usage, which is seen in forms in Chinese historical records. Use of the current Chinese name was formalized as early as 1684 with the establishment of Taiwan Prefecture, through its rapid development, the entire Formosan mainland eventually became known as Taiwan. The official name of the state is the Republic of China and it was a member of the United Nations representing China until 1971, when it lost its seat to the Peoples Republic of China. Over subsequent decades, the Republic of China has become known as Taiwan. In some contexts, especially ones from the ROC government
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