Collectivism
A political or economic system in which the means of production and the distribution of goods and services are controlled by the state. Collectivism is the opposite of capitalism or free enterprise, in which the means of production are owned by private individuals (owners and share holders) and distribution is determined by free trade and considerations of profit. As a political-economic theory, collectivism differs little from theoretical socialism. Communism is a more extreme type of collectivism in which not only capitalistic enterprise but also private property is abolished, by violent means if necessary. See Communism and Socialism below.Communism
Communism is system of government in which the major resources and means of production are owned by the state rather than by individuals. In theory, such societies provide for equal sharing of all work, according to ability, and all benefits, according to need. Some conceptions of communism assume that, ultimately, coercive government would be unnecessary and therefore that such a society would be without rulers. Until the ultimate stages are reached, however, communism involves the abolition of private property by a revolutionary movement and the responsibility for meeting public needs are vested in the state. A Video Tribute to CommunismSocialism
Socialist doctrine demands state ownership and control of the fundamental means of production and distribution of wealth, to be achieved by reconstruction of the existing capitalist or other political system of a country through peaceful, democratic, and parliamentary means. The doctrine specifically advocates nationalization of natural resources, basic industries, banking and credit facilities, and public utilities. It places special emphasis on the nationalization of monopolized branches of industry and trade, viewing monopolies as inimical to the public welfare. It also advocates state ownership of corporations in which the ownership function has passed from stockholders to managerial personnel. Smaller and less vital enterprises would be left under private ownership, and privately held cooperatives would be encouraged.Some socialist movements, however, insist on the complete abolition of the capitalist system and of private profit. The ultimate goal of all socialists is a classless cooperative commonwealth in every nation of the world.
Fascism
A form of totalitarianism that sought to create a viable society by strict regimentation of national and individual lives; conflicting interests would be adjusted by total subordination to the service of the state and unquestioning loyalty to its leadership.The term fascism was first used by Benito Mussolini in 1919 and referred to the ancient Roman symbol of power, the fasces, a bundle of sticks bound to an ax, which represented civic unity and the authority of government officials to punish wrongdoers.
All forms of fascism have three common features; anti-conservatism, national renewal, and a conception of a nation in crisis. Fascist movements usually try to retain parts of the nation’s existing political and social life, but they place more emphasis on creating a new society. In this way fascism is directly opposed to conservatism ( the idea that it is best to avoid dramatic social and political change). Instead, fascist movements set out to create a new type of total culture in which values, politics, art, social norms, and economic activity are all part of a single organic national community.
Totalitarianism
A system of government and ideology in which all social, political, economic, intellectual, cultural, and spiritual activities are subordinated to the purposes of the rulers of a state. Several important features distinguish totalitarianism, a form of autocracy peculiar to the 20th century, from such older forms as despotism, absolutism, and tyranny. In the older forms of autocracy people could live and work in comparative independence, provided they refrained from politics. In modern totalitarianism, however, people are made utterly dependent on the wishes and whims of a political party and its leaders. The older autocracies were ruled by a monarch or other titled aristocrat who governed by a principle such as divine right, whereas the modern totalitarian state is ruled by a leader, or dictator, who controls a political party.Democracy
A political system in which the people of a country rule through any form of government they choose to establish. In modern democracies, supreme authority is exercised for the most part by representatives elected by popular election. The representatives may be supplanted by the electorate according to the legal procedures of recall and referendum, and they are, at least in principle, responsible to the electorate. In many democracies, such as the United States, both the executive head of government and the legislature are elected. In typical constitutional monarchies such as Great Britain and Norway, only the legislators are elected, and from their ranks a cabinet and a prime minister are chosen. Although often used interchangeably, the terms democracy and republic are not synonymous. Both systems delegate the power to govern to their elected representatives. In a republic, however, these officials are expected to act on their own best judgment of the needs and interests of the country. The officials in a democracy more generally and directly reflect the known or ascertained views of their constituents, sometimes subordinating their own judgment. Democracy in Ancient Greece and RomeRule by the people played an important part in the democracies of the pre-Christian era. The democracies of the city-states of classical Greece and of Rome during the early years of the Republic were unlike the democracies of today. They were direct democracies, in which all citizens could speak and vote in assemblies that resembled New England town meetings. Representative government was unknown and unnecessary because of the small size of the city-states (almost never more than 10,000 citizens). Ancient democracy did not presuppose equality of all individuals; the majority of the populace, notably slaves and women, had no political rights. Athens, the greatest of the city democracies, limited the franchise to native-born citizens. Roman democracy resembled that of the Greeks, although Rome sometimes granted citizenship to men of non-Roman descent. The Roman Stoic philosophy, which defined the human race as part of a divine principle, and the Jewish and Christian religions, which emphasized the rights of the underprivileged and the equality of all before God, contributed to the development of modern democratic theory.
Republic
A form of state based on the concept that sovereignty resides in the people, who delegate the power to rule in their behalf to elected representatives and officials. It is important to distinguish between a republic and a democracy. In the theoretical republican state, where the government expresses the will of the people who have chosen it, republic and democracy may be identical (there are also democratic monarchies). Historical republics, however, have never conformed to a theoretical model, and in the 20th century the term republic is freely used by dictatorships, one-party states, and democracies alike. Republic has, in fact, come to signify any form of state headed by a president or some similarly titled figure, and not a monarch.Much of the confusion surrounding the concept of republicanism may be traced to the writings of Plato and Aristotle. Plato's Republic presents an ideal state or, more accurately, an ideal Greek polis ("city-state"). Plato constructed his republic on what he considered the basic elements or characteristics of the human soul: the appetitive, the spirited, and the philosophical. Accordingly, his ideal republic consisted of three distinct groups: a commercial class formed by those dominated by their appetites; a spirited class, administrators and soldiers, responsible for the execution of the laws; and the guardians or philosopher-kings, who would be the lawmakers. Because Plato entrusted the guardians, a carefully selected few, with the responsibility for maintaining a harmonious polis, republicanism is frequently associated with ends or goals established by a small segment of the community presumed to have a special insight into what constitutes the common good.
Aristotle's Politics provides another republican concept, one that prevails in most of the Western world. Aristotle categorized governments on the basis of who rules: the one, the few, or the many. Within these categories he distinguished between good and perverted forms of government-monarchy (good) versus tyranny, aristocracy (good) versus oligarchy-the main difference being whether the rulers governed for the good of the state or for their own interests.
Most relevant to republicanism in the Western world, however, is Aristotle's distinction between democracy, the perverted form of rule by the many, and its opposite polity, the good form. He believed that democracies were bound to experience turbulence and instability because the poor, who he assumed would be the majority in democracies, would seek an economic and social equality that would stifle individual initiative and enterprise. In contrast, polity, with a middle class capable of justly adjudicating conflicts between the rich and poor, would allow for rule by the many without the problems and chaos associated with democratic regimes.
James Madison, often called the father of the U.S. Constitution, defined a republic in terms similar to those of Aristotle's polity. In his view, republics were systems of government that permitted direct or indirect control by the people over those who govern. He did, however, warn against the effects of "majority factions" and emphasized the rights of minorities.
The Madisonian concept of republicanism parallels Aristotle's vision of polity in many important dimensions, and both are essentially different from Plato's. Madison and Aristotle were concerned with the means by which just and stable rule by the many could be secured. To this end Aristotle relied on a predominant middle class, Madison on an "extended" republic, in which varied interests would check and control one another. Madison also emphasized election of representatives by the people. These representatives, he believed, would be less likely to sacrifice the "public good" than the majority of the people. "Pure democracies," in which the people ruled directly, Madison wrote, "have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention."
