Word study

I. GIVE RUSSIAN EQUIVALENTS FOR:

Taming the state; coercive powers; to practice self-re­straint; social arrangements; regardless of; to pursue in­terests; by trial and error; a dispersal of power; private property; in particular; nobility; to impose taxes on; reve­nues; essential issues; to face a threat; to give rise; to abuse minorities; the system of checks and balances; to sustain democracy; without the approval.

II. GIVE ENGLISH EQUIVALENTS FOR: Злоупотребление властью; выполнять функции; соци­ альное устройство; воплощать; требование; частная соб­ ственность; основная особенность; запрещать; случайно; одобрение; соперничающие интересы; угроза; существен­ ные проблемы; избежать оплаты налогов; массы граж­ дан; гарантировать свободу.

III. TRANSLATE INTO RUSSIAN:

1. In all nations with free elections and substantial indi­ vidual liberties the state guarantees the property rights of individuals.

2. Long observation convinced that when property rights are not secure, the masses, not the rich, suffer most,

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3. Guaranteeing the property rights of everyone offers greater protection to those with the least property.

4. Regardless of his new approach to the given phenome­ non the issue still remains unresolved.

5. The ruling elite has always been pursuing only their

own interests.

6. It took him a number of years to achieve what he had wanted but only by trial and error.

7. It is rather problematic to take into consideration all

competing interests.

8. To embody his principles into life he had to apply

substantial efforts.

IV. MAKE UP YOUR OWN SENTENCES WITH THE UNDERLINED WORD-COMBINATIONS OF THE TASK ABOVE.

UNIT IX

I. READ AND TRANSLATE THE TEXT: WHAT IS IDEOLOGY?

Ideology is a controversial political term that has often carried pejorative implications. In the social-scientific sense, a political ideology is a more or less coherent set of ideas that provides a basis for organized political action. Its cen­tral features are an account of existing power relationships, a model of a desired future, and an outline of how political change can and should be brought about.

Ideologies link political theory with political practice. On one level, ideologies resemble political philosophies, in that they constitute a collection of values, theories and doctrines, that is, a distinctive world view. On another level, however, they take the form of broad political movements, and are articulated through the activities of political leaders, parties and groups.

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Every ideology can be associated with a characteristic set of principles and ideas. Although these ideas «hang to­gether» in the sense that they interlock in distinctive ways, they are only systematic or coherent in a relative sense. All ideologies thus embody a range of rival traditions and in­ternal tensions. Conflict within ideologies is thus sometimes more passionate than that between ideologies.

Ideologies are by no means hermetically sealed and un­changing systems of thought. They overlap with one another at a number of points, and they sometimes have shared concerns and a common vocabulary. They are always sub­ject to political or intellectual renewal, both because they change over time as they are applied to changing historical circumstances.

The significance of particular ideologies rises and falls in relation to the ideology's relevance to political, social and economic circumstances, and its capacity for theoreti­cal innovation. Ideological conflict in the twentieth century has forced major ideologies such as liberalism, conservatism and socialism to reexamine their traditional principles, and it has fostered the growth of new ideologies, such as femi­nism, ecologism and religious fundamentalism.

Debate about the end of ideology has taken a number of forms. In the early post-Second-World-War period, it was linked to the declining appeal of fascism and communism and the view that economic issues had displaced ideological ones. The «end of history» thesis suggests that liberal democracy has triumphed worldwide. Postmodernism implies that conventional ideologies are irrelevant, as they were in­trinsically a product of an earlier period of modernization. Postmodernism (postmodernity) is a controversial and confusing term that was first used to describe experimental movements in western arts, architecture and cultural de­velopment in general. As a tool of social and political analysis, postmodernism highlights the shift away from societies structured by industrialization and class solidarity

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to increasingly fragmented and pluralistic information societies in which individuals are transformed from pro­ducers to consumers, and individualism replaces class, reli­gious and ethnic loyalties. From this perspective, conven­tional political ideologies such as Marxism and liberalism tend to be rejected as irrelevant that developed out of the process of modernization. Postmodernists argue that there is no such thing as certainty; the idea of absolute and universal truth must be discarded as an arrogant pretence. Emphasis is thus placed on the importance of discourse, debate and democracy.

II. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

1. What is political ideology?

2. What are its central features?

3. Why is it stated that ideology resembles political

philosophy?

4. What forms does ideology take?

5. What do all ideologies embody?

6. Ideologies are applied to changing historical circum­ stances, aren't they?

7. What ideologies are characteristic for the twentieth

century?

8. What does the thesis «end of history» suggest?

9. What for was postmodernism first used?

10. What shift does postmodernism highlight?

11. What are the main principles of postmodernists?

III. THERE ARE SOME FORMS OF IDEOLOGY ENU­MERATED IN THE TEXT. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY MEAN? PLEASE, TRY TO EXPLAIN THEIR ESSENCE. THEY ARE:

1. Liberalism;

2. Conservatism;

3. Socialism;

4. Feminism;

5. Ecologism;

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6. Religious fundamentalism;

7. Fascism;

8. Communism.

IV. EXPLAIN WHAT IDEOLOGIES ARE CLOSE TO EACH OTHER; COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AND THOSE WHICH MAY TAKE INTERCHANGEABLE FORMS.

5. DIVIDE THE TEXT INTO LOGICAL PARTS AND MAKE UP AN OUTLINE OF THE TEXT.

6. GIVE THE GENERAL IDEA OF THE TEXT.

VII. READ THE TEXT AND GIVE A SUMMARY OF EACH PART OF THE TEXT:

CLASSICAL LIBERALISM

The central theme of classical liberalism is a commit­ment to an extreme form of individualism. Human beings are seen as egoistical, self-seeking and largely self-reliant creatures. In what С. В. Macpherson termed 'possessive individualism', they are taken to be the proprietors of their own persons and capacities, owing nothing to society or to other individuals. This view is underpinned by a belief in 'negative' liberty, meaning noninterference, or the absence of external constraints upon the individual. This implies a deeply unsympathetic attitude towards the state and all forms of government intervention.

In Tom Paine's words, the state is a 'necessary evil'. It is 'necessary' in that, at the very least, it establishes order and security and ensures that contracts are enforced. How­ever, it is 'evil' in that it imposes a collective will upon society, thus limiting the freedom and responsibilities of the individual. The classical liberal ideal is therefore the establishment of a minimal or 'nightwatchman' state, with a role that is limited to the protection of citizens from the encroachments of fellow citizens. In the form of economic

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liberalism, this position is underpinned by a deep faith in the mechanisms of the free market and the belief that the economy works best when left alone by the government. Laissez-faire capitalism is thus seen as guaranteeing pros­perity, upholding individual liberty, and, as this allows individuals to rise and fall according to merit, ensuring social justice.

MODERN LIBERALISM

Modern liberalism is characterized by a more systematic attitude towards state intervention. Indeed, in the USA, the term 'liberal' is invariably taken to imply support for big government rather than 'minimal' government. This shift was born out of the recognition that industrial capi­talism had merely generated new forms of justice and left the mass of the population subject to the vagaries of the market. Influenced by the work of J. S. Mill, the so-called New Liberals and A. Hobson championed a broader, 'posi­tive' view of freedom. From this perspective, freedom does not just mean being left alone, which might imply nothing more than the freedom to starve. Rather, it is linked to personal development and the flourishing of the individual, that is, the ability of the individual to gain fulfillment and achieve self-realization.

This view provided the basis for social or welfare libera­lism. This is characterized by the recognition that the state intervention, particularly in the form of social welfare, can enlarge liberty by safeguarding individuals from the social evils that blight individual existence. These evils were iden­tified in the UK as the 'five giants': want, ignorance, idle­ness, squalor and disease.

In the same way, modern liberals abandoned their belief in laissez-faire capitalism, largely as a result of J. M. Key­nes' insight that growth and prosperity could only be main­tained through a system of managed or regulated capital­ism, with key economic responsibilities being placed in the hands of the state.

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Nevertheless, modern liberals' support for collective pro­vision and government intervention has always been condi­tional. Their concern has been with the plight of the weak and vulnerable, those who are literally not able to help them­selves. Their goal is to raise individuals to the point where they are able, once again, to take responsibility for their own circumstances and make their own moral choices. CONSERVATISM

Conservative ideas and doctrines first emerged in thelate eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. They arose as a reaction against the growing pace of economic and political change, which was in many ways symbolized by the French Revolution. In this sense, conservatism harked back to the ancient regime. In trying to resist the pressures unleashed by the growth of liberalism, socialism and na­tionalism, conservatism stood in defence of an increasingly embattled traditional social order. However, from the out­set, divisions in conservative thought were apparent.

In continental Europe, a form of conservatism emerged that was characterized by the work of thinkers such as Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821). This conservatism was starkly autocratic and reactionary, rejecting out of hand any idea of reform. A more cautious, more flexible, and ultimately more successful form of conservatism nevertheless developed in the UK and the USA that was characterized by Edmund Burke's belief in 'change in order to conserve'. This stance enabled conservatives in the nineteenth century to embrace the cause of social reform under the paternalistic banner of 'One Nation'.

The high point of this tradition in the UK came in the 1950s as the Conservative Party came to accept the post­war settlement and espouse its own version of Keynesian social democracy. However, such ideas increasingly came under pressure from the 1970s onwards as a result of the emergence of the New Right. The New Right's radically antistatist and antipaternalist brand of conservatism draws heavily on classical liberal themes and values.

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ECOLOGISM

Ecologism is a political doctrine or ideology that is con­structed on the basis of ecological assumptions, notably about the essential link between humankind and the natural world: humans are part of nature, not its «masters». Ecologism is sometimes distinguished from environmentalism, in that the former implies the adoption of a biocentric or ecocen­tric perspective, while the latter is concerned with protect­ing nature, ultimately for human benefit.

VIII. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

1. What is the central theme of classical liberalism?

2. How are human beings seen?

3. What is understood by 'possessive individualism'?

4. What does 'negative' liberty mean?

5. What is the central idea of Tom Paine's theory?

6. Why is the state so 'necessary'?

7. Why is it 'evil'?

8. What is the essence of economic liberalism?

9. How is laissez-faire capitalism treated?

IX. COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES:

1. Modern liberalism is characterized by ... .

2. The term 'liberal' implies support for ... .

3. New Liberals championed a view of ... .

4. In their view, freedom is linked to ... .

5. Welfare liberalism recognizes that ... .

6. The basic social evils, the so-called 'five giants', are ....

7. Modern liberals support ... .

X. AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH THE FOLLOWING:

1. Conservative ideas emerged in the late 18^th century.

2. Conservatism in its origin dates back to the Middle Ages.

3. It defends traditional social order.

1. J. de Maistre being too reactionary rejected any ideas of reforms.

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5. The New Right is a rather statist and paternal brand of conservatism.

11. SAY WHAT DISTINGUISHES ECOLOGISM FROM ENVIRONMENTALISM.

12. COULD YOU EXPLAIN WHAT IDEOLOGIES PRO­ DUCE POSITIVE IMPACT ON HUMAN MINDS AND WHICH ONES EXERT A NEGATIVE EFFECT?

XIII. TRANSLATE THE GIVEN BELOW SENTENCES INTO ENGLISH. USE THE FOLLOWING WORD-COMBI­ NATIONS:

To be closely linked to; respect for; accumulated knowledge; tested by time; for the benefit; to promote stability and security; practical goals; approach to life; human nature; human imperfection.

1. Центральная тема консервативной мысли тесно свя­ зана с привычными добродетелями традиции, уважения обычаев и институтами власти.

2. С этой точки зрения, традиция отражает накоплен­ ные знания прошлого и те институты, которые были про­ верены временем.

3. Все это следует сохранить ради блага и пользы ны­ нешнего поколения и последующих поколений.

4. Соблюдение традиций способствует стабильности и безопасности, давая людям возможность осознать свою социальную и историческую значимость.

5. Прагматический взгляд предполагает, что любое действие должно руководствоваться обстоятельствами и практическими целями.

6. Консерваторы предпочитают говорить о своих взглядах, как об особом подходе к жизни, а не как об идеологии.

7. Консервативный взгляд на человеческую природу сводится к утверждению о несовершенстве человека.

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XIV. MAKE UP YOUR OWN SENTENCES WITH THE FOLLOWING WORD-COMBINATIONS:

To imply an attitude towards; to impose a will; to be left alone; according to merit; to champion a view of; to gain fulfillment; to achieve self-realization; to provide the basis for; to take responsibility for.

XV. READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER THE QUES­ TIONS THAT FOLLOW IT.

OTHER IDEOLOGICAL TRADITIONS

Fascism

Whereas liberalism and conservatism are nineteenth century ideologies, fascism is a child of the twentieth cen­tury. Some would say that it is specifically an interwar phenomenon. Although fascist beliefs can be traced back to the late nineteenth century, they were fused together and shaped by the First World War and its aftermath, and in particular by the potent mixture of war and revolution that characterized the period.

The two principal manifestations of fascism were Musso­lini's Fascist dictatorship in Italy in 1922-43, and Hitler's Nazi dictatorship in Germany in 1933-45. Forms of neofas­cism and neo-Nazism have also resurfaced in the final years of the twentieth century that have taken advantage of the combination of economic crisis and political instability.

In many respects, fascism constituted a revolt against the ideas and values that had dominated western political thought since the French Revolution; in the words of the Italian Fascist slogan, «1789 is dead». Values such as ra­tionalism, progress, freedom and equality were thus over­turned in the name of struggle, leadership, power, hero­ism, and war. In this sense, fascism has an «anticharac-ter». It is defined largely by what it opposes: it is a form of antiliberalism, anti-individualism and so on.

A core theme that nevertheless runs throughout fascism is the image of an organically unified national community.

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This is reflected in a belief in «strength through unity». The individual, in a literal sense, is nothing; individual identity must be entirely absorbed into that of the community or social group. The fascist ideal is that of the «new man», a hero, motivated by duty, honour and self-sacrifice, prepared to dedicate his life to the glory of his nation or race, and to give unquestioning obedience to a supreme leader.

Not all fascists, however, think alike. Italian Fascismwas essentially an extreme form of statism that was based on unquestioning respect and absolute loyalty towards a «totalitarian» state. As the Fascist philosopher Gentile (1875-1944) put it, «everything for the state; nothing against the state; nothing outside the state».

German National Socialism, on the other hand, was con­structed largely on the basis of racialism. Its two core theo­ries are Aryanism (the belief that the German people consti­tute a «master race» and are destined for world domina­tion), and a virulent form of anti-Semitism that portrayed the Jews as inherently evil and aimed at their eradication. This latter belief found expression in the «Final Solution».

XVI. QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED:

1. When was fascism born?

1. What were the two principal manifestations of fas­ cism?

2. When did forms of neofascism emerge?

3. What kind of revolt did fascism constitute?

4. Why do we say that fascism has an «anticharacter»?

5. What is the core theme of fascism?

6. Where does it find its reflection?

7. What is the fascist ideal?

8. What was Italian Fascism characterized by?

10. In what way did Gentile formulate the idea of the Italian Fascism?

11. What was German National Socialism constructed on?

12. What two core theories lay at its basis?

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XVII. EXSPLAIN WHAT IS MEANT BY:

1. neofascism;

2. Aryanism;

3. anti-Semitism.

XVIII. SPEAK ON THE TEXT AND TRY TO EXPRESS YOUR PERSONAL ATTITUDE TOWARDS THIS REAC­ TIONARY IDEOLOGY.

XIX. READ THE TEXT AND CHARACTERIZE THE BASIC FEATURES OF THIS IDEOLOGY:

Anarchism

Anarchism is unusual amongst political ideologies in that no anarchist party has ever succeeded in winning power, at least at national level. Nevertheless, anarchist movements were powerful in, for example, Spain, France, Russia and Mexico through to the early twentieth century, and anar­chist ideas continue to fertilize political debate by challen­ging the conventional belief that law, government and the state are either wholesome or indispensable.

The central theme within anarchism is the belief that political authority in all its forms, and especially in the form of the state, is both evil and unnecessary (anarchy literally means «without rule»). Nevertheless, the anarchist preference for a stateless society in which free individuals manage their own affairs through voluntary agreement and cooperation has been developed on the basis of two rival traditions: liberal individualism, and socialist communitar­ianism. Anarchism can thus be thought of as a point of intersection between liberalism and socialism: a form of both «ultraliberalism» and «ultrasocialism».

The liberal case against the state is based on individu­alism and the desire to maximize liberty and choice. Un­like liberals, individual anarchists such as William God­win (1756-1836) believed that free and rational human beings would be able to manage their affairs peacefully

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and spontaneously, government being merely a form of unwanted coercion.

Modern individualists have usually looked to the mar­ket to explain how society would be regulated in the ab­sence of state authority, developing a form of anarchocapi­talism, an extreme form of free-market economics. The more widely recognized anarchist tradition, however, draws upon socialist ideas such as community, cooperation, equality and common ownership.

Collectivist anarchists therefore stress the human ca­pacity for social solidarity that arises from our sociable, gregarious and essentially cooperative natures. On this basis, the French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, for instance, developed what he called mutualism, the belief that small communities of independent peasants, crafts­men and artisans could manage their lives using a sys­tem of fair and equitable exchange, avoiding the injustices and exploitation of capitalism. Other anarchists, such as the Russian Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921), advanced a form of anarchocommunism, the central principles of which were common ownership, decentralization and self-management.

XX. COMPLETE THE SENTENCES:

1. Anarchist movements were powerful in ... .

2. The central theme of anarchism is ... .

3. Anarchism literally means ....

4. Anarchism can be thought of as intersection between liberalism and socialism because ....

5. The liberal case is based on ... .

6. William Godwin as an anarchist believed that ....

7. The widely recognized tradition draws on ... .

8. Collectivist anarchists stress the human capacity for ... .

9. The French anarchist P.J.Proudhon developed ....

10. The Russian P.Kropotkin advanced a form of ... .

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XXI. WOULD YOU SAY THAT THERE IS SOME RA­ TIONAL IDEA IN ANARCHISM? GIVE YOUR ARGU­ MENTS.

XXII. READ THE TEXT AND SAY WHAT POINTS OF THE INFORMATION ARE OF CERTAIN INTEREST FOR YOU.

Feminism

Although feminist aspirations have been expressed in societies dating back to Ancient China, they were not un­derpinned by a developed political theory until the publi­cation of Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792). Indeed, it was not until the emergence of the women's suffrage movement in the 1840s and 1850s that feminist ideas reached a wider audience, in the form of so-called «first-wave feminism». The achievement of female suffrage in most western countries in the early twentieth century deprived the women's movement of its central goal and organizing principle.

«Second-wave feminism», however, emerged in the 1960s. This expressed the more radical, and sometimes revolution­ary, demands of the growing Women's Liberation Movement. Feminist theories and doctrines are diverse, but their unify­ing feature is a common desire to enhance, through whatever means, the social role of women. The underlying themes of feminism are therefore, first, that society is characterized by sexual or gender inequality and, second, that this structure of male power can and should be overturned.

At least three contrasting feminist traditions can be identified. Liberal feminists, such as Wollstonecraft and Betty Friedan, have tended to understand female subordi­nation in terms of the unequal distribution of rights and opportunities in society. This «equal-rights feminism» is essentially reformist. It is more concerned with the reform of the «public» sphere, that is, with enhancing the legal and political status of women and improving their educa-

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tional and career prospects, than with reordering «private» or domestic life.

In contrast, socialist feminists typically highlight the linksbetween female subordination and the capitalist mode of pro­duction, drawing attention to the economic significance of women being confined to a family or domestic life where they, for example, relieve male workers of the burden of domestic labour, rear and help to educate the next generation of capi­talist workers, and act as a reserve army of labour.

However, the distinctive flavour of second-wave femi­nism mainly results from the emergence of a feminist cri­tique that is not rooted in conventional political doctrines, namely radical feminism. Radical feminists believe that gender divisions are the most fundamental and politically significant cleavages in society. In their view, all societies, historical and contemporary, are characterized by patriar­chy, the institution whereby, as Kate Millett put it, «that half of the population which is female is controlled by that half which is male».

Radical feminists therefore proclaim the need for a sex­ual revolution, a revolution that will, in particular, restruc­ture personal, domestic and family life. The characteristic slogan of radical feminism, is thus «the personal is the political». Only in the extreme form, however, does radical feminism portray men as «the enemy», and proclaim the need for women to withdraw from male society, a stance sometimes expressed in the form of political lesbianism.

XXIII. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

1. In what country were feminist aspirations first ex­ pressed?

2. What is meant by the «first-wave feminism»?

3. What demands did the «second-wave feminism» ex­ press?

4. What is a unifying feature of all the feminist move­ ments?

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5. What do liberal feminists want to achieve?

6. What is «equal-rights feminism» concerned with?

7. What links do socialist feminists highlight?

8. What do they draw particular attention to?

9. What do radical feminists claim for?

10. What is the characteristic slogan of radical femi­ nism?

24. DIVIDE THE TEXT INTO LOGICAL PARTS AND MAKE UP AN OUTLINE OF THE TEXT.

25. SPEAK ON THE TEXT.

XXVI. COMPARE ALL PRESENTED IDEOLOGICAL TRADITIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FOLLOWING POINTS:

1. origin;

2. the core theme;

3. basic demands;

4. major characteristics;

5. main representatives;

6. negative and probably positive features;

7. your personal attitude.

XXVII. READ THE ARTICLE AND EXPRESS YOUR OPINION IF ISLAM IS AN IDEOLOGY OF A PECULIAR

SORT.

THE TRUE FACE OF ISLAM

(by Zachary Karabell)

Despite its violent image in the West, the religion is a balm to millions in an otherwise cruel and crowded world. Islam may be one of the world's most important religions, but in the West, at least, it has an image problem.

Islam is a religion held dear by nearly a billion people, and it shouldn't surprise us that there are more than a handful of extremists, although for others Islam is an oasis of calm. Islam

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js a balm and a salve. In Islam, God is said to have 99 names, which include «The Compassionate» and «The Merciful».

Islam is intensely personal, like many American Protes­tants, Muslims tend to emphasize the relationship between each individual and God, without intermediaries. In a worldof sprawling prefab concrete housing projects, with high un­employment, an indifferent and occasionally brutal govern­ment, Islam is part of the warp and woof that maintains com­munity and gives people some sense that life has meaning.

There are those who would say that all this proves is that Islam is an opiate for the masses, but who are we to say? Islam may not solve the more intractable problems, and in soothing the dislocations it may even make some things worse. But if you go to the Citadel, you can listen, not to the sound of cars and factories, but to the call to prayer, sounded throughout the city, reminding all listen­ers of God's compassion and mercy. It is a haunting sym­phony, it allows you to close your eyes and feel, at least for a few moments, that all is well with the world.

(from «NEWSWEEK» 2001)