Inevitability of gradualness (19TH CENTURY)

Theory of socialism associated with Fabianism. Socialism was not the result of revolutionary conflict, or of confrontation with the existing order. It arose naturally out of the processes of industrial society as the most efficient way of managing them. Socialism was thus both inevitable and gradual. Source: Rodney Barker, Political Ideas in Modern Britain (London, 1978) Geology and biology

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Interests (20TH CENTURY)

Account of politics derived from but not limited to Marxism. As members of groups, classes, and so on, people have interests which can be identified by the outside observer. These interests are real whether individuals or whole groups are aware of them or not, and enable commentators to detect success, exploitation, and so on, in the

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Internationalism (20TH CENTURY)

An attempted application of ethical considerations to international politics. A view opposed to realism in international relations, which seeks to understand international affairs by reference to interests wider than those of the particular national participants, and in terms of interests common to all. Source: Graham Evans and Jeffrey Newnham, The Dictionary of World Politics (Hemel Hempstead, 1990) Origins

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International morality (20TH CENTURY)

Theory applying moral considerations to international politics. International relations can and should be conducted with reference to shared ethical values. There is disagreement as to the usefulness of the theory, or the existence or power of such shared values. Source: Graham Evans and Jeffrey Newnham, The Dictionary of World Politics (Hemel Hempstead, 1990) Morality (from Latin: moralitas, lit. ‘manner, character,

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International system (20TH CENTURY)

Theory of international politics as a system. International relations are to be understood not as the interaction of individual states, but rather as the relations of parts of a system which has a reality distinct from the actions of particular nations. There is thus an analogy with systems theory in the analysis of domestic politics. Source:

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Iron law of oligarchy (1912)

Theory of social organization set out by German social scientist Robert Michels (1876-1936) in his study of the internal politics of the German Social Democratic Party. ‘He who says organization, says oligarchy.’ As soon as people form organizations, power in those organizations gravitates upwards towards the permanent officials or officers. A second, subordinate law suggests that

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James Burnham

James Burnham was a popular political theorist, activist and intellectual, known for his work The Managerial Revolution, published in 1941, which heavily influenced George Orwell’s “1984”. Burnham was a leading American Trotskyist in the 1930s, forming the American Worker’s Party, which was a communist and anti-Stalinist party. He left the party in 1940, distancing

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Jeremy Bentham

Ideas – Human beings are motivated solely by the desire to gain pleasure and avoid pain. – The morality of our actions is determined by their utility. – Happiness is identical with pleasure, unhappiness with pain. – Pleasure alone is intrinsically good (good in itself) and pain alone is intrinsically bad. – We have

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John W. Burton

John W. Burton was born on March 2, 1915 in Melbourne, Australia. He was educated at Newington College, Sydney, the University of Sydney, and the London School of Economics. Burton’s early career was marked with academic as well as diplomatic success. He was part of the Australian delegation sent to San Francisco after World

Joseph Schumpeter

A product of the waning years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Joseph A. Schumpeter exemplified that heritage. Although a student of Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk and Friedrich von Wieser, Schumpeter was never really a footsoldier of the Austrian School. After a quick doctorate at Vienna, Schumpeter roamed about as something of a footloose lawyer until he

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Joseph V. Stalin (Josif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili)

Joseph Stalin was the second leader of the Soviet Union. His real name was Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, and he was also known as Koba (a Georgian folk hero) to his closest sphere. The name “Stalin” (derived from combining Russian stal, “steel” with “Lenin”) originally was a conspirative nickname; however, it stuck to him and

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Justice

Theory of the morally appropriate way of resolving social differences. There is no one theory of justice. One view is that justice involves avoiding or preventing harm to people; another that it involves treating people according to their deserts; another that people should be treated according to their needs; another that they should be

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Just war

Ethical assessment of war, often discussed by medieval Christian theorists. Whilst war causes injury, some wars are justifiable (ius ad bello) if their object is morally justifiable, and if there is a proportionate relation between ends and means (ius in bello). Source: David Miller et al., eds, The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought (Oxford,

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King’s two bodies (MIDDLE AGES)

Medieval theory of divine authority of kings. The king had two ‘bodies’, one of which was the ordinary mortal one, the other infused with the divine right to govern which marked off the monarch from other men. Source: E H Kantorowicz, The King’s Two Bodies (Princeton, 1957) Background The King’s Two Bodies is described by historian Paul Monod as

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Legal positivism

Application of theory of positivism to law. Law consists simply of the enforceable commands of government. It does not depend for its validity on any other criteria, and there are no religious or normative values by which it can be deemed invalid. Source: David Miller et al., eds, The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought (Oxford, 1987)

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Legitimacy (20TH CENTURY)

The view that systems of government either are or ought to be justified, and not simply based on coercion. There are two versions of the theory of legitimacy, one deriving from political philosophy, the other from history and political science. The first seeks for principles which would oblige people to obey government, and then

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Legitimacy crisis (20TH CENTURY)

Mixture of theories of legitimacy and of crisis theory, associated in particular with the German social scientist Jurgen Habermas (1929-). Modern capitalist societies are undergoing a legitimacy crisis whereby support for both government and economy is systematically eroded. Habermas’s account of the impending legitimation or legitimacy crisis includes all forms of social relationships, both political and economics, and argues that

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Leninism (20TH CENTURY)

Theory of politics, socialism, and revolution of the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924). States are tailor-made for the societies they govern. Socialists cannot therefore adapt a capitalist state to socialist or communist purposes, but must replace it with a new structure, the dictatorship of the proletariat. In working for this end, the working class might not be sufficiently aware of their

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Leon Trotsky (Lev Davidovich Bronstein)

Leon Trotsky was born on October 26, 1879, son of a hard-working, thrifty, and well-to-do jewish farmer, in the southern part of Ukraine. The family valued education highly, and when Leon Trotsky was about nine years old they let him move to the city of Odessa, to stay with his ‘uncle’ and to go

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Liberal democracy (19TH CENTURY- )

Theory of limited government and individual right sunder democracy. In order for democracy to be effective or meaningful as ‘rule by the people’, there must be constitutional limits on government and constitutional guarantees of the civil and political rights of citizens. This will ensure, or at least encourage, freedom of expression, opinion, and publication, and the free, frequent and informed

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