The Top 10 Most Unusual Political Ideologies
Tommaso Freschi
The world of political ideologies is a fascinating, broad and, many times, fun world for the people who enjoy studying it. Now, most people familiar with the topics of modern and historical politics, will know the main and most popular ideologies, such as libertarianism, conservatism, social democracy and so on. The real interesting side of political ideologies, though, shows itself in the most obscure, fun and, sometimes, incomprehensible ideologies. This is what I will be exploring in this article.
10 - Technocracy
Starting with a simple one - technocracy. Technocracy, at first, might sound more futuristic than it actually is. In fact, it is actually a very simple but unusual ideology: it is a theoretical form of government run by experts in science and technology. Though, at first, it might not sound too crazy, the concepts pushed by technocracy are actually very different from those pushed by the most common form of government present today in the West (representative democracy). Despite the fact that a technocratic government would not need to necessarily exclude the possibility of its representatives being voted, it would still limit the possible candidates, hence reducing its democratic possibilities by a lot. Regardless of this, the ideology of technocracy was popular in North America in the 1930s, and is pushed by some people to this day.
9 - Kleptocracy
Continuing with another form of government, a kleptocracy is a form of government controlled by corrupt politicians. I said what I said. The idea is a literal country run by politicians who use their power to steal land and wealth, in order to use it for their own good. This has also evolved, within some more anarchist communities, into the legalization of theft for the purpose of increasing personal gain. Now, it is important to say that, historically, kleptocracies have existed but weren’t (obviously) supported by the population, and it is also very rare to meet people who support such types of government. It is still useful, though, to recognize that there are definitely people out there who support kleptocratic governments, and that, in the future, it is highly likely that kleptocratic governments will form again, as scary as that may sound (a reminder that some kleptocratic governments still exist to this day - Vladimir Putin’s Russia is considered as one by many political scientists, one being including Russian Politics major Karen Dawisha).
8 - Corporatism
Corporatism may sound like a capitalistic, libertarian and corporation-ran government at first, but it is actually extremely different from what the name may indicate today. Its name, in fact, comes from the latin corpus, which means body. Its main idea is to divide the general population into different associations, each with a designated job, all working together in order to achieve a peaking society. An example of associations that would exist in such a government would be farmers, scientists, military and such groups. What is most ironic about this ideology is that, despite its name leading it to be confused for a highly capitalistic ideology, it is an actually pretty economically left wing and authoritarian ideology, with its theoretical government having the control over these different associations and the economy. Many countries today, such as China, Russia and Ireland have been associated with this ideology, although it has never been the main ideology of a single country.
7 - Neo Reactionism
Do you hate democracy? Do you hate equality? Do you hate logical reasoning as a tool to research for truth? If you answered yes to all those questions, you might discover that you subscribe to the neo reactionist ideology. Born in 2007, neo reactionism is a political ideology closely associated with hatred - specifically that for all ideas and concepts born as a result of the enlightenment era and the philosophes that intellectually “reigned” during it. Neo reactionism’s main beliefs are simple: the bringing back of monarchies and traditional and religious ideals. These traditional ideals include not only the idea of a universal faith in Christianity, but also the embrace of many classical philosophical ideas, gender roles and concepts such as absolute meritocracy. Neo reactionists tend to not have the best reputation in the media, and are often referred to as neo-fascists (even though that is technically not the right neo-ideology) and extremists.
6 - Anarcho-Primitivism
In comparison with the fairly radical beliefs of neo reactionism, anarcho-primitivism seems to be all the more radical and extreme. In fact, we would not be only going back to before the Enlightenment, but all the way to before the agricultural revolution. Its main ideas are as follows: a complete abolishment of any government, industry and hint of civilization, in order to return to the old traditions of hunting and gathering of the pre-agriculture humans. All this done because of the negative impact that agriculture had on large scale society, i.e. creating it. Many anarchists are primitivists, even though not all are, and many state that things such as corruption, theft and social hierarchies were born from the agricultural revolution.
5 - Anti-Centrism
Probably the least governmental ideology on this least, anti centrism has one and only one purpose: the eradication of centrism, centrist ideas and centrist ideologies (common ones including progressivism and neoliberalism). Despite most political ideologies requiring stances on economics, philosophy, religion and such, this ideology doesn't discriminate on any ground except political: all extremists are accepted into it, in order to delete the existence of centrism. What is funniest about this ideology is, many times, the passion with which anti-centrists hate centrism or any type of non extremist ideology, many considering clearly socialist ideologies such as social democracy or democratic socialism as centrist (for whatever reason). As a recap, anti centrists put the political obliteration of centrism as their central political idea, which makes me wonder, what will they consider themselves once/if that is achieved?
4 - Social Darwinism
Known by most because of its deep political importance in the late 19th century, Social Darwinism has changed a lot during the last one and a half centuries. Starting out as a misinterpretation of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by natural selection, believing that survival of the fittest applied to socio-economic situations as well as biological ones, it developed into an anarchist and capitalist ideology centered around the literal survival of the fittest. Believing things like murder and assault should be legal, its beliefs center around the concept of actual natural selection, not social, inside human society. Though it is a very rare form of anarchism and many still consider it to be more associated with its original meaning (which, historically, has been used as a justification for racism, classism and ableism), it is always interesting to meet people who actually subscribe to the modern version of it.
3 - Anarcho-fascism
Ah, there’s nothing more pleasing to the mind than a good old oxymoron, is there? “Well, heck, why not mix the most totalitarian political ideology with the least totalitarian?” - Helmut Franke, definitely an actual quote. To understand the ideas of this ideology some severe brain gymnastics are needed, but I’ll do my best to explain it: an anti state, tribally organized, racially separated, ecologically friendly, anti capitalist society where different ethnicities form different meritocratic small tribes in which different ethnicities aren’t accepted. According to many anarcho-fascists, who instead refer to themselves as national anarchists, people would have the freedom to create their own racially exclusive tribe (how lucky!) but wouldn’t be able to join a tribe made up by a different race (God forbid!). I personally do not fully understand this ideology, and I also agree with the stance that it is beyond a simple political axis. It is the definition of oxymoron and I doubt I will ever not be confused by it.
2 - Capitalistic Communism
Political scientists must be joking right now. What in God’s good universe is this even??
Actual 2 - Ecofascism
Ecofascism is exactly what it sounds like. It is a totalitarian, authoritarian and nationalist government that would require its citizens to give up their freedoms in order to better the state of the environment. Despite it being a theoretical government, many political scientists believe it to be a very plausible future form of government, used by countries as a response to the low cooperation of many people to be more eco friendly. It is also an ideology which condemns many aspects of modernity, such as globalization and industrialization. Despite this, it lacks some of the most infamous aspects of fascism, such as racial superiority of one race over the other, discrimination towards disabled individuals, extreme militarization and extreme patriotism.
1 - English Socialism (IngSoc)
Last, but not least, is an ideology so absurd and out of the box, that it has become a staple representation of dystopian ideologies: English Socialism. English Socialism, or EngSoc, as it is defined in Orwell’s 1984, is the political ideology of 1984’s Oceania, and it is everything you would want your totalitarian state not to be. With every party member devoted to Big Brother, leader of Oceania, its main ideas include extreme censorship, control of citizen freedom and extreme indoctrination, it is the dystopian version of an extremely totalitarian and dystopian society. It was originally inspired by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union (even though the level of freedom and privacy the citizens of Oceania possess in 1984 is much less than what their real counterparts had), and it has, thankfully, never been applied in real life. I will not go further into explaining it, as the best way to learn about it is to directly read 1984, which, in my opinion, is a must read for anyone interested in political science and philosophy.
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