Story. General history. Grade 11. Basic and advanced levels Volobuev Oleg Vladimirovich
§ 14. Social and political development of the West in 1945 – mid-1980s
USA after World War II. The United States of America after World War II became the economic and military-political leader of the West, declaring itself as the defender of the entire free world and democracy. The confrontation between the USA and the USSR that unfolded in the post-war period left its mark on the domestic politics of the United States.
After the death of F. Roosevelt in 1945, the state was headed by Vice President G. Truman (re-elected to the presidency in 1948). His attempts to continue the course of his predecessor provoked resistance from the Republican majority of Congress. In 1947, the Taft-Hartley Act was passed, aimed at limiting the rights of trade unions and limiting the strike movement. Evidence of the strengthening of reactionary tendencies was the anti-communist campaign that unfolded in the United States - McCarthyism, which received its name after Senator Joseph McCarthy, who became the personification of this policy in the eyes of Americans. Mandatory loyalty checks of government employees were introduced; in 1950, despite the resistance of the president, the Internal Security Act was adopted, which provided for the identification and prosecution of communist and pro-communist organizations in the country.
US President G. Truman and Secretary of State J. Marshall
The heyday of McCarthyism occurred in the early 1950s, when Republican General D. Eisenhower (elected in 1952) was president. Fears and rumors about a pro-Soviet communist conspiracy spread throughout the country, based on support from Soviet Union American communists and the successes of Soviet intelligence. The Un-American Activities Commission, headed by J. McCarthy, brought charges against more than three thousand representatives of the creative intelligentsia, scientists and even high-ranking officials and congressmen (most of the charges turned out to be unconfirmed). The hysteria that cast a shadow over American democracy and infringed on civil rights reached its climax in 1954, when the Communist Party was outlawed. However, this “witch hunt” discredited the American political system, so the commission’s activities were discontinued.
Serious tension in inner life The United States was troubled by the problem of racial inequality. In the southern states the system continued to exist segregation And discrimination colored population. Whites and blacks studied in different schools. People with dark color Skins were not allowed to occupy the first four rows of buses, which were intended “for whites only,” even if there were no white passengers on the bus. If all the “whites only” seats were occupied, then the blacks sitting had to give up their seats to the whites. Segregation was legally established in libraries, theaters, churches, swimming pools, and food establishments.
US National Guard units guard a school in Little Rock, Arkansas, to ensure the education of black teenagers there. 1957
All this caused outrage and resistance among African Americans.
In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in schools violated the U.S. Constitution because it denied black children “equal protection of the laws.” This decision caused resistance from racists. In 1955, on the initiative of Baptist pastor Martin Luther King, black residents of Montgomery (Alabama) announced a boycott of public transportation that lasted more than a year. The boycott was announced in response to the arrest and conviction of black passenger Rosa Parks, who dared to sit in a seat reserved for whites on a city bus. In 1957, units of the US National Guard were sent to the city of Little Rock (Arkansas) after the state governor refused to comply with a court decision. Soldiers escorted black children to school.
USA in the 1960s – 1970s. Democrat J. Kennedy, elected president in 1960, believed that the state should participate more energetically in the decisions facing the country social problems. His ambitious “new frontier” program was supposed to completely end illiteracy and poverty in the United States. Kennedy's tragic death at the hands of an assassin in 1963 did not stop the implementation of liberal measures. The new President L. Johnson set a course for creating a “great society.” An important place in these programs was occupied by the fight against racial segregation and discrimination. However, even large-scale social programs could not prevent the growing tension in American society.
In the 1960s The black people's struggle for civil rights continued. M. L. King proclaimed the principles of non-violent pressure on government. In 1968, King was assassinated at one of the rallies, but his death could no longer stop the movement. The authorities had to meet the demands of the country's non-white population.
Martin Luther King speaks before a mass demonstration of African Americans in Washington
Youth protests against the Vietnam War grew. In 1970, at Kent State University (Ohio), while dispersing an anti-war student demonstration, National Guard soldiers opened fire and killed four students.
President R. Nixon's farewell to members of his administration after his resignation. 1974
In 1968, Republican Richard Nixon was elected president, promising to end American participation in the Vietnam War. The President fulfilled his campaign promise by concluding a truce in January 1972. Another important foreign policy step of the Nixon administration was the initiation of a policy of détente international tension in relations with the Soviet Union.
Nixon's presidency was marked by a number of political scandals. In the spring of 1972, during election campaign in the premises of the national committee democratic party In the Watergate building complex, people were detained trying to install listening equipment and photograph documents. As it turned out later, the burglars turned out to be people close to the management Republican Party and the Nixon administration. This raised suspicions about the president's honesty and abuse of power.
Under the threat of impeachment, R. Nixon was forced to resign in August 1974. Even earlier, Vice President Spiro Agnew, accused of accepting bribes, resigned from his post, and Republican leader in the House of Representatives Gerald Ford was appointed in his place. Thus, after the resignation of R. Nixon, the President of the United States for the first time became a person who was not elected in the presidential election, but appointed by his predecessor. This situation dealt a serious blow to American democracy, but the US political system, based on the separation of powers, checks and balances, managed to overcome the difficult situation with dignity.
Political life Western Europe. An important trend post-war development European countries have become "leftward" in internal political life. Among the population of Europe, the authority of the Soviet Union, a state that made a decisive contribution to the victory over fascism, grew; representatives of the left parties - communists and socialists - were active resistance fighters. After the end of the war, communists either became part of the governments of Western European countries (France) or had a noticeable influence on their activities (Italy). However, quite quickly, in years " cold war", they lost authority by unconditionally supporting the actions of the Stalinist regime.
The leaders of the left movement were socialists and social democrats. The first post-war government of Great Britain in 1945 was formed by the Labor Party led by C. Attlee, who managed to oust from power the Conservatives led by W. Churchill, who led the country with dignity during the war. It was the most left-wing British government that made no secret of its socialist goals. Labor nationalized the most important sectors of the economy, the Bank of England, carried out important social reforms in the field of healthcare, pensions, trade union rights were restored. Massive housing construction began. Thus began the creation of the British version of the welfare state. The Conservatives, who replaced Labor in power in 1951, did not abandon this course. They recognized the expediency of state regulation, social policy and restrictions on the power of monopolies with the inviolability of private property and market relations.
British soldiers on the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland. 1969
In the late 1960s and 1970s, with the Labor Party largely in power, Britain found itself in a state of crisis. The British economy lagged behind other economies developed countries West, Britain's share in world industrial production was declining. Inflation was growing, and the government's strict financial policy caused discontent among the population. By the end of the 1970s. The Labor government also spoiled relations with the organized labor movement - the trade unions, which became its opponents.
At the end of the 1960s. The situation in Northern Ireland (Ulster) has worsened. There were bloody clashes between the minority Irish Catholics, who advocated the annexation of this British region to the Irish Republic, and Protestant groups who wanted to preserve Ulster within the United Kingdom. The British government was forced to send troops into Northern Ireland, dissolve local governments and introduce direct rule from London. But the violence could not be stopped.
In France, the Fourth Republic was proclaimed in 1946, with governments often led by socialists. Post-war France was shaken political crises caused by social conflicts and failures in foreign policy: the loss of colonial possessions in Indochina and the Algerian War of Independence. In May 1958, in the context of a rebellion raised by the French military in Algeria, parliament called General Charles de Gaulle to power and gave him government emergency powers. The new French constitution prepared by the government in September 1958 was approved in a referendum with 79.2% of the votes.
As a result, the weak Fourth Republic was replaced by the Fifth, the political foundations of which were laid with the active participation of de Gaulle, who became its first president. Significant powers of power were concentrated in his hands; the general's authority in French society was high. However, it was under the right-wing government of de Gaulle that many programs were implemented within the framework of the “welfare state” policy.
French President General Charles de Gaulle
De Gaulle defined the main goal of his policy as achieving “the greatness of France.” He proposed a "third way" different from Soviet communism and liberalism. A strong state must become the guarantor of national independence, public order, and justice. The “regime of parties” that dominated during the Fourth Republic should be replaced by genuine democracy based on the sovereignty of the people, manifested, among other things, through referendums.
In foreign policy, de Gaulle sought complete national independence, distancing himself from US policy and abandoning the “Atlantic course.” France has created its own nuclear forces containment and in 1966 withdrew from the military structures of the NATO bloc.
Despite economic and foreign policy successes, discontent grew in French society, resulting in mass protests that swept across the country in the late 1960s. The French are “tired” of de Gaulle. In 1969, the general resigned and died a year later.
Formed in 1949 Federal Republic Germany was led by the bloc of the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Unions (CDU/CSU) led by Konrad Adenauer. West Germany has made impressive strides in forming " social state" An occupied country with a destroyed economy found the strength to abandon its totalitarian past and make a leap into the future. Finance Minister Ludwig Erhard carried out a tough financial reform in 1948: a progressive tax on property and savings was introduced, and bank accounts were frozen. Thanks to American financial assistance received during the implementation of the Marshall Plan, instead of the depreciated Reichsmarks, new brand, which over time has become one of the stable currencies in the world. State planning and centralized pricing for most goods. Skillfully managing taxes, the government directed investments into export-oriented industries: chemical enterprises, metallurgical, mechanical engineering, and electrical plants. An effective antimonopoly policy was implemented, conditions were created for the growth of capital investments in production, and the activities of small and medium-sized enterprises were encouraged. The state spent significant funds on social needs. Replaced in the late 1960s. When the Conservatives were in power, the Social Democrats, led by W. Brandt and then Helmut Schmidt, further strengthened the influence of the state on the economy and expanded social programs. Germany has become one of the leading economically countries of Western Europe.
The crisis of the “welfare state” in the late 1970s and early 1980s. led to the political pendulum in Western countries swinging to the right. Left and center governments were replaced by neoconservative ones. In Great Britain in 1979, conservatives led by Margaret Thatcher came to power; in the United States, Democrats Jimmy Carter in 1981, the leader of the ultra-conservative wing in the Republican Party was replaced by Ronald Reagan, and in Germany in 1982, the Social Democrats were forced to give up their seats in the government to the CDU/CSU and FDP bloc, which was headed by Helmut Kohl. In France, Socialist President François Mitterrand was forced from the mid-1980s. pursue a neo-conservative course of “austerity”.
The policies of neoconservative governments have led to success: European countries and the United States managed to get out of a serious crisis and embark on the path of forming a new society, which scientists call post-industrial.
Social protest movements in Western countries. Late 1960s was marked by crises in life industrial society. The younger generation of Western Europe became disillusioned with the ideals of their fathers, who sought first and foremost material well-being. Not believing the demagoguery of politicians, young people turned to the ideology of the “new left”. This ideological trend, which arose during the period of economic recovery, primarily expressed the views of people engaged in intellectual work. According to its leaders (Herbert Marcuse, Daniel Cohn-Bendit), capitalism turned out to be untenable - it failed to use all intellectual potential society and became a brake on the path of progress. They noted that the incentive for work in the era of scientific and technological revolution, along with the desire to earn money, was increasingly becoming people's interest in using their intellectual abilities. However, the impersonal system of industrial production did not provide opportunities for the realization of the creative potential of workers.
US President R. Reagan and British Prime Minister M. Thatcher
The actions of the European “new left,” which considered the traditional left forces (socialists and communists) obsolete, often took the form of anarchist protest, and often terrorist actions (“Red Brigades” in Italy, the RAF group in West Germany, etc.).
Leftist ideology fueled mass protests by young people in the 1960s. The most violent events occurred in May 1968 in Paris. In the capital of France, barricades were erected and mass demonstrations took place. Mass dissatisfaction with politics ruling elite became one of the reasons for de Gaulle's resignation.
New challenges awaited the Western world in the 1970s. Post-war rapid economic development, when huge raw materials and Natural resources, raised before humanity the difficult question of their exhaustibility. It was impossible to continue to be so carefree about environmental problems. A global environmental disaster has become a threatening reality. The “green” movement has transformed from environmentalists, whom the authorities had long ignored, into an influential socio-political force. Gained fame international organization Greenpeace (Green World), which deals with environmental issues around the world. In the 1980s The “greens” achieved representation in a number of Western European parliaments, and later even became part of governments (one of the leaders of the “greens” of Germany, Joschka Fischer, took the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs).
Student uprising in Paris. 1968.
After the end of World War II, Western countries began new stage development. Political life has moved to the left, and the role of the state in the economy and social sphere has increased. However, despite the successes of the “welfare state” policy, its implementation failed to solve all the problems of Western society.
Questions and tasks
1. What forces were leading in the political life of the West after World War II?
2. What common features can you name in the political development of Western countries?
3. What problems did American society face in the postwar period?
4. How do you assess the results of mass social movements in Western countries? How was the protest movement in the United States different from youth movement in European countries?
5. In the summer of 1967, racial riots occurred in 30 US cities. The Advisory Commission created to consider their causes noted in its report:
“White racism is the source of the explosive mixture that has accumulated in our cities since World War II. Among the components of this mixture: segregation in labor, education and housing, and the continued exclusion of large numbers of blacks from the benefits of economic progress. There is a growing concentration of impoverished blacks in major cities, creating an ever-increasing crisis in the service sector and an increase in unmet human needs. In black ghettos, segregation and poverty converge, affecting youth most of all. The result is increased crime and drug addiction, bitterness and resentment against society in general and whites in particular. Among blacks there is an atmosphere of hostility and cynicism, generated by the atrocities of the police and " double standard"in the judicial system."
What measures do you think the American government needed to take to solve acute social problems in black neighborhoods? Did he manage to cope with this problem?
From the book History of Russia XX - early XXI centuries author Tereshchenko Yuri Yakovlevich3. Socio-political development The socio-political development of the USSR until the mid-1980s was determined by two political concepts– developed socialism and Soviet people as a new historical community. Increasing influence on the development of Soviet society,
From the book History. General history. Grade 11. Basic and advanced levels author Volobuev Oleg Vladimirovich§ 14. Socio-political development of the West in 1945 – mid-1980s USA after World War II. The United States of America after World War II became the economic and military-political leader of the West, declaring itself as the defender of the entire free world and
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From the book History of Russia author Ivanushkina V V49. Socio-economic development of the USSR in the mid-1960s - early 1980s The Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee recognized it as inappropriate to combine the duties of the First Secretary of the Central Committee (he became L.I. Brezhnev) and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers (A.N. Kosygin). The next 20 years were the most
From the book History of Russia author Ivanushkina V V50. Political development of the USSR in the mid-1960s - early 1980s In the period from 1965 to 1985. In general, the formation of the Soviet bureaucratic system was completed, and there was a gradual increase in the size of the apparatus. The process of centralization of the party organization intensified. Adopted 7
author author unknown71. DEVELOPMENT OF LAW IN THE MID-1960s – MID-1980s. ADMINISTRATIVE, HOUSING AND FAMILY LAW Development of law in the mid-1960s - mid-1980s. characterized by large-scale codification work, primarily at the all-Union level. All-Union codes are created
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author Barysheva Anna Dmitrievna61 SOCIO-POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE USSR IN THE 1920-1930s The core of the political system that developed in the country in the 1920-1930s. became Communist Party, which combined the party and state apparatus. The party hierarchy was crowned by the personality of I.V. Stalin,
From the book National History. Crib author Barysheva Anna Dmitrievna68 SOCIO-POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE USSR IN THE MID-1950-1960S N. S. Khrushchev for final approval had to overcome opposition from the old guard of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the party - V. M. Molotov, N. A. Bulganin, L. M Kaganovich
From the book National History. Crib author Barysheva Anna Dmitrievna7 ° SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE USSR IN THE MID-1960-1980s After the resignation of N. S. Khrushchev, L. I. Brezhnev (1964–1982) became the new leader of the country. By the mid-1960s. The USSR approached the boundaries of a stage of development when the processes of the next stage began to come to the fore
From the book National History. Crib author Barysheva Anna Dmitrievna71 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE USSR IN THE MID-1960-1980s To the new leadership of the country headed by L. I. Brezhnev had to do Difficult choice: either continue the radical course of the 20th Congress to liberalize the socialist regime, which threatens its further
author Kerov Valery VsevolodovichTopic 66 Social and political development of the USSR in the 1930s PLAN1. Prerequisites for the formation of a new social system.1.1. Features of the development of Soviet Russia in the 1920s 1.2. Socio-economic and cultural level of the population.1.3. The formation of a one-party system.1.4.
From the book A Short Course in the History of Russia from Ancient Times to the Beginning of the 21st Century author Kerov Valery VsevolodovichTopic 71 Socio-political development of the USSR in the mid-1950s - early 1960s PLAN1. The struggle for Stalin's legacy.1.1. Changes in party and state leadership.1.2. Political rivalry in the party: March - June 1953 - Summer 1953-19552. Start of the process
From the book History author Plavinsky Nikolay AlexandrovichIn 1992, radical changes occurred in the political life of the United States: the Republicans, who had been pursuing the policy of a conservative revolution for 12 years, were suddenly ousted in the presidential election by a little-known Democrat, Bill Clinton.
US political life
Bill Clinton opened new era in US life. Already during the first two years of his reign, the young president was able to resolve ethno-national conflicts in the south of the state, which had continued since Civil War 1861-1865 In 1994, the Republicans managed to take revenge in the Senate elections, but in 1996, Clinton again received the presidency of the state.
Until the beginning of 2000, Bill Clinton managed to carry out large-scale changes in social and economic sphere without resorting to radical reforms. During his presidency, the most serious political actions of the superstate were armed operations in a number of Third World countries, in particular Somalia, Afghanistan and Serbia.
The reign of George W. Bush
IN new Age The USA entered with a new president - George W. Bush Jr. During his first year in office, President Bush did not make any radical changes in government policy. However, after the tragic events of September 2001, the government of George W. Bush chose a course of tightening its foreign policy.
In 2003, a large-scale military campaign was launched to combat terrorism in the states of the Middle East. The state's focus on foreign military policy measures became the cause of the internal economic crisis in the United States in 2006 - many of the largest enterprises went bankrupt.
Due to instability in the foreign exchange market, economic crisis gradually covered all countries of the world, including post-Soviet space. At the next presidential election in 2008, according to the old political tradition of Republican George W. Bush Jr. replaced by Democrat B. Obama.
Political life in Europe
The collapse of the bipolar world caused rather contradictory sentiments in the political life of Western Europe. Instead of the threat of a global clash between two superpowers, the USSR and the USA, many local military confrontations appeared, in which Western European states were directly involved.
The main political organizations that oriented the political life of Western Europe were the UN, NATO and the EU. In 1995, the 52 states that are members of the OSCE signed the Pact “On Stability in Europe”, which consolidated good neighborly relations in view of the provisions of the Council of Europe and the UN.
The membership of Western European states in NATO determined their participation in the Kosovo conflict in 1999.
European Union
At the end of the 20th century political role The European Union in the life of Western Europe has increased significantly. From 1996 to 2004, the number of participating countries increased by 10 states. It was during this period that the European Union changed its status as a purely economic organization to an economic-political entity.
Political thought of antiquity and the Middle Ages. Studying world history political thought necessary not only for a better understanding of current political life, but also for predicting the future. As they say, everything new is well forgotten old. Knowledge of the past makes it possible to avoid mistakes and miscalculations, or at least not to repeat them.
World political thought began to develop with the transition of humanity from a primitive communal society to a slave society with its antagonistic classes and state. The most ancient political teachings arose in the countries of the Ancient East: Egypt, India, China, Palestine, etc. Political thought reached its highest development in the slave era in ancient states, especially in Ancient Greece. A convincing example of this is the works of ancient Greek thinkers - Plato and Aristotle.
Plato(427 - 347 BC) - ideologist of the Athenian aristocracy. Their Political Views outlined in the dialogues “State” and “Laws”. Based on the position of idealism, Plato divided people into three classes. Each of them corresponded to the three principles he identified that predominate in the human soul: rational, affective (emotional) and lustful (sensual, thirsting for wealth). The rational principle is inherent in sage philosophers; affective - for warriors, lust for farmers and artisans. He considered moderation and measure to be the highest virtue, which should be characteristic of all classes. Philosophers and sages should govern the state. Plato’s saying is widely known: “Until philosophers reign in states or so-called kings and rulers begin to philosophize nobly and thoroughly... until then states will not get rid of evils” (Plato. Works: In 3 vols. M., 1971. T.Z. Part 1. P. 275). Warriors, being emotional and furious, must take care of the security of the state, defend it; eager artisans and farmers are obliged to work. In order for philosophers and warriors not to be subject to passions associated with family and private property, they should have common wives, and the state should raise children. It was the responsibility of the working people to provide financially for these classes.
Plato's ethical views were focused not on the individual, but on society, and therefore the purpose of man is to serve the state, and not vice versa.
Politics, according to Plato's definition, is a royal art that requires knowledge of managing people. Ideal shape government system in his early works, he considered the rule of the aristocracy (the wise) and the monarchy, while the worst were democracy and tyranny, since the first leads To self-will and lack of leadership, and the second rests on treachery and violence. In his last work, “Laws,” he gave preference to a state government that would combine the principles of both democracy and monarchy. In it, he also abandoned the idea of depriving philosophers and warriors of private property. The land, being the property of the state, should be given to citizens in equal fertility plots along with the house.
Aristotle(384 - 322 BC) - ideologist agricultural aristocracy, student of Plato and teacher of the great commander of the Ancient World A. Macedonian. Possessing encyclopedic knowledge, he made major contributions to philosophy, natural history, history, politics, ethics, literature and aesthetics. His political views are set out in the treatises "Politics" and "Nicomachean Ethics". In contrast to Plato's idealism, Aristotle was inclined towards dialectical materialism and came close to it. He criticized Plato's idea of the community of wives and children and defended the need for private property, slavery, and a monogamous family. Politics, according to Aristotle, is the management of society through the state (a special apparatus), as well as the management of the state itself. He defined the state as the communication of people similar to each other for the sake of achieving a better life.
Aristotle examined 156 Greek and barbarian polities and identified three correct and three incorrect government forms. TO to the correct forms that pursue the public good, he attributed monarchy (the political power of one), aristocracy (the rule of the few), polity (the rule of many); to the wrong ones, pursuing private interests - tyranny (the despotic power of one), oligarchy (the power of the rich) and democracy (the power of the majority). Correct forms of government are based on the rule of law, while incorrect ones ignore the laws. Aristotle noted that tyranny and extreme democracy are equally despicable towards citizens. The most correct form government he considered a polity that would combine the features of oligarchy and democracy. Essentially, polity is democracy limited to reasonable limits.
Aristotle, unlike Plato, put man first, not the state, and argued that man
is a social being. Aristotle's works were reference books for many political thinkers of subsequent generations.
Aristotle was very revered in Belarus. F. Skoripa, S. Budny, S. Polotsky paid much attention to his socio-political and ethical teachings. In educational institutions of Belarus, the philosophy of Aristotle in the interpretation of F. Aquinas was studied until the end of the 18th century.
The next period in the development of European political thought - the Middle Ages (late 5th - mid-17th centuries) - was characterized by the emergence, dominance and decay of feudalism and the great influence of religion and the church on the spiritual life of society. The Church during this period sought to influence public administration. "Bishops were among the first to try to substantiate the church's claims to participation in state power. John Chrysostom(345 - 407) and Aurelius Augustine(Blessed) (354 - 430), who used the biblical position that “all authority is from God.” Augustine the Blessed believed that there are two communities in the world: the “city of God” (the church) and the “earthly city” (the state). The first is based on love for God and strives for the common benefit and justice, the second - on self-love, violence, robbery and coercion. In order for the state to justify its unrighteous existence, it must serve the church and help establish its ideals on earth. Augustine the Blessed believed that one could be introduced to Christianity by force, but that erethism should be punished.
The most prominent ideologist of Catholicism and feudalism in the Middle Ages was the Dominican monk Thomas Aquinas(1225 - 1274). Taking a number of ideas from the teachings of Aristotle, he tried to adapt them to his religious views. Being a supporter of social inequality and exploitation, Aquinas believed that they were established by God. He also attributed the existence of a monarchy on earth to God's will, of which he himself was a supporter. Secular power, he argued, belongs only to the bodies of people, and their souls belong to God, the church and the Pope, to whom everyone, including monarchs, must obey. Speaking against heretical movements XI - XII centuries, which shook many people's faith in the holiness and inviolability of feudal foundations, F. Aquinas defended the ferocious executions of heretics and the Inquisition. He was a staunch supporter of church control over the state, science and art, and the divinity of feudal law.
Political thought of the Renaissance and Modern times. The Renaissance period (XIV - XVI centuries) was characterized by the decomposition of feudalism and the emergence of capitalism in Europe, which led to the development of technology, secular (humanities) sciences, cities, trade, and art. In contrast to the ideology of medieval asceticism (renunciation of earthly joys in the name of heavenly life in the afterlife) the ideologists of the emerging bourgeois class defended humanistic (human) values: the desire for earthly well-being, the human right to free development and manifestation of creative abilities, etc. Humanism revived interest in ancient antiquity when human nature was not interpreted as the focus of sinfulness, as it seemed to the religious scholastics of the Middle Ages.
The birthplace of the Renaissance, or Renaissance, was Italy. Here, along with the development of secular literature and art, political thought was also formed, defending the interests of the bourgeoisie and the new social order. One of the first representatives of the emerging bourgeois political science was Niccolo Machiavelli(1469 - 1527). In the essay “The Prince” and other books, he contrasted the theological (religious) concept with the theory of a secular (non-religious) state, the emergence of which was determined by the need to curb the egoistic nature of man, his inherent desire for power and property, hatred, malice and deceit. One of the main functions of the state is to protect private property. The ruler must avoid encroaching on the property of his subjects, for this will inevitably arouse their hatred. Machiavelli first draws attention to the political subjectivity of the people, i.e. on his ability to influence the authorities, considering him more honest and reasonable than the sovereign. In his opinion, people are often mistaken in general issues, but much less often in private ones.
The thinker considered a republic to be the best form of government. It is in it that order and freedom, a combination of general and private interests, can be ensured. But if the people are not ready for such a form of government, then a state with a strong government must instill in them a republican spirit. He came to this conclusion based on the need to unite Italy, which was fragmented at that time.
To achieve this goal, he considered all methods suitable, including immoral ones: bribery, violence, deception, murder. A ruler will always be justified if the results of his policies turn out to be good. Using immoral methods of government, the sovereign must strive to do good, hiding behind moral and religious virtues. According to Machiavelli, a ruler pursuing the goal of creating a strong centralized state must combine the qualities of a lion and a fox. The lion is afraid of traps, and the fox is afraid of wolves. Consequently, the sovereign must be like a lion in order to scare away wolves, and like a fox in order to be able to avoid traps (Machiavelli N. Izbr. soch. M., 1982. P. 351). Subsequently, immoral politics began to be called “Machiavellianism.” Many statesmen and politicians in various countries in their political activity used Machiavelli's recommendations.
At the same time with political doctrines, protecting private property and the state guarding the interests of the exploiting classes, publications began to appear in Western Europe condemning this property and the exploitation of man by man it generated, criticizing the emerging capitalist system. The first such work was the work of an Englishman Thomas More(1478 - 1535) "Utopia". Published in 151b, it essentially marked the beginning of a new ideological and political movement - utopian socialism.
The book attempts to establish a connection between the state and the interests of the exploiting classes, who use it for their own personal gain. The author contrasted the then existing state with the government structure of the fictional island of Utopia, which was democratic in nature, implying the election of officials. The main functions of the state constructed by More were the management of the national economy and education, the organization of production and distribution. T. More and other representatives of the early period of utopian socialism (XVI - XVIII centuries), in particular T. Campanella, J. Meslier, Morelli, G. Mably, proposed replacing private property, in which they saw the source of all ills, with public property and forming a society with rough egalitarianism, asceticism and regulation of the social and even family life of people.
The modern period (XVII - XVIII centuries) was characterized by the strengthening of capitalism, the struggle of the bourgeoisie for power, and bourgeois revolutions in England, Holland and France.
One of the main problems in the political science of this time was the problem of the relationship between the individual and the state. The theory of “natural rights” was devoted to the interaction of these political subjects.
The theory of “natural rights” was directed against all forms of feudal dependence, the class division of feudal society and substantiated the equality of people given to them by nature. Proponents of this theory advocated legislative enshrinement of freedom of belief and action of people, the right to own and dispose of property, guarantees against arbitrariness, etc.
The theory of “natural rights” of man was supplemented by the theory of “social contract”, according to which the state arose not by God’s will, but as a result of an agreement concluded between people in order to eliminate conflicts. To do this, they decided to leave the “state of nature and move into civil society.” State formed by will free people, must ensure the protection of their rights and freedoms that are not guaranteed in the state of nature. IN different options the theories of “natural law” and “social contract” were interpreted and developed by G. Grotius and B. Spinoza (Holland), T. Hobbes, J. Locke, D. Whipstanley (England), G. Leibniz, I. Kant (Germany), A.I. Radishchev, Decembrists (Russia), T. Jefferson, T. Payne (USA). J. Meslier, G. Mably, Morelli, D. Diderot, C. Helvetius, J.-J. Rousseau (France).
One of the most prominent political thinkers of modern times, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes(1588 - 1679), substantiated the emergence state power the need to streamline the “natural state” of people, in which relations between them were presented as a “war of all against all.” He compared the state with the biblical monster Leviathan (“artificial man,” “earthly god”), capable of curbing the dark instincts of people, clearing the way for the laws of reason and establishing a civil state in society. He portrays the state as a complex mechanism of domination and subordination: the state should not only perform the function of domination, but also engage in educational and educational activities, encourage all kinds of economic activities (agriculture, shipping, crafts), and force physically healthy people to work.
Hobbes is a supporter of strong government. His sympathies are with the absolute monarchy. At the same time, he believed that subjects were able to do at their own discretion what was not prohibited by law. They must have broad initiative and a system of rights and freedoms at the level of private law relations.
The Englishman made a great contribution to political science John Locke(1b32 - 1704) and French Charles Louis Montesquieu(1b89 - 1755), who developed the concept of separation of powers. Locke proposed dividing power into legislative, executive and federal, in charge of international relations. It should also be noted that he put forward the obligation in civil society for everyone, without exception, to comply with its laws. Locke's defense of the idea of non-alienation from personal freedom, the right to life and property was later recognized as the beginning of the ideology of bourgeois liberalism.
Montesquieu supplemented the theory of separation of powers by highlighting the judicial power along with the legislative and executive powers. TO In addition, he combined the liberal understanding of freedom with the idea of constitutionally securing the mechanism of separation of powers. The ideas of freedom, civil rights and separation of powers, substantiated by these thinkers, were enshrined in the constitutions of France, the USA and other states.
T. Hobbes, J. Locke, C. Montesquieu are among the first representatives of the ideological and political movement called the “Enlightenment™.” The Enlightenmentists criticized the feudal order and defended the interests of the emerging bourgeois class. They believed in the enormous potential of the human mind and science in the matter of rational restructuring of society. They did a lot to liberate science from the power of religion and use scientific achievements in practice. The Enlighteners made a great contribution to the development of both natural and social sciences, including political ones.
Criticism of the outdated feudal system reached particular sharpness in the works of an outstanding representative of the Enlightenment in France Marie Francois Arua (1694 - 1778), who performed under the pseudonym Voltaire. For criticism and freethinking, he was imprisoned twice in the Bastille; due to persecution, he spent considerable time abroad. Voltaire's comments on issues of politics and law played a major role in shaping the political ideology of the emerging bourgeois revolution in France. He ardently defended the principles of equality, freedom and private property. Moreover, he recognized equality only in private law and opposed equality in political rights, believing that the poor should not have them. Voltaire persistently drew attention to the connection between law and moral norms. Opposing absolutism, at the same time he was a supporter of the power of an enlightened monarch. Voltaire's works were very popular in Belarus. This was largely due to their anti-Catholic orientation.
Among the galaxy of French enlighteners, thanks to the originality of his views, he stood out Jean-Jacques Rousseau(1712 - 1778). His political views expressed the interests of the petty bourgeoisie, especially the peasantry. Like many scientists of the Renaissance and bourgeois revolutions of the 16th - 16th centuries, in search of an answer to the question of the origins of statehood, he turned to the “natural state” of people. However, unlike them, in particular from Hobbes, who characterized this state as a “war of all against all,” Rousseau considered the time of humanity’s transition from savagery to social existence the “happiest era” in history, in which there was no social inequality and freedom triumphed . With the advent of private property, society loses these benefits. The social contract, as a result of which public power was established, according to Rousseau, was just a trick of the rich to enslave the poor.
Speaking against private property, he criticizes not only the feudal order, but also the growing capital and contrasts the lifestyle of free landowners with industrial civilization. To restore freedom, they were asked to conclude a new social contract, which would be an association of equal free individuals, or a republic. Rousseau was a supporter of direct democracy, in which all citizens have the opportunity to directly influence public policy. He believed that representative bodies perpetuated the slavery of the people. In his activities, each person must obey only the community, its laws, and not individuals. For the effective operation of laws, a sufficiently strong political and moral-psychological maturity of citizens is necessary. At the same time, the right of citizens to participate in the adoption of laws was defended. While advocating for political equality and equalizing the property status of citizens, he at the same time believed that it was necessary to preserve small private property based on individual labor.
Rousseau's ideas about equality and democracy contributed to the awakening of revolutionary consciousness in France. They inspired the famous Jacobins - Robespierre, Marat, Danton, Saint-Just - to fight against the feudal system. These ideas were enshrined in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens and other acts of the French Republic.
The founder of German classical philosophy also made his contribution to political science Immanuel Kant(1724 - 1804). He theoretically substantiated the idea of a legal state put forward by ancient thinkers - Plato and Cicero, in which legal laws prevail. Kant's merit lies in the fact that he connected the establishment of the rule of law with morality and the formation of civil society.
The connection between the state and civil society was examined in detail by the classic of German philosophy Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel(1770 - 1831). He interpreted civil society as a system political institutions and autonomous organizations acting to protect the interests of individuals and groups. They paid serious attention to the role of individual and group interests in political life and the development of civil society. The state, in his opinion, is a system of general interest, civil society is a system of private interest; the main principle of relationships in civil society, according to Hegel, is individualism.
European political thought XIX V. Social and political situation in Europe in the 19th century. after the Great French bourgeois-democratic revolution (1789 - 1794), as a result of which there was a transition from manufacturing production To industrial, was characterized by the strengthening of capitalist relations. During this period, bourgeois democracy actively developed, “modern forms” of states were formed (constitutional monarchies and republics), in which the bourgeoisie received complete political dominance. Problems associated with socio-political processes are also reflected in political science.
Political theorists of this period, along with consideration of individual problems, paid significant attention to large social groups: classes, nations, races, their position in society and relationships.
The leading political and ideological movement of this time was liberalism. Liberal political thinkers defended bourgeois rights and freedoms, primarily the implementation of “personal freedom”, freedom of private property and competition, advocated the separation of powers, and against state intervention in the economy.
The most important moral principle, which they considered the main driving force in the development of society, was a person’s desire for benefit, benefit, and pleasure. This principle formed the basis of a new direction in the methodology of political thinking, called utilitarianism.
The founder of utilitarianism is an English philosopher and lawyer Jeremy Bentham(1748 - 1832). He reduced public interests, the public good, to the sum of private interests and welfare. He associated the implementation of the principle of benefit with guarantees of rights and freedoms that a democratic state was obliged to provide. Unlike the theorists of “natural law” and “social contract”, as well as educators, whose main goals were the radical destruction of the feudal political system and the establishment of the political dominance of the bourgeoisie, the first task of the utilitarians was to improve the bourgeois state.
Many bourgeois scientists were concerned that that the widespread development of democracy can lead to the infringement of minority rights. Such concern and desire to improve bourgeois democracy were especially expressive in the French political thinker and political figure Al eksis Tocqueville(1805 - 1859) and English utilitarian and defender of individual rights and freedoms John Steward Mill. (1806 - 1873).
L. Tocqueville noted the positive aspects of democracy, in particular improving the well-being of the majority of citizens and providing them with broad political participation. At the same time, he also drew attention to its possible negative consequences: the likelihood of establishing bourgeois individualism, which lead to increased centralization and bureaucratization of public administration, social subordination, and “equality in slavery.” In his opinion, the shortcomings of democracy can be overcome by strengthening representative government, creating free institutions of local government and voluntary political and civil associations.
Mill was especially zealous in his opposition to the tyranny of the majority over the individual. “Everything that destroys individuality is despotism,” he wrote.
According to Mill, the basis of social contradictions is the opposition between the “majority of mediocrity” and the “minority of the enlightened.” As the main means hindering the development of democracy and causing the strengthening of the power of the ignorant, he, like Tocqueville, identified representative bodies of government. Mill developed an original system of election for these bodies, according to which educated people should have the right to vote in several electoral districts, while the rest would have the opportunity to vote in only one district. Such elections, in his opinion, would allow the intellectual and moral elite to remain in power.
In addition, in order to balance the two principles - democratic and elitist - Mill proposed making one house of parliament democratic, and the other arranged in such a way that democracy could be limited. A similar counterbalance should be the separation of powers. If legislature elective, then executive - appointed. Wherein legislatures should not interfere in the “particulars of management”, but can only be limited to monitoring and control over the activities of executive bodies. To increase the efficiency of management, it is necessary, according to Mill, to introduce competitive exams for occupying managerial positions. Promotion up the career ladder should depend on the official’s personal merits.
A characteristic feature of the development of socio-political thought in Europe in the first half of the 19th century. there was an active understanding of the results of the bourgeois revolutions that took place. As it turned out, their results for the workers were not happy. Poverty and inequality remain. Only the forms of exploitation have changed. This circumstance encouraged progressive thinkers to continue searching for ways to a more just social order. In particular, such searches were carried out by representatives of critical utopian socialism. The most famous among them were A. Saint-Simon, C. Fourier, R. Owen. In contrast to representatives of the socialist ideological movement of the early period (T. Mora, T. Campanella, J. Meslier, etc.), the critical utopians gave a deeper and more comprehensive critique of the capitalist order, abandoned the propaganda of asceticism, crude egalitarianism and regulation of people’s lives, and put forward a number of new provisions that were subsequently used by K. Marx and F. Engels, in particular the ideas about planned and collective management of the economy, the comprehensive development of the individual, distribution according to labor, and the withering away of the state. Like many of their predecessors, they intended to put their ideas into practice, counting on the power of reason, example, and the promotion of fair forms of economic, social and political relations. The views were particularly original Claude Henri de Rouvroy Saint-Simon (17bO - 1825), who argued that the main task of reorganizing society was the transition from a feudal regime to an industrial one. He believed that the establishment of the dominance of “industrialists” would lead to the elimination of the division of society into managers and the governed, that political power, which had previously been power over people, would turn into power carrying out purely administrative functions - ordering and managing production in order to satisfy social needs. Money previously spent on police, troops and other coercive means will be spent on industrial activities, the spread of knowledge and the organization of leisure. For a century and a half in world political science important place belonged to the teachings of Karl Marx (1818 - 1883) and Friedrich Engels(1820 - 1895). In addition, this doctrine formed the theoretical basis for the political activity of the absolute majority of communist parties.
Marxist political teaching arose in the middle of the last century, during the period of transition from manufacturing to industrial production, which caused the formation of two main classes of capitalist society - the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. At the very beginning of its existence, Marxism began to claim to express and protect the interests of the working class, to which it assigned the main role in the process of transition from capitalism to a communist formation.
The main theoretical position on which the Marxist analysis of politics was built is the doctrine of class struggle, the essence of which is that the division of labor, the emergence of exchange and production for exchange, the emergence of private property led to fundamental inequality, the emergence of classes differing in their attitude to the means of production , or rather, the possession or non-possession of them. In order to realize the interests of these classes, there is a struggle for power between them, i.e. political struggle. Based on this position, Marx and Engels argued; that the struggle of the working class can be successful provided that it takes on a political character. They defined politics as organized violence of one class over another (Marx K., Engels F. Soch. T. 4. P. 442).
At the basis of political relations, i.e. relations arising from the struggle for power, in their opinion, lie in production and socio-economic relations. They argued that capitalism, like the formations that preceded it, is transitory. The conflict between the developing productive forces and private property relations restraining this development, the aggravation of class contradictions will lead society to recognize the need to replace old social relations with new ones based on public ownership of the means of production. This replacement will take place as a result of the socialist revolution, which will be carried out by the working class, the most revolutionary and conscious class, led by the Communist Party.
One of the key ideas in the political teachings of Marxism is the idea of establishing, as a result of a socialist revolution, the dictatorship of the proletariat, with the help of which a socialist society will be built.
K. Marx and F. Engels also proposed their vision of the origin of the state, showing that it is a product of class relations and arises from the need to regulate relations between classes. The state is an instrument of domination of the classes that own the means of production over the poor.
The economically dominant class, according to Marx, is both politically and ideologically dominant. The dominant ideology seeks to justify the economic and political supremacy of the ruling classes. It plays a big role in shaping the political consciousness of the masses. This consciousness, formed under the influence of the dominant ideology, comes into conflict with the consciousness determined by the existence of people, their needs and interests. It was to being that Marx assigned the main role in the formation of political consciousness.
Marx considered the starting point for understanding the political behavior of the masses to be an analysis of the social position of classes, strata and social groups, as well as an analysis of the interests dictated by this situation.
Unlike Hegel, Marx considered collectivism, not individualism, to be the basic principle of civil society. In the team, he saw the association that would provide the individual with freedom, the opportunity for self-affirmation, manifestation and development of abilities and talents.
In political science of the 19th century. Reactionary views on the spread of the ideas of liberalism and socialism and the development of bourgeois democracy after the Great French Revolution were also reflected. In particular, these views were manifested in the “conquest theory” put forward by the representative of social Darwinism Austrian-Polish sociologist and lawyer Ludovic Gumplovim(1838 - 1909). He considered the main driving force of history to be the struggle of races for existence, as a result of which the strongest win. Their dominance had to be ensured by the state, which arose in the process of struggle between racial communities. However, in drinking “ras” he included not biological, but social differences. Being an opponent of biological racism, he called nations and classes races.
L. Gumplovich tried to justify the wars waged for the redivision of the world by the action of biological laws. Fire and sword, in his opinion, should be the main weapons used to suppress the revolutionary movement of the proletariat, which he considered to be the “lower race,” by the “superior race” (the masters).
Similar ideas were put forward by other European thinkers of this period, in particular the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche(1844 - 1900). He considered the will to power to be the driving force of social development. According to Nietzsche, the whole history of the development of society is a struggle of the wills of two races: the “strong” (aristocratic masters) and the “weak” (the oppressed, the forced, the masses, the crowd). Opposing the ideas of socialism, he sought to prove that exploitation is " natural" and "higher" law of life. In order for it to exist, it is necessary to fight against the ideas of "democracy", "equality", "human rights". Rejecting socialism, Nietzsche believed that it could be allowed as an experiment. People in the process experiment must be convinced of its inconsistency, that “in a socialist society life refutes itself, it cuts its own roots.”
Being a supporter of the idea of the elevation of man, the individual, he went to the extreme in developing this idea. Thus, the main role in establishing order on earth was assigned to “supermans”. Only they have the right to govern the state. Their activities should not be bound by moral and legal norms. One of the functions of the state is to wage wars, which are a vital necessity.
The ideas of L. Gumplowicz and F. Nietzsche were subsequently used by the fascists to justify their policies.
At the end of the 19th century. There was also a division among political thinkers defending the idea of socialism. In particular, one part of them adhered to the Marxist, revolutionary approach to the transition from capitalism to socialism, the other had a negative attitude towards the socialist revolution and proposed an evolutionary, reformist path to the socialist system. An ardent supporter of the second path was one of the “fathers” of modern social democracy Eduard Bernstein(1850 - 1932). In his opinion, in the process of development of bourgeois democracy, class struggle will increasingly take on peaceful forms, revolutionary methods of struggle will give way to parliamentary ones, the struggle for reforming capitalist society. Such a struggle will contribute to the growth of socialism into capitalism. He considered cooperation to be the basis of socialist relations. At the same time, he viewed socialism not so much as a practice, but as an ethical ideal.
In conclusion, it should be noted that in the 19th century. the theoretical foundations of the political movements that determined the development of mankind in the present century were laid.
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The socio-political life of Western Europe in the first half of the 19th century took place under the sign of the further establishment and strengthening of bourgeois orders in England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, etc.
A set of ideas qualifies as conservatism (in its various variants). They saw salvation in a total rejection of the world of civilization based on private property. The capitalist system that was establishing itself in Western Europe found its ideology in liberalism.
Unlike socialism and liberalism, conservatism did not have such a clearly defined and stable conceptual core. On social science of the 19th century. the ideas of O. Comte had a certain influence - on the need for the researcher to strive for strictly positive, fact-based knowledge, to identify the patterns of the historical process, to study social institutions and structures.
English liberalism. The topic of the beneficial role of private property, its protection and encouragement, the topic of individual activism, guarantees of the inviolability of the sphere of private life of people, etc., has become almost central in social science. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) made a significant contribution to the development of this kind of ideas. He was the founder of the theory of utilitarianism, which incorporated a number of social and philosophical ideas of Hobbes, Locke, Hume, and French materialists of the 18th century. (Helvetia, Holbach). Let us note four postulates underlying it. First: obtaining pleasure and eliminating pain constitute the meaning of human activity. Second: usefulness, the ability to be a means of solving any problem is the most significant criterion for assessing all phenomena. Third: morality is created by everything that focuses on achieving the greatest happiness (good) for the largest number of people. Fourth: maximizing universal benefit by establishing harmony of individual and public interests is the goal of human development. These postulates served Bentham as supports in his analysis of politics, state, law, legislation, etc. Freedom and individual rights were for Bentham the true embodiments of evil; he rejected them, just like the school of natural law in general.
Bentham was a supporter of the republican structure of the state, in which the three main branches of government (legislative, executive and judicial) should have been separated, but he was in favor of their cooperation and interaction.
From Bentham's point of view, it is not only the organization of state power that should be democratized. The entire political system of society is subject to democratization; he advocates for the expansion of suffrage, including the granting of suffrage to women, and advocated for effective control of government institutions with the help of democratic institutions.
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), a classic of liberalism (“On Liberty,” “Representative Government,” “Fundamentals of political economy” (especially the fifth book of “Fundamentals” - “On the influence of government”) came to the conclusion that all morality cannot be based entirely only on the postulate of personal economic benefit individual and on the belief that satisfying everyone’s selfish interests individual person will almost automatically lead to the well-being of everyone. In his opinion, the principle of achieving personal happiness (pleasure) can “work” if only it is organically connected with another guiding idea: the idea of the need to harmonize the interests of both individuals and social interests.
Individual freedom, in Mill's interpretation, means the absolute independence of a person in the sphere of those actions that directly concern only himself. As facets of individual freedom, Mill identifies, in particular, the following points: freedom of thought and opinion (expressed externally), freedom to act together with other individuals, freedom to choose and pursue life goals and independent arrangement of personal destiny. All these and related freedoms are absolutely the necessary conditions for the development, self-realization of the individual and at the same time a barrier from any encroachment from the outside on the autonomy of the individual.
The threat to such autonomy, according to Mill, does not come from state institutions alone. The freedom of an individual, a private person, is primary in relation to political structures and their functioning. This decisive circumstance, according to Mill, makes the state dependent on the will and ability of people to create and establish a normal (according to the achieved standards of European civilization) human community. Statehood is what society as a whole is, and therefore it is primarily responsible for its condition. The main condition for the existence of a worthy state is the self-improvement of the people. Best form He considers representative government to be the order of the day.
French liberalism. Antifeudal ideology of the French bourgeoisie in the first half of the 19th century. expressed by many talented political thinkers. Among them are B. Constant and A. Tocqueville.
The material and spiritual autonomy of a person, his reliable protection by law (in particular, the legal protection of private property) are in the first place for Constant; he considers the problem of individual freedom in a practical political sense. From his point of view, the goals and structure of the state should be subordinated to these values. The preferred order of organizing political life is one in which the institutions of the state form a pyramid growing on the foundation of individual freedom, and statehood itself as a political whole crowns the system of various collectives (unions) of people that have developed in the country.
In the person of the constitutional monarch, the political community acquires, according to Constant, “neutral power.” It is outside the three “classical” powers (legislative, executive, judicial), independent of them and therefore capable (and obligated) to ensure their unity, cooperation, and normal activity. Law opposes arbitrariness in all its forms. The fundamental importance of law as a way of being of sociality turns the observance of law into the central task of the activities of political institutions.
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) sought to ensure individual freedom by all lawful means for its full implementation and lasting protection. Two striking works of Tocqueville, “On Democracy in America” and “The Ancien Regime and Revolution,” created for him an authoritative name in the science of politics and state.
He interprets democracy broadly. For him, she personifies a social system that is the opposite of feudal and knows no boundaries between the upper and lower classes of society. The core of democracy is the principle of equality. Freedom and equality, according to Tocqueville, are phenomena of different orders. Existence in conditions of freedom requires tension from a person, great effort associated with the need to be independent, make your own choices every time, and be responsible for your actions and their consequences. Therefore, democratic peoples love equality more ardently and constancy than freedom. Tocqueville is convinced of the following: modern democracy is possible only with a close union of equality and freedom. The problem, according to Tocqueville, is, on the one hand, to get rid of everything that interferes with the establishment of a reasonable balance of equality and freedom acceptable to modern democracy. On the other hand, to develop political and legal institutions that ensure the maintenance of such a balance.
German liberalism of the first half of the nineteenth century. represented by Friedrich Dahlmann, Robert von Mohl, Karl Rottek and Karl Rölker, Julius Froebel and others. The works of Wilhelm von Humboldt and Lorenz Stein gained European fame.
Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835), along with I. Kant, whose work had a strong influence on him, stands at the origins of German liberalism (“The Experience of Establishing the Boundaries of State Activity,” 1792), and is guided by the position of humanistic individualism. It is not so much the state itself that occupies it, but the person in relation to the state. The main task solved in the “Experience” is “to find the most favorable position for a person in the state.” Drawing the line separating society and the state, Humboldt does not consider them to be equivalent values. From his point of view, society is fundamentally more important than the state. The purpose of the existence of the state as such is to serve society. The state becomes a particularly serious danger for the individual and the nation when it begins to assume a paternalistic mission.
Lorenz Stein (1815-1890) belongs to the series basic research about society, state, law, management (“History of the social movement in France from 1789 to the present day” (the first book of this three-volume edition is “The Concept of Society”), “The Doctrine of Management”, “The Present and Future of the Science of State and German law").
At the forefront of his socio-political doctrine, Stein put the question of the individual, his rights, his property. The main motive driving an individual is seen by Stein in the desire for self-realization, the essence of which is the extraction, processing, production and increase of goods. According to Stein, the starting point for the structure of any society is the division of property. The law of social life is “an essentially constant and unchanging order of dependence of those who do not own on those who do.” The existence of these two classes cannot be eliminated or overcome. In Stein's concept, society appears as a kind of independent and in its own way personalized social formation. In society, according to Stein, there is no basis for freedom. Highest form society is the state, which at the same time has a different organization and completely different goals. The state, Stein believes, is a personified organism of the general will and therefore should serve only the universal. Freedom is the principle on which the state is based.
Stein is a supporter rule of law, in which “the right to govern is based on the constitution and there are legal distinctions between law and orders.” Stein sees the optimal form of the rule of law in a constitutional monarchy.
Political and legal views of the ideologists of socialism. In the first decades of the 19th century. In Western Europe, thinkers came forward who criticized the bourgeois order and developed projects for a society that (in their opinion) would be able to get rid of exploitation and oppression and provide each individual with a decent existence. It's about First of all, about the systems of views of A. Saint-Simon, C. Fourier and R. Owen. Henri de Saint-Simon's (1760-1825) views on state and law were primarily determined by his concept of historical progress. He believed that human society naturally develops in an ascending line. The theological stage, which covered the times of antiquity and feudalism, is replaced by the metaphysical stage (according to A. Saint-Simon, the period of the bourgeois world order). Following this, the positive stage will begin; a social system will be established that will make “the lives of the people who make up the majority of society the happiest, providing them with maximum means and opportunities to satisfy their most important needs.” If at the first stage the dominance in society belonged to priests and feudal lords, at the second - to lawyers and metaphysicians, then at the third it should pass to scientists and industrialists.
A. Saint-Simon proposed starting the radical transformation of the old system with partial reforms: eliminating the hereditary nobility, buying out lands from owners who are not involved in agriculture, easing the situation of the peasants, etc. After such gradual work, it will be possible to undertake a major overhaul of the political system , i.e., remove the unproductive classes from power. (feudal lords and the “intermediate class” of lawyers, military men, rentier landowners) and transfer the leadership of politics into the hands of the most talented “industrialists”, representatives of the “industrial class”.
To Charles Fourier (1772-1837), politics and political activity seemed a useless activity. He was proud of having discovered the analogy of the four movements (material, organic, animal and social) and identified their basis - “the universal law of gravity and attraction.” In society, this universal law operates through the play of diverse human passions. They are placed in man by God in order to provide people with their free satisfaction. To reveal, describe and classify passions means to outline the only way for a radical correction of society, to find the most reliable means capable of ensuring the introduction of a new social order. The very forward movement of history leads to it. Previous achievements that had served humanity began to harm it. The won freedom turns, in particular, into trade anarchy, and the latter, in turn, pushes towards the monopoly of trading companies. The overthrown tyranny of the feudal nobles gives way to the tyranny of the unions of large capitalist owners. Each individual finds himself at war with the collective. In a civilized system, poverty is born out of abundance itself, etc., etc.
Charles Fourier sharply and caustically criticized the political and legal system of bourgeois society. He believes that society must first of all officially recognize and actually ensure “the right to work, which is truly impossible in civilization, but without which all other rights are worthless.” Assessing the structure of civilization (especially in its last stage) as abnormal, Fourier tried in his own way to determine a reliable way to get rid of it. Neither revolutions, nor popular sovereignty, nor universal suffrage, nor republican institutions, etc. will change the pitiful situation of the people. It will change if the basis of society is formed by associations - production and consumer partnerships, which will include representatives of various social groups.
For Charles Fourier, freedom is a greater value than equality. He places a very high value on the equality of personal freedoms. But he is disgusted by such equality, which is not based on freedom, but is ensured only by harsh and scrupulous regulation of all aspects of people's lives.
Robert Owen (1771-1858) spoke already in the period industrial revolution and the resulting exacerbation of class conflicts. The central link of his teaching is about human character. R. Owen proceeded from the fact that human character is the result of the interaction between the natural organization of the individual and his environment, which plays a major role in such interaction. If the character, consciousness and destinies of people are shaped by external environment, and such are capitalist relations, then they are precisely responsible for the ignorance of the masses, the decline of morals, the dominance of the spirit of greed and hatred. The main culprit of all social evils is private property. Addressing the problem of means and methods for implementing political reforms, he hopes for a revolution in people's minds. R. Owen hoped, for example, that with the help of laws issued by the state, it would be possible to some extent to carry out extensive reforms in favor of workers. He advocated the peaceful implementation of the revolution.
In the 30-40s. of the last century, the concepts of revolutionary utopian communism played a significant role in the spiritual life of Western Europe: James Bronter (in England), Auguste Blanqui and Theodore Desami (in France), Wilhelm Weitling (in Germany). Their political program synthesized the revolutionary traditions laid down by G. Babeuf with a meaningful critique of the then bourgeois civilization undertaken by A. Saint-Simon, C. Fourier, R. Owen.
The most significant points of this program are the following. Existing states, legal systems, laws, legal procedures, etc. - instruments of violence in the service of private property. Democratic rights and the freedoms proclaimed during the bourgeois revolutions turned out to be in fact inaccessible to the dispossessed and oppressed people. Another revolution is absolutely necessary, one that will abolish private property, destroy all the social evils it generates, and finally ensure the true prosperity of working people, proletarians.
Studying the history of world political thought is necessary not only for a better understanding of current political life, but also for predicting the future. As they say, everything new is well forgotten old. Knowledge of the past makes it possible to avoid mistakes and miscalculations, or at least not to repeat them.
World political thought began to develop with the transition of humanity from a primitive communal society to a slave society with its antagonistic classes and state. The most ancient political teachings arose in the countries of the Ancient East: Egypt, India, China, Palestine, etc. Political thought reached its highest development in the slave era in ancient states, especially in Ancient Greece. A convincing example of this is the works of ancient Greek thinkers - Plato and Aristotle.
Plato is the ideologist of the Athenian aristocracy. He expressed his political views in the dialogues “State” and “Laws”. Based on the position of idealism, Plato divided people into three classes. Each of them corresponded to the three principles he identified that predominate in the human soul: rational, affective (emotional) and lustful (sensual, thirsting for wealth). The rational principle is inherent in sage philosophers; affective - for warriors, lustful - for farmers and artisans. He considered moderation and measure to be the highest virtue, which should be characteristic of all classes. Philosophers and sages should govern the state. Plato’s saying is widely known: “Until philosophers reign in states, or so-called kings and rulers begin to philosophize nobly and thoroughly... until then states will not get rid of evils.” Warriors, being emotional and furious, must take care of the security of the state, defend it; eager artisans and farmers are obliged to work. In order for philosophers and warriors not to be subject to passions associated with family and private property, they should have common wives, and the state should raise children. It was the responsibility of the working people to provide financially for these classes.
Plato's ethical views were focused not on the individual, but on society, and therefore the purpose of man is to serve the state, and not vice versa.
Politics, according to Plato's definition, is a royal art that requires knowledge of managing people. In his early works, he considered the ideal form of government to be the rule of the aristocracy (the wise) and the monarchy, while the worst were democracy and tyranny, since the first leads to self-will and anarchy, and the second rests on treachery and violence. In his last work, “Laws,” he gave preference to a state government that would combine the principles of both democracy and monarchy. In it, he also abandoned the idea of depriving philosophers and warriors of private property. The land, being the property of the state, should be given to citizens in equal fertility plots along with the house.
Aristotle is the ideologist of the agricultural aristocracy, a student of Plato and the teacher of the great commander of the Ancient world A. Macedonian. Possessing encyclopedic knowledge, he made major contributions to philosophy, natural history, history, politics, ethics, literature and aesthetics. His political views are set out in the treatises “Politics” and “Nicomachean Ethics”. In contrast to Plato's idealism, Aristotle was inclined towards dialectical materialism and came close to it. He criticized Plato's idea of the community of wives and children and defended the need for private property, slavery, and a monogamous family. Politics, according to Aristotle, is the management of society through the state (a special apparatus), as well as the management of the state itself. He defined the state as the communication of people similar to each other for the sake of achieving a better life.
Aristotle examined 156 Greek and barbarian polities and identified three regular and three irregular polities. He considered monarchy to be the correct forms that pursue the public good ( political power one), aristocracy (rule of the few), polity (rule of the many); to the wrong ones, pursuing private interests - tyranny (the despotic power of one), oligarchy (the power of the rich) and democracy (the power of the majority). Correct forms of government are based on the rule of law, while incorrect ones ignore the laws. Aristotle noted that tyranny and extreme democracy are equally oppressive towards citizens. He considered the most correct form of government to be a polity that would combine the features of oligarchy and democracy. Essentially, polity is democracy limited to reasonable limits.
The next period in the development of European political thought - the Middle Ages (late 5th - mid-17th centuries) - was characterized by the emergence, dominance and decay of feudalism and the great influence of religion and the church on the spiritual life of society. During this period, the Church also sought to influence government. Bishops John Chrysostom (345 - 407) and Aurelius Augustine (Blessed) (354 - 430) were among the first to try to substantiate the claims of the church to participate in state power, who used the biblical provision that “all power is from God.” In order for the state to justify its righteous existence, it must serve the church and help establish its ideals on earth. Augustine the Blessed believed that one could be introduced to Christianity by force, but heresy must be punished.
The most prominent ideologist of Catholicism and feudalism in the Middle Ages was the Dominican monk Thomas Aquinas (1245-1274). Taking a number of ideas from the teachings of Aristotle, he tried to adapt them to his religious views. Being a supporter of social inequality and exploitation, Aquinas believed that they were established by God. He also attributed the existence of a monarchy on earth to God's will, of which he himself was a supporter. Secular power, he argued, only the bodies of people belong, and their souls belong to God, the church and the Pope, to whom everyone, including monarchs, must obey. Speaking against the heretical movements of the 11th-12th centuries, which shook many people’s faith in the holiness and inviolability of feudal foundations, F. Aquinas defended the brutal executions of heretics and the Inquisition. He was a staunch supporter of church control over the state, science and art, and the divinity of feudal law.
The Renaissance period (XIV-XVI centuries) was characterized by the decomposition of feudalism and the emergence of capitalism in Europe, which led to the development of technology, secular (humanities) sciences, cities, trade, and art. In contrast to the ideology of medieval asceticism (renunciation of earthly joys in the name of heavenly life in the afterlife), the ideologists of the emerging bourgeois class defended humanistic (human) values: the desire for earthly well-being, the human right to free development and manifestation of creative abilities, etc. Humanism revived interest in ancient antiquity, when human nature was not interpreted as the focus of sinfulness, as it seemed to the religious scholastics of the Middle Ages.
The birthplace of the Renaissance, or Renaissance, was Italy. Here, along with the development of secular literature and art, political thought was also formed, defending the interests of the bourgeoisie and the new social system. One of the first representatives of the emerging bourgeois political science was Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 - 1527). In the essay “The Sovereign” and other books, he contrasted the theological (religious) concept with the theory of a secular (non-religious) state, the emergence of which was determined by the need to curb the egoistic nature of man, his inherent desire for power and property, hatred, malice and deceit. One of the main functions of the state is to protect private property. The ruler must avoid encroaching on the property of his subjects, for this will inevitably arouse their hatred. Machiavelli first draws attention to the political subjectivity of the people, i.e. on his ability to influence the authorities, considering him more honest and reasonable than the sovereign. In his opinion, people are often mistaken in general issues, but much less often in private ones.
The thinker considered a republic to be the best form of government. It is in it that order and freedom, a combination of general and private interests, can be ensured. But if the people are not ready for such a form of government, then a state with a strong government must instill in them a republican spirit. He came to this conclusion based on the need to unite Italy, which was fragmented at that time.
To achieve this goal, he considered all methods suitable, including immoral ones: bribery, violence, deception, murder. A ruler will always be justified if the results of his policies turn out to be good. Using immoral methods of government, the sovereign must strive to do good, hiding behind moral and religious virtues. According to Machiavelli, a ruler pursuing the goal of creating a strong centralized state must combine the qualities of a lion and a fox. The lion is afraid of traps, and the fox is afraid of wolves. Consequently, the sovereign must be like a lion in order to scare away wolves, and like a fox in order to be able to avoid traps. Subsequently, immoral politics began to be called “Machiavellianism.” Many statesmen and politicians in various countries used Machiavelli's recommendations in their political activities.
Simultaneously with political teachings defending private property and the state, which guards the interests of the exploiting classes, publications began to appear in Western Europe condemning this property and the exploitation of man by man that it generated, criticizing the emerging capitalist system. The first such work was the work of the Englishman Thomas More (1478 - 1535) “Utopia”. Published in 1516, it essentially marked the beginning of a new ideological and political movement - utopian socialism.
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