Politics and Thought of the Industrialized World

1. Growth of Nationalism

   1. New concept of nation emerges in Europe in early 19th century

   2. Defined as a people who share:

      1. ethnicity

      2. language

      3. race

      4. culture

   3. Nationalism holds that nations are indissoluble and should rule themselves as a single unit

      1. linked to Romantic belief in adherence to the truth of nature

      2. advanced by populist and democratizing influence of American and French revolutions

      3. related also to Roseau's General Will

   4. Politically explosive in Europe

      1. rejected the idea that a country is defined by the sovereignty of a king

      2. some multi-ethnic states begin to suffer instability

      3. some multi-ethnic states embark on efforts homogenize their populations as a result

         1. can result in violent ethnic cleansing

         2. more commonly, seen in efforts to enforce use of a single language and denying the separate existent of certain ethnic groups

   5. Originates largely in Europe, soon spreads to other regions

      1. Latin America

         1. inspires in part the independence wars of 1807-26

         2. helps insure that the Spanish empire will break apart into several different countries

         3. Portuguese empire remains intact in Brazil in large part because of unifying national symbol of the emperor

      2. Ottoman Empire

         1. gradual decline inspires nationalist movements

         2. tends to work against replacement by a new Empire, but by local national entities like Egypt

2. New Ideas in Governance

   1. Constitutionalism

      1. written, explicit constitutions defining state powers and citizens' rights slowly emerge in 19th century Europe

      2. support the idea that government obtains its powers from law, not tradition or religion

      3. tended to expand public participation in government, but not universally

      4. outside of Europe

         1. Japan authors a conservative constitution in 1882

         2. new Latin American countries write constitutions that are largely ignored

         3. other experiments in constitutionalism emerge in places on the fringes of European empires

   2. Rise of the modern, centralized state

      1. Militarization

         1. industrialized armies allow for greater centralization of power

         2. United States, Germany, Italy, and Japan all see industrialized regions win wars of centralization

         3. creation of large armies provides opportunities for expansion or creation single national cultures

         4. new industrialized militaries without loyalty to a centralized state will prove dangerously destabilizing

      2. Bureaucratic centralization

         1. Increasingly, decentralized and hereditary officials replaced with professional, centralized bureaucrats

         2. new bureaucrats marked by importance of education, loyalty to central governments

         3. aided by expansion of new information technologies, such as telegraph and modern bookkeeping techniques

         4. along with military, used as a powerful centralizing force - the most successful modern states have the most efficient bureaucracies

3. New Political Trends

   1. Democracy

      1. Modern democratic state originates in the United States

         1. representative legislature

         2. widespread suffrage

         3. political parties

         4. effectively republican - either no monarchy, or very limited monarchies

      2. Resisted in early 19th century Europe

         1. violence of French Revolution strengthened anti-democratic attitudes of European elites

         2. initial efforts at constitutionalism reinforced elite power

         3. new states emerging from Ottoman Empires embrace democracy as a way to repudiate old aristocracy

         4. Industrialized states like France and Britain slowly embrace suffrage as a means to accommodate and incorporate rapidly expanding populations

         5. In most parts of Europe, remains more limited than U.S. democracy in19th century

   2. Socialism and its critics

      1. Rooted in Enlightenment ideals of egalitarianism and the perfectibility of mankind

      2. Many schools of thought, centered around certain common themes

         1. communal ownership of property

         2. amelioration of the plight of workers

         3. importance of self-help and education of the working class to bring about socialism

         4. transition to socialism would be voluntary

      3. Karl Marx (1818-1883), Germany (does much of his work in Britain)

         1. most influential of the more radical socialist thinkers

         2. saw history as passing through stages, each based on the conflict between the owners of the modes of production and everyone else

         3. saw current stage of industrial capitalism as marked by the conflict between workers (proletariat) and the ownership class (bourgeoisie)

         4. this conflict would inevitably lead to revolution because of the problem of the surplus value of labor

            1. workers are paid only a fraction of the value they create, enough to survive on

            2. factory owners invest this "surplus value" into more efficient technology, resulting in the need for less labor

            3. cost of labor goes down, which makes it harder for workers to survive, and means customer base shrinks, financial basis of capitalism becomes unstable

            4. workers gain a revolutionary consciousness, and revolt

         5. end result would be Communism, a state managed utopia in which which class conflict would be removed through communal ownership of property

      4. Anarchism

         1. in general, a belief that the state must be dismantled in order to ensure human freedom

         2. becomes a basis for violent terrorist attacks in the the late 19th century

         3. like Marx, most anarchists believed that violent revolution was inevitable and necessary

         4. unlike Marx and most more moderate socialists, rejected the state as the means for creating or managing utopia

         5. Anarchist thinkers like John Most (1846-96) argued revolution should begin with violent destruction of elites and state power

      5. Utilitarianism

         1. critical of capitalist state, but also rejects socialism as avenue of reform

         2. Jeremy Bentham’s (1748-1842)

            1. no natural rights, only pain vs. pleasure

            2. society should maximize pleasure for the greatest number

            3. reform society along pleasure maximization laws

            4. "social utility" - what creates the greatest good for the greatest number - is the guide for reform

         3. John Stuart Mills (1806-1873)

            1. adds natural rights to utilitarianism, rejecting the idea that the greatest good for the greatest number is the guide for reform

            2. rather, the state should act to prevent harm to the individual

            3. freedom for the individual is paramount

            4. this freedom must however, take place in the context of social priorities

            5. those who benefit from society must give something in return as well