Philosophy:Radical politics

Short description: intent of fundamental societal change

Radical politics denotes the intent to transform or replace the fundamental principles of a society or political system, often through social change, structural change, revolution or radical reform. The process of adopting radical views is termed radicalisation.

The word "radical" derives from the Latin radix ("root") and Late Latin rādīcālis ("of or pertaining to the root, radical"). Historically, radicalism referred exclusively to a form of progressive electoral reformism that had developed in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries. However, the denotation has changed since its 18th century coinage to comprehend the entire political spectrum, though retaining the connotation of "change at the root".

In United States politics, the term has also been used pejoratively among conservatives and moderates to denote political extremism. The 19th century Cyclopaedia of Political Science reports that "radicalism is characterized less by its principles than by the manner of their application".

Background

The Encyclopædia Britannica records the first political usage of "radical" as ascribed to Charles James Fox, a British Whig Party parliamentarian who in 1797 proposed a "radical reform" of the electoral system, franchise to provide universal manhood suffrage, thereby idiomatically establishing "radical" to denote supporters of the reformation of the British Parliament.

Throughout the 19th century, the term then combined with political notions and doctrines, thus conceptualising the working class, middle class, philosophic, democratic, bourgeois, Tory and plebeian forms of radicalism. In the event, politically influential radical leaders give rise to their own trend of political radicalism (see Spencean radicalism and Carlilean radicalism). Philosophically, the French political scientist Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) is the principal theoretician proposing "political radicalism" as feasible in republican political philosophy, viz the French Revolution (1789–1799) and other modern revolutions—the antithesis to the liberalism of John Locke (1632–1704).

Positions

Status quo change

The common feature to all radical political forms is a view that some fundamental change is required of the status quo. For an array of anti-capitalist forms, this manifests in anti-establishment reactions to modern neo-liberal regimes.

Concept of ideology

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes the radical concept of ideology to be that:

• While social conditions exist "that are vulnerable to criticism and protest; ideology exists to protect these social conditions from attack by those who are disadvantaged by them."
• "Ideology conserves by camouflaging flawed social conditions, giving an illusory account of their rationale or function, in order to legitimate and win acceptance of them."

This view reflects "a consensus among radicals of all stripes on the role of law as a dissembling force to safeguard the unjust relations of the status quo." Furthermore, in addressing specific issues some radical politics may completely forego any overarching ideological plan.

See also

• Radical centrism
• Radical left (disambiguation)
• Radical right (disambiguation)
• Reactionary
• Revolutionary
• Rules for Radicals

References

• March, Luke (2012). Radical Left Parties in Europe. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-57897-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=xF3FBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1724. 
• Walter, Edward (1992). The Rise and Fall of Leftist Radicalism in America. ISBN 0-275-94276-7. 
• Abcarian, Gilbert (1971). American Political Radicalism: Contemporary Issues and Orientations. 

External links

• The M and S Collection at the Library of Congress contains materials on Radical Movements.