The Britannica Guide to Political and Social Movements That Changed the Modern World | Date: 28 April 2011, 04:13
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The Britannica Guide to Political and Social Movements That Changed the Modern World (Turning Points in History)
By Heather M. Campbell
* Publisher: Rosen Education Service
* Number Of Pages: 304
* Publication Date: 2009-12-20
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 1615300163
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9781615300167
Introduction:
There is strength in numbers, which is why efforts to
effect change that have plenty of support and high
participation rates are the most likely to succeed. Such
movements are formed when people organize with the
goal of putting ideas into action, often in an attempt to
bring about political or social change. As many successful
political and social movements through the ages have
demonstrated, groups with a well-thought-out agenda
and clear goals can raise civilizations to new heights or
bring them down, create empires or destroy them. They
can radically alter the course of a nation and the lives of
its citizens.
The history and foundations of the most influential
political and social movements in the world form the
basis of this book. A selection of movements is covered,
including a number of political philosophies—democracy,
socialism, communism, fascism—that seek to define the
way that people should be ruled. These are the organized
concepts and beliefs that, once put into practice by dedicated
interest groups, have changed the world—sometimes
for the better, sometimes not.
By their very nature, political and social movements
deal with two main questions: How should society be
organized, and what is the best way to bring about a reorganization,
if necessary? Naturally, the former question
implies that the present arrangement of society is less
than ideal—at least according to those people who wish
to improve their lot. Methods of reorganizing society
include persuasion and coercion. Persuasion involves
appeals designed to sway people’s minds and attitudes
through the dissemination of information. Coercion, on
the other hand, involves the concrete use or threat of
violence. This can be organized force such as military conquest
or internal revolution, or guerrilla tactics such as
those used by terrorists.
Throughout history, certain political movements have
become so powerful that they were able to overthrow a
country’s existing government through revolution, which
is the near-perfect melding of persuasion and coercion.
Spurred (and persuaded) by the eloquence of fervent individuals,
ordinary citizens have risen up and fought for the
right to determine how they were governed. For instance,
the leaders of the American and French revolutions were
heavily influenced by ideas expressed in the writings of
men such as John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques
Rousseau, and Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La
Brede et de Montesquieu. The concepts popularized by
these writers, which form the basis of classical liberalism,
support the idea that people have the right to take action
to improve the conditions under which they live, and that
the authority of government over individuals should be
limited. The spread of their ideas compelled people to
take up arms against what they deemed an oppressive
regime. The result of both revolutions was a move from
monarchy to democracy.
Another political movement that effected radical governmental
change through revolution was the form of
socialism called communism. Based on ideas proposed by
a philosopher, Karl Marx, communism was formulated to
address the problem of class struggle, whereby the upper
class has most of the wealth while the lower classes do
most of the work. The supporters of communism believed
that they could better the lives of everyone if all people
could be made to act for the common, rather than the
individual, good. In the 20th century both Russia and
China overthrew imperial regimes and ultimately instituted
communist forms of government.
In contrast to the authoritarian rule of the communists,
social democracy, which was adopted in countries such as
the UK, provides a balance between the overarching individual
freedom of classical liberalism and the rigidly
structured form of communism seen in the Soviet Union
and China. Under this form of socialism, the government
maintains control of the distribution of some resources to
the populace, such as national health care, so that everyone
has access to them. However, the people retain their
individual freedoms and right to self-rule.......................................
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