Political Ideologies in the Age of Globalization
(Manfred B. Steger)
A study of Chinese political ideologies through a comparative view
General definition of globalization
Globalization is a term that began in the mid-1980s with the collapse of the bipolar system and is a long-standing historical trend. This process is so widespread that it has affected all aspects of human life, to the point that some experts have called it the greatest event in human history (Soborski).
Experts believe that globalization is a multidimensional set of social processes that are not only related to purely technological or economic aspects but also includes political, cultural, and ideological dimensions. According to Wilde, globalization has two main distinguishing features. First, globalization involves the creation and proliferation of economic networks around the world. The creation of large multinational economic companies and their development in e-commerce has created new forms of production and consumption. The second characteristic of globalization is the development of social relations, networks, activities and interdependencies (Wilde). For instance, the internet transports large amounts of information over long distances in less than a second.
Certainly, the current growth of the global society would not have been possible without the technological revolution of communications and information. According to Steger, 'Globalization' is one of the defining buzzwords of our time, describing a variety of accelerating economic, political, and cultural processes that constantly change our experience of the world (Steger, 2010).In general, among all the different aspects of the globalization process, it is important to examine the political ideologies formed in the age of globalization.
Political Ideologies in the Age of Globalization
The study of globalization ideologies is crucial to understanding how globalization develops as a process. While one of the main indicators of globalization is technological progress, it is not an automated process and is rooted in basic political ideologies and structures. Specialists in globalization have divided all theories of globalization into eight distinct categories, which include liberalism, political realism, Marxism, constructivism, postmodernism, feminism, trans-formationalism and eclecticism (Soborski). As Steger describes, there are three main types of globalization (ideologies that convey the concept of globalization with specific values and meanings), which include market globalization, justice globalization, and religious globalization (Steger, 2005).
Advocates of market globalization preach a consumer, neoliberal, and free-market world. Many powerful people who claim that the transfer of democracy is in the interest of all people support this ideology. Critics of the theory argue that this view could be politically motivated and reinforce inequality in the end. Justice globalism considers civil society with fairer relations and environmental protection. Proponents of this ideology oppose the free market economy, which neoliberalism sees as the only way to achieve economic stability. Finally, followers of religious globalism ideology strive to establish a global religious community with superiority over secular structures (Wilde).
In describing the globalist ideology, Steger points to six “core truth claims”:
1) Globalization is about liberalization and global integration of markets, 2) globalization is inevitable and irreversible, 3) no one is responsible for globalization, 4) globalization is in everyone's interest, 5) globalization increases the spread of democracy in the world, and 6) globalization requires a global war on terror. The first truth of Steger's claim to market liberalization is support for open borders that he sees as the long-term result of globalization. The second claim, which sees globalization as beneficial to all, offers a global collective identity as a reference framework. The third truth claims that no one is responsible and means denying political power beyond the state. Finally, according to the fourth, fifth, and sixth claims, globalization is inevitable, leading to economic prosperity, democracy, and security (Steger, 2013).
Globalization, in general, has a dominant common ideology in which the protection of “open borders is systematically linked to the rejection of political authority beyond the country, global identity, inevitable justifications, economic prosperity, freedom, democracy and security”. (Steger, 2010).Steger identifies two competing ideologies for this dominant globalist ideology, Particularise Protectionists and Universalist Protectionists. Particularise protectionism includes right-wing political groups that blame globalization on the economic, political, and cultural problems of countries or regions (Steger, 2005). Proponents of particularism criticize free trade, the power of global investors, the neoliberal plan to expand multinational corporations, and so on as factors that have contributed to declining living standards or moral collapse. Defenders of this view seek to protect their traditional lifestyles from "foreign elements" which hold them responsible for abandoning the forces of globalization (Steger, 2013).
Universal protectionists, on the other hand, may oppose free trade and open borders, but they do not necessarily oppose political authority beyond government. Universalist advocates claim that they are guided by the ideals of equality and social justice for all peoples of the world, not just the citizens of their own countries (Soborski). Approving to this view, some regulations and law enforcement may be needed to protect vulnerable groups such as indigenous communities, refugees and to reorganize the distribution of the world. Thus, while Particularise advocates recognize a regional group or nation as the focus of attention, Universalist supporters focus on inequality and justice on a global scale (Wilde).
In general, according to scholars and experts on the globalization debate, we are in a period in which globalization ideologies are in the process of being constructed rather than fully established. Political ideologies in the age of globalization are groups of controversial political concepts and have many opponents and defenders. All the major ideologies such as liberalism, socialism, nationalism, capitalism, and fascism are being practiced in several countries and have been discussed in various political debates. Hence, political ideologies in the age of globalization are not limited to one country or one issue. Therefore, only by identifying the main factors in the discussion and then mapping the pattern of ideologies in different societies can be examined in the best way, which has room for much longer and more extensive research.
A study of Chinese political ideologies through a comparative view
Modern Chinese political ideologies emerged almost two centuries ago. Marxism-Leninism was the first official political ideology of China and is a combination of classical Marxism (thoughts of Marx and Engels) and Leninism (thoughts of Vladimir Lenin).Although the Chinese Communist Party was founded in 1921, socialist ideas were still prevalent in China (Shi-Kupfer, Ohlberg & Lang). As Kuo explains, socialist ideas entered China in the late 19th century, and in 1907, anarchist communism was the dominant form of socialist ideas in China. On the other hand, the nationalism and populism that prevailed in China in the 1910s played an important role in the ideology of early communists such as Li Dazhao and Mao Tse-tung. "Maoism" was the political view of Mao Zedong, the revolutionary and political theorist of the Chinese Communist Party of Marxism, who founded the People's Republic of China in 1949 (Bell). Mao recognized rural society as the main revolutionary force and declared that he could lead the Chinese Communist Party through the proletariat and its vanguard, and eventually bring the Chinese Communist Party to power. Since then the Chinese Communist Party has remained the only official party in power in China and continues to run the one-party system of the People's Republic of China (Albert, Xu & Maizland).
Ideology has been a key factor in China's political and economic culture for many years and still plays a key role in trying to legitimize authoritarian rule in contemporary China. Chinese policymakers believe that one of the reasons for the dissolution of the Soviet Union was the stagnant ideology of its government. Therefore, they believe that their party ideology must be dynamic to protect the party's sovereignty. Unlike the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, whose ideology was rigid and inflexible, it was eventually destroyed (Mielants). As Yan states, China's foreign policy is heavily influenced by the cultural and ideological considerations of its leaders, and this bias has led to China having different values and political systems from those in Europe and the West (Yan). Since intellectuals begin to articulate China's position in a centralized world order beyond their borders, the analysis of China's political ideologies compared to the West is crucial to a better understanding of the issue.
China first encountered foreign (West) ideas in the mid-nineteenth century. A set of global developments, including technology, economic prosperity, and the new political organization of Europe and the United States, persuaded Chinese thinkers to reconsider for the first time the state-centered ethnicity that had hitherto characterized Chinese political ideologies (Shi-Kupfer, et al.). According to Mielants, the emerging popular press contributed significantly to the process of ideological change. Thus, the political ideologies of Europe like social Darwinism, liberalism and democracy gradually entered China. Yan Fu, an influential Chinese translator, argued that the way of life presented by Western nations was an inevitable global trend, therefore to prevent crushing; China must find a way to instill a spirit of freedom in its people (Bell). Chinese journalist and politician Zhang Shizhao and his colleagues were among the intellectuals of the day who called on China's fledgling democracy to follow the example of the British Parliament. They supported the attitude of the new culture movement to bring about profound change (Albert, et al.).
“The 1911 Revolution” was a revolution that overthrew the last Chinese monarchy and established the Republic of China. This development was the beginning of the liberation of individuals from a range of traditional restrictions, following this, the success of democracy and liberalism in China called for the restoration of a comprehensive culture (Jenco). Following this trend, a new cultural movement emerged in the 1910s and 1920s that criticized classical Chinese ideas and promoted new Chinese culture based on Western ideals such as democracy and science. For example, one of the most important cultural movements of that time was the radical movement known as the "May Fourth radicalism movement", which was formed by a group of Chinese patriotic students with modernist ideas (Kuo). The 1930s and 1940s were a time when China experienced various political tensions between the socialist, nationalist and communist parties. Finally, the victory of the communists in 1949 put an end to these multi-party talks (Yan).
According to Jenco, the formation of communism was ideologically due to the May Fourth radical movement; however, its sociological roots can be traced back to the early twentieth-century anarchism. The ideological goals of communism in the early stages emphasized equality and social justice but were later influenced by Maoism. Mao proposed a Stalinist version of Marxism-Leninism that insisted on immediate reforms in the land. He also promoted a version of what he called the "new democracy." (Shi-Kupfer, et al.). The Chinese Communist Party, under Mao, became a force for international communism. Many groups and parties accepted the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party, the idea of Mao (Maoism). Unlike many other political ideologies, Maoism contained a basic military theory that clearly linked its political ideology to military strategy (Bell). In Maoist’s thought, "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun" and the rural people can be mobilized to start a "people's war" in an armed struggle. After Mao's death, the international Maoist movement was in turmoil, and the role of his ideology in policy-making diminished considerably (Jenco).
Following Deng Xiaoping's reforms in 1978, China gradually abandoned its Maoist ideology and turned to capitalism. The official view of the theorists of that period was that China had reached an economic, political stage called the major stage of socialism, and was facing new and different problems that had not been foreseen at all by Mao (Albert, et al.). For this reason, Mao's solutions are no longer suitable for solving problems in the current situation in China. As Jenco describes, much of Deng's success was in launching China's economic and cultural reform. He believed that full economic development would be impossible without democratic institutions. Culturally, higher education in China improved considerably in the 1980s. Thus, it can be said that the 1980s were the beginning of economic prosperity in China. Generations after the 1980s and 1990s grew up in societies that were more involved in international trade and exposed to US culture (Kuo).
The People's Republic of China saw more economic growth in the 1990s and 2000s. In 2010, China became the world's second-largest economy by GDP. Since then, China has established itself as one of the world's economic powers. Many independent intellectuals in China and abroad have always discussed comparing prominent political values of philosophical traditions in China and the West (Yan). Agreeing with Shi-Kupfer, et al., from the twentieth century, most of the dominant political values in Western societies, such as democracy, equality, and freedom, are highly contested in China. China has not yet been able to pass a one person–one vote law to elect top political leaders, while other East Asian societies such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan preferred the democratic system back to its old traditions. They rapidly changed and came to support democracy, in the form of one person–one vote(Bell).
Another aspect of comparing the political ideology of China and Western societies is the issue of equality and hierarchy. Some of those in power in the West sympathize with their subordinates or plan a series of government measures to ensure material equality in society (Yan). While, East Asian societies, including China, choose a hierarchical system between social hierarchy and social equality, believing that they use liberal values such as independence and the rule of law (Bell). The concept of individual liberties is another aspect of comparison in this discussion. Freedom is the core value of liberalism. Freedom of the people is celebrated in Western societies and is generally respected, but what about China? Independent UN experts have always raised widespread concerns about the Chinese government's repression of "fundamental freedoms." (Mielants). Freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, etc. China also has significant control over the media and censorship of the internet. The People's Republic of China does not generally allow freedom of associations (Kuo). The mass repression of people, especially religious and ethnic minorities, the detention of lawyers, prosecutors and human rights defenders are the issues that distinguish China from Western culture (Albert, et al.).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the first part of the discussion generally defined globalization and its dimensions. Globalization is a multidimensional phenomenon whose effects can be extended to social, economic, political, legal, cultural, military and technological activities, as well as social activities such as the environment. Modern globalism is linked to the ideas of economic and political integration of countries. The second part briefly referred to the ideologies of the age of globalization. Globalization emerged as a dominant set of ideologies in the late twentieth century. By establishing these ideologies and intensifying the various processes of globalization, they helped to strengthen a connected global structure. Finally, the third section focused on China's political ideologies with a comparative slope to the West. Marxism is the official ideology of the Chinese Communist Party but has limited influence in the country's foreign policy. However, economic pragmatism is an ideology that was welcomed by the Chinese people and government in the wake of the 1978 political reforms. The Chinese people still see the economy as the foundation of comprehensive national power and therefore support the promotion of economic interests to the level of the main goal of politics. Although traditionalism is not the official ideology of the Chinese government, Chinese government officials agree that foreign policy should be guided by traditional Chinese political wisdom rather than any ideology rooted in Western culture, including Marxism.
Works Cited
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