State ideology

A state ideology is a political ideology that serves as the basis of a state and its political organization. This primarily refers to the dogmatic ideologies of totalitarian dictatorships such as that of National Socialism in the German Reich , Marxism-Leninism in the Soviet Union and other real socialist states, or also dominant intolerant state religions in theocracies. Such systems are based on “official” worldviews and political or religious myths and combat divergent views. In a broader sense, however, the liberal democracy of Western democracies can also be viewed as a state ideology. For example, the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany as a defensive democracy protects the free democratic basic order against its abolition by ideologically differently oriented forces.

history

In the early modern era, state ideologies emerged whose function was to glorify the territory of a state with its absolutist central power. These ideologies were based on the concept of limites naturelles , which began to prevail in France from the 17th century. An ideological space was defined within natural (ethnic) boundaries. One example is the historical definition of the hexagon between the Pyrenees and the Rhine as a specifically French area. Similar phenomena were observed in Swedish foreign policy in the 16th and 17th centuries when the Baltic Sea became an element of state ideology. In the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, the rivers Rhine and Danube circumscribed the area that contained German identity.

In the age of absolutism, Elector Maximilian considered the admonishing and instructive Fürstenspiegel Monita paterna - originally intended as a supplement to the will - to his son Duke Ferdinand Maria as the source of state ideology. This writing is first of all a self-commitment of the regent to recognize God as the supreme lord and judge, because the piety of the rulers can be used to measure the happiness or misfortune of the subjects. According to Maximilian's view of the state, he is also obliged to his people. Maximilian compares government duties with the duties of a father. In addition, Maximilian followed the idea of reasons of state and the separation of state and society. This created a gap between private conscience and government action.

totalitarianism

The introduction and adherence to a state ideology is an essential characteristic of totalitarian systems of rule. These state ideologies can be expressed in completely different ways, as the regimes of National Socialism and Communism have shown or are still showing. A totalitarian state pursues the goal of revolutionizing society in order to achieve a supposedly perfect end state. This status quo would then be “the end of history”. Under National Socialism it was the national community, under Communism it was the classless society. In totalitarianism, the population is not only required to adapt to the state ideology, it should also become part of the people's life. In this sense, state ideologies should even legitimize human rights violations, as well as serious interventions in the economy and society. The respective state ideology is the basis of the always massive propaganda of the rulers. In doing so, it relies not only on the state, but also on the enthusiasm of the masses. Organized masses form the regime's power base. A state ideology is by itself not a sufficient condition for totalitarianism. A state is only totalitarian when this ideology is enforced with state terror and made a social reality. On the other hand, a disintegration of state ideology is an indicator of the end of the system of rule, as the example of the Soviet Union shows. At the end of 1991, Marxism-Leninism had had its day there as a state ideology.

Republicanism

In historical studies, republics and republicanism - with a formation of democratic will based on civic virtues - are seen as a phenomenon that has occurred almost across Europe. The origins are in ancient times. In modern Europe, republicanism has become the dominant state ideology.

Islam as an ideology

Islam as a religion must be distinguished from Islam as a state ideology. Islam claims not only to determine the form and content of the practice of religion, but also to give regulations that regulate the coexistence of people under economic, social and political aspects. As a result of colonialism, modernity moved into the world of Islam in the 20th century. Western dominance called their own cultural and religious identity into question. Iran is seen as a good example of the challenges involved. The country has absorbed the influences from the West more than others, but its government is heavily influenced by religious traditionalists.

Forms and diffusion

China

China's economy works according to market principles. But the Western value system on which they are based is in contrast to the Chinese state ideology. The Chinese Communist Party represents a communism with Chinese characteristics, which is breaking away from Marxism-Leninism with Soviet characteristics and which tries to reevaluate the Marxist classics. Both the party's class struggle mandate and the dictatorship of the proletariat were abandoned. Nevertheless, the realization of communism remains the long-term goal of the state party. In the short term, the aim is to achieve modest prosperity for the broadest possible section of the population. Under the changed conditions of the reform policy, nationalism plays an important role in the self-legitimation of the Chinese Communist Party. The German Foreign Ministry speaks of an atheistic state ideology in China.

Israel

Basel program, 1897

The Zionism of European Ashkenazi Jews is aimed at a Jewish nation-state in Palestine. It is believed that Israel has experienced a revolution in the recent past, after which Zionism as a state ideology has changed its preferences. The clashes with the so-called post-Zionists in the 1980s and 1990s are an indication of this. Scientists who had taken a critical stance on Israeli past and present were designated as such. Since then, Zionism has been revolutionized. It is a new state ideology that no longer has much in common with the original Zionism, an ethnocentric and religious Zionism. This new school of thought is primarily concerned with the Jewish character of Israel, whereby “the Jewish” may only be interpreted in the sense of the Orthodox tradition.

Representatives of anti-Zionism - which is located in the German left - are accused of anti-Semitism. The writer Jean Amery said: “Anti-Semitism, contained in anti-Israelism or anti-Zionism like the thunderstorm in the cloud, is again honorable. He can speak vulgarly, then that's called the 'criminal state of Israel'. He can do it in a mannered way and speak of the 'bridgehead of imperialism'. "In the party Die Linke are still (2010) influential forces in office and dignity, who dismiss Israel as evil. Norman Paech spoke of Zionism as a state ideology and racism as early as 1975.

Canada

In 1967, immigration legislation came into effect in Canada, which ties immigration permits to individual qualifications. As a result, more migrants came from Asia, especially from Hong Kong. In 2003 the proportion of visible minorities was around 13 percent of the population. Canada deals with this ethnic diversity by developing a concept of multiculturalism that has the status of a state ideology. The Canadians are not only regarded as the ideal inventors of the multicultural society, but they were also the first to translate this concept into practical politics.

Latin America

In Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia, large sections of the population still experience their society from a national perspective. At the end of the 19th century, nationalism in its liberal form was the predominant state ideology in Mexico, Argentina and Peru. In these states, nationalism must be seen in the context of relatively weak states. In addition, ethnic boundaries from the colonial era play a role. In the course of the 20th century, liberal nationalism in these countries was replaced by popular nationalism as the state ideology.

North Korea

In 1955, the so-called Chuch'e ideology was first mentioned in North Korea by Kim Il-sung and introduced as a state ideology in 1977, effectively replacing Marxism-Leninism. Chuche means subject. The “eternal President” Kim Il-Sung and his successor are considered to be the central subject of the state . The state propagates that North Korea is in sole possession of the truth and therefore knows the way to human progress. The only guardian of this truth is the party. Because the underage people need a leader, the party is the instrument of the ruler. Another important feature of North Korean state ideology is the emphasis on national independence and self-sufficiency. It is less about economic independence than about ideological self-sufficiency. Chuche is a reservoir of Marxist-Leninist ideas, Confucian ideas about hierarchy and nationalist elements. Chuche is also known as an applied form of Kimism . In mid-1990, this ideology was expanded to include the Songun principle, which gives priority to the military.

Russia

Russia was considered a state without ideology. President Vladimir Putin filled this vacuum with his messianic state ideology and mafia-like structures, believes Felix Riefer, a member of the Lew Kopelew Forum's advisory board. He calls this form of nationalist ideology Putinism . A not inconsiderable part of the Russian population wants their country to be respected internationally. In return, you also accept material losses. Russia's hybrid war against Ukraine has anchored Putin's state ideology in all walks of life. He presented the Russian infiltration, instruction and invasion of Ukraine as an act of defense and support by separatists against the fascists controlled by the West. The Swiss Russia expert Ulrich Schmidt describes Putin's policy as neo-imperial megalomania. Putin wants to involve the Russian citizen in the project of a powerful Russia with its own non-Western values. The most important medium of this ideology is the largely harmonized state television.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia follows Wahabism in its state ideology . The country is also trying to “Arabize” Pakistan. The Wahhabis - a relatively small group within the Sunnis - believe in a puritanic Islam and thereby distinguish themselves from popular variants of Islam.

Turkey

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is standing at the window of a train with the flag of Turkey behind him

Turkish Kemalism is defined by six principles: nationalism, republicanism, secularism, populism (in the sense of the equality of all citizens and the recognition of the will of the people), statism (responsibility of the state for the economy and society) and reformism (continuous self-renewal of state and society) . These six principles were included in the program of the Republican People's Party in 1931 with Mustafa Kemal as first general secretary and in 1937 as state doctrine in the constitution of the nation-state founded in 1923. The overriding principles are Turkish nationalism and the commitment to the secular republic. Originally, secularism was supposed to push Islamic religiosity back into the private sphere and nationalism was supposed to serve as a basis for identification. Article 3 of the Turkish constitution reads: “The state of Turkey is an indivisible whole in its national territory and national people. His language is Turkish. ”The constitution should also legitimize the compulsory assimilation of the Kurdish population groups. The concept of minority was used restrictively. Kemalism is considered to be the main cause of the Kurdish conflict.

Web links

• Literature on state ideology in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Maria Baramova: Limits in Europe of the Early Modern Age. In: European History Online. German National Library, accessed on February 26, 2016 . 
2. ^ Gabriele Greindl: The state ideology of Elector Maximilian I and its manifestations in art. (PDF) 1978, accessed on February 24, 2016 (Master's thesis at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München). 
3. ↑ Kristian Klinck: The theory of totalitarianism Eric Voegelins. (PDF) December 18, 2009, accessed on February 26, 2016 (dissertation at the FU Berlin). 
4. ^ Helmut Altrichter: Brief history of the Soviet Union 1917-1991 in the Google book search
5. ↑ Helmut Georg Koenigsberger: Republics and Republicanism in Europe in the Early Modern Age in the Google Book Search
6. ↑ Islam as religion and state ideology. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, February 3, 2001, accessed on February 26, 2016 . 
7. ↑ Sebastian Heilmann: Socialism with Chinese characteristics. FAZ, June 13, 2008, accessed on February 26, 2016 . 
8. ↑ China. Federal Foreign Office, April 2015, accessed on February 26, 2016 . 
9. ↑ Moshe Zimmermann: The fear of peace: The Israeli dilemma in the Google book search
10. ↑ Current anti-Semitism: a phenomenon in the middle (2010) in the Google book search
11. ^ Rainer Geißler: Multiculturalism in Canada - Model for Germany? (PDF) In: From Politics and Contemporary History B26 / 2003. University of Siegen, 2003, accessed on February 26, 2016 . 
12. ^ Matthias vom Hau: Theories of nationalism in Latin America in the Google book search
13. ↑ Oliver Stroh: North Korea before the collapse? An analysis of the North Korean political system in Google Book Search
14. ↑ Felix Riefer: Don Putin. The European, March 4, 2015, accessed February 26, 2016 . 
15. ↑ Jörg Himmelreich: Ulrich Schmid: "Technologies of the Soul". How Putin's postmodern dictatorship works. Deutschlandradio Kultur, January 14, 2016, accessed on February 26, 2016 . 
16. ↑ The long arm of the Saudis. (No longer available online.) Culture Exchange - magazine for international perspectives, archived from the original on February 26, 2016 ; accessed on February 26, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
17. ↑ Gülistan Gürbey: The Kurdish conflict. Federal Agency for Civic Education, August 12, 2014, accessed on February 26, 2016 .