ideology of politics

The state plays a variety of positions to ensure that citizens' rights are secured and that their democracy is expanded. Their functionality, though, is based on the political methods embraced by politicians and society as a whole. However, the roles can be represented from various angles. Liberalism and pluralism are two new democratic political philosophies (Birch, p.6). According to the liberalism perspective, the state must protect people from harm while simultaneously ensuring that their independence is not limited (Adams, p.10). The government will refuse citizens' rights on its own. Therefore, the state has to ensure that its officials do not propagate activities that will ruin the freedom of the people. In protecting the people from harm, the state also has the duty of removing the obstacles that may hinder them from acting freely and living well. Such hindrances can emanate from poverty, unequal treatment, bad leadership and sicknesses among others. This explains the reason why the state enforces policies to overcome such obstacles.



According to the pluralism political ideology, sovereignty is not wholly endowed to the state but other systems as well (Dunleavy, p.148). These systems comprise of the social, cultural, economic and other political institutions. As such, power is not exclusive but inclusive and divisible. For such reasons, the state shares the same roles as other institutions in making the rules of governing the people. Its function is to protect the rights and freedom of the citizens. It is also concerned with the welfare of the people. The other duties of the state include maintaining order in the society, enforcing growth and development and protecting resources among others. However, other systems of the community also play a role in meeting these responsibilities.



For the order to be maintained in the society, the state and its citizens have to keep a particular relationship. Based on the liberalism approach, the state has a lot of power over the people even though it claims to promote democracy (Vincent, p.332). It is the one which instructs other systems such as the social, economic and cultural institutions on what they should do for the benefit of the people. This approach enables people to have the power to decide the people who will govern them. As a result, democracy is promoted in the sense that people can elect the office holders (Beetham, p.11). This depicts the role that the citizens play in the governance of the state since the only people who can lead are the citizens’ choices (Vestheim, p.13). In many instances, people have the power to evaluate if the state is delivering its expectations. The relationship between the state and the citizens is also marked by the ability of the people’s grievances to be heard.

In ensuring that the citizens are protected and the freedom is not restricted, there are people elected to represent citizens from different locations of the state. If political differences arise and people are not satisfied with the decisions that are made, they can have their grievances aired to the leaders and solutions are developed. It is through such discussions that the citizens’ rights are protected. The relationship created by the state and the citizens with regard to the pluralist approach is almost similar to that generated by the liberalist ideology. With pluralism, however, people tend to have more power while interacting with the state. This is because sovereignty does not entirely belong to the state (Dowding, p.483). Instead, it belongs to all the institutions in the society (Heywood, p.157). As such the enhancement of protection and enforcement of the citizens’ freedom is enabled in several ways.

The citizens have several areas of contact with the state. As a result of the relationship created is one that ensures that the needs of the citizens are met. When compared to the liberalist approach, this ideology tends to promote democracy in a better and fulfilling manner. In many instances, the state promises its citizens equal treatment to every one of them. The ability to meet this goal emanates from the policies that are made. These plans are the ones which are later transformed into the laws of governance. While this is the case, it is evident that the state only considers the policies that are made by a particular group of the society (Leach, p.268); the wealthy people of the community. It goes without saying that people who have money can control others. Often, they can cause implementation of their ideas. This explains why the poor people continue wailing in poverty and the rich continue being wealthy.



When policies are made in their favour, they gain the power to control all the resources of the nation and accumulate wealth even through illegal means (Vanhanen, p.54). This depicts favouritism on the side of the government. If all groups were treated in a fair manner, all citizens’ opinions and contributions towards certain state matters would be considered in the decision-making strategies. However, this is not usually the case. Those people who are poor and do not have any political power tend to be side lined. This is one area that the state has failed its people. Notably, the affluent and interest groups are made up of a very small population while the rest of the community is composed of the poor people. In the long run, several aspects of the society are derailed, and the citizens become disappointed with the governance of the state.

Societal interests revolve around all the activities that are carried out to promote the welfare of the people (Held, p.14). They differ with those of the state as the latter is supposed to meet the needs of the society. There exists a close relationship between the state and the community. However, the state tends to control all the aspects of the society and determines its ability to fulfil its interests. It cannot be declared entirely whether or not the state has created a balance. However, it is clear that it has strived to meet this balance by ensuring that people’s freedoms and their protection are achieved and enhanced. It has enabled for the creation of laws that promote social order, and this is part of the needs of the people.

Moreover, it has helped in solving several problems through the development that have occurred in the society. Currently, education, infrastructure, security and the economy among other areas have been improved. All of these areas serve to ensure that the societal interests are met. However, there are still some areas that show the shortcomings of the government in meeting the interests of the society. For instance, it has embarked on implementing policies that favour the affluent and interests groups of the society. The result of this has been growth for some people while others have been left out. When making policies, it is essential to consider that a majority of the people are the poor. As such, they require adequate political representation because they do not have power.

Usually, the state is comprised of officials who exercise power over the citizens. Each of the personnel has a different interest that they need to fulfil. As such the state has interests that are independent of the society. Even though there is a close relationship between the state and the society, the needs are independent of each other. Notably, the state acts to meet the needs of the citizens. This affects the relationship between the two parties. Due to the independence of the states’ interest, it has the power to develop strategies without considering the impact that they will have on its citizens. For instance, when policies are made to favour the wealthy and other interest groups, the citizens suffer. This is because; their concerns cannot be addressed expectedly. This explains why the poor people are not adequately represented in the political scenes of the state. In addition to this, the independence of the state’s interest from the society makes it difficult for the citizens to trust political leaders. As a result, they have opted to implement strategies which make their opinions to be heard. The mistrust has caused political unrests which is evident from the political demonstrations that are held now and then. In addition to this, corruption levels have increased as the state officials strive to meet their personal needs. Due to the reasons discussed above, the state’s interests conflict with those of the society (Lukes, p.7).





The liberal approach tends to provide an in-depth and accurate description of the state’s function. To begin with, it explains the role of the government. It further expounds on the different ways through which the tasks are fulfilled. In this case, the liberal approached is concerned with the protection of the citizens and the enhancement of their freedom. The different ways in which this is achieved is through ensuring that all factors that act as deterrents to progress in the society are addressed (Heywood, p. 27). According to this approach, the hindrances to the fulfillment of the needs of the citizens include sickness, poverty, discrimination and bad leadership. This political ideology, therefore, promotes the welfare of the people and also enhances the growth of the society. The pluralist approach, on the other hand, gives vague information about the responsibilities of the state. It equalizes its power to other systems of the society. As such, it can be challenging to identify what the state is supposed to do if social, cultural and economic institutions have the power to govern the people.



The pluralist approach has achieved in providing a better depiction of the state’s and the society’s relationship. This is because it considers the various factors that characterize the lives of people. The economy, culture, and social factors determine the kind of life led by a group of people. Therefore when making policies, it is important to engage these institutions to come up with excellent solutions. In addition to this, pluralism enables for the creation of a good relationship with the society thus unity among the people (Festenstein and Kenny, p. 37). This is because; the people have adequate representation on the political scenes of the state. Their needs can be acted upon by the several systems that share in the sovereignty of the nation. Contrary, the liberal approach mostly allows for the interests of the state to be met. As such a conflicting relationship is established.









Works Cited

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Dunleavy, Patrick, and Brendan O'leary. Theories of the state: The politics of liberal democracy. London: Macmillan, 1987.



Festenstein, M. and Kenny, M. Political Ideology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).



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Heywood, Andrew. Key concepts in politics and international relations. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.



Leach, Robert. Political Ideology in Britain. (US: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015)



Lukes, Steven. Power: A Radical View, 2nd ed. (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2005)



Vincent, A. Modern Political Ideologies, 3rd. ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 2010).



Vanhanen, Tatu. Prospects of democracy: A study of 172 countries. (London: Routledge, 1997).



Vestheim, Geir, ed. Cultural Policy and Democracy. Routledge, 2016.