Which political philosophy is best?

Anarchism

Anarchism is a political philosophy which considers the state undesirable, unnecessary and harmful, and instead promotes a stateless society, or anarchy. It seeks to diminish or even abolish authority in the conduct of human relations. Anarchists may widely disagree on what additional criteria are required in anarchism. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy says, "there is no single defining position that all anarchists hold, and those considered anarchists at best share a certain family resemblance."

Christian democracy

As a generalisation, it can be said that Christian democratic parties in Europe tend to be moderately conservative, and in several cases form the main conservative party in their respective countries (e.g. in Germany, Spain, and Belgium).[citation needed] In Latin America, by contrast, Christian democratic parties tend to be progressive and influenced by liberation theology.[2] These generalisations, however, must be nuanced by the consideration that Christian democracy does not fit precisely into the usual categories of political thought, but rather includes elements common to several other political ideologies

Communism

"Pure communism" in the Marxian sense refers to a classless, stateless and oppression-free society where decisions on what to produce and what policies to pursue are made democratically, allowing every member of society to participate in the decision-making process in both the political and economic spheres of life. In modern usage, communism is often used to refer to the policies of the various communist states, which were authoritarian governments that had centrally planned economies and ownership of all the means of production. Most communist governments based their ideology on Marxism-Leninism.

Communitarianism

Communitarians claim values and beliefs are formed in public space, in which debate takes place. Both linguistic and non-linguistic traditions are communicated to children and form the backdrop against which individuals formulate and understand beliefs. The dependence of the individual upon community members is typically meant as descriptive. It does not mean that individuals should accept majority beliefs. Rather, if an individual rejects a majority belief, such as the historic belief that slavery is acceptable, he or she will do so for reasons that make sense within the community (for example, the Judeo-Christian conception of the imago Dei, or reasons deriving from secular Enlightenment humanism) rather than simply any reason at all. In this sense, the rejection of a single majority belief relies on other majority beliefs.

Conservatism

Conservatism (Latin: conservare, "to conserve") is a political and social philosophy that says that traditional institutions work best and society should avoid radical change. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism and seek a return to the way things were. The first established use of the term in a political context was by François-René de Chateaubriand in 1819, following the French Revolution. The term has since been used to describe a wide range of views. R. J. White wrote: "To put conservatism in a bottle with a label is like trying to liquify the atmosphere… The difficulty arises from the nature of the thing. For conservatism is less a political doctrine than a habit of mind, a mode of feeling, a way of living."

Fascism

Fascists believe that a nation is an organic community that requires strong leadership, singular collective identity, and the will and ability to commit violence and wage war in order to keep the nation strong. They claim that culture is created by collective national society and its state, that cultural ideas are what give individuals identity, and thus rejects individualism. In viewing the nation as an integrated collective community, they claim that pluralism is a dysfunctional aspect of society, and justify a totalitarian state as a means to represent the nation in its entirety. They advocate the creation of a single-party state. Fascist governments forbid and suppress openness and opposition to the fascist state and the fascist movement. They identify violence and war as actions that create national regeneration, spirit and vitality.

Feminism

Feminism refers to political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at establishing greater rights and legal protections for women. Feminism includes some of the sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. It is also a movement that campaigns for women's rights and interests. Nancy Cott defines feminism as the belief in the importance of gender equality, invalidating the idea of gender hierarchy as a socially constructed concept.

Green politics

Supporters of Green politics, called Greens, share many ideas with the ecology, conservation, environmental, feminist, and peace movements. In addition to democracy and ecological issues, green politics is concerned with civil liberties, social justice, nonviolence and tends to support Social progressivism.

Islamism

Islamism is a controversial term and definitions of it sometimes vary. Many confuse or conflate Islamism with Salafism, however early Salafism is the contrary to modern Islamism. Leading Islamist thinkers emphasized the enforcement of sharia (Islamic law); of pan-Islamic political unity or caliphate; and of the elimination of non-Muslim, particularly western, military, economic, political, social, or cultural influences in the Muslim world, which they believe to be imperialist or incompatible with Islam.

Liberalism

Liberalism (from the Latin liberalis, "of freedom"[1]) is the belief in the importance of liberty and equality.[2][3] Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but most liberals support such fundamental ideas as constitutions, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights, free trade, secularism, and the market economy. These ideas are often accepted even among political groups that do not openly profess a liberal ideological orientation. Liberalism encompasses several intellectual trends and traditions, but the dominant variants are classical liberalism, which became popular in the 18th century, and social liberalism, which became popular in the 20th century.

Libertarianism

Libertarianism is a political theory that advocates the maximization of individual liberty in thought and action and the minimization or even abolition of the state. Libertarians embrace viewpoints ranging from pro-property to anti-property and from a minimal state (or minarchist) to anarchist.

Nationalism

Nationalism emphasizes collective identity - a 'people' must be autonomous, united, and express a single national culture. However, some nationalists stress individualism as an important part of their own national identity

Social democracy

The Socialist International (SI) is the main international organization of social democratic and moderate socialist parties. It affirms the following principles: first, freedom—not only individual liberties, but also freedom from discrimination and freedom from dependence on either the owners of the means of production or the holders of abusive political power; second, equality and social justice—not only before the law but also economic and socio-cultural equality as well, and equal opportunities for all including those with physical, mental, or social disabilities; and, third, solidarity—unity and a sense of compassion for the victims of injustice and inequality.

Socialism

Socialism is a political philosophy that encompasses various theories of economic organization based on either public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources. A more comprehensive definition of socialism is an economic system that directly maximizes use-values as opposed to exchange-values and has transcended commodity production and wage labor, along with a corresponding set of social and economic relations, including the organization of economic institutions, the method of resource allocation and post-monetary calculation based on some physical magnitude; often implying a method of compensation based on individual merit, the amount of labor expended or individual contribution.

Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is often described by the phrase "the greatest good for the greatest number of people"[1], and is also known as "the greatest happiness principle". Utility, the good to be maximized, has been defined by various thinkers as happiness or pleasure (versus suffering or pain), although preference utilitarians define it as the satisfaction of preferences. It may be described as a life stance, with happiness or pleasure being of ultimate importance.




I must now ask of you. Which do you believe it the best philosophy, simply according to it's official position. Which one?

I vote for Social democracy or Liberalism(it's a tie). A nice mix of the two is great.

My opinion is that there is not one that stands out.

A little bit of all maybe. Unfortunately people are to divided to have just one good form of government.

Personally I'm for a social democracy leaning to libertarianism.

Like I think there is a need for rules that take care of everyone and not just those with money.
This has to be a non profit preferably state business. Where profits flow into the government instead of taxes. This also counts for development of pharmaceuticals and the production of it.
Pharma has made a 2 billion euro profit last year. the development production etc is already payed. Pure profit. That money can be less ( lowering prices ) and flow back in to government budget (lower taxes)

However that same government can force you to have insurance that's it. Taking any freedoms away like smoking, a fat diet or whatever is illegal.

reply to post by Misoir

You missed out "Aristocracy".

As far as I can remember, from my reading of Aristotle, the word "Aristocracy" means "government by the best people".
How could "government by the best people" fail to be the best political philosophy?

Political Systems explained below: Decide for yourself which is best.

Most people think that the U.S. is a Democracy. The word Democracy never appears in the declaration of independence, the bill of rights or the constitution.

Google Video Link

That really depends on what is your goal.
For example, If you're aiming for a politically stable state, then it would be preferable to have a periods with longer rule (aka any kind of hereditary rulership or similar) instead of periods with shorter rule; you could appoint an enlightened ruler to govern - thus hoping to achieve a fair and just rulership.

EDIT: Personally i'm split between having a political state or not; but as regards to the political philosophies i consider them all to have advantages/disadvantages, though some greater than others. I consider Democracy to be flawed, Socialism has some benefits, as do anarchism. I'm not much for liberalism.
Also, you forgot Technocracy, which i'm a fan of !!

[edit on 10-5-2010 by Mahasamadhi]

[edit on 10-5-2010 by Mahasamadhi]

Green Libitarianistic-Communism.

Make that anarcho-comunisum and you've got a deal, preferably govened by direct democracy.



oh and on subjects of technocracy how would people feel about an AI run state?