Chapter 4

Examining Political Ideologies

In This Chapter

Getting to grips with ideologies

Homing in on liberalism

Scrutinising socialism

Keeping the status quo: conservatism

Looking at alternative ideologies

Avoiding extremes in the UK

At its root politics is all about ideas and the British political system, with its parties, politicians and pressure groups, is no different. Behind the sound bites and the arguments that are the cut and thrust of British political debate lie some very big ideas indeed about how individuals should live their lives and how society is organised.

In this chapter I give you the lowdown on the big political ideologies that have shaped and continue to influence modern British politics and those of other countries around the globe.

Understanding What an Ideology Is

Put simply, an ideology is a single idea or collection of ideas relating to how to organise society, economics and politics. Ideologies are hugely important because they set out a roadmap for the policies pursued by politicians and they inspire political activists. In fact, politics is dominated by ideology; people enter politics inspired by these ideas and some will literally sacrifice everything for them, both for themselves and others.

Moderating ideologies: The British way

Sometimes people can use the pursuit of an ideology to justify downright cruelty, but fortunately in modern times in the UK this hasn’t happened. The more revolutionary ideologies don’t have many supporters in Britain.

Ideologies are hugely important in all countries and political systems. The major ideologies that hold sway in the UK include

• Conservatism: The support of national traditions and institutions in order to retain stability and continuity.
• Liberalism: Protecting the rights of the individual from interference from an overbearing state.
• Socialism: A way of organising the economy and society to benefit as many people as possible.

Conservatism, liberalism and socialism are represented through the UK’s three main political parties. Working out which ideology goes with which isn’t difficult. Socialism is the ideology of the Labour Party, conservatism of the Conservative Party and liberalism of the Liberal Democrats.

Although UK political parties are rooted in ideology, they’re also what’s termed a broad church, meaning they aren’t slavish devotees to their ideologies and instead are practical, bending what they do to the prevailing mood of the public.

The ideologies of the main UK political parties are related to the class from which they draw their main support. For example, the Labour Party draws much of its support from the working class. Socialism is the predominant ideology among certain sections of the working class. As for the Conservatives, they draw much of their support from the upper and middle classes who have a vested interest in retaining the existing economic and political state of affairs. Liberalism is a bit different. Many of the key ideas underpinning liberalism – such as the importance of individual freedom – are supported by just about everyone in society, but many of the people who are most passionate about it are involved in the law or education.

Ideologies are all about ‘isms’, such as socialism, Marxism or conservatism. The mania for tacking on an ‘ism’ can sometimes apply to policies pursued by previous prime ministers (PMs) if they happen to have an ideological theme running through them. For example, Conservative PM Margaret Thatcher’s policies were referred to as Thatcherism and Labour PM Tony Blair’s as Blairism. In fact, if you’re a politician and you have an ‘ism’ named after you, you know you’re making a real impact on the political scene of the country.

Liberalising the world: The march of the Western democratic model

As recently as the 1940s the overwhelming majority of the world’s population lived in undemocratic political systems. Since the end of the Second World War and the demise of communism in Russia and the Eastern bloc in the 1990s, the number of countries worldwide that you can class as democratic has increased many times over. What’s called Western-style democracy, rooted in the ideologies of liberalism, has blossomed so much that for the first time in human history nearly the majority of the world’s population now lives in a democracy. The reason democracy has taken off is that the ideology of liberalism that goes hand in glove with it resonates very strongly with people from all corners of the globe. For example, you can see a free press, the belief in government by consent, and equality under the law enshrined in the constitutions of many newly democratised states.

Focusing on Freedom with Liberalism

The British are among the most free people on the planet. You’re free to say largely what you want, write what you like (as long as it’s not libellous, in other words a false statement expressed as fact that harms an individual), travel as you see fit and choose who governs you. Add to this the fact that Britons enjoy the protection of a long-standing and deep-rooted legal system and you can easily see why people describe Britain, like America, as the land of the free.

Now these freedoms and individual rights didn’t come about overnight; they were built up over centuries. Along with these freedoms grew the ideology of liberalism that runs through much of British politics today.

These are the main principles of liberalism:

• Popular consent: Effective government can only work if it operates with the consent of the majority of people in the country.
• Equality: People of every gender and race are equal, which means everyone has the same voting rights and access to justice through the law.
• Individual liberty: Citizens have certain basic rights such as freedom from imprisonment without criminal charges and the right to free speech. Ideally, these rights are enshrined in a written constitution but not always (in the UK, people’s rights are guaranteed through a patchwork of laws and customs; see Chapter 12 for more).
• Economic freedom: People should be encouraged to set up businesses, and create and retain wealth. Liberals also like to see low taxes.
• Small government: If people are truly to be free, it follows that government should keep as much as possible out of their business and personal lives.

The roots of the liberal ideology date back a long time. Seventeenth-century English philosopher John Locke espoused the liberal principles of individual liberty and equality. Liberalism’s view of economic freedom and belief in the free market is rooted in the writings of the great economist Adam Smith, who argued in the early 19th century for free markets and small government.

The ideology of liberalism is most strongly rooted in the Liberal Democrats, but it also influences the policies of the Labour and Conservative parties. For example, the liberal principles of economic freedom and small government are key components of modern Conservative Party ideology.

Liberalism is a very old ideology and the interpretation of it by politicians has changed over that time. In the 19th century, for instance, leading liberal politicians used to argue that only through a free, unfettered market could true liberalism be found. These days, adherents to liberalism tend to focus on the need to protect and extend civil liberties and promote greater democracy and equality in society, even if this actually means bigger government and curtailing the free market.

Many of the UK’s most prominent pressure groups share the ideology of liberalism. Take Liberty, for instance (the clue is in the name, of course!), led by the prominent campaigner Shami Chakrabarti. The organisation speaks out very loudly when the government does things that it believes damage civil liberties.

Joining Together for the Greater Good: Socialism in the UK

Socialism arose from what was widely seen as massive inequalities brought about by the unbridled capitalism of the Industrial Revolution (see the nearby sidebar, ‘Exploring the origins of socialism’). These ideas are the basis of socialism and they still have a very strong pull in British politics today.

Socialists strive for the following:

• An equal share of wealth so that land and industry is owned by the many rather than the few.
• An end to the exploitation of workers by bosses and the promotion of greater sexual equality in society as a whole.
• Making the job of government and communities to help those in most need.
• Raising educational and health standards across the whole population rather than just among a privileged few.
• The better organisation of society through rational government planning rather than reliance on capitalism and its market forces.

Socialism is a very big ideology, but what do I mean by big? Well, it has an all-encompassing vision that government should do no less than bring about a fair society and an economy built on the idea of sharing evenly, not on personal wealth and acquisition. Socialism is an alternative – to capitalism – way of organising society.

A fundamental trait of socialism is how it views competition between people. Capitalists see competition as desirable because it means that each individual strives to be the best at acquiring wealth, for example. Socialists, on the other hand, don’t like competition because it suppresses the human desire to co-operate. They believe that people and society as a whole achieve more through collective actions rather than by acting alone, motivated by personal profit.

Focusing on the successes of socialism

Despite well over a century of socialism in the UK, looking around you today you notice that vast inequality still exists. However, socialists have scored some major successes and have done so by gaining political power through the election of Labour governments during the 20th century.

Some of the major victories for socialism in the UK include

• Recognising trade unions
• Setting up the National Health Service (NHS)
• Providing free education for all up to age 18
• Building large amounts of social housing and paying welfare benefits
• Improving pay and conditions for workers

Socialists believe in a collective worker consciousness. This term means that people from the same background, working more often than not in industry, believe in the same ideals and hold similar ambitions for how they’d like the economy and wider society to be run.

You don’t need socialists to be in government in order to see socialism promoted through government policy. If enough people share socialist principles in a democracy, you find that politicians of whatever political party respond to this and design their policies so as to appeal to these voters. For example, after the Second World War right up until the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979, all Conservative governments followed policies that may be considered to have socialist ideology behind them, such as closing grammar schools and forming comprehensive schools instead.

Rebranding socialism: New Labour

The ideology of socialism was key to the forming of the Labour Party. In fact, until recently most Labour Members of Parliament (MPs) would have proudly said that they were socialists and that they wanted British society to be organised along socialist lines.

But times have changed and the ideology of socialism is now less important in the Labour Party. In its efforts to appeal to as wide a group of Britons as possible in order to get into government and thereby gain power, Labour has come to accept some of what capitalism has to offer. This happened most noticeably under the leadership of Neil Kinnock and Tony Blair.

Blair, in particular, believed that the socialist message propounded by Labour didn’t take account of how British society had changed in the 1980s and 1990s. The old working class, which had been the bedrock of socialism, had become fragmented and the old industries that had sustained this working class had died away. What replaced the working class was a society focused on more capitalist ideals of individual property ownership and wealth acquisition – particularly under Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher. (I talk more about the Iron Lady, as she was nicknamed, in the ‘Changing conservatism: The Thatcher revolution’ section, later in this chapter.)

As a result of this change in society, Tony Blair went about reforming the Labour Party and shifting many of its policies away from adherence to socialist ideals to instead accept capitalism and shave off its rough edges so as to create a more equal and fair society. Blairism, as this transformation of Labour Party ideology became known, proved very popular and Labour went on to win three general elections on the trot, in 1997, 2001 and 2005. Blair even rebranded the Labour Party, calling it New Labour instead. However, following election defeat in 2010, Labour moved back to the left of British politics under the leadership of Ed Miliband by calling for measures such as price controls on energy bills and renationalising the railways. At the time people saw this as a way for the Labour leadership to reconnect with their core support.

Blairism is also often referred to as the third way. Put simply, this term means neither strictly capitalist nor socialist. The idea is to create a society in which individuals can become rich through hard work if they want but that looks after those less fortunate at the same time. Many people who are avowed socialists don’t see Blair’s third way as a strand of socialist ideology at all.

When Tony Blair became leader in 1994, one of the first things he did was change the constitution of the Labour Party. He got rid of Clause IV of its constitution, which called for the ‘common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange’. This phrase basically means the government should own the railways, hospitals, industries and even the banks and use them to bring about a society organised along socialist lines. Blair’s ditching of Clause IV was a sure sign that Labour was moving away from its socialist roots. On being elected in 1997, Tony Blair famously said: ‘We were elected as New Labour and we will govern as New Labour.’

The modern Labour Party follows a watered-down version of socialism, looking to create a more equal society but at the same time allow people the freedom to become wealthy and gain privileges such as private health care or education if they want.

Stirring things up: Revolutionary socialism

In the UK, socialists generally have tried to achieve their goals through largely peaceful and democratic means such as trade union action and mass support of the Labour Party. For a fair proportion of the last 60 years, in fact, the Labour Party has been the party of government, which means that the socialist ideology has had considerable influence.

However, some socialists believe that this reliance on democratic methods has been a bit of a waste of time, and that the vision offered by socialism has been watered down by Labour politicians looking to garner enough votes to get into government. These people would like to see a revolution overturning some of the UK’s political institutions – such as the monarchy and Houses of Parliament – and replacing them with a government whose aim is to bring about a socialist society.

Revolutionary socialism has had some appeal in the UK; for example, in some parts of the trade unions, and what was called the Militant tendency of the Labour Party in the 1970s and early 1980s. In the main, however, revolutionary socialism hasn’t gained much credence in the UK. But outside of the UK, in countries such as Cuba, China and most notably Russia, revolutions have occurred where a variant of socialist ideology called communism has come to the fore.

Looking far left: Marxism and communism

Globally, many people live in what are called Marxist or communist regimes. Marxism and communism are very similar ideologies and are simply an extreme variant of socialism.

Basically, Marxists and communists believe that capitalism is unjust and must be swept away – overthrown, if you like. Instead of capitalism, with its reliance on enterprise and business, they believe that the government should own everything – such as land and industry – on behalf of the people. In effect, they direct all individual effort towards producing better living standards for everyone rather than just for themselves.

Communism is a variant of Marxism and is defined as the community as a whole owning all property rather than individuals, with each person working for the common benefit according to his skill set. Communists in effect are the political embodiment of Marxist theory. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels thought up the ideas, and the communists put them into practice in countries like Russia, China and Cuba.

By nature, Marxism and communism are revolutionary socialism, in that adherents believe in bringing about change by direct action and overturning the current political situation through revolution. Generally, Marxists and communists believe that the working class needs to be educated about the ways in which capitalists are exploiting them. Then, through this education, the workers will be radicalised and look to start a revolution through direct action.

Marxism gets its name from the great political thinker Karl Marx (1818–83). Marx was German but lived most of his life in England, observing at first hand the Industrial Revolution and the worsening living conditions of many British workers. These observations prompted Marx and his friend and fellow political thinker, Friedrich Engels, to write an analysis of capitalism and suggest that the workers needed to revolt, overturn their current society and build one based on principles of common ownership. Among the books published by Marx and Engels are Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto.

Generally, British socialists believe in working within the political system to bring about their goals, but Marxists and communists argue that the whole system is corrupt and needs to be brought down and replaced. These days, very few people in Britain hold Marxist and communist views. In fact, membership of the British Communist Party is tiny.

Keeping with Tradition: Conservatism

A strong strand of conservatism is evident in the British psyche, and this is embodied in the Conservative Party – one of the big three UK political parties (which I talk about in depth in Chapter 8).

Conservatives believe in the following:

• Keeping Britain’s political institutions intact
• Free market capitalism
• The right of everyone to own property
• Small government that doesn’t interfere in people’s lives

Whereas socialists and Marxists would like to see Britain’s society radically reshaped or even overturned, Conservatives would like what they see as best about Britain to be retained.

Uniting under one nation conservatism

Conservative ideology may be about small government, free markets and the right to property ownership but it also states that all these ‘freedoms’ come with responsibilities. For example, people who do well and make money should have to pay a bit of tax so that those who are less fortunate can have welfare, health care and education.

Another tenet of what is called one nation conservatism is that, although small government should leave people largely alone to get on with their lives, the idea of the nation state should be a strong, unifying one. In addition, many Conservatives believe that government has less of a role to play in the economy but more instead in upholding order in society, so Conservatives often campaign for more police and harsher sentencing of criminals.

To a large extent one nation conservatism is quite close to Tony Blair’s third way New Labour approach (I talk about this in ‘Rebranding socialism: New Labour’, earlier in this chapter). One nation Conservatives believe, like Blair, that the rougher edges of capitalism need to be smoothed down – wealth creation is good but with money comes responsibility to your fellow citizens.

Reforming with a small ‘r’

Although a large part of Conservative ideology concerns the idea of retaining traditions and the prevailing political situation in a bid to promote harmony within society, this doesn’t mean that Conservatives don’t ever reform. Conservatives may be opposed to the idea of radicalism and revolution proposed by people following the Marxist or communist ideologies, but nevertheless they look to gradualist reforms that take account of Britain’s past and its traditions.

Conservatives also say that they like to take a pragmatic approach to society’s problems. For example, generally Conservative governments make fewer laws than Labour ones, preferring to let industries self-regulate rather than have regulation imposed by a central government. Take financial regulation in the UK, for instance. The Conservative governments in the 1980s and 1990s relied on banks and insurers to self-regulate how they dealt with customers; however Labour, from 1997 onwards, required banks and insurers to adhere to stricter regulations, although that didn’t stop the credit crunch in 2007 and the global recession that followed. If Conservatives do reform, it tends to be with a small ‘r’.

Changing conservatism: The Thatcher revolution

Having said that Conservatives reform with a small ‘r’ in the preceding section, the exception was the prime ministership of Margaret Thatcher between 1979 and 1990. Thatcher, who due to her tough stance on issues gained the nickname the ‘Iron Lady’, was elected when Britain was in economic and political turmoil. The country was nearly bankrupt and the trade unions had spent the winter striking. Against the odds, Thatcher set about sweeping away many of the policies that Conservative and Labour governments had pursued since the end of the Second World War. The main tenets of what became known as Thatcherism were the following:

• Reduce the power of the trade unions.
• Encourage individuals to start their own businesses.
• Lower taxes and reduce government interference in daily life.
• Restore national pride through having a strong foreign policy and defence.

Boiled down, many of the bullet points of Thatcherism look very close to core Conservative ideology, but Thatcher differed in the speed at which she tried to move the country in a conservative direction. For decades the country had been moving in a more socialist direction and in a few short years she shifted this around. No traditional conservative ideology of gradualism existed in Thatcher’s approach. Instead, Thatcher was something of an oxymoron – a revolutionary conservative.

Margaret Thatcher was a highly divisive figure in the country. However she still managed to win three landslide election victories in the 1979, 1983 and 1987 general elections.

Modernising the Conservatives

After 13 years out of government the Conservatives finally regained power in 2010 as part of a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. This had a lot to do with the leader of the party, David Cameron, who’d looked to modernise the party since his election as party leader in 2006. The main thrust of his modernisation programme was to make the party more attuned to environmental challenges such as climate change and to try to ensure the party represented those people with jobs and aspirations, helping them to get on in life. Cameron’s programme to modernise was a limited success, but he did become prime minister in 2010.

Examining Alternative Politics

Think of politics as a mighty river with lots of smaller streams of ideology running into it. Some of these ideologies rise and fall in popularity. They may not find their expression through a particular political party, as socialism has at times through the Labour party, but they’re still important because they help form the opinions of millions of Britons as well as wider political debate.

Focusing on the far right: Fascism

Defining fascism isn’t easy, but basically it concerns completely subordinating individual rights and freedoms to the power of the state. In effect, citizens in a fascist state are meant to be utterly patriotic and believe that their nation is top dog; they must be willing to sacrifice whatever is required – even their own lives – in the cause of advancing the power and prestige of that state. Pretty scary, eh? The fascist ideology goes further too. Fascists believe in a strong military and that conquest of other states can be a good thing.

Fascist ideology is in essence a racist one (its adherents believe in the superiority of their own nation and race; for example, the Nazis despising Jewish people and Mussolini arguing that his country should be able to invade Ethiopia because Italians were superior to Africans). What’s more, fascists view democracy as weak and best got rid of, to be replaced by a strong leader able to lead the people.

Fascism is often seen as being at the other end of the political spectrum from Marxism and communism. But they actually share a common theme – that individuality isn’t as important as advancement of the working class, in the case of Marxism/communism, or the unity of the state, in the case of fascism. To be frank, if I was drawing up a dinner party guest list I think I’d leave both fascists and Marxists/communists off.

As with Marxism and communism, fascism hasn’t gained much popularity in the UK, although the British National Party (BNP) is often dubbed as fascist by its critics due to its extolling of racist and nationalistic policies. (See Chapter 8 for the inside track on the BNP.) In fact, Britain doesn’t do extreme politics well at all – which is a relief. A little like the nation’s famous weather, British politics tends to be quite temperate and lacks extremes.

Fascism may sound very odd and frankly a bit far-fetched, but back in the 1930s and 1940s over half the population of western Europe lived in fascist states such as Germany, Italy and Spain. Eventually, Britain, America and Russia defeated fascist political regimes in the Second World War. But prior to this, fascism even had some supporters in Britain. The British Union of Fascists, led by the charismatic Oswald Mosley, used to organise marches attended by thousands of ordinary Britons.

Looking into the darkness: Totalitarian regimes

When an extremist leader – either from left or right – comes to power, it usually leads to the formation of a totalitarian regime. In short, this means that all power is concentrated in the hands of a leader or group of leaders and these leaders can’t be removed by democratic means – an election. They have ultimate power and don’t tolerate political opponents.

Totalitarian regimes are often propped up by a strong military and covert police force. Even the laws of the land are either altered or become subservient to the leader or leaders of a totalitarian regime.

Probably the best-known example of totalitarianism was Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. It was a regime with a fascist ideology and a supreme leader (the Führer, Adolf Hitler). At the same time, in Russia, Josef Stalin also headed a totalitarian regime, but this followed not a fascist but a communist ideology.

Although Britain doesn’t do extremism very well, at times in British history the leadership can be seen as totalitarian. For example, many of the country’s monarchs exercised huge power barely checked by legal niceties, and they ruled with a strong military and through fear. However, in the past few centuries, with the falling away of the power of the monarchy and the growth in parliamentary democracy, the British people have fortunately avoided falling prey to a totalitarian regime.

Looking to the heavens: Theocracy

Some would say that religion is the ultimate ideology because it maps out a way people should live their lives. Occasionally, religion becomes such a compelling force in society that leading adherents to the religion run the government according to religious principles. Those at the top of organised religious structures are also at the top of government and in effect run the show. This type of government is called a theocracy.

Probably the most famous modern example of a theocracy in action is the Iranian regime. Iran is effectively run by a group of leading Muslim clerics who dictate policy according to their take on religious texts.

If Britain were a theocracy, logically the leading bishops in the Church of England would be running the government. They don’t run the government, however; elected politicians do.

Pulling everything apart: Anarchism

Anarchy in ancient Greek means ‘no rule’ and anarchists are people who are opposed to all forms of governmental authority. In effect, a true anarchist believes in absolutely nothing except that government should be torn down, which would then allow people to get on with their lives without interference.

Many anarchists are prepared to take what they’d call direct action, which means destroying property and even attacking elected politicians. In the past anarchist groups have carried out violent terrorist acts. Most recently they’ve staged mass street protests at meetings of the G8 and G20 groups of world leaders (this is a conference of the leaders of the world’s largest nations by economic size; see Chapter 20 for more). These global shindigs have often taken place against a backdrop of street violence caused by anarchists. Other groups of protestors, including peaceful environmentalists, have complained bitterly that their protest message has been lost in the violence.

Anarchism has some major drawbacks in that it’s by nature both incoherent and disorganised; therefore, the destruction of the governmental system that it wants is nigh on impossible to obtain. How, for instance, can a mob of people with all sorts of different backgrounds and personal agendas achieve anything substantial against an organised government, military and police force?

Releasing the bonds: Feminism

According to feminists, oppression of women by men runs throughout society – in the workplace, in politics and at home. Feminism itself is an ideology that can often have an influence on politics. It’s based around the ambition to establish more rights and legal protection for women and to combat the subjugation of women.

Looking back through history it’s not hard to see that feminists have a point. For example, women in the UK didn’t get the vote on the same terms as men until 1928, and even today women earn nearly 30 per cent less on average than men.

Few can doubt that we still live in a sexist society, but nonetheless equality between the genders has made great strides. First up was the suffrage movement, which led the successful campaign for votes for women. Then, in the 1960s, second-wave feminism emerged, whereby the women’s liberation movement agitated for equality at work and in wider society.

Political scientists have split feminists into three distinct groupings:

• Liberal feminists argue that women and men are equal, full stop, and the government must pass laws to ensure this equality happens in practice.
• Socialist feminists argue that the oppression of women is a by-product of capitalism. In order to change the lot of women it’s necessary to change both the economy and society so that they’re based on socialist principles. (I cover socialism in ‘Joining Together for the Greater Good: Socialism in the UK’, earlier in this chapter.)
• Radical feminists argue that women are in many ways better than men and that if women were in charge aggressive – male – pursuits such as war wouldn’t happen.

Many people describe themselves as being feminists without also saying they agree with either liberal, socialist or radical feminism. Although feminism is an ideology, it’s also an approach to everyday life, a general belief in equality of the sexes.

Saving the planet: Environmentalism

Very few people now doubt now that the planet’s environment is under threat from the side-effects of human activities. Some people respond to this emerging threat by looking to cut down their impact on the environment; for example, by taking fewer flights or driving a less polluting car. Others go further and adopt an environmental ideology. Put simply, environmentalism is about finding a way for people and the planet to co-exist. Environmentalists want an economic and social system based on a sustainable relationship with the planet.

Environmentalists

• View capitalism with distrust, because companies are responsible for much pollution and using up the planet’s resources.
• Regard economic growth as less important than preserving the health of the planet. Being rich is pointless if sea levels are rising and life is endangered.
• Expect governments to actively try to change individual behaviour towards the environment, ensuring they minimise the damage they cause.

In recent years environmentalism has been on the rise as the true scale of climate change has come into sharper focus. Environmentalism as an ideology is currently gaining credence in the West, with more and more people becoming concerned about the planet’s well-being.

In British politics, the party seen as representing the environmental ideology most closely is the Green Party, which I talk about in Chapter 8. However, all the big three UK political parties – Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats – have placed a greater emphasis on environmentally friendly policies in recent general elections.

Understanding Why the UK Doesn’t Do Extremism

The British don’t tend to do extreme ideologies like fascism or communism and plenty of good reasons exist for that. The UK

• Is a long-established democracy: The UK is one of the oldest and sturdiest democracies in the world, which makes the job of those who’d like to subvert it very hard indeed.
• Has seen other countries go awry: Britain fought a long bloody war against Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1945. The memory of that war and the crimes of the Nazi regime means most people in the UK discredit far-right ideology.
• Is a rich, successful country: History suggests radical ideologies tend to gather wide appeal following military defeats or economic turmoil. Although Britain is no longer as powerful as it was in the 1800s, it’s very economically stable, which means it doesn’t present fertile ground for revolution.
• Has political parties that appeal to a wide range of citizens: The UK’s political parties are well organised with large memberships and have deep roots in local communities. This makes it difficult for smaller, more extreme parties to beat them at election time.
• Has a unique electoral system: The UK has a first-past-the-post electoral system, which means those candidates polling the highest number of votes win seats. This makes it harder for smaller parties to get seats in parliament.
• Follows the rule of law: In the UK, everyone is equal before the law and subject to it, which means that British society has an in-built system of redress that reduces the chances of totalitarianism and tyranny.

Britain is often referred to as a liberal democracy, which simply means the country is a democracy – where people get to vote to decide who governs the country – and it has strong traits associated with liberalism, such as primacy of the rule of law and acknowledgement of the importance of individual freedoms and liberties. Much of the world doesn’t live in a liberal democracy but many peoples would like to.