Capitalism -
1. an economic system in which wealth, and the
means of producing wealth, are privately owned and controlled.
Through capitalism, the land, labor, and capital are owned,
operated, and traded, without force or fraud, by private individuals.
2. a distinguishing feature of capitalism is that each person
owns his or her own labor and therefore is allowed to sell the
use of it to employers.
3. encourages private investment and business, compared to a
government-controlled economy.
4. characterized by a free market for goods and services and
private control of production and consumption. |
Fascism -
1. a governmental system led by a dictator having
complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism,
regimenting all industry, commerce, etc..
2. a system of government marked by centralization of authority
with stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition
through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent
nationalism and racism.
3. an oppressive political philosophy or movement based on or
advocating such a system of government.
4. founded in 1919 by Benito Mussolini. The Italian name of
the movement, fascismo, is derived from fascio, "bundle, (political)
group," but also refers to the movement's emblem, the fasces,
a bundle of rods bound around a projecting axe-head that was
carried before an ancient Roman magistrate by an attendant as
a symbol of authority and power. |
Marxism -
1. the system of economic and political thought
developed by Karl Marx, along with Friedrich Engels, esp. the
doctrine that the state throughout history has been a device
for the exploitation of the masses by a dominant class, that
class struggle has been the main agency of historical change,
and that the capitalist system, containing from the first the
seeds of its own decay, will inevitably, after the period of
the dictatorship of the proletariat, be superseded by a socialist
order and a classless society.
2. the political and economic philosophy of Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels in which the concept of class struggle plays a central
role in understanding society's allegedly inevitable development
from bourgeois oppression under capitalism to a socialist and
ultimately classless society. |
Collectivism -
1. the principles or system of ownership and
control of the means of production and distribution by the people
collectively, usually under the supervision of a government.
2. The doctrine that land and capital should be owned by society
collectively or as a whole. |
Communism -
1. a system of social organization in which all
economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian
state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political
party. |
Republic -
1. a state in which the supreme power rests in
the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives
chosen directly or indirectly by them.
2. a state in which the head of government is not a monarch
or other hereditary head of state.
3. a political order in which the supreme power lies in a body
of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives
responsible to them.
4. a state in which the sovereign power resides in the whole
body of the people, and is exercised by representatives elected
by them. |
Democracy -
1. government by the people; a form of government
in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised
directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral
system.
2. government by popular representation; a form of government
in which the supreme power is retained by the people, but is
indirectly exercised through a system of representation and
delegated authority periodically renewed; a constitutional representative
government.
3. the political orientation of those who favor government by
the people or by their elected representatives. |
Conservative -
1. disposed to preserve existing conditions,
institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit
change.
2. a person who is conservative in principles, actions, habits.
Traditional or restrained
3. favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose
change.
4. one who desires to maintain existing institutions and customs;
also, one who holds moderate opinions in politics; -- opposed
to revolutionary or radical. |
Liberal -
1. not limited to or by established, traditional,
orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas.
2. not bound by orthodox tenets or established forms in political
or religious philosophy; independent in opinion; not conservative.
3. open-minded or tolerant, esp. free of or not bound by traditional
or conventional ideas, values. |
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