Words left and right were first used during French Revolution 1790. At that time there was a monarch who used to rule the country. There were some people who were pro-change and democracy and some who were pro-monarchy. The way they sat in the estates general was how these terms came to being. The ones who sat on the left were pro change or pro revolution and the ones who sat on the right were pro monarchy and pro king. This is the origin of these terms.
When parties are divided as left, right or centre, they are divided based on their socio-cultural policies, economic policies and political ideologies. There are different stances they take based on various policies like free trade, right to abortion, impetus on nationalism, religion & religious groups, culture etc. An extreme demarcation between extreme right, extreme left does not hold true for for the modern world and in countries like India. In India, all political parties hold a place of compromise in their ideologies.
Let’s understand what left and right ideologies are in their traditional sense:
Left Ideology:
As per leftists, the state should play a larger role in people’s lives. They believe in secularism i.e. separation of states from religious institutions. They want to keep politics and religion separate from one another. They are pro - reservation and want to uplift the oppressed and weaker sections of the society. They are against capitalism (when countries trade and industries are controlled by private owners instead of state). They want income equality and want to tax the wealthier more. They want stronger regulations on businesses. Leftists support same sex marriages, abortions, freedom of speech, empowerment of women and minority communities. According to them the government has to take care of the society's well being and everyone should be equal in a society. As per them access to health care and free education is the fundamental right of all citizens. They want to promote immigration. In their economic policy they follow the “Keynesien school of thought” i.e. the government would intervene to avoid economic recession. The communists or the extreme lefts want 100% government control and the centre-left ideologists want some degree of government intervention.
Right Ideology:
Right wing ideologists support free market capitalism and want to give more control in the hands of private players. They believe in lowering taxation and reducing the spending by the government. In right wing, religion and conservation of culture takes centre stage. They do not support caste based reservation. They are conservative about abortion rights, homosexuality, women’s rights, freedom of speech and minorities rights. As per them each person has to take care of their own interests. They are against immigration and keep a tighter control on it. They are not against public education but feel that parents have a right to put their children in private schools. Economically they follow a new classical approach and having a laissez faire policy. This means deregulation to improve innovation and lower taxes to improve growth.
Centre-Liberal:
They also believe in secularism, however also allow religion to play a role. They believe in state monitored capitalism and taking selective actions to support the oppressed and the minorities. Centre-liberals support women empowerment and are okay with homosexuals and minorities rights. They believe that the individuals and the governments can work together.
The fundamental difference between left and right wing ideologies comes in difference between individuality and government power. Many different political spectrums can be used to define how far left or right a political party is.
The political spectrum is also not two dimensional. Within left and right, people hold authoritarian and libertarian views. The authoritarians want greater government intervention and libertarians want less government intervention. The left are often authoritarian and right are libertarian.
Extreme of left wing is communism, that is a system based on economic equality and a society without class differences.
Extreme of right wing is fascism, that is a nationalistic and authoritarian system in which is ruled by a dictator and different class roles.
______________________________________________________________ Left/Communism Centre Left Centre Centre Right Right/Fascism
These labels help us to easily distinguish between different political ideologies, however, these are not always accurate.
- Tanya Kathpal
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