The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (126 page)
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ideology
Any comprehensive and mutually consistent set of ideas by which a social group makes sense of the world may be referred to as an ideology. Catholicism, Islam, Liberalism, and Marxism are examples. An ideology needs to provide some explanation of how things have come to be as they are, some indication of where they are heading (to provide a guide to action), criteria for distinguishing truth from falsehood and valid arguments from invalid, and some overriding belief, whether in God, Providence, or History, to which adherents may make a final appeal when challenged by outsiders.
The term has had very variable connotations, and at least in its dominant sense it has been necessarily pejorative, a term always to be used of the ideas of others, never of one's own. For some, notably Marxists, ideology has generally been used to describe the world view of the dominant. Even for Karl
Mannheim
, no Marxist, ideology sought to maintain the status quo and was to be distinguished from utopian thought, directed towards change. For others ideology might be applied to any set of ideas, such as the
Enlightenment
, so abstract as to provide an impractical guide to policy-making and so ambitious as to advocate wholesale reform.
To describe any set of ideas as an ideology in the first sense implies that it has limits, that it may be just one set of beliefs among others, and that belief in it can be accounted for objectively, by causes quite distinct from its supposed truth. By contrast, the accusation of excessive abstraction may be hurled at theoreticians by their more practical comrades within a party or class founded upon common interests and belief; it is merely to do with tactics.
The Marxist account of ideology faces three hard questions. First, why should one class, the bourgeoisie, have an ideology consistent with its interests, while another, the proletariat, is afflicted with belief in the dominant ideology, resulting in action based in false consciousness and quite contrary to its true interests? Secondly, how is it that anyone brought up within society can attain a position of objectivity from which to describe and judge the ideologies which constrain others? Thirdly, what set of beliefs could such an independent judge possibly hold that were not themselves an ideology, subject to objective judgement in their turn?
Materialist philosophies have claimed in the face of these objections that the intellectual, through consciousness of the relativity and historicity of ideas, is capable of liberation from the bonds of ideology. But once this is raised from the casual observation that intellectuals may be better able than most to see both sides of an argument, it is in immediate danger of collapsing into Hegelian idealism, an ideology if ever there was one, in which history takes the form of the progressive liberation of the human spirit from ideology, culminating in absolute freedom.
CJ
The term has had very variable connotations, and at least in its dominant sense it has been necessarily pejorative, a term always to be used of the ideas of others, never of one's own. For some, notably Marxists, ideology has generally been used to describe the world view of the dominant. Even for Karl
Mannheim
, no Marxist, ideology sought to maintain the status quo and was to be distinguished from utopian thought, directed towards change. For others ideology might be applied to any set of ideas, such as the
Enlightenment
, so abstract as to provide an impractical guide to policy-making and so ambitious as to advocate wholesale reform.
To describe any set of ideas as an ideology in the first sense implies that it has limits, that it may be just one set of beliefs among others, and that belief in it can be accounted for objectively, by causes quite distinct from its supposed truth. By contrast, the accusation of excessive abstraction may be hurled at theoreticians by their more practical comrades within a party or class founded upon common interests and belief; it is merely to do with tactics.
The Marxist account of ideology faces three hard questions. First, why should one class, the bourgeoisie, have an ideology consistent with its interests, while another, the proletariat, is afflicted with belief in the dominant ideology, resulting in action based in false consciousness and quite contrary to its true interests? Secondly, how is it that anyone brought up within society can attain a position of objectivity from which to describe and judge the ideologies which constrain others? Thirdly, what set of beliefs could such an independent judge possibly hold that were not themselves an ideology, subject to objective judgement in their turn?
Materialist philosophies have claimed in the face of these objections that the intellectual, through consciousness of the relativity and historicity of ideas, is capable of liberation from the bonds of ideology. But once this is raised from the casual observation that intellectuals may be better able than most to see both sides of an argument, it is in immediate danger of collapsing into Hegelian idealism, an ideology if ever there was one, in which history takes the form of the progressive liberation of the human spirit from ideology, culminating in absolute freedom.
CJ
IMF
(International Monetary Fund)
(International Monetary Fund)
The International Monetary Fund was the centrepiece of the
Bretton Woods
agreement of July 1944. It was agreed that primary responsibility for the regulation of monetary relationships among national economies, of private financial flows, and of balance of payments adjustment should rest in the hands of public multilateral institutions and national governments with a view to underpinning a cooperative international economic order. The International Monetary Fund, alongside its sister institution the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD or
World Bank
) was to be the main vehicle for achieving these ends.
The IMF was to oversee the exchange rate mechanism, the international payments system, to act as the main source of liquidity to facilitate trade, and to monitor national economic policies with a view to avoiding policies in one country which would unduly prejudice the others. IMF member states provided the Fund with resources through a system of quotas more or less proportional to the size of respective national economies, and they received votes in the Fund relative to these quota contributions. In this way the power of the richest countries was entrenched, especially the United States, which still commands just under one-fifth of the votes.
As exchange rates were to be fixed (though adjustable if circumstances warranted), countries with balance of payments deficits might experience difficulties defending their par value and also shortages of foreign exchange. In this case, governments could avoid devaluation and shortages of foreign exchange, at least in the short term, by borrowing from the Fund and thus finance the deficit without excessively disrupting the continuity of domestic macroeconomic policy or international monetary stability.
As the system evolved, a number of conventions were established (mostly under American pressure) concerning the working of the system. If borrowing began to exceed a country's original quota, increasingly onerous conditions (conditionality) would be imposed on any further borrowing and would be enforced by Fund officials (backed by the richest members). These conditions concerned the domestic economic policies the debtor country was to follow, theoretically leading to a process of domestic adjustment to overcome the underlying causes of the payments deficit and thereby maintaining the fixed exchange rate system, world payments equilibrium, and the co-operative nature of international economic relations on issues such as trade.
Initially, the Fund was severely underfinanced and could achieve little until most currencies could survive free convertibility with the US dollar. It never played the role foreseen at Bretton Woods, that of main provider of liquidity to the international monetary system. It did help with balance of payments lending, but often Fund resources were overwhelmed by the volume of short-term capital flows, and co-operation among central banks had to substitute in a crisis. In 1976 at its Jamaica conference the Articles of Agreement of the IMF were altered to usher in an era of floating exchange rates, in existence
de facto
since 1973. The IMF, however, became much more prominent in the 1980s when it emerged as the key institution in the management of the Less Developed Country (LDC) debt crisis. The IMF became the designated co-ordinator of lending to facilitate continued debt repayment, often imposing painful restructuring programmes on indebted countries with a view to maintaining the stability of the international financial system and encouraging additional (if limited) lending from other sources to troubled LDC economies. With the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the economically troubled transition of these countries to liberal market economic structures, the Fund has once again enhanced its role as a co-ordinator of international lending activity.
Despite the apparent failure of the IMF to fulfil its Bretton Woods promise, its officials have none the less functioned as catalyst to international monetary and policy co-operation, and have helped galvanize co-operative management of monetary crises over the years. It remains an important symbol of international co-operation, albeit heavily weighted in favour of the interests of the developed market economies.
GU
Bretton Woods
agreement of July 1944. It was agreed that primary responsibility for the regulation of monetary relationships among national economies, of private financial flows, and of balance of payments adjustment should rest in the hands of public multilateral institutions and national governments with a view to underpinning a cooperative international economic order. The International Monetary Fund, alongside its sister institution the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD or
World Bank
) was to be the main vehicle for achieving these ends.
The IMF was to oversee the exchange rate mechanism, the international payments system, to act as the main source of liquidity to facilitate trade, and to monitor national economic policies with a view to avoiding policies in one country which would unduly prejudice the others. IMF member states provided the Fund with resources through a system of quotas more or less proportional to the size of respective national economies, and they received votes in the Fund relative to these quota contributions. In this way the power of the richest countries was entrenched, especially the United States, which still commands just under one-fifth of the votes.
As exchange rates were to be fixed (though adjustable if circumstances warranted), countries with balance of payments deficits might experience difficulties defending their par value and also shortages of foreign exchange. In this case, governments could avoid devaluation and shortages of foreign exchange, at least in the short term, by borrowing from the Fund and thus finance the deficit without excessively disrupting the continuity of domestic macroeconomic policy or international monetary stability.
As the system evolved, a number of conventions were established (mostly under American pressure) concerning the working of the system. If borrowing began to exceed a country's original quota, increasingly onerous conditions (conditionality) would be imposed on any further borrowing and would be enforced by Fund officials (backed by the richest members). These conditions concerned the domestic economic policies the debtor country was to follow, theoretically leading to a process of domestic adjustment to overcome the underlying causes of the payments deficit and thereby maintaining the fixed exchange rate system, world payments equilibrium, and the co-operative nature of international economic relations on issues such as trade.
Initially, the Fund was severely underfinanced and could achieve little until most currencies could survive free convertibility with the US dollar. It never played the role foreseen at Bretton Woods, that of main provider of liquidity to the international monetary system. It did help with balance of payments lending, but often Fund resources were overwhelmed by the volume of short-term capital flows, and co-operation among central banks had to substitute in a crisis. In 1976 at its Jamaica conference the Articles of Agreement of the IMF were altered to usher in an era of floating exchange rates, in existence
de facto
since 1973. The IMF, however, became much more prominent in the 1980s when it emerged as the key institution in the management of the Less Developed Country (LDC) debt crisis. The IMF became the designated co-ordinator of lending to facilitate continued debt repayment, often imposing painful restructuring programmes on indebted countries with a view to maintaining the stability of the international financial system and encouraging additional (if limited) lending from other sources to troubled LDC economies. With the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the economically troubled transition of these countries to liberal market economic structures, the Fund has once again enhanced its role as a co-ordinator of international lending activity.
Despite the apparent failure of the IMF to fulfil its Bretton Woods promise, its officials have none the less functioned as catalyst to international monetary and policy co-operation, and have helped galvanize co-operative management of monetary crises over the years. It remains an important symbol of international co-operation, albeit heavily weighted in favour of the interests of the developed market economies.
GU
immobilisme
An expression associated with the French parliamentary regimes of the Third and Fourth Republics, characterized by governmental instability and viewed as a serious obstacle to rapid socio-economic change and political adaptation.
Immobilisme
was the product of complex social cleavages which translated into weak, unstable coalition governments unable to agree on policy or programme and serving a regime of questionable legitimacy.
IC
Immobilisme
was the product of complex social cleavages which translated into weak, unstable coalition governments unable to agree on policy or programme and serving a regime of questionable legitimacy.
IC
immigration
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