The exam would be multiple choice/fill-in-the-blank like previous exams, but instead I need four, 500 word essays on the questions listed below.
Write an essay of approximately 500 words in response to EACH of the following questions. You will write a total of 4 essays, 500 words each.
Essay Questions
1. Michael Freeden characterized ideologies in terms of 4 features: proximity, priority, permeability, and proportionality.
Use these 4 features to describe liberalism, conservatism and socialism. Your answer should emphasize the relationship between concepts within each ideology (core, adjacent and peripheral concepts) and the relationship between ideologies (contested concepts) and the source of variation within particular ideological traditions.
You are welcome to include illustrations with your explanation of these ideologies.
2. Socialism is a critique of liberalism that in many ways has redefined how liberalism understands freedom and equality. This is true of both modern liberalism and classical liberalism, although it might be more obvious with modern liberalism.
1. What is the basic critique of Liberalism presented by Socialism?
2. How has this critique influenced the meaning of liberty and equality in different forms of liberalism?
3. What five questions would you ask to determine whether a person is a liberal, conservative or a socialist? Why would you expect those questions to help you determine the person's ideology?
4. Liberalism, conservatism and socialism developed in response to historical circumstances - sometimes in response to circumstances that the ideologies helped to bring about. If new circumstances need new ideas, and preserving ideals under new circumstances requires new political strategies, what ideas do we need now?
What insight and tools do these three traditions offer citizens in the 21st century to understand and address our problems? Choose one or several issues and discuss how we can apply these ideologies to address those issues, or how the issues might require a new ideology altogether.