DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM: ITS PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

Abstract

An ideology is a set of beliefs about the nature of the world and how it ought to be organized to fulfill a certain ultimate desired end or ends. A political ideology is therefore a system of values about how society should be governed in order to attain that ultimate end, or to put it in another way, on what principles should "the authoritative allocation of values" or "who gets what, when and how" be based. The resolution of conflicting values and beliefs is the centre of politics and if we do not understand what is it that move Han and Nations, we will not be able to fathom the intricacies of the political process. Most political ideologies are grandiose and visionary schemes of social and political change, and as a consequence are often vague and nebulous and are subject to differentiation and division as their influence spread spatially and temporally. Thus it would be futile to attempt to identify which is or is not the correct or true interpretation of the ideology or of its essence. The fundamental purpose of political philosophy is therefore, the elucidation and the critical analysis of beliefs - to examine the logic of the various theories put forward by man. The task of description or taxidermy belongs to the historian. Often, it is the conflicting tendencies and inconsistencies inherent in the concept itself that result in insurmountable obstacles for the followers of a particular ideology, when they seek to realize it, while other problems are due mainly to the nature of the environment they have to operate in. By an analysis of the problems of an ideology, both in terms of the ideas and the external obstacles, facing it, we can see more vividly the relevance and the promise that a particular ideology holds for mankind. Ultimately, the study of political ideologies will enable us to understand the attitudes, behaviour, actions and aspirations of the political animal-Man. The justification for choosing this topic will be dealt with in the Introduction, while Chapter One will provide the backdrop to the Academic Exercise by tracing the evolution of democratic socialism from Utopian Socialism, Revisionism and Fabianism and briefly examine the various types of socialism we have today. The main problems of democratic socialism will be examined in Chapter Two and it will reveal that the nature of the problems in Western Europe and the developing states are quite different because of their different socio-economic and historical background. Chapter Three will focus on Sweden and Singapore, where the theories and issues discussed in Chapter One and Two will be examined in greater detail, including the reasons that led to the SAP's electoral defeat and the PAP's resignation from the Socialist International, both in 1976. The final chapter, the Conclusion, will examine the prospects of democratic socialism in the light of the discussions in the first three chapters.