progressivism

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Progressivism is a political and social term that refers to ideologies and movements favoring or advocating changes or reform, usually in a statist or egalitarian direction for economic policies (government management) and liberal direction for social policies (personal choice). Progressivism is often viewed in opposition to conservative ideologies.

In the United States, the term progressivism emerged in the late 19th century into the 20th century in reference to a more general response to the vast changes brought by industrialization: an alternative to both the traditional conservative response to social and economic issues and to the various more radical streams of socialism and anarchism which opposed them. Political parties, such as the Progressive Party, organized at the start of the 20th century, and progressivism made great strides under American presidents Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson.^[1]

Despite being associated with left-wing politics, the term "progressive" has also been used by groups not particularly left-wing. The Progressive Democrats of Ireland have taken the name "progressivism" despite being considered right-wing. The European Progressive Democrats was a mainly heterogeneous political group in the European Union.

Australia

In the past few years in Australia, the term "progressive" has been used to refer to what used to be called "The Third Way". The term is popular in Australia, and is often used in place of "social liberal". The term "liberalism" has become associated with free markets, small government, and personal freedom; in other words "classical liberalism". Progressivism, however, means in part advocating a larger role for government, but one that does not involve central planning.^[2]

Canada

Western Canada at the turn of the 20th century began to receive an influx of political ideas. From the United States came progressivism. The Progressive Party of Canada was founded in 1920 by Thomas Crerar, a former Minister of Agriculture in the Unionist government of Robert Borden. Crerar quit the Borden cabinet in 1919 because Minister of Finance Thomas White introduced a budget that did not pay sufficient attention to farmers' issues. Crerar became the first leader of the Progressive Party, and led it to win 65 seats in the 1921 general election, placing second, ahead of the well-established Conservative Party. The Progressives also had a close alignment with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces. However, the Progressives were not able to hold their caucus together well, and progressive-leaning MPs and voters soon deserted the Progressives for the Liberals and the economically socialist Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (later the New Democratic Party).

Dating back to 1854, Canada's oldest political party was the Conservative Party. However following that party's disastrous showing in the 1935 election, held during the depths of the Great Depression, the party was leaderless and lacked new ideas. The party drafted Manitoba Premier John Bracken, a long-time leader of that province's progressive "United Farmers" party, who agreed to become leader of the Conservatives on condition that the party add Progressive to its name. The party adopted the name "Progressive Conservative," which it kept until its dissolution in 2003. Despite the name change most former Progressives continued to support other parties.

India

In India there are a large number of political parties which exist on either a state-wide or national basis. The United Progressive Alliance, as the current ruling political alliance in India, comprises leftist political parties which lean towards socialism and/or communism. Thus, the definition of "progressivism" may be interpreted differently in India, as communism was not a branch of thought that played any major role in the original western progressive movement. Furthermore, on a social level the leftist parties in India do not espouse policies that would be considered progressive in the West, though policies in regards to caste system, worker's rights, and women's rights are far more progressive than the non-progressive Indian parties.

The alliance is externally supported (supporters are not part of the government) by the four main leftist parties; Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Revolutionary Socialist Party and All India Forward Bloc. The Indian National Congress is currently the chief member of the United Progressive Alliance coalition.

New Zealand

The then Prime Minister of New Zealand - Helen Clark, leader of the Labour Party - announced in 2005 that she had come to a complex arrangement that led to a formal coalition consisting of the Labour Party and Jim Anderton, the New Zealand Progressive Party's MP. A further arrangement was made with the Green Party, which gave a commitment not to vote against the government on confidence and supply.The coalition continues in opposition after the 2008 election.

Jim Anderton formed the Progressive Party after splitting from the Alliance Party. The Progressive Party states a particular focus on the creation of jobs, and has said that it is committed to achieving full employment. They seek to raise the legal age of alcohol consumption to 20. They are pro-environment, and list free education and free healthcare as other policy objectives.^[3]

The Progressive Green Party was formed in 1995 but has now disbanded.

Ukraine

The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine (Prohresivna Sotsjalistychna Partiya Ukrayiny/Progressivnaya Sotsialističeskaja Partiya Ukrajiny, Прогресивна соціалістична партія України) is a political party in Ukraine, created by Nataliya Vitrenko a flamboyant former member of Socialist Party of Ukraine in 1995. Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine is a radical left-wing populist party that supports integration with Russia and Belarus as an alternative to the EU. PSPU traditionally campaigns on an anti-NATO, anti-IMF and pro-Russian platform. During the 1998 parliamentary elections the party won 4 % of the vote, and its candidate for the 1999 presidential elections, Nataliya Vitrenko, came 4th, with 10.97% of the vote in the first round.

At the legislative elections, 30 March 2002, the party established the Nataliya Vitrenko Bloc alliance, including the Partija Osvitjan Ukrajiny. It won 3.22% of the votes, little short of passing the 4% threshold needed to enter the Verkhovna Rada. PSPU was a vocal opponent of President Leonid Kuchma but supported Viktor Yanukovych, Ukrainian prime minister since 2002, during the 2004 elections. After the Orange Revolution of 2004, the party joined the opposition to new president Viktor Yushchenko in a coalition with the "Derzhava" (State) party led by former Ukrainian prosecutor Gennady Vasilyev.

In the March 2006 parliamentary elections, the party again failed to gain any seats in Parliament, participating as People's Opposition Bloc of Natalia Vitrenko. At the 2007 parliamentary elections the party failed once more to enter the parliament.

Europe

Republic of Ireland

In 1985, the Progressive Democrats was founded in the Republic of Ireland. It adopts liberal positions on both economic issues and social or moral matters.

They support low corporation tax because they believe it encourages business growth and allows for enterprise to be rewarded. The party has often claimed these policies are in part responsible for the "Celtic Tiger" economy. Dermot McAleese, emeritus professor of economics at Trinity College, Dublin, says that the emergence of the Progressive Democrats in 1985 may have had a more positive influence on the economy than some recognise. He argues the low-tax, pro-business economy we know today is based in large part on Progressive Democrat policies. "They proved that there was a constituency for this, and they gave the intellectual power to it." (The Irish Times, 31 December 2004).

The Progressive Democrats consider privatisation on a case by case basis, generally favouring the privatisation but making exceptions under different circumstances. For example, they supported the privatisation of the previously state-owned airline Aer Lingus, while opposing their coalition partner’s plans to privatise airports company Aer Rianta, on the grounds that a private monopoly would be worse than a public monopoly. They succeeded in preventing the company from being privatised, and broke it up into competing companies instead.

United States

Progressive political parties were created in the US on seven different occasions. The first of these - the Progressive Party, founded in 1912 by President Theodore Roosevelt - was the most successful third party in modern American history. The other two were the Progressive Party founded in 1924 and the Progressive Party founded in 1948, which were less successful.

Relation to other political ideologies

Liberalism

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The term "progressive" is today often used in place of "liberal". Although the two are related in some ways, they are separate and distinct political ideologies. According to John Halpin, senior advisor on the staff of the Center for American Progress, "Progressivism is an orientation towards politics, It's not a long-standing ideology like liberalism, but an historically-grounded concept... that accepts the world as dynamic." Progressives see progressivism as an attitude towards the world of politics that is broader than conservatism vs. liberalism, and as an attempt to break free from what they consider to be a false and divisive dichotomy.^[4][5]

Cultural Liberalism is ultimately founded on a concept of natural rights and civil liberties, and the belief that the major purpose of the government is to protect those rights. Liberals are often called "left-wing", as opposed to "right-wing" conservatives. The progressive school, as a unique branch of contemporary political thought, tends to advocate certain center-left or left-wing views that may conflict with mainstream liberal views, despite the fact that modern liberalism and progressivism may still both support many of the same policies (such as the concept of war as a general last resort).

American progressives tend to support interventionist economics: they advocate income redistribution^{[citation needed]}, and they oppose the growing influence of corporations. Conversely, European and Australian progressives tend to be more pro-business^{[citation needed]}, and will often have policies that are soft on taxation of large corporations^{[citation needed]}. Progressives are in agreement on an international scale with left-liberalism in that they support organized labor and trade unions, they usually wish to introduce a living wage, and they often support the creation of a universal health care system. Yet progressives tend to be more concerned with environmentalism than mainstream liberals, and are often more skeptical of the government, positioning themselves as whistleblowers and advocates of governmental reform. Finally, liberals are more likely to support the Democratic Party in America and a Labour party or Liberal Party in Europe and Australia, while progressives tend to feel disillusioned with any two-party system, and vote more often for third-party candidates^{[citation needed]}

Conservatism

Conservatism is generally based on the view that current values should be upheld and little should be changed. In the United States specifically, Conservatism generally holds the government should have a limited role in the lives of citizens and the operation of society. Conservatives do not interfere with corporations as do liberals, tending to tax them less heavily and allowing them to operate on their own, seeing interference as a step toward socialism. In the United States, conservatives tend to side with the Republican Party, and are traditionally elected during times of economic stability.

Socialism

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Socialism aims to establish a fundamentally different society from the one that currently exists in most countries. While there are different schools of socialism, a few socialist goals are: to abolish capitalism, to place the means of production under the collective ownership of the people, and to achieve a high degree of economic and political egalitarianism. Socialists argue that capitalism exploits the working class, and believe that workers should play a vital role in moving society from capitalism to socialism (either by rising up in a revolution or general strike, or by voting in mass for socialist political parties).

In contrast, by definition progressivism aims to achieve gradual social change, and most progressives are opposed to violent revolution. When the progressive movement split on economic principles, some progressives moved towards the socialist camp, advocating a planned economy. Other progressives moved towards the regulated mixed economy camp, with both public and private ownership of companies. Others moved toward social democracy, a branch of socialism that became increasingly moderate and moved towards the political center. Regulated-capitalism progressives and socialist progressives both tend to support similar progressive social policies. An example of tension between progressivism and socialism in the United States was the conflict between the Progressive Party of Theodore Roosevelt and the Socialist Party of Eugene V. Debs.

See also

• Progressive education
• New Left

Notes

References

• Tindall, George and Shi, David E.. America: A Narrative History. W W Norton & Co Inc (Np); Full Sixth edition, 2003. ISBN 0-393-92426-2
• Lakoff, George. Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1-931498-71-7
• Kelleher, William J.. Progressive Logic: Framing A Unified Field Theory of Values For Progressives. The Empathic Science Institute, 2005. ISBN 0-9773717-1-9
• Link, Arthur S. and McCormick, Richard L.. Progressivism (American History Series). Harlan Davidson, 1983. ISBN 0-88295-814-3
• Kloppenberg, James T.. Uncertain Victory: Social Democracy and Progressivism in European and American Thought, 1870-1920. Oxford University Press, USA, 1988. ISBN 0-19-505304-4

External links

• Comprehensive resources concerning Progressivism - Includes historical timelines, etc.
• A list of popular Progressive websites - From CommonDreams.org
• American Progressivism and Reform - online article from Encarta
• Air America Radio - American Progressive radio network
• American Prospect - Progressive magazine and non-profit think-tank
• Breaking News & Commentary for the Progressive Community
• Campaign for America's Future A progressive non-profit thinktank
• Center for American Progress - A progressive think tank in Washington, DC
• Demos: A Network for Ideas & Action - Progressive non-profit policy and advocacy institute
• New Progressive Coalition - Wiring progressive politics, for investors, entrepreneurs, and organizations
• Rockridge Institute - Think-tank dedicated to better presenting progressive ideas
• Roosevelt Institution Progressive student think tank
• "What Is Progressive?", AlterNet opinion piece, July 25 2005
• IMC, the Independent Media Center
• University of Montevallo Progressive Alliance - Progressive Students
• Third Coast Press- Progressive Chicago media outlet