Philosophic Roots of Modern Ideology

This book contains a series of essays written on the three main political ideologies of liberalism, communism and fascism. An analysis of each perspective is provided by discussion of such diverse figures as Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Burke, Madison, Jefferson, Dewey, Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Gorbachev, Mao, Deng, Gramsci, Marcuse, Mussolini, Hitler and Khomeini. Throughout the book, the reader is encouraged to examine the important connections between people's beliefs, their actions and the possible future of humanity. An important feature of this new edition is the application of ideology to three important contemporary events - Gorbachev's return to Lenin and his revolutionary approach of perestroika, Deng Xiaoping's ambivalent response to the thought of Mao Zedong and the subsequent horrific events at Tiananmen Square, and Islamic fundamentalism's challenge to both liberalism and communism. A new final chapter explores how recent ideological changes are just as likely to intensify the Cold War as they are capable of ending it.