Political Ideologies
Introduction
Ideology defined by Heywood would be: A set of more or less coherent ideas that provide bases for organized political actions. Its central features are an account of existing power relationships, a model of a desired future, and an outline of how political change can and should be brought about. (2007: 68)
This essays main focus will be discussing the main ideologies and focuses of the two leading political parties of South Africa. The African National Congress or ANC and the Democratic Alliance also known as DA. An important insight into both their ideology will be gained by analysing how both parties political powers are reflected in the economic sector and society and to which extend their ideologies effect both of these sectors. This is particular important as a political parties ideology should always change society and with that change improve it.
“Political ideology is one of the most frequently used concepts in the social sciences, yet has a variety of meanings. Ideology is of course a theoretical construct. It only becomes meaningful when it is given an operational definition. For the purposes of this paper political ideology links beliefs about facts or values and attitudes about issues, positions, policies, and actions. A state's political ideology is defined as the aggregation of the ideological preferences of a state's voting population on a wide variety of issues (political, social, foreign, and economic).” 2 (Medoff, 1997: 1)
African National Congress (ANC)
Ever since the Apartheid era ended in 1994 the African National Congress or more commonly known as the ANC, has been the predominant party in South Africa, winning all presidential elections ever since. Having 264 out of 400 national assembly seats and being the ruling party in eight out of the nine South African provinces. This quickly shows that the ANC is not only a very powerful South African political party, but also through its tremendous size the most influential one,
Ideology defined by Heywood would be: A set of more or less coherent ideas that provide bases for organized political actions. Its central features are an account of existing power relationships, a model of a desired future, and an outline of how political change can and should be brought about. (2007: 68)
This essays main focus will be discussing the main ideologies and focuses of the two leading political parties of South Africa. The African National Congress or ANC and the Democratic Alliance also known as DA. An important insight into both their ideology will be gained by analysing how both parties political powers are reflected in the economic sector and society and to which extend their ideologies effect both of these sectors. This is particular important as a political parties ideology should always change society and with that change improve it.
“Political ideology is one of the most frequently used concepts in the social sciences, yet has a variety of meanings. Ideology is of course a theoretical construct. It only becomes meaningful when it is given an operational definition. For the purposes of this paper political ideology links beliefs about facts or values and attitudes about issues, positions, policies, and actions. A state's political ideology is defined as the aggregation of the ideological preferences of a state's voting population on a wide variety of issues (political, social, foreign, and economic).” 2 (Medoff, 1997: 1)
African National Congress (ANC)
Ever since the Apartheid era ended in 1994 the African National Congress or more commonly known as the ANC, has been the predominant party in South Africa, winning all presidential elections ever since. Having 264 out of 400 national assembly seats and being the ruling party in eight out of the nine South African provinces. This quickly shows that the ANC is not only a very powerful South African political party, but also through its tremendous size the most influential one,