Page 218 - DPOL201_WESTERN_POLITICAL_THOUGHT_ENGLISH

Western Political Thought

Notes Anthony Giddens observed: “In many respects Marx’s writings exemplify features of
nineteenth-century thought which are plainly defective when looked at from the perspectives
of our century”, and concluded that “Marx’s materialist conception of history should be
discarded once and for all”. He pointed out that Marx’s greatest failure was the theory of
nationalism for Marx was an archetypal modernist. He distinguished between nationalism
(symbols and beliefs) and the nation state (the administrative set-up), which were two separate
entities, though sometimes they converged. Nationalism was a primordial sentiment “found
in tribal and traditional societies”, while the nation state was a modern “power container of
time and space”. Capitalism needed the nation state, and as a power structure, promoted the
aims of capitalism.
• The collapse of Communism proved the serious shortcomings of Marxism, both in theory
and practice. It, at best, remained a critique rather than providing a serious alternative to
liberal democracy (Harrington cited in Heilbroner 1989: 10). The Soviet experiment, despite
its many failings, kept alive the possibility that there was an alternative to capitalism. Its
collapse and furthermore the shrinking of the industrial working class and the weakening of
the labour movement have underlined the irrelevance of Marxism as a political practice,
environmentalism and post-Modernism challenged some of the fundamental assumptions
about progress and knowledge that underpinned Marxism .

11.8 Key–Words

1. Hegelianism : It is a collective term for schools of thought following or referring to Hegel’s
Philosophy which can be as the rational alone is real, which means that all
reality is people of being expressed in rational categories.
2. An-sich : In itself.
3. Anderssein : Out of itself.
Answers- Self Assessment
1. (i) 2. (ii) 3. (i) 4. (i)

11.9 Review Questions

1. What do you mean by Marx’s doctoral dissertation?
2. Disscuss Marx’s dialectics.
3. What is materiaclism? Explain.
4. Write a short note on Marx as a poet.

11.10 Further Readings

1. Mukherjee, S. and Ramaswamy, S. 2004: A History of Political Thought, PHI
Learning Pvt. Ltd.
2. Mukhopadhyay, A.K. 1990 Western Political Thought, Calcutta - KP Bagchi and
Company.

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