How did the relationship between individual and state change over the course of the twentieth century - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... This was a philosophy held by John Locke in the 17th century. In the traditional governments, only the high class citizens were allowed into politics and this did not include women. The Montagnards took up leadership and implemented revolutionary economic and social policies that resulted in revolts and violent reactions from the citizens. In the 19th century, most nations across Europe, North America and Spanish America adopted liberalism which opposed traditional conservatism and promoted representative democracy and the rule of law in government.
Over the 19th and 20th centuries, there was a characteristic change in the ideologies of citizens that influenced their relationship with state. The French revolution was characterized by various liberal movements including the women’s march on Versailles which forced the royal court back in Paris. Before World War I, the European political scene was dominated by liberalism but this was slowly replaced by socialism in the early 20th century. The Soviet Union communism was based on Marxism–Leninism ideology which held that the policies of understanding social life were the prevalent truths since the party was enlightened. It denied the possibility of multiple truths.
Nazism was a form of socialism in the 20th century that was featured by theories of racial hierarchy, expansion of power and subjection to a single strong leader. The Nazis under Adolf Hitler aimed at eradicating social divisions to promote a strong homogenous society by expanding its territories at the expense of its neighbors. Like the most previous ideologies, Nazism excluded women from political involvement and classified them as children. It was against interracial interactions and trained young girls to avoid race defilement. In the book Under a Cruel Star by Kovály, the writer describes her trials as a Jew during the Communism and ...Download file to see next pagesRead More