The extensively revised new edition of this bestselling text continues to provide an accessible overview of the major political ideologies, their origins, and their development.  In addition to examining the major “isms” – liberalism, conservatism, socialism, and fascism – the book offers readers the history, structure, supporting arguments, and internal complexities of these and recently emerging ideologies.  

The text utilizes a fourfold framework – a definition of “ideology” in terms of the four functions ideologies perform – within which to compare, contrast, and analyze the various ideologies.  In addition, the book also shows how each ideology interprets “democracy” (which the authors characterize as an ideal rather than an ideology) and “freedom.”  In examining the latter notion, the authors analyze each ideology’s view of freedom in terms of agent, obstacle, and goal.