So we've talked about sovereignty and states and state sovereignty and a changing role of sovereignty perhaps ad nauseam Let's shift gears to something more tangible. Who controls the state? That's right we look at political systems in the world and in doing so of course you're gonna have to look at the political left versus the political right and how these different ideologies manifest themselves in different ways to govern or control a state Remember we talked about this left versus right stuff back in lecture One. The left versus right is different for different things like economics or religion or social issues. The differences in left versus right political systems are perhaps the most stark of these in terms of the repercussions to the peoples of the state themselves who live under these systems. In other words, there is significant and easily identifiable differences between a Leftist Political System and a Rightist Political System in terms of leadership, governing styles, government structure, and distribution of political power. And a whole lot more. Now the conservative right and the liberal left approach political power in very different ways. Let's revisit their political stances. On the topic on the right... The conservative right likes to conserve or keep the same. Conserve tradition, conserve political power, conserve economic power in the hands of those that have it. You know, the rich people, the smart people, the powerful people, the people that should be running the show. Now on the left... On the liberal left we want to liberate or free up economic and political power for everyone to share Free! Everyone is equal and should have an equal voice in the system that governs them. Free for all! Whee! Let's also think back to those left versus right differences just within the United States. Remember that stuff? We Talked about that the Democrats were just a hair left of center and the Republicans were just a hair right of center when looking at the entire world spectrum. The Democrats and Republicans are right dead to center and they're really not disagreeing on very much at all, not when it comes to the distribution of political power or big-ticket items on how to run a government. They mostly bicker and name-call and get all uptight about those social issues within the United States. Keep that in mind. We're going to be looking at just political power and at the world stage. However, even though they're right next door to each other center left and center Right in the United States Democrats and Republicans It is a good place to start to think about how those folks feel about the proper role of government, even with the United States. How does the liberal left versus the conservative right think about the proper role of the government? Let's start again with the right The conservative right is all about preserving that tradition and preserving societal structure and preserving societal stability over all other things. In that respect, we support a strong central government in its capacity to maintain that order, meaning we are pro-military, pro-police, pro-law and order. We are also pro-business because it's the businesses, not the government, that creates jobs and industries and wealth and therefore economic stability. Keep the government out of economics. Let people make the wealth for themselves. And on the left... We on the liberal left respect the rights and liberties of the individual in this society above all other things. The individual should be totally liberated in such a ways as to make the most out of his or her existence the best way they see fit for their lives. Keep the government out of people's personal lives. Let people make the lifestyle choices for themselves. Which is why we are pro-individual, pro-choice, pro-equality, equal rights, equal pay, universal suffrage. Therefore favor strong central government that uses its power to make all these things equal politically and economically for all the citizens. That's Why we favor public education, social programs like welfare. Because what good is freedom politically if you're too poor to do anything about It? That's a good place to start with making sense of the global left-right spectrum because we're going to pay This out from center. further to the left and right see what happens. As we get further and further away from just center left and just center right, what happens to you fellows as you progress further to the edges? Hey Liberal Lefty, what happens is you go even further to the left? Political power is more equally distributed to even more people in the society and economic power would also be a little bit more equally distributed through more government programs Like welfare, social security, national health care. There would be more individualism. We'd be more free on a variety of social issues like free speech, or sexuality, or family planning, or even drugs. There'd be less government control over our daily lives. You can kiss who you like, dress how you like, smoke what you like, openly criticize or protest against the government itself. Hell, burn a flag of the state if you want And Mr. Conservative Righty, what happens to your society as we push it further to the right? Power increasingly concentrated into fewer and fewer hands who can make the rules that the rest of you must follow. Less individualism, less free. You can't just do any damn thing you want. In fact, more and more rules may be passed in order to preserve order, preserve tradition, and preserve societal structure. We may pass a dress code, or laws against any sort of unruly or revolutionary behavior. You can't burn a flag and protest or criticize the government. That would be seen as disrespectful and destabilizing of the society, as would same-sex marriage. There would be more government control in order to maintain order, But less control over the economy. Let free market capitalism take care of itself Get the government out of the way of the economy. The government should not be redistributing wealth by way of government benefits. Let people fend for themselves as it should be. And what happens when you get to the extreme left? Total liberation! Total liberty! Total individualism 100% free to do anything we want. No laws or no constraints keeping us down. There's no government control. There's no man keeping us down. No military, no police, no rules, man. We are all equal. We all make the decisions which affect our lives ourselves. If a government exists at all, it exists to protect us and do what we say and provide us even more services. That's it. We are free to smoke weed or live in grass huts together in a commune like the Native Americans used to Ha, ha, pass the peace pipe, bruh. and those government-provided Doritos too. And what's over there on the extreme right? Further and further concentration of power, perhaps inevitably leading to total consolidation of power, unlimited power in the hands of the few, or the one! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Like the Emperor from Star Wars I have unlimited power! Dissolve the Galactic Senate! I am the power! I will make all the rules that you all will follow! There will be no tolerance for any challenge to my political authority and power . You have no voice in this state or society You have no say in these matters. This is a militarized place. A police state with a KGB or a Darth Vader to root out dissenters of our dictatorship fascist state of fun! Ha, ha, ha, ha Well at least it's fun for us at the top. Now those are some real differences in the way a state is run from left to right with real repercussions for real people living in these real states. That Is the true spectrum of political power across the face of the entire planet Think about it like this. The further left you go, the more liberated and distributed the political power is across the society. The more the government exists of the People, by the People, for The People. That's right. The government is there to serve the people. The further right you go, just the reverse. The political power is more and more concentrated and conserved into fewer and fewer Hands and the People are actually there to serve the government. It's flip-flopped on either side. Ultimately on the right, the extreme manifestation of consolidated power would be something like fascism or dictatorship as evidenced by Hitler himself, the best-known fascist who said, "I am the state." One person, he had all the political power. Get it? Got it? Good. Then let's look at some of these systems by name across the planet in the world political spectrum.