Centrism

In politics, centrism usually refers to the political ideal of promoting moderate policies which land in the middle ground between different political extremes. Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions In Politics and Religion, a moderate is an individual who holds an intermediate position between two viewpoints neither to be extreme or radical by those applying Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of Left-Right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between left-wing politics and right-wing politics. A political spectrum (plural Spectra) is a way of modeling different political positions by placing them upon one or more geometric axes Left-right politics or the Left-right political spectrum is a common way of classifying political positions political ideologies, or political parties In Politics, right-wing, the political right, and the Right are positions that uphold traditional values and/or authorities However, there is arguably more than one dimension to politics, so even the centre has its own radicals as exemplified by radical centrist politics. The terms radical center or radical middle describe a Third way Philosophy as well as an associated Political movement.

1 Definitions
2 See also

Definitions

An alternate definition is to assume that the two poles in question (e. g. , Left/Right) are well-defined, and then (i) define as 'centrist' any position which the Left considers too far Right and the Right considers too far Left, and (ii) define as a 'Centrist' any person who self-identifies more with those positions than either the Left or the Right. The weakness in this argument is that it is difficult to unambiguously and objectively define both poles at once, but that difficulty affects all political definitions, not just centrists.

In practice, the two poles can only be well-defined in a specific place at a specific time, since they differ from place to place and change over time. Thus, "centrism" itself means different things in different places (depending on the local political spectrum) and changes over time. For example, ideas that were considered extremist 200 years ago (such as democracy and universal suffrage) are considered centrist today - while other ideas that were considered centrist 200 years ago (such as slavery and racism) are considered extremist today. Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system Universal suffrage (also universal adult suffrage, general suffrage or common suffrage) consists of the extension of the right to vote to As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another List of racism-related topics|Racism by country Racism, by its simplest definition is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that

Marxist movement

"Centrism" has a specific meaning within the Marxist political movement. Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It usually reflects an ideologically held position between a revolutionary and reformist position. A revolutionary when used as a noun is a person who either actively engages in some kind of Revolution, or advocates the revolution with recognition from some government or Socialist Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a Society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures For instance, the Independent Labour Party (ILP) was seen as centrist because they oscillated between advocating reaching socialism through reforms and advocating revolution. See Independent Labor Party for the Political party in Burundi, Independent Labour Group for the Irish party and Labour candidates Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution The members of the so-called Two-and-a-half and Three-and-a-half Internationals, who could not choose between the reformism of the democratic socialist Second International and the revolutionary politics of the Communist Third International, are exemplary of centrism in this sense; examples are the POUM, ILP and Poale Zion. The International Working Union of Socialist Parties (IWUSP also known as 2½ International or the Vienna International; German: Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft The International Revolutionary Marxist Centre was an international association of left-socialist parties Socialist Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a Society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures Democratic socialism is a description used by various socialist movements tendencies and organizations to emphasize the democratic character of their political orientation The Second International (1889-1916 was an organization of socialist and labour parties formed in Paris on July 14, 1889. Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based The Comintern ( Com munist Intern ational also known as the Third International) was an international Communist organisation founded in Moscow POUM Campesinosjpg|thumb|A POUM poster appeals to peasants "Peasants the land is yours"]]The Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM Spanish: Partido Obrero Poale Zion (also spelled Poalei Tziyon or Poaley Syjon, meaning "Workers of Zion" was a Movement of Marxist Zionist Jewish Marxists often describe centrism in this sense as opportunistic, since it argues for a revolution at some point in the future but urges reformist practices in the mean time. Opportunism is a term used in Politics and Political science. Socialist Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a Society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures

The term "Centrism" also denotes positions held by some of the Bolsheviks during the 1920s. The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists ( Большевик Большевист (singular, derived from bolshe, "more" were a faction The 1920s is sometimes referred to as the " Jazz Age " or the " Roaring Twenties " when speaking about the United States and Canada In this context, "Centrism" refers to a position between the Right Opposition (which supported the New Economic Policy and friendly relations with capitalist countries) and the Left Opposition (which supported a planned economy and world revolution). The Right Opposition was the name given to the tendency made up of Nikolai Bukharin, Alexei Rykov and their supporters within the Soviet Union in the late For the Malaysian New Economic Policy see Malaysian New Economic Policy. Left communism and the Left Opposition are distinct Left communism should not be confused with the Trotskyist tendency described below A planned economy or directed economy is an Economic system in which the Government or Workers' councils manages the Economy. This is about the concept of world revolution in Marxist theory By the end of the 1920s, all three factions had been outmanœuvred by Joseph Stalin who, while casually aligning with each of them in turn, built his own power bloc and had the leaders of the three factions removed from their positions, imprisoned and eventually executed during the Great Purge. Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party Great Purge (Большая чистка transliterated Bolshaya chistka) was a series of campaigns of Political repression and Persecution At the same time, he implemented policies that drew some ideas from each of the factions, combined with his own characteristic ruthlessness.

See: Two Articles on Centrism by Leon Trotsky

Nordic Countries

Main article: Nordic Agrarian parties

In most of the Nordic countries there are centrist parties, these share in addition to the a centrist position on the socio-economic left-right scale, a clear separate ideology. The Nordic Agrarian parties, or Nordic Centre parties, is a class of post- agrarian political parties on the Nordic countries. The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe called the Nordic region, consisting of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, This is based around decentralisation, a commitment to small business and environmental protection. __FORCETOC__ Decentralization or Decentralisation (see Spelling differences) is the process of dispersing Decision-making governance closer to the people Environmentalism is a broad philosophy and Social movement centered on a concern for the conservation and improvement of the environment. They have aligned themselves with the Liberal International and European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party. Liberal International is a Political international for liberal parties. The European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (founded in 1993 is a liberal party, mainly active in the European Union, composed of 55 national parties from across Historically all these parties were farmers' parties committed to maintaining rural life. In the 1960s these parties broadened their scope to include non-farmer related issues and renamed themselves Centre Party.

The Centre Democrats and the New Alliance in Denmark are not rooted in agrarianism. The Centre Democrats ( Centrum-Demokraterne or CD was a Danish political party

Republic of Ireland

In Ireland, the two main political parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, are both centrist (and also relatively populist) parties and share broadly similar policies with their main division being stooped in Civil War politics. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach shortened to Fianna Fáil ( is currently the largest Political party in the Fine Gael – The United Ireland Party, shortened to Fine Gael (ˌfina gail meaning Family of the Irish or Tribe of the Irish, is the second largest Populism is a discourse which supports "the people" versus "the Elites " Populism may involve either a political philosophy urging social and political Each party also has groupings of centre-left and centre-right members within them, with neither party willing to describe itself as being "left-" or "right-wing".

The largest non-centrist party is the Labour Party, which describes itself as democratic socialist (left-wing) and has links with numerous trade unions throughout Ireland. The Labour Party (Páirtí an Lucht Oibre is a Democratic socialist and Social democratic Political party in the Republic of Ireland.

Dictionary

-noun

Any moderate political philosophy that avoids extremes.

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