Political radicalism

The term political radicalism (in political

science known as radicalism) denotes
political principles focused on altering
social structures through revolutionary or
other means and changing value
systems in fundamental ways.

Derived from the Latin radix ("root"), the

denotation of radical has changed since
its eighteenth-century coinage to
comprehend the entire political spectrum
—yet it retains the "change at the root"
connotation fundamental to revolutionary
societal change. Historically, radicalism
has referred exclusively to the radical left
(under the single category of far-left
politics) and rarely incorporating far-right
politics—though these may have
revolutionary elements. The prominent
exception is in the United States, where
some consider radicalism to include both
political extremes of the radical left and
the radical right. In traditional labels of
the spectrum of political thought, the
opposite of radical – on the "right" of the
political spectrum – is termed
"reactionary".
The nineteenth-century Cyclopaedia of
Political Science (1881, 1889) reports
that "radicalism is characterized less by
its principles than by the manner of their
application".[1] Conservatives often used
the term "radical" pejoratively whereas
contemporary left radicals used the term
"conservative" derogatorily,[2] thus
contemporary denotations of "radical",
"radicalism" and "political radicalism"
comprise far-left (hard left,[3] radical
left)[4] and far-right (hard right, radical
right).[5]

The Encyclopædia Britannica records the

first political usage of "radical" as
ascribed to the British Whig Party
parliamentarian Charles James Fox, who
in 1797 proposed a "radical reform" of
the electoral system, franchise to provide
universal manhood suffrage, thereby
idiomatically establishing "radical" to
denote supporters of the reformation of
the British Parliament. Throughout the
nineteenth century, the term was
combined with political notions and
doctrines, thus producing the concepts
of working class radicalism, middle
class-, philosophic-, democratic-
bourgeois-, Tory- and plebeian
radicalism. In the event, politically
influential radical leaders give rise to
their own trend of political radicalism
(see Spencean radicalism and Carlilean
radicalism). Philosophically, the French
political scientist Jean-Jacques
Rousseau (1712–1778) is the principal
theoretician proposing "political
radicalism" as feasible in republican
political philosophy, viz the French
Revolution (1789–1799) and other
modern revolutions—the antithesis to the
liberalism of John Locke (1632–1704).[6]

See also
Direct action
Radicalism (historical)
Radicalization
Reactionary
Resistance movement
 Revolutionary
Rules for Radicals
Saul Alinsky
Structural change
Ultra-leftism

References
1. Cyclopaedia of Political Science,
Political Economy, and of the Political
History of the United States, 1893, p. 492,
article "Radicalism" , by Maurice Block.
2. Mike Sanders (ed.) (2001), Women and
Radicalism in the Nineteenth Century,
ISBN 0-415-20526-3, "General
Introduction" .
3. Luke March (12 March 2012). Radical
Left Parties in Europe . Routledge.
p. 1724. ISBN 978-1-136-57897-7.
4. Edward Walter (1992), The Rise and Fall
of Leftist Radicalism in America, ISBN 0-
275-94276-7.
5. Gilbert Abcarian (1971), American
Political Radicalism: Contemporary Issues
and Orientations.
6. "Radicals/Radicalism - Radical
Liberalism" . science.jrank.org. Retrieved
28 August 2017.

External links
The M and S Collection at the Library
of Congress contains materials on
Radical Movements.
Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Political_radicalism&oldid=857783266"

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