Political Ideas in Science Fiction - Examples By Category

Examples By Category

• Alien Contact
  • Although encounters between humanity and non-human intelligences serve as the primary theme in the series of novels by Arthur C. Clarke that began with 2001: A Space Odyssey, they also explore the irrationality produced by Cold War military secrecy.
  • Contact by Carl Sagan

• Anarchy
  • Ursula K. Le Guin. The Dispossessed: Depicts life in and problems of an anarcho-syndicalist utopia.
  • S. Andrew Swann. The Hostile Takeover Trilogy. (also see: anarcho-capitalism)
  • In the Culture series by Iain M. Banks, the societies of humanity have essentially evolved into political anarchies; people associate or cooperate entirely on a voluntary basis for mutual support. There are organisations for cooperative ventures such as defense, exploration and even espionage, but they are run on an entirely voluntary basis. Advanced technology, cultural evolution and the planned economy liberate humanity from inequality and economic scarcity.
  • In The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein presents a human society on the Moon as an ideal anarchy, populated by political exiles and held together by the need for cooperation to ensure mutual survival, coupled with the ease for revenge in the event of harm. The revolutionaries in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress are vaguely anarcho-capitalist.
  • The LaNague Federation series of novels and stories by F. Paul Wilson.
  • The Fall Revolution books of Ken MacLeod. Various ideas for political systems are explored, ranging from anarcho-capitalism to a kind of selfish socialism.

• Assassination
  • Poul Anderson. 1968. "A Man to My Wounding," in The Horn of Time. New York: Signet. No ISBN. pages 27–43.
  • H. Beam Piper. 1958. Lone Star Planet (originally A Planet for Texans) expanded by John J. McGuire ISBN 0-441-24892-6.

• Capitalism
  • Max Barry. Jennifer Government.
  • Robert A. Heinlein. The Man Who Sold the Moon (Retro Hugo Award, 1951)
  • H. G. Wells. The Time Machine.
  • F. Paul Wilson. An Enemy of the State.
  • Jack London, The Iron Heel.
  • Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth, The Space Merchants.

• Ecology
  • David Brin. 1990. Earth.
  • Kim Stanley Robinson. Mars Trilogy, Three Californias Trilogy
  • Frank Herbert. The Dune novels

• Economics
  • Mack Reynolds. Tomorrow May Be Different
  • Frank Herbert. The Dune novels (specifically hydraulic despotism and its effects)

• Eugenics
  • C. J. Cherryh. Cyteen.
  • Aldous Huxley. Brave New World.
  • Frank Herbert. The Dune novels (see Bene Gesserit for a detailed review).

• Fascism
  • Norman Spinrad. The Iron Dream.
  • Philip K. Dick. The Man in the High Castle
  • Jack London. The Iron Heel
  • Jo Walton. Farthing
  • The Sound of His Horn by the senior British diplomat John William Wall (under the pen name of Sarban) — originally a mass market paperback published in the U.S., UK, Spain and Commonwealth countries, it was republished in hardback by Tartarus Press. It relates the story of a prisoner of war transported to a nazi controlled world 100 years on from World War II. He is hunted by a "Reichsforester" (a title Hermann Göring held during the Third Reich). He takes refuge with genetically mutilated undesirables — one of the first portrayals of genetic manipulation.

• Legal personality
  • Roger MacBride Allen. 1992. The Modular Man. New York: Bantam. ISBN 0-553-29559-4.

• Libertarianism

• • L. Neil Smith an author of libertarian science fiction currently writing. In the series beginning with The Probability Broach he examines an alternate history world where the United States took a substantial turn away from centralized authority shortly after its founding. Arguably a libertarian utopia the plots of his novels generally deal with threats to this social order.
  • Many of Robert A. Heinlein's books included libertarianism as a prominent theme. Some notable examples include The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Time Enough for Love, Stranger in a Strange Land, and the posthumously published For Us, the Living.

• Limited-franchise republic
  • In Starship Troopers Robert A. Heinlein describes a state in which citizens must earn voting rights and the right to hold electoral office and certain civil service jobs by completing a period of federal service.

• Militarism
  • In Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein describes a future Earth in which a world government is run by military veterans who despise the previous "social scientists" that ran the world.

• Mind reading and mind control
  • Alfred Bester. 1953. The Demolished Man.
  • Thomas M. Disch. 1968. Camp Concentration.

• National security state
  • Rex Gordon. 1969. The Yellow Fraction. New York: Ace. ISBN 0-441-94350-0 . pages. 26–28.

• Nepotism
  • John Barnes. 2001. The Merchant of Souls. New York: Tor. ISBN 0-8125-8969-6. pages 119–120.

• Pacifism
  • Ursula K. Le Guin. The Dispossessed.

• Plutocracy
  • Max Barry. 2003. Jennifer Government. New York: Vintage. ISBN 1-4000-3092-7. pages 238–239.
  • Jonathan Morris. Doctor Who: Anachrophobia. London: BBC Books. ISBN 0-563-53847-3.

• Proportional representation
  • David Brin. 1999. Foundation's Triumph. New York: Harper Torch. ISBN 0-06-105639-1. page 65.
  • Kim Stanley Robinson. 1996. Blue Mars
  • Scott Westerfeld. 2003. The Killing of Worlds. New York: Tor. ISBN 0-7653-0850-9 . page 298.

• Racism
  • Malorie Blackman. Noughts & Crosses series.
  • Norman Spinrad. Bug Jack Barron.

• Revolution
  • Robert A. Heinlein. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.
  • Norman Spinrad. The Men in the Jungle.
  • Frank Herbert. The Dune novels

• Slavery
  • Robert A. Heinlein. Citizen of the Galaxy

• Socialism
  • In For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs, Robert A. Heinlein describes a future United States of America with liberal social values and a social credit or anti-bank economic system.
  • The Fall Revolution books of Ken MacLeod.
  • The Mars Trilogy books of Kim Stanley Robinson.

• Theocracy
  • In Revolt in 2100, Robert A. Heinlein describes a future conservative Christian theocracy ruling what had been the United States of America.
  • Allen Steele. Coyote.
  • Ian Stewart & Jack Cohen. Heaven.
  • Margaret Atwood. The Handmaid's Tale
  • Ben Bova. In his Grand Tour series Earth is run by a loose federation of theocracies.
• Totalitarianism
  • George Orwell. Nineteen Eighty-Four.
  • Yevgeny Zamyatin. We
  • John Barnes explores the nature of totalitarianism in his Century Next Door novels: Candle and The Sky So Big and Black, which involve the threat of a hegemonic software program One True that takes control of individual human minds and entire human societies.
  • Frank Herbert. The Dune novels.

• Treason
  • C. J. Cherryh. Downbelow Station.
  • Rex Gordon. 1969. The Yellow Fraction. New York: Ace. ISBN 0-441-94350-0 . Pp. 28–30.