Ideologies Associated With Centre-left
The main ideologies of the centre-left are social liberalism, social democracy and sometimes, democratic socialism. Throughout the world, the two groups generally support:
- A mixed economy consisting of both private enterprise and publicly owned or subsidised programmes of education, universal health care, child care and related social services for all citizens.
- An extensive system of social security, with the stated goal of counteracting the effects of poverty and insuring the general public against loss of income following illness, unemployment or retirement (National Insurance contributions)
- Equal rights and opportunity.
- Government bodies that regulate private enterprise in the interests of workers and consumers by ensuring labour rights (i.e. supporting worker access to trade unions), consumer protections, and fair market competition.
- A value-added tax and/or progressive taxation system to fund government expenditures.
The term may be used to imply positions on the environment, religion, public morality and so on, but these are usually not the defining characteristics, since centre-right parties may take similar positions on these issues. A centre-left party may or may not be more concerned with reducing industrial emissions than a centre-right party.
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Famous quotes containing the word ideologies:
“Methods of thought which claim to give the lead to our world in the name of revolution have become, in reality, ideologies of consent and not of rebellion.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)