ABSTRACT
Political ideas propose norms for the distribution and use of power, but how important are they? Ideas are only one factor influencing the behaviour of actors alongside other factors such as class, ethnicity or gender. Historians sometimes refer to a hegemonic ideology – a highly contested term often used to refer to a system of values, beliefs or ideas shared by a social group – through which, they argue, dominant elites shape values and culture. At the same time, individual ideas or norms themselves may be hegemonic in a society yet may not offer a comprehensive belief system that can be said to comprise an ideology per se. Ideas may also be expressed as much through the behaviour and approaches taken by political actors such as parties or social movements as by the conscious expression of a viewpoint or opinion by an intellectual or politician. Moreover, measuring the impact of ideas is difficult because they may be concealed deliberately by those who cherish them. At the same time, the context in which political ideas evolve is forever changing, and scholars interested in ideas and the broader concept of ideology have also understood and analysed them in many different ways. Given this, the study of political ideas is bedevilled by many variables, and one way of exploring them is to identify key strands and themes in political thought and to trace their evolution.
