[Wolfman]

Communitarianism in short:

Communitarianism isn't so much of an ideology as a concept which can be applied to other ideologies. It is in principle just the idea that the community is more important then the individual, that the interests of the community and the individual are the same, and that the accomplishments of the individual are much the result of your community as they are individual accomplishments. Quite a few Communitarians are socially conservative as are socially liberal, as are indifferent to social issues. If I had to pick a particular affiliation among Communitarians, I'd probably say Socially Conservative. A trend seems to exist with Communitarians supporting economically Left Wing programs, such as Welfare, Universal Health Care (of one sort or another), Universal Education, and Regulations. However, this isn't exclusively true.

Recommended Preparatory Reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communitarian
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/communitarianism/
http://icps.gwu.edu/
http://www.cpn.org/tools/dictionary/communitarian.html
http://web.missouri.edu/~johnsonrn/comm.html

First order of business would be to go decide on the first book to read. The ICPS has a nice listing of books related to Communitarianism, so we have that as a place to start.

[Beren]

I think it's important to see how much different Communitarianism is from Liberalism, Communism and Authoritarianism.

Comparison to other political philosophies

Communitarianism cannot be classified as being wholly left or right, and many theorists claim to represent a sort of radical center. Progressives in the American sense or social democrats in the European sense generally share the communitarian position on issues relating to the economy, such as the need for environmental protection and public education, but not on cultural issues. Communitarians and conservatives generally agree on cultural issues, such as support for character education and faith-based programs, but communitarians do not support the laissez-faire capitalism generally embraced by American conservatives.

Authoritarianism

Some people have argued that communitarianism's focus on social cohesion raises similarities with nationalistic communism, or various forms of authoritarianism, although supporters contend that there are substantial differences between communitarianism and authoritarianism, and that communitarianism has very little in common with Communism, which they see as not really valuing individual liberty at all.

Authoritarian governments often embrace extremist ideologies and rule with brute force, accompanied with severe restrictions on personal freedom, political and civil rights. Authoritarian governments are overt about the role of the government as director and commander. Civil society and democracy are not generally characteristic of authoritarian regimes. For the most part, communitarians emphasize the use of non-governmental organizations, such as private businesses, churches, non-profits, or labor unions, in furthering their goals.

For starters I doubt Communitarianism has anything to do with either Bonaparte or Mussolini.

[Wolfman]

I don't care, I'm still a huge fan of Emperor Napoleon.

Any thought first reading?

[Beren]

I don't care, I'm still a huge fan of Emperor Napoleon.

You and Il Duce will get on well with each other, I guess.
However, I just wonder what kind of communitarians you are supposed to be.

[Plaro]

DWU favours allowing minorities Institutionalized opportunities to promotechanges in all these elements through actions That range from seeking to change the laws to reconstructing and revising the national history (for instance. by changing the textbooks used to leach it): from adjusting their new nation's relationship to other nations of particular interest to fighting or social justice.

Diversity Within Unity as author puts it (DWU) is not "radical multiculturalism", yet he proposes autonomy for "minorities". Where they will be able to have their own courts and legislation. Also he proposes for minorities to have an ability to change national history? Does he mean to change the national history of the minorities or national history of the whole country? Because if it is the latter, then it is messed up. What the hell!? This is like radical multiculturalism and more, wth!?

[Wolfman]

^ I don't know what that guy wants, if you want to know what he's talking about, email him.

However, I just wonder what kind of communitarians you are supposed to be.

I see Communitarianism as an ethical thought similar in many ways to Ethics of Care or Social Contract theory

[Daktoria]

Red Toryism is rather communitarian.

In light of that, you might want to watch this 50 minute panel:

[youtube]XshT34FIGLc[/youtube]

[Wolfman]

Yep, I already hate this thread.