Ideologies

An 'ideology' within EoaNB, or HOI4 in general is the smallest unit of ideas that can be distinguished as a single 'party'. They represent one broad title of ideas, and usually are leaded by the most predominant party of that single ideology. Ideologies grant different restrictions and features to the player, and inter or domestic ideological interactions are available. Every ideology has a popularity within a nation, and every nation has a leading ideology, and thus a leading party. While the shift of ideology popularity is dynamic, changing the leading ideology of a nation is fundamentally rigid, and is supposed to be difficult.

## **Ingame Ideology vs. Real Life Ideologies**

The HOI4 ideologies are a representation of several ideologies that are existent within a nation and its political scope. The very idea of ideologies as a political entity is a horrible classification method, especially during the ages before radical policies that strongly divided different groups of ideologies. This means within the mod ideologies are often interchangeable with political alignments, and even government forms, and less of the traditional meaning of an ideology. Monarchism or religions count as 'ideologies', as they are a form of ideals that govern a state and its people.

All usage of the word 'ideology' is about the ingame system of ideology, unless mentioned so otherwise.

## **What Matters in an Ideology**

### Ultimate goals for all and any ideologies

An ideology is an entity of its own, and has its own rules and goals depending on its tenets. However all ideologies have some core rules that are common by the definition of an ideology, and this forms the attitude that an ideology takes, and serves as a tool to classify ideologies.

* An ideology supports its core tenets, and justifies their beliefs.
* An ideology aims to increase its influence, and can take any measures to do so unless it defies its tenets.
* An ideology benefits from being popular.
* An ideology is united under at least one common banner.
* An ideology aims to benefit somebody, if not everybody.
* There is no singular ideology that everyone is agreed on.
* Ideologies can merge or split depending on ideological and geopolitical situations.
* All ideologies have a goal, and methods to achieve them.

### The Moral High Ground, and the Ideological Truth

Most ideologies have their own ways of justifying their truth beyond using oppressive methods or blind education. The "Ideological Truth" is a common theme that is featured in all ideologies, and is what settles the idea of an ideology within the people as an uncontested truth. Ideological Truth can exist regardless to how oppressive or liberal, how conservative or progressive the tenets are; ideological truths are the tenets of an ideology, and are what is engraved within the minds of people through education and propaganda.

The Moral High Ground is a different version of the Ideological Truth, and is based on the human nature to converge towards liberty. History has generally seen the uprising of ideas that support humanitarianism and liberalism; the Moral High Ground is what propels it. The Moral High Ground opposes all form of oppression towards the common being, and advocates the general sense of morality. Ideologies that equip the Moral High Ground have a substantial bonus in gaining popular, and international support.

The sole example where the Moral High Ground could act in an opposite direction is in an alternate society where totalitarianism is justified.

## **The Classification of Ideologies**

Within vanilla HOI4, the ideologies are greatly divided into four groups, depending on how nations were aligned during WW2. This however is greatly seen as a understatement of the various ideologies that existed through history, and especially poorly represents the historical landscape of the 18th and 20th century. To fix this EoaNB proposes a new set of ideologies, but before we list them we will show what criteria we have taken into account when classifying hundreds of schools of ideologies into more vague classifications. These classifications not only serve as a guideline to define ideologies, but also define their behaviour and possible outcomes. These are the 8 axes, either by the goals or methods of ideologies on a scale of 0 to 1.

### By Goals of Ideologies

* **Indifferent - Fundamental** : **The devotion of people and the existence of a united entity.** Less people are invested into the ideals of Indifferent ideologies(or they don't advocate/have them at all), while Fundamental ideologies are more 'ideological', being more focused on fulfilling their ideals than petty politics.

ex) Most modern democracies of developed countries are indifferent; Marxism or religious ideologies are Fundamental.

* **Egalitarian - Oligarchic** : **The equality between the ones in power and the ones that aren't.** Egalitarian states both ensure civic rights/advocate equality between the common, and allow the common man to participate in the government. Oligarchies do the opposite, and have inequalities within society for any reason.

ex) Athenian democracies are the most Egalitarian; Technocracies or all autocracies are very Oligarchic.

* **Conservative - Progressive** : **The direction of ideology relative to the current state of affairs.** This scale is a fundamentally relative scale, but conventionally Conservatives are leaned towards preserving traditional values. Conservatives aim to keep the current state of society or government, and anyone else is Progressive, the more the further they aim. Reactionaries, the ones who align towards the *status quo ante*, have been classified more conservative than traditionalists.

ex) Reactionaries are most conservative, Traditional Conservatives leaned towards the conservative sides, Progressives leaned towards progressive sides and most radical ideologies aligned most progressive.

* **Isolationist - Internationalist** : **The will to cooperate as a united entity transcending political concerns.** Internationalist ideologies usually benefit from globalisation, unity, while Isolationist ideologies are focused towards keeping distance from foreign powers. Isolationism isn't to be confused with Nationalism where refusals to cooperate are generated from racial/national values. Internationalists aren't to be confused with Global ideologies, that wish to spread their influence internationally.

ex) American Conservatism is mostly Isolationist (despite being Global) along with most radical ideologies; most modern democracies are Internationalist.

### By Methods of Ideologies

* **Anarchist - Bureaucratic** : **The definitions of the value of a bureaucratic state as a political entity, and its boundaries.** Anarchist ideologies deny the very nature of rules or higher political entities, while heavily Bureaucratic ideologies emphasise the importance of bureaucracy in the efficient governing of several people.

ex) Republicans are relatively Anarchist; Federalists and Nomocratics are relatively Bureaucratic.

* **Liberal - Centralised** : **The influence, importance and role of the state in economics and industry.** Liberal ideologies advocate the freedom of the individual to participate in the economic field and negate regulations, while Centralised ideologies suggest the regulation of private industries and aim for property to be managed and distributed by the state, for whatever reason it may be.

ex) Laissez-Faire is one of the most Liberal economic ideologies; Communism is a prime example of Centralised ideologies.

* **Local - Global** : **The scope of the ideology, tendency of aggression and aims to increase influence over other nations.** Local ideologies focus on the purity of ideology and confining the ideological 'truth' within the home state, while Global ideologies aim on spreading the ideological 'truth' to other nations and increase their influence.

ex) Stalinism or Nazism are some of the few true Local ideologies; Trotskyism, American Capitalism, and Fanatic Religious ideologies are Global.

* **Moderate - Radical** : **The usage of propaganda, populism and oppressive methods to enforce policies.** Most ideologies modern day without distinct characteristics are Moderate. Ideologies get more Radical by the policies they take to enforce the ideology, to oppress opposition, execute the ideological 'truth' and its results.

ex) Most modern democracies are Moderate; Feminism - Monarchies - Dictatorships - Nationalist Ideologies - Terrorism are Radical in increasing scale.

Whether an ideology is radical or not, or egalitarian or oligarchic, or whether the ideals of an ideology matter or its execution matters is a matter of great controversy. The classification made by the EoaNB is by no means politically leaned, and has aimed to rate each ideology on the 8 axes based on objective sources. However a grain of salt is required, as it is impossible to interpret social sciences without any personal views applied towards it, and this classification is the same. Political classification of ideologies are not a matter of debate; as it is a subject of controversy and should be handled carefully.

Methods of ideologies are more flexible and dynamic. These change depending on how radical the ideology is, or how the geopolitical stage is at the time, but are relevant enough to forge different branches of real life ideologies, like the differences between Stalinism and Trotskyism.

### The Scale

Where certain ideologies are put on the scale from 0 to 1 is a controversial matter, and can change even for the same person depending on how they measure it. To prevent this from happening is proposed a scale from 0 to 1 for each decimal point, so one can objectively judge its placement.

## **The Ideologies**

* Autocracy

**Autocracy** is the ideology that supports the regime of an autocratic, oligarchic and dynastic no-party government. Its nature is in preserving the ancien regime and thus is very conservative, however the characteristics of autocracy vary greatly depending on the head of state, or the surrounding pressure. Autocracies have greatly two variants, monarchism and paternalism, which closely relate to each other in terms of ideological classification. (These two variants are virtually identical, but paternalism is an idea that deals with oppressing a mainstream democratic movement.) Autocracies tend to lack 'ideological truth' as they rely greatly on traditional values.

Differing from the actual form of government named monarchies, monarchists support and sympathise towards a realm defined by militaristic conquest, dynasties and structural dominance, rather than cultural definitions. Pleasing the public or striving for the greater good is a lesser problem than conserving control, and this nature makes the idea of monarchism unstable compared to democracies, or more radical ideologies.

Paternalism is the continuation of monarchism within a modern society, where the moral high ground of politics is widespread. Monarchism is unstable in the face of democratic uprisings due to the lack of 'ideological truth', and to retain similar amounts of control/sustain monarchist traditions, more oppressive actions are often required to take.
Paternal Autocracies are only different from most ideologies in that they bask in the requirements of sustaining a dictatorship; how radical they are, oppressive or benevolent entirely rests on the hands of the dictator themselves.
Paternalists tend to sit in an uncomfortable position between socialist and fascist politics, but unlike those that are inspired by 'ideological truth' paternalists tend to be more focused on seizing control of the state and securing it. Paternalists fill in the lacks of an ideological truth often by using militaristic force; this is why most dictatorships are supported and instigated by the military.

Within the game monarchist nations are restricted to autocratic governments, as it is required and is a core part of its tenets. Despite being restricted by several traditional values depending on government type, monarchies can greatly improve their state strength depending on who the monarch is.
Paternalists have a greatly different situation. Unlike monarchists that retain their strength through tradition, paternalists shape their fate using the force of militaristic oppression. They oppose mainstream democratic movements and the moral high ground of politics, and suffer from the threat of a coup happening as easily as themselves came to power. Public opinions are also very low, as paternalism lacks ideological truth to gain support. This means the player must spend most of their efforts maintaining stability within the state; but by acting 'benevolent' towards the people (by sacrificing absolute control) paternalists have the opportunity to seize the best of both executive power and public support.

**TL;DR** : Paternalists suffer from two things : lacking ideological truth and opposing the moral high ground. When monarchists are met with democratic parties they tend to step back; paternalists also will suffer great instability unless they retract violence and partially embrace democracy.

* Anarchism

**Anarchism** is a group of ideas that all deny the existence of a central state. There are many variants depending on the existence of a higher goal, but they are all similar in advocating decentralisation, individualism and economic reform to the absolute.

Scopes of anarchism greatly range from capitalist to socialist to nationalist, but they commonly see the idea of a central state greatly inefficient and oppressing towards the individual and its freedoms. It is unique in that its goals of taking control of a government is to destroy it, and fundamentally cannot have representative power within a democratic government. The leader of such groups often have no executive power, and act solely as a figurehead.

Anarchism is seldom popular outside dedicated parties or organisations, as most people feel protected by a state and have mutual relations with it. However in times where the public opinion towards a state pummels, the credibility of anarchism grows exponentially. Towards the player this can pose either as a threat or an opportunity; players whom make terrible decisions will be ultimately punished by the uprising of anarchism, but but a nation that overcomes this disaster will stand out as a new power.

* Traditional Conservatism

**Traditional Conservatism** as an idea within politics are aimed on protecting the status quo, or even reverting to previous times in order to retain traditions. While Conservatism is a main tenet of many oppressive governments, the term TradCon exclusively refers to ideas that support both traditions and the basics of democracy.

The idea of tradition and the status quo greatly varies within states and thus so does the ideas of Conservatism, and thus conservatists less identify each other as cooperators. However they generally can be classified together in resisting radical movements, leaning towards religious values and protecting rights of the rich.

TradCons protect the power of people who already possess it, and is very popular among the rich, inside the government and in many cases the older generations. Players that embraces TradCon can easily take several measures to preserve traditions and gain popularity, but TradCon is a very weak candlelight when placed before radical ideologies, especially ones pursued by the younger generations. Players will also suffer difficulties in making reforms required to sustain stability or progress the nation in general.

* Social Egalitarianism

**Social Egalitarianism** is a group of ideology that promotes the equal rights of the 'socially weak', and aim for equal results than opportunities. They are mostly based on liberal, ethic ideals and struggle to reduce social gaps. They often take policies to restrict the freedom of the powerful few in order to promote the freedom of many.

The main goal of SocEq is to reform the government with more humanitarian policies despite restricting rights for the more privileged, and are generally progressive as the idea of a social government is relatively new. They deny the privileges given to the ones already in power and redistribute them to the lesser groups within society, and escape traditions that hinder this process. They tend to be more flexible in economic policies, but tend to promote regulation of trade, and reduce the impacts of capitalism and dominant corporates.

While SocEq is popular towards the general public as it usually increases budget towards welfare and regulating economic flow, this makes it quite unpopular towards the ones already in power. SocEq nations struggle in gaining internal support, and use a substantial amount of budget in supporting their ideals. The external popularity of SocEq also greatly varies depending on the world situation.

* Radical Democracy

**Radical Democracy** is the term that contains all ideas that are progressive in a radical manner, but do not hinder the base idea of democracy. RadDems usually promote higher ideas and are very specific in their reforms. They also encompass milder versions of dictatorship, where representatives exist despite having weak executive power.

RadDems differ themselves from dictatorships or other forms of radical ideologies in that they do not intervene within the egalitarian, liberal principles of democracy. The base fundamentals of RadDem do not question the identity of democracy, and thus it is impossible to topple a democratic system with RadDem supporters nevertheless the radical degree of their tenets.

Radical Democracies and their supporters are generally shunned by less radical counterparts, but they are not opposed against the 'moral high ground' of politics. This makes it much easier to gain public popularity in a democratic-dominant society, and can take internationalistic actions towards most governments. However RadDem is very restricted in the executive acts it can take compared to other more radical ideologies, and is endangered of being overthrown when the sudden surge that supports radicalism cools down.

* Centrism

Centrism is a political outlook or specific position that involves acceptance or support of a balance of a degree of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy, while opposing political changes which would result in a significant shift of society either strongly to the left or the right.

Centre-left and centre-right politics both involve a general association with centrism combined with leaning somewhat to their respective sides of the spectrum.

Various political ideologies, such as Christian democracy, can be classified as centrist.

* Collectivist Socialism

**Collectivist Socialism** is a branch of socialism that does not involve violent uprisings, elitist groups and vanguard parties, and a dictatorship to ensure security of its ideology. In terms of policies it is closer to the ideal Marxist ideology due to its closer pursues of egalitarianism, and the socialist beliefs of the leadership is represented in its regulation of the economy, left-wing tendencies and ideological alignments.

Unlike RadDem or SocEq, CollSoc argues for the abolishment of private property, and the establishment of trade unions equally held by its partners. Their purposes differ depending on the existence of a dominant VanCom entity, but tend to be more united when publicly opposed to dictatorships. Depending on the precise leadership in place, CollSoc nations can adopt beneficial dictatorships to complete democracies.

CollSoc has the benefits of socialism and its centralised resources/industries, and popular stability. This may seem as the best of both worlds, however most CollSoc politicians tend to degrade towards dictatorship. CollSoc also depends its internal stability on the interpretation of the ideological truth (as it denies dictatorships as a method to unite the government), and can cause several schisms that could result in internal division. CollSoc faces many internal conflicts without a decisive, influential truth, perhaps obtainable through player maneuvers.

* Vanguard Communism

**Vanguard Communism** is a more violent, radical branch of socialism that takes the violent removal of capitalists as a requirement, and argues the role of a vanguard political entity to protect/popularise the ideology. It has similarities to its counterpart CollSyn as it aims to establish a utopian society for the worker class, centralisation of resources, abolishing of private property and distribute workforce depending on their abilities. While some variants of VanCom defend the idea of democratic centralism, many leaderships take the dictatorial path to ensure the power of the vanguard party. They mostly take radical, oppressive means to enforce ideological submission towards the government, and is one of the most efficient methods to extract production from the nation. Depending on how the vanguard party acts in distributing power to the vanguards, VanCom can be one of the most or least internally stable ideologies. Without external pressure, internal stability can also lead to a totalitarian regime that ensures external stability; but is as vulnerable to 'moral high ground' revolutions as any oppressive ideology is.

VanCom is an efficient engine that runs at the greatest costs of the people's liberty. The existence of a vanguard party also acts as a source of national unity; but the act of keeping a vanguard party together poses as a challenge itself.

* Chauvinist Populism

**Chauvinist Populism** is an ideology that embraces values that are not necessarily tied with economic policies, but in contrast in a patriotic, or even nationalistic manner. It aims to unite people under an idea that people can easily relate to, and use that unity to benefit the state through totalitarian maneuvers. They spout greatly radical rhetoric, and inhibit individualism to promote the 'greater good' like many other oppressive ideologies.

ChauvPop promotes a pan-state identity that the people are united under, and does so by accentuating the differences between the group to be benefited and the ones to be demoted. This is expressed through often radical, aggressive rhetoric and policies, but also feature militaristic dictatorships where the devotion is directed towards the military. ChauvPop also tends to use a diversity of ways to define where the state starts and ends, using religion, race and culture to define superiority over others.

ChauvPop greatly unites the people compared to different ideologies, and gives the power to the state to utilise resources or industries. The pure idea of nationalism benefits all states, but such unity through identity is not a mere tool of ChauvPop; it becomes both the cause and the effect. As oppressive ideologies, especially ChauvPop is opposed by internationalists acrimoniously, and due to the nature of ChauvPop, players are recommended to avert being involved in internationalist movements. ChauvPop also suffers less from internal instability like VanCom or CollSyn as the rhetoric itself serves as a source of unity,

* Fundamentalism

**Fundamentalism** is an ideology that has ideas that supercede the existence or requirement of a state. They operate less with the goals to administer a group of people, but solely to exert influence of their fundamentals. The state serves as a method or medium of such actions, and usually fundamentalist states are founded by the expansion of such groups.

Religious groups are one of the few possessing fundamentalist ideas, and thus the government form is decided by unique rules set in the religion. Fundamentalist states tend to be extremist, as their interests are not public consent but only the fundamentals themselves, and are mostly conservative.

Fundamentalist states are far greatly bounded by rules of conduct, and are best unified in very small units. They have a tendency to be very unstable or very stable depending on their policies, as their interests are least in public opinion.