Ideologies and Democracy: A Symbolic Approach

Introduction

In the post-Cold War world, democracy has become a universal principle desired by almost all countries. But confusion reigns when talking about democracy in everyday life. Because it is complex that the issue of exactly what the concept includes and what it is about. Is democracy individual freedoms, is it a multi-party system, is it the rights of minorities, equal voice or something else? Is a strong civil society against the central influence of the state a factor in the development of democracy? Undoubtedly, it is possible to answer these questions by having a good command of both political science and constitutional law. In addition, the concept is also connected with sociology. Because when people talk about democracy, the concept actually means something different to each of them. One of the possible reasons for this is that we are members of different groups in terms of scope and content, such as family, neighbor environment, association, club, working environment, nation and state. Each affiliation develops a system of meaning based on its own worldview. Of course, we do not claim that the meanings differ as much as black and white according to their point of view. However, the networks we are in are open to debate on agreed meanings. If we think that our imagination is formed by what we learn, we can say that we can construct even very basic subjects and concepts in our minds in different ways. Because the meaning has been broken with modern times and the decisive role of religion on meaning has been lost. Modern thought, which has turned into idolaters, has given certain rational answers about the place of man in this world. The institutional structure of modernism claimed to have an inclusive world of meanings about nature and society. However, when we look at the dark corridors of the human mind, many studies that show that symbolic wholes such as myths, religious predictions, mystical thoughts and stereotyped perspectives are much more decisive in human life will come to the fore. Ideologies also frequently make use of symbols and symbolic forms as a set of political beliefs. Because ideologies interpret the current situation in the form of worldview. They argue that there can be a good society. They have arguments about what political progress will look like. Ideologies that make up the language of political discourse develop approaches to concepts that are woven with symbols. In a sense, they form a direct link between action and meaning. Whether nationalism or liberalism, fascism, communism, or different versions of nationalism, they seek to create a symbolic framework that they can use to reexamine and respond to political issues and concepts. For example, the French Revolution, which caused the emergence of ideologies like many social changes, was transformed by the ideologies themselves as progressive, reactionary, despotic, extremist, etc. labeled as. Because the established political images have been replaced by the symbolic concepts of ideologies in modern times. Ideology, which emerges as a map of reality, allows the creation of collective consciousness. It is known that group affiliations play an important role in the formation of individuals' opinions. In this sense, ideologies are a symbol of community mind and memory. Like other political concepts, democracy is a symbol used in politics. It is also a political symbol interpreted by ideology. Every ideology's view of democracy is attributed to cultural or formal symbols. Democracy can sometimes be the reflection of a historical freedom struggle on the statue, or it can be the driving force of a transformation that supports two other motifs such as equality and fraternity. Sometimes it is a sapling that can only be kept alive with the power of a gun. Sometimes it is a discourse that will serve equality. This study tries to deal with the phenomena of democracy in different cultures. In the content of the study, examples of liberalism, nationalism, conservatism and socialism are discussed. How democracy is handled in the aforementioned ideologies is examined through symbols. The first part focused on the ideology-symbol relationship, and the second part focused on the relationship between democracy and ideology. The main body of the subject is the symbolic reflections of the perspectives on democracy with country examples.