disabled; ANIMAL RIGHTS; and the right to life of the
unborn against ABORTION). Most political issues in
MODERN society are discussed in terms of someone’s
rights. The effect of this is to make government prima-
rily interested in balancing the rights of conflicting
individuals or groups, for example, the rights of chil-
dren versus the rights of doctors or hospitals; the
rights of minorities versus the rights of the majority.
Usually, the state sides with those individuals or
groups who are most vulnerable or weak (the aged, the
unborn, minorities, the mentally disabled, etc.), who
cannot defend their own rights. Society, then, tries to
achieve JUSTICEby balancing the rights and INTERESTSof
its various members. Often, as in the U.S. constitu-
tional Bill of Rights (first ten amendments), this entails
judicial procedures to ensure a fair hearing or trial
(impartial judge and jury, aid of counsel, speedy and
public trial, etc.). Human rights then is both a con-
stant and an evolving concept.
Nazi
The National Socialist German Workers Party
(1919–45) led by Adolf HITLER and establishing the
FASCISTstate in Germany. See NATIONAL SOCIALISMand
FASCISM.
Further Reading
Bullock, A. Hitler: A Study in Tyranny.New York: Harper & Row,
1962.
neo-Platonism
A philosophy of IDEALISMthat affected several political
thinkers, notably J. J. ROUSSEAU, G. W. F. HEGEL, T. H.
GREEN, FASCISM, COMMUNISM, and COMMUNITARIAN
thought. Developed by the Roman philosopher Ploti-
nus, after PLATO, this school of thought conceived of
reality as a One, all-sufficient Unity from which all
particulars emanate or come. The One or Universal
produces the Divine Mind or Logos (Word), which
contains all living individuals. The material world is a
part of the World Soul. The goal of the separate indi-
vidual is to become “one” with this unity, losing one-
self in the infinite. Soon this philosophy, like Eastern
mysticism (Chinese, Hindu) became involved in div-
ination, spiritism, demonology, and astrology. In con-
temporary religions, it appears in the NEW AGE
MOVEMENT. St. AUGUSTINEattempted to turn this philos-
ophy to CHRISTIANITYthrough the Holy Spirit, and St.
Thomas AQUINASidentified this One with God and the
Divine Mind with angels.
Politically, neo-Platonism often contributed to
TOTALITARIAN regimes, which saw the STATE as the
“One” to which all individuals and groups must be
subordinated and subsumed. Fascism probably is the
most clear expression of this, but Rousseau’s GENERAL
WILL, MARX’s perfect communism and some contempo-
rary U.S. communitarian thought flirts with it.New Age Movement
A social and religious movement in the late 20th
century, primarily in the United States. Drawing on
Eastern mysticism (see HINDU POLITICAL THOUGHT),
spiritism, and the occult, New Age philosophy empha-
sizes the unlimited powers of the individual’s unlocked
mind, astrology, communication or “channeling” with
dead people, and individual self-realization. Politically,
the INDIVIDUALISM and self-deification of New Age
believers lends itself to LIBERTARIANand ANARCHISTsym-
pathies. Because a “new age” will soon usher in a
world of peace and prosperity, political or ethical
involvement is not essential. With a positive view of
HUMAN NATUREshared with the ENLIGHTENMENT, New
Age ideology rejects traditional CHRISTIAN views of
human sin and the need for God (as found in St.
AUGUSTINE, John CALVIN, and others who influenced the
founding of America).New Deal
A series of social programs developed by the Liberal
DEMOCRATIC PARTY in the United States during the
1930s under the leadership of President Franklin ROO-
SEVELT. This was in response to the Great Depression, a
period of economic stagnation, low production, and
high unemployment in the industrial world from 1929
to World War II. The New Deal tried to remedy this
economic crisis by regulating the economy from the
central (federal) government in Washington, D.C.,
providing public-works employment and social welfare
to the poor, and (public) borrowing and spending by
the national government to stimulate the private, CAPI-
TALIST economy. Federal agencies (BUREAUCRACY)
increased tremendously with the “alphabet soup” of
new government programs: the National Recovery
Administration (NRA), the Agricultural Adjustment218 Nazi