The Evolution of Political Ideology A Natural and Civil History

This book applies multilevel selection theory to an examination of both the natural history of ideology, and how that natural history has unfolded through the course of civil history in the Western world. Its authors bring together research from across the fields of history, political science, genetics, neurobiology and social science to offer an unprecedented synthesis.

Addressing natural history, Part I evolutionarily explains why political ideology is substantially genetic, correlates with personality traits, and is represented in brain regions associated with risk and emotional processing. Addressing civil history, Part II traces the evolution of political ideology across anthropological transitions from non-human primates to small-scale societies, and across historical transitions from autocratic states through to democratic societies with political parties peaceably transferring power and tolerating opposition. In this way, its authors aim to demonstrate that temperamental antecedents to political ideology that are biologically derived, evolutionarily explicable, and historically palpable.

This book presents timely insights into issues the evolutionary history of hyper-partisanship that will be of interest to scholars across the fields of political science, political psychology, evolutionary psychology and history.

Part I: A Natural History of Ideology.- Section I: An Introduction & Organizing TheoryIntroduction.- 1 The Relation of Political Science to the Theory of Multilevel SelectionSection II: Proximate Causation.- 2 The Genetics of Political Ideology.- 3 The Neuroscience of Political Ideology.- 4 Childhood Adversity, Life History, and Political Engagement.- 5 Political Ideology as a Function of Personality and Individual Differences.- Integrative Metacommentary: Section II. Proximate Causation.- Section III: Ultimate Causation.- 6 The Macroevolution of Sociopolitical Behavior and Within Group Conflict in Nonhuman Primates.- 7 Evolutionary-Ecological Dynamics of Sociopolitical Complexity.- 8 Faction and Party in the Modern Constitutional Republic: The Politically Relevant Dynamics of Multilevel Selection.- Integrative Metacommentary: Section III. Ultimate Causation.- Part II: A Civil History of Ideology: Historical Expressions of Biological Dispositions.- Section IV: Cycles of Integration and Disintegration in Multilevel Sociopolitical Coalitions.- 9 As Far as Our Spears can Reach: Asabiyyah and the Dulotic Progression in Sparta (740 BC-190 BC).- 10 Latin and Turco-Saracen Conflict during the High Middle-Ages.- 11 The Inquisitions.- Integrative Metacommentary: Section IV. Cycles of Integration and Disintegration in Multilevel Sociopolitical Coalitions.- Section V: The Formation of Faction12 Early English Reactions to Organized Opposition.- 13 Liberalism and Conservatism in Late Modern Britain.- 14 Political Polarization among Anglo-Americans in the Throes of the French Revolution.- Integrative Metacommentary: Section V. The Formation of Faction.- Section VI: The Maturation and Institutionalization of Faction.- 15 Party Machines in the United States of America.- 16 Political Realignments & Third Party Movements in the United States of America.- 17 Progressive & Nationalistic Populism.- Integrative Metacommentary: Section VI. The Maturation and Institutionalization of Faction.- Section VII: The End of Tolerated Opposition.- 18 From Ritualized Political Conflict to Revolutionary Violence.- 19 Polarization and Revolution as a Function of the Lifecycle of the State.- 20 The Precarious Balance Derived from Dynamic TensionIntegrative Metacommentary: Section VI. The End of Tolerated Opposition.- Epilogue.

Steven Charles Hertler is a licensed examining psychologist and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the College of Saint Elizabeth, USA.

Aurelio José Figueredo is Professor of Psychology, Family Studies and Human Development at the University of Arizona, USA. Dr. Figueredo also serves as Director of the Ethology and Evolutionary Psychology (EEP) Laboratory.

Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre currently serves as a research associate in the School of Animal and Comparative-Sciences Research at the University of Arizona, USA. His lines of scientific research include the evolution of lethal coalitional aggression in human and nonhuman animals, socioecological correlates of sociopolitical complexity, and multilevel selection.