This text provides a survey of the major isms that have shaped and reshaped the political landscape of our century, and also shows how these ideologies originated and how they have changed over time. In addition to exploring such ideologies as liberalism, conservatism, and socialism, this text offers students a sense of history, structure, supporting arguments, and internal complexity of these and other more recent ideologies. To do this, the authors have constructed a four-fold framework within which to compare, contrast and analyze various ideologies. The text also shows how each ideology interprets democracy and freedom.