What Does Extremism Mean?
Religious Studies: KS3, topic 3.3.1
What does Extremism mean?
Extremism is when people support extreme ideas or extreme actions.
What is extremism?
- Extremism is when people support extreme ideas or actions.
- Usually, extremism refers to political or religious ideas or actions.
- Often these ideas go against known facts and the actions are opposed by the majority of people.
Democracy
- The basic idea of democracy in politics is that leaders of a country should be elected by the people.
- The word is based on the Greek word 'demos' which refers to the ordinary people in a country.
- In Democratic countries, political parties seek votes from the people to be allowed to govern.
Threat to democracy
- Not all countries are democratic.
- Some countries are dictatorships, where a single person or group has gained power, often by force.
- Dictators continue to rule regardless of the will of the people.
The Right and Left
- In the UK, there are different political parties that are sometimes called left-wing or right-wing.
- These descriptions usually refer to certain types of social and economic policies.
- For example, they might refer to policies about taxation or the level of welfare benefits.
Left and Right politics
- This kind of left and right division is not what is meant by extremism.
- It is normal for people to have different political ideas in most democratic countries.
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