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.

Steven C. 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.