Ms. Kam also cited the easing of "ideological restrictions," which tracks the rapid decline of ideology in most every aspect of Chinese life.
First, post-totalitarian authoritarian regimes have kept some of their totalitarian institutions, such as state-controlled mass media, the party-state and secret police, but with clear declines in the level of ideological orthodoxy, repression, dependence on personalized top leadership, and mass mobilization.
Five months later, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signaled to the Communist East German government that Moscow — concerned with economic decline and the hollowing out of ideological fervor — would not come to its aid in the face of rising popular protests.
That the victory of a fantasist and fundamentalist like O'Donnell is even possible is indicative of the ideological decline of and division within the Republican party.
Since then, the importance of the practical goal has increased, with 4 in 10 respondents in Massachusetts, Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee saying that defeating Mr. Obama was their priority, while the goal of ideological purity has declined in perceived importance.
But the idea that MPs should be delegates has grown with the development of opinion polls and the decline in ideological politics.
There is real harm done by instrumentalizing disorders — whether it's in the service of a legal defense, as in Komisarjevsky's case, or more generally to buttress ideological arguments about the decline of the American family.
Some leftists accused him of ideological impurity.
Cuomo was an orator of ideological definition.
But the impression of ideological muddle endures.
