Manifesto - Definition and Overview

A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature.

In the United Kingdom, and in some other parliamentary democracies, political parties prepare electoral manifestoes which set out both their strategic direction and outlines of prospective legistlation should they win sufficient support in an election in order to serve in government. Legislative proposals which have featured in the manifesto of a party which has won an election are often regarded as having superior legitimacy to other measures which a governing party may introduce for consideration by the legislature.

Examples of manifestos:

• The Communist Manifesto (1848), by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
• The Futurist Manifesto (1909), by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
• The Fascist manifesto (1919), by Fasci di Combattimento
• The Resistance Manifesto (2005), by John Conner
• The Sharon Statement (1960), by William F. Buckley, Jr. (Young Americans for Freedom)
• The Port Huron Statement (1962), by Tom Hayden (Students for a Democratic Society)
• The GNU Manifesto (1985), by Richard Stallman
• The Open Source Manifesto (1997), by Eric S. Raymond
• The Hedonistic Imperative, by David Pearce
• The Libre Manifesto, by the Libre Society

External links

• An archive of Labour electoral manifestos from 1900-present (http://www.labour-party.org.uk/manifestos/)
• An archive of Conservative electoral manifestos from 1900-present (http://www.conservativemanifesto.com/)
• An archive of Liberal/SDP/Liberal Democrat electoral manifestos from 1900-present (http://www.libdemmanifesto.com/)
• The Declaration of Resistance to the New World Order (http://www.theresistancemanifesto.com/)
• More Manifestos (not electoral) (http://www.mi2.hr/whw/manifestos.htm)