1. usmeni Flashcards
What is politics and what types of politics are there?
Politics is a set of activity working for
public interest. Authoritarianism, totalitarian, democracy, hybrid, monarchy
What dimensions of politics are there?
Politics is multidimensional; Politics - How are decisions made?
Polity - Who is making the decisions?
Policy - What are the decisions about?
What three types of political culture are there?
Parochial - there is no awareness of
nationality or central government, people are focused on their parish or small community.
Subject - vague awareness of belonging to larger community (nation) but people remain passive because they don’t feel they have an impact on government.
Participant - high awareness of nationality and community, notion of citizen significance.
Explain the terms: power, authority, legitimacy.
Authority - the legitimate power which
one person or a group possesses and practices over another.
Power - the chance that an individual in social relationship can achieve their own will, even against the resistance of
others.
Legitimacy - being in conformity with the law.
What three types of authority does Max Weber differentiate?
Traditional authority - power legitimized by respect for long established cultural patterns (“It has always been that
way.”).
Charismatic authority - power legitimized by extraordinary personal abilities that inspire devotion and obedience (Needs to be proved on everyday basis.).
Rational-Legal authority - power is legitimized by legally enacted rules and regulations (Someone’s ability
plays an important role – not their suitability.).
Who do we consider to be political actors and what are their goals?
Political actors are everyone who is politically active.
Politicians - goal to seize political power; voters give them trust in exchange for prof. behaviour
Citizens - goal to impact political power.
What forms of civil society can you name and what actions can they undertake?
Civil society are citizens who enroll into organizations. Examples are non-government organizations, unions, interest groups and social movements. Their activities are petitions, volunteering, strikes, protests, voting and involvement of media, town meeting, civil disobedience.
Describe the two roles of citizen and how Croatian citizenship is acquired.
We differentiate active citizens and citizens as a member of the nation-state. An active citizen is somebody who participates in the public sphere defending specifics. This implies difference and expression of their own interests. All EU citizens have the right to live and move freely within the EU. Citizens as members of the nation-state imply equality. They are aware of belonging
to a nation and have equal political rights regardless of their specific characteristics( such as sex, race, age)
Croatian citizenship is acquired through birth on Croatian territory, origin by parents, naturalization (marriage or long-time residence) and special cases.
What is the difference between people and nation and what does sovereignty mean?
People or etnos are a community of people who live in the same territory, use the same
language and have the same customs. Not all people have their own country: Flemish, Roma, Kurds. A nation is made of politically sovereign people, usually within a country.
People become a nation when they form their own country. Sovereignty is the supreme and independent power or authority in
a state. It is unrestricted on specific territory, within internationally recognized borders.
What is a national minority and how can minorities be treated? Name some minorities in Croatia.
National minorities are smaller ethnic groups who are part of the nation. Treatment: assimilation - minority abandons their customs and adopts customs of the majority, melting
pot - mixing of different cultures and creation of new cultural group and cultural pluralism -coexistence of different ethnic groups regardless of their number. In Croatia there are Italians, Albanians, Roma, Slovenians, Hungarians and Serbs.
Name the three forms of political action and what they include.
Three forms: physical political action, political communication and political writings. Physical political action include signing petitions, party organizing, peaceful protest, civil disobedience, strike, voting.
Policital communication-speeches&debates.
Political writings-books, essays, articles, billboards.
What are the three kinds of political speech considering the targeted audience?
Exclusive- professional speech among politicians.
Totalitarian - discriminates those who don’t think alike.
Democratic - dialog, tolerance, respects different opinions.
What are the five kinds of political speech considering the content of speech (speaker’s skills)?
Emotional - key words like family, mother, motherland and war.
Expressive - vast
vocabulary, poetic figures of speech. Extensive - avoiding weak spots, manipulation.
Iterative - repetition of key important phrases.
Coherent - precise and concise, no extra strategies.
Describe the role of mass media in political communication.
Free media is important for democracy. Censorship is prohibition of publishing certain content, mostly present in totalitarian regimes. The more freedom the less censorship. Spin is a sort of political
marketing with the purpose of drawing attention. The intention is to criticize the opponent. Through media it is possible to systematically impact the audience point of view. Such planned spreading of ideas is called propaganda.
Describe the concept of the rule of law.
It is a legal and political concept which requires that all parts of society, especially politicians act according to law. Laws represent stability&reason.
Montesquieu-separation of powers: LEGISLATIVE-bodies of parliaments(Senat, Congress, Assembly); makes the law, represents the people
EXECUTIVE-governments& presidents, enforces law
JUDICIAL-hierarchy of courts, ensures equality of citizens
