Final Flashcards
Contention
oThe pursuit of collective goods largely outside of formal political institutions ( linked to revolts/ social movements)
Social Revolution
Revolution that changes social and political structures; how power and resources are distributed in society
* Marx: social revolutions change class structure
* Class: groups linked together by economic interest or activity
Political Revolution
Revolutions that primarily alter political institutions rather than social and economic structures
* Not typically considered one of the “great” social revolutions
* Changed political regime, but not social structure
* Different from coup d’état
Social Movements
o Ongoing, organized, and sustained collective action oriented towards a goal of social change
o Often considered as a healthy part of civil society
Participants are connected via social networks- structures of social ties and connections among individuals
o Organizations created to help maintain and lead social movement activity over time are called social movement organization
Iron law of oligarchy
organizational leadership necessarily created its own interest
Political Violence
o Politically motivated violence beyond state control; operates beyond state sovereignty, neither war nor crime, seeking to achieve some political objective though the use of force
State’s monopoly of violence or force over territory
But such monopoly is not perfect within and without state boundaries
Institutional Political Violence
institutions may encourage or cause violence
Ideational Political Violence
ideas may justify promoting the use of violence
Individual Political Violence
Psychological or Strategic factors may lead people to carry out violence
Insurgencies
contention with formalized military conflict
Organized, armed actors contesting state power
Insurgents often claim to make revolutions
Guerrilla tactics are common in insurgencies
civil war
sustained military conflict between domestic actors
Its typically between insurgents and the state, but it can be between non-state actors
terrorism
a tactic that violence directed against non-military targets
Narrower definitions may include:
* Victims are civilians
* Violence is to instill fear in population
* Violence is intended to bring political change
It is typically conducted by non-state networks of actors
Why Do revolutions/Contention/Social Movements Happen? (Relative Deprivation and social disequilibrium)
Theory: major changes cause social strain or conflict increases demand for revolution
* Social political equilibrium changes equilibrium disrupted revolution
Relative deprivation: having or feeling that one has less than some reference group
This can include one’s own group over time
Why Do revolutions/Contention/Social Movements Happen? (Resource Mobilization and Political Opportunities)
Focuses on ability to mobilize resources and utilize political openings
* Demand for revolution matters less than opportunities to organize or revolt
Theory: state breakdown creates political opportunity for revolution
* State loses power to stifle dissent
* Elites may conflict and split from one another
Theory: Organizational Resources matter
* Urban workers close together can mobilize
* New communications and media matters
* Financing of revolution matters
Rational Choice Theory
As a rational actor should you join the revolution
Theory: rationality of joining a revolution depends upon upping individual benefits, lowering risks, etc.
Culture or framing explanations (contention/revolts)
Theory: ability to frame revolution in meaningful way shapes success
Framing: the way in which a given situation is described and understood, with implications for how it might be addressed
Culture is key to how people frame issues
* Idea of revolution itself
* Nationalism
* ideology
Political culture
o A set of beliefs or a meaning system that people hold about politics and related matters
o Often associated with beliefs, values, norms, orientations, attitudes
Modernity
o Often refers to a type of society, typically one having experienced economic development and a relatively strong modern state, and is associated with a particular set of socio-cultural norms, attitudes, and practices
Modernization
process by which society becomes more modern
Political attitudes
o Can be broadly understood as views towards politics, political affairs, and state policies
o Regarding the pace and scope of change in the balance between equality and freedom
o Types: radical, liberal, conservative, reactionary
Ideology
o Highly organized systems of ideas about politics to systematically coordinated and cognitively salient set of beliefs focused on politics or set of political values regarding the fundamental goals of politics
Liberalism
individual freedoms, representative democracy, and market economy
Fascism
authoritarian ideology favoring militarism and right-wing national
anti-democratic
Socialism
emphasizes economic equality. To be pursued through state action
emphasizes group over individual
Anarchism
Private poverty
inequality, but state is no solution
Functional definitions focus on what religion does…
Foster social integration
Give a sense of order
Motivate collective action
Many ideologies could be religion
substantiative definition of religion focus on content of belief
Feature transcendent force of god or deity
Secularization
o Process through which societies become less religious as they become more modern
o Change the role of religion in society
Differentiation from the state and often more confined to private sphere
Religious states
o States in which religion is a key part of official politics
o Ex: costa Rica & Saudi arabia
Lay states
o States that establish formal separation of religion and public life
o Ex: France
Denominationalism
o System that supports religious pluralism and voluntary participation in denominations
o Ex:usa
Modernization Theory
o Secularization is expected in modern societies
o Theory: less existential insecurity leads to less need for religion
o High levels of human development correlates with low levels of religiosity
Religious Economies Approach
o Theory: demand for religion is constant; religiosity depends on religious market
o More competitive market for religion leads to more religiosity
Institutional theories
o Societies differentiate as they modernize
o Theory: more complex societies develop more varied institutions
o Division of labor differentiation of institutions
Identity
social label that locates an individual or group in society
race
idea that human beings are divided into different groups based on skin color; it can come become salient on societies over time
o Racial formation v racialization
Ethnicity
: Quality that one has been identifying with as a member of an ethnic group, often through a common culture that is reflected in institutions such as shared language, religion, geographic location, customs, appearance, history
Ethnic group
a group that identifies itself as having strong cultural commonality and a shared sense of long-run history
o Commonly viewed as a kind of kinship group
Nation
a large and geographically bounded population that often shares common history, culture, collective identity, and political aspirations
National identity
an identity that locates one’s social position in relation to national membership
nationalism
pride in one’s people and the belief that they have a unique, sovereign political destiny
o The view that the world is and should be divided into nations that are sovereign and egalitarian
citizenship
An individual’s relation to the state: citizens pledge allegiance to the state and the state provides benefits and rights to citizens
o A social contract between state and citizens
patriotism
Pride in one’s state
Civic nationalism
western nationalism; the national membership depends on state citizenship; similar to territorial nationalism which is based on place of birth or residence (USA, France, UK)
ethnic nationalism
once called eastern nationalism; membership in the nation based on ancestry (Germany, Russia)
individualistic nationalism
nations are associations of individuals; always civi but not ethnic nationalism (UK, US)
collectivistic nationalism
: nations have collective agency or will beyond that of individuals
gender
culturally constructed roles or identities one has by virtue of being considered male or female
o Sex is biological and gender is cultural
empowerment
the process to increase the social, political, or economic capabilities of an individual or group
Primordial bonds (nationalism)
Nations are imagined kinship groups like any others and nationalism is a collective identity
Theory: evolution encourages the development of such identities: those who developed such collective identities can survive and outcompete those not
structural forces (Nationalism)
Theory: social structures give rise to nationalism
structuralism
theories that see social structures as more important explanatory variables than individuals, beliefs, and values
functionalism
approach that involves explaining something by its consequences
Nationalism as consequences of capitalism and serves its interests
Political institutions (nationalism)
Theory: The state is a leading political institution that created nations
Variants of this theory
* States seeking legitimacy, so they resort to nationalism
* Wars have made states o foster strong national identities
Cultural construction (nationalism)
Nationalism as idea is culturally constructed; social structures matters, but culture leads changes in how people represent themselves
Theory: elites facing status- inconsistency use the idea of the nation as they pursue their interest
* Status- inconsistency: situations in which an individual or group faces multiple, contradictory claims about their status position
Primordial Bounds ( ethno-national conflict)
Theory: groups that feel their identity is under threat are likely sourced of conflict
Criticizing the perspective: Of the bonds are primordial, why is conflict not permanent and constant?
cultural boundaries (EC conflict)
Theory: types of boundaries between groups contribute to likelihood of conflict
Conflict may be more likely between certain groups
* Ethnic nationalists
* Barricaded or exclusionary identities
Material Interests (EC Conflict)
Theory: Ethno-national identity is used as an instrument for purposes like gaining power and or accessing resources
Instrumentalism: explains outcomes by showing how it is in the interest of powerful individuals or group
Rational Calculation (EC Conflict)
Theory: rational choices of actors explain presence or absence of conflict
Like some instrumental approaches, but emphasizes modeling and the calculation process
* Being a minority group has costs and benefits in different circumstances
Representation of Women and Minorities: Social movement mobilization
Theory: social movements are often the force that brings about social change, thus transforming public attitudes about a group
Representation of Women and Minorites: Political Parties based on gender
Political parties may form on ethnic basis
* Demographics shape chance of ethnic parties
* Social factors
* Electoral systems matter: PR systems are more likely to have a minority representation
* History of discrimination may lead to ethnic parties
Representation of Women and Minorities: Institutional methods
Theory: institutional designs can promote representation for identity groups
* Reserved seat systems: reserve seats in the legislature for identity groups
* Candidate-quota systems: certain number of candidates by group
Political implications of the digital media
o The internet and social media have completely transformed information production, circulation, and consumption in all societies, including liberal democracies
o Digital media as a liberalizing and democratizing force now turned against democracy
Ex: The us presidential election in 2016/2020; Brexit Referendum
Profound change in the scholarship: utopianism to digital threats
o Digital media being “repurposed and redeployed” to hurt democracy while many democracies are unprepared
Major identified or potential threats of media
o The prevalence and spread of misinformation/disinformation
o Social media’s role in polarization
o The work of bots to manipulate public opinion
o Concerns around platforms and their role in content moderation and potential policy interventions
o Surveillance capitalism
Definition and rudimentary question of media
o None of the content is new, but it is newly salient because 1. Digital media and 2. Latest socio-political developments such as 2016 presidential election
o Disinformation
“includes all forms of false, inaccurate, or misleading information designed, presented, and promoted to intentionally cause public harm or for profit”
Three criteria of the definition: deception, potential harm, and intent to harm
* So misinformation is different in that it may not have the intent to harm
who spreads disinformation?
o Nation states
o Non-state actors like terrorist groups
o Domestic actors like politicians
Study of misinformation
Cognitive domain is an important locus of misinformation studies
Misinformation is far more than ignorance or incorrect guesses, but instead requires a stronger degree of confidence in the truth of a faculty false belief
o Social, political, economic context underlying disinformation
Growing distrust in institutions of the press
Effects of disinformation on opinions and attitudes
Those with less trust are more vulnerable to media
Those who feel ostracized more likely to stick to partisan falsehoods
Fact-checks may reduce credibility of information
Political Participation
o Activity with the intent of influencing political processes, particularly government actions
Conventional participation
o Conventional participation
o Voting: The most important form of political participation in democracies
Expansion of suffrage in the US
* Constitutional amendments
* 15th= race
* 19= women’s suffrage
* 26= lowers age requirement from 21 to 18
Voter Turnout is an important indicator of political participation; turn out/ voting rate
o Contact with Representatives
o Working on Campaigns
o Making Campaign contributions
o Joining groups
o Running for office
unconventional participation
Boycotts, sit-ins, demonstrations
Public Policy making
o Pivotal stage of political processes that converts social interests and demands into public policies
o Often a cyclical process
o Also a 2 direction process
Upward flow of influence and demands from society
Downward flow of decisions from state agencies
Upward flow of feedback
Decision Making
o The cognitive process of making choices among possible alternatives
o Rules that determine what political resources are valuable in influencing decision and how to acquire and use these resources
Inclusiveness of decision rules
More inclusive rules represents more interests, but makes it more difficult to reach policy
Institutions ___ rules, thus affect public policy making
shape
Actors in Policy Making
o Legislature, judiciary, executive, bureaucracy, interest groups, civil society, the public
o State agencies are core of policy making
Veto Players
Actors who can block the adoption of policy
Can be state institutions, political parties, interest groups
Explaining Policy change
o Theory: Policy stability increases with the number of veto players, the lack of congruence, and the internal cohesion of each veto player
o Number of Veto Players
Bicameral v unicameral
In presidential systems, the power of the president matters
In parliamentary systems, a coalition of government v one-party government
o Congruence of veto players
Electoral system matters: two party systems v multi-party system
The composition of chambers
o Cohesion (similarity of policy positions among the constituent units
The size of veto players matter
Electoral system matters
Presidential v parliamentary system
Taiwan students protest Trade Agreement with Mainland China
Taiwan has semi-presidential political system
KMT is the ruling party and majority in the Legislative Yuan(legislature)
Mainland China and Taiwan signed the trade agreement in 2013; the opposition party has been mobilizing to block the agreement
Taiwan students protest Trade Agreement with Mainland China
Taiwan has semi-presidential political system
KMT is the ruling party and majority in the Legislative Yuan(legislature)
Mainland China and Taiwan signed the trade agreement in 2013; the opposition party has been mobilizing to block the agreement
Political Economy
o The study of how politics and economics are related and how their relationship shapes the governance ( ex: balance between freedom and equality)
components of political economy
Markets and property
Public goods
Social expenditure
Taxation
Money, inflation, and economic growth
Regulation
Trade
Political-economic systems
o The actual relationship between political and economic institutions on a particular country, as well as the policies and outcomes they create
Types of Political-economic systems
Liberalism
Social Democracy
Communism
Mercantilism
Indicators measuring development
GDP, Gross National Income (GNI), Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)
Poverty, poverty line, absolute poverty/ Inequality: Gini Coefficient
Employment, unemployment, under-employment/ inflation, hyperinflation, deflation
Fiscal measures
Human development index (HDI): human capital, life expectancy, infant mortality, literacy rates
Environmental sustainability
The Big Mac index
published by the economist as an informal way to measure PPP across countries. By comparing the process of a Big Mac in different countries
Welfare state
o States that provide a safety net for the most vulnerable group of the population, often through offering social insurance, public health care plans, and poverty relief
German Welfare state
Bismarck created the first state-run social insurance program in 1889 to counter the rise of socialism. Payroll taxes retirement benefits, disability benefits
Liberal Welfare state
much private welfare, means-tested benefits, low health redistribution, high inequality, labor commodification EX: USA
corporatist/ continental welfare state
state aids families unable to succeed un market, to preserve status of hierarchy, medium inequality; medium decommodification EX: Germany
Social Democratic welfare state
state uses transfers to provide extensive social insurance and other non-means tested benefits and services, low relative inequalities, high economic security high labor decommodification.
EX: Scandinavian countries
welfare state theory: social democratic
People became more convinced over time that state could solve problems
What performed welfare role before state?
* Religious institutions/ family/ workhouses
State took on more roles in 19th/ 20th century
Notions of citizenship expanded
* Civic citizenship legal rights: courts/ due process
* Political citizenship political rights: democracy
* Social citizenship economic and social security: welfare states
o Emerging economy drove change, and welfare states are reaction to some of these changes
Theory 1: elites create welfare stat to save capitalism from itself
Theory 2: Ideologues seek to impose socialism via welfare state
Theory 3: Capitalism leads to dislocation and welfare state guards long-standing social relations
Theory 4: Specific actors and groups have a role to play in shaping welfare
* Labor and business groups
* Coalitions matter (who is in and who is out)
Helps explain variations between countries in the forms and types of welfare states
* EX: US and Scandinavia
Author on challenging authoritarianism
He criticized the instrumental view/ approach on focusing on “access”
o Overestimates the value of access to info, underestimates that of tools for coordination
o Overestimates the importance of computers, underestimates that of simpler tools like cell phones
o It is difficult to weaponize social media to pursue country-specific and neat-term policy goals
o It is difficult for outsiders to understand the local conditions of dissent
o SO: social media as long-term tools to strengthen civil society and the public sphere
Through experiences of Soviet Union and east Europe, he argues that access to information is politically far less important than access to conversation
Shared awareness
the ability of each member of a group to not only understand the situation at hand, but also understand that everyone else does too
Control or develop: The conservative dilemma/dictator’s dilemma
o With the spread of new media. A state accustomed to having a monopoly on public speech finds itself called to account for anomalies between its view of events and the publics
o State response= censorship+ propaganda
o Censorship is hardly going to work cute cat-theory
Specific tools designed to defeat state censorship can be shut down with little political penalty, but broader tools that the larger population uses to, say, share pictures of cute cats are harder to shut down
Slacktivism
o Whereby casual participants seek social change through low-cost activities that are long on bumper-sticker sentiment and short on any useful action
o True. But while there are slacktivists, there are committed actors
State adoption
o states have tried to control social media through “sophisticated means of monitoring interdicting, or co-opting”
o True, but may activate the “conservative dilemma
Authoritarian regimes have adapted to digital challenges
o Censorship and control
Four mechanisms of media on authoritarian regimes
o Counter-mobilization- facing potential oppositions, regimes can use the social networks to counter-mobilize their own base of support
o Discourse framing- use social media as a new propaganda tool
o Preference divulgences- use social media to collect information about mass preferences
o Elite coordination- addressing the principal agent problem between central and local elites
Everyday resistance (James Scott)
o Efforts to resist or obstruct authority that are not clearly organized over time
o Resistance without organizational resources or capacity to solve collective action problems, normally not revolutions or social movements
Work stoppages/slowdowns/boycotts
Rightful resistance (O’Brien)
o Explaining popular resistance in an authoritarian regime
Limited mobilization resources; limited channels of participation; the government is not accountable or transparent’ risk of suppression
o Political opportunity structure
Central-local divide
o Boundary-spanning strategies
Making rightful claims based on law, regulations, central policy
Contentious collective action affects different kinds of autocracies in different but predictable ways
o Types of autocracies examined
Personalists regimes, single-party regimes, and military regimes
o Types of contentious collective action studied
Riots, general strikes, anti-government demonstrations
o Specific Findings
Contentious collective action has no systemic effect on survival of personalistic regimes
Single party and military regimes are both vulnerable to anti-government demonstrations and general strikes
Single-party regimes are particularly vulnerable to general strikes but not quite affected by riots
Military regimes are more likely to survive riots
Social Welfare in Authoritarian Regimes: Poverty Reduction
Development and Relief
* Building infrastructure, providing loans, creating job opportunities
* Providing living allowances in both rural and urban areas
Social Welfare in Authoritarian Regimes: education
- Pre-reform: State sponsored education system from kindergarten to higher education; but education
system disrupted in cultural revolution - Reform era:
- Nine-year compulsory education system
- Marketization of education in the 1990s and early 2000s
- Recently state took over rural school payroll and abolished tuition fees for poor rural students receiving
compulsory education
Social Welfare in Authoritarian Regimes: Healthcare system
- Pre-reform: cheap but effective coverage
- In urban areas, working units covers health care
- In rural areas, bare feet doctors
reform era: Marketization of health care - Urban employees, particularly state employees better covered
- Recently attempt to expand medical insurance system in both rural and urban area
Social Welfare in Authoritarian Regimes: Employment
o Pre-reform: almost guaranteed employment in urban areas; rural residents
belong to collectives like communes
* Reform era: Employment subject to labor market
* Introduction of unemployment insurances (many problems)
* State promoting employment and reemployment
Social Welfare in Authoritarian Regimes: Pension System
Traditionally the elderly are supported by family (& land in rural area)
*Pre-reform: working units cover urban residents; collectives cover rural residents
* Reform era:
* State take over of pension system in urban area
* Covers 186 million or 48 percent of urban employees in 2006
* Just started rural pension system since early 2000s (minimal amount
Social Welfare in Authoritarian Regimes: Housing
Pre-reform: working units provide housing for urban residents; rural collectives provide housing for rural residents
Reform era: Marketization of Urban Housing
Rural residents are allocated land to construct their own houses
Urban residents have to buy their own houses
Urban poor families can rent or buy subsidized apartments provided by the government or their employers
social welfare in China
o Huge urban-rural divide
o Increased coverage but low levels of provision
o State replacing SOE and rural collectives in the reform era
o Shifting to market oriented welfare provision
o Emphasizing human development
Use MMS to compare North Korea and South Korea
o Two very similar countries on many counts
Traditional culture
Geography
History
o Differences
History since the Korean war- different political systems and economic policies
Economic and Political factors worldwide effect all countires…
o Ex: Japan’s economic take-off and Korean War
o Theory: world system favors rich countries, harms poor countries
o Theory: geography has favored rich countries, set back poor countries
Market v State Theory
market functions as “invisible hand” and efficiently allocates resources, while state intervention only impedes growth
o Centrally planned economies often fail
o States do a bad job picking winners and losers
o Liberalize markets and let private sector run economy
Market v State Theory
proper state intervention can facilitate development
o Push investment, coordinate among actors, provide necessary infrastructure, develop human capital
o Protect domestic industries, guide development through industrial policies
o East Asian developmental states: development with strong, active states
cultural variables that effect development of state
Levels of trust in society
Social capital
Religious backgrounds
Norms, ethics, and value systems
o Theory: Higher levels of trust and capital promote development
o Theory: religious worldviews shape incentives for development
Institution
regularized patterned activity that shapes the behavior of individuals or groups, including normal organizations as well as more informal institutions such as norms and values
Theory: presence of strong and proper institutions is necessary to set the ground for economic development and create incentives for individuals to save and invest right protection
o Examples: property; strong property rights require state enforcement
Comparative Politics and International relations
o Comparative Politics focuses on issued or institutions within national borders
International relations
o The Study of relations between countries and between actors in the international system
Foreign Policy
o The set of policies toward foreign nations made by a national government
International security
o The study of issued of war and peace between nations and global security and conflict
Globalization
o The process of increasing economic and or culture interaction between peoples and societies across national borders
o Trade, immigration, international institutions and regional integration, global governance issues (environment, nuclear, terrorism)
regional integration
process by which countries in a region agree to collaborate economically or politically, to male some decisions collectively and to shape common strategies
EX: European Union; NAFTA: ASEAN
International Trade
o The economic exchange of goods, services, and capital across international borders
Free trade v Protectionism
Trade can benefit both countries in exchange
* Principle comparative advantage: Countries have different relative advantages in the production of different goods and services. There can be gains from trade even if one country has absolute advantage in making all goods more efficiently
* Free trade does not rule the world
o Protectionism: The practice of a country protecting or giving favor to its own domestic producers
o This can be due to politics: domestic producers seek protection or can be a development strategy
Immigration
o The movement of people to foreign countries
Assimilation
practice of being integrated into another culture
Nativism
Political attitude that seeks to protect the interests of established groups of residents against interests of more recent immigrants
Brain Drain
departure or emigration of skilled and educated people, often a problem in underdeveloped countries
remittances
cash or resources sent to a home country, often to a family and friends, by emigrants
ntergovernmental organizations (IGO)
International organizations that push for cooperation between countries and the prevention or mitigation of international conflict
* EX: UN, IMF, World Bank, WTO
Transnational Non-Governmental Networks
Networks of different actors working across borders including:
* Violent networks like international terrorists groups
* Groups like environmental protection groups and human rights networks
* Multinational corporations
Environment Sustainability
o Sustainability: the condition of a resource being sustained for the use or enjoyment by future generations
o Climate change and greenhouse gas emissions
Global warming and extreme weather
o Increased interest in alternative energy other than fossil fuels
Nuclear proliferation
the expansion of the number of countries and other actors possessing nuclear technology
terrorism
The use of violence to achieve political ends through psychological impacts on a civilian population
realism
o Theory: states in the international system largely act on a basis of national self-interests (power, survival, and security)
o States are often seen as unitary rational actors act as if they were single individuals making decisions in the basis of rational calculations about the costs and benefits if actions
Game Theory
is a set of approaches to study strategic interaction between actors that often rely on mathematical modeling and assumptions of the rationality of actors
o A model in which two actors would benefit from cooperation, but each has individual incentives that lead them to defect from cooperation
Liberalism
o Theory: internal structures can lead states to different preferences and behaviors
States that hold liberal values of democracy and free market commerce differ systematically from those that do not
Cooperation can occur more than realism says because
* Commercial liberalism: economic interactions greater peace
* Liberal institutionalism: international institutions cooperation
democratic peace
- Phenomenon that democratic countries will rarely go to war with one another
Constructivism
o Theory: decision made by states need to be understood in the context of social and political interactions
Behavior is shaped by norms and values as well as narrowly defined interests
States are not only aggressive, but they may also be competitive, cooperative
International relations is affected by the interaction between states
Countries with basis for trust may cooperate
Marxism
o Theory: Social classes play predominant role in shaping politics
A major theoretical framework before the end of cold war
Capitalist accumulation as a prime driver in international affairs
Imperialism, exploitation poor countries by rich and dominant countries
NAFTA
o Came into force in 1994
o Two supplements: North American agreement on environmental cooperation and north American agreement on labor cooperation
East asia and Southeast asia
o Historical legacies as obstacles and opportunites
Shared tradition and similar values
Conflicts and confrontations among east Asian countries
o Current dynamics of cooperation and confrontation
Driven by economic cooperation and integration
* From regional production networks to regional common markets
Influenced by power politics within and beyond the region
* US, China, South Korea, Australia
EU
o EU is example of supernational governance
o Constitutional nature
o Institutions of European Union
The European council
The European parliament and the counil of the EU
The European commission
The European central bank
The court of justice of the EU
The European court of Auditors
