Final Flashcards
What is politics
-the study of power
-concerned with collective decision making
-a social activity
Two main concerns for politics
- What are the appropriate limits of the political realm?
- Is politics concerned with cooperation or conflict?
Political thinking:
A problem/issue/puzzle
Competing views on how to analyze the issue
Expensive political view
Everything is political, the personal is political
Narrow political view
Politics concern the functioning of the city, focus on public life. The boundaries of public life is still being disputed.
Warner on gender and
Sexuality
The personal is political = an social arrangements are power-laden
Warners is politics concerned with cooperation or conflicts.
Conflict seems inevitable as society contains different interests and values
3 big political questions to follow
- What values should political decisions serve?
- Who does/should make the decisions?
- How should the decisions be enforced?
Reading for political life
Micheal warner
3 approaches for the study of politics
- Normative
- Empirical
- Semantic
Normative analysis
Questions about values = what kind of society should we want or value?
Necessary to the function of politics
Empirical analysis
Indetifying observable phenomena
About how things are not now the ought to be
Semantic analysis
Focuses on the meaning of concepts- their origins and why/how we use them.
2 major approaches of empirical thinking
- Deductive reasoning
- Inductive reasoning
Deductive reasoning:
Creates theories from first principles
EX: rational choice theory
Inductive reasoning
Generalizations drawn from empirical observations
EX: behaviourism
What is the state?
A political community where a single mechanism exercises supreme authority within a given territory
The concept of the state varies across space and time.
What historical event is associated with the Treaty of Westphalia?
Response to decades of conflicts in Europe, enshrined norms of non-interference
The European model of the state was later exported, often by force through colonialism.
What are the three characteristics of the state according to Weber?
- Bounded territory
- Ultimate authority
- Ability to use force
Weber’s definition emphasizes the state’s structural attributes.
According to Marx, what is the state?
An apparatus (‘superstructure’) that produces and protects capitalism (‘mode of production’)
Marx argues that the primary function of the state is to entrench and enforce class relations.
How do Weber and Marx differ in their descriptions of the state?
- Weber: State as an apparatus of power
- Marx: State as a result of power
This highlights their differing perspectives on the nature and function of the state.
What is Locke’s primary purpose for the state?
To protect private property
Locke’s view emphasizes the state’s role in safeguarding individual rights and property.
Fill in the blank: The state varies across _______ and _______.
[space] and [time]
True or False: The Treaty of Westphalia established norms of interference among European states.
False
The Treaty established norms of non-interference.