Finals

Question 1

What did Antonio Gramsci say about political power

Answer 1

It is represented by the Centaurus: it is a combination of coercion and consent. Consent is generated by a hegemonic ideology that provides basis for legitimization of political decisions ad acquiescence in a society. Coercion’s costs are reduced by consent. Coercion is only actualized in case of disruption, as citizens usually obey consciously or unconsciously because of ideological beliefs and motives.

Question 2

How is discontent expressed

Answer 2

Institutional political participation vs Non-institutional political participation

Question 3

What did Chantal Mouffe say about political activity

Answer 3

He believed all political activity is contentious as “practices, discourses and institutions that seek to establish a certain order and to organize human coexistence in conditions that are always potentially conflictual”

Question 4

What did Tarrow and Tilly say about contentious politics

Answer 4

Contentious politics are episodic, public, collective interactions among makers of claims and their objects when at least one government is a claimant, an object of claims or a party of the claims, and when the claim is realized it affects at least one claimant

Question 5

What is the definition of political opportunity structures

Answer 5

features of regimes and institutions that facilitate or inhibit political collective acction

Question 6

What are political opportunity structures dependent on

Answer 6

Multiplicity of independent centers of power, relative closure or openness to new actors, instability or stability of current political alignments, availability of influential allies or supporters, extent to which regime represses or facilitates claim making, decisive changes in these properties

Question 7

Definition of contentious performances

Answer 7

relatively familiar or standardized ways in which one set of political actors make collective claims on some other set of political actors, linking a claimant to an object of claims

Question 8

What is the definition of contentious repertoires

Answer 8

when the relations between claimant and objects are routinized into pairs. They refer to arrays of performances that are currently known and are available within some set of political actors

Question 9

Explain how performances are limited by repertoire

Answer 9

Performances usually allow for innovation but usually within the limits set by the repertoire. These practices can also become the object of ritualization

Question 10

What are some examples of repertoires

Answer 10

Demonstrations on March 8 (Women’s Rights Day) , Labour Day

Question 11

What is Tarrow and Tilly’s defnition of social movement

Answer 11

“Social movement consists of a sustained challenge to power holders in the name of a population living under the jurisdiction of those power holders by means of public displays of that population’s worthiness, unity, numbers and commitment”

Question 12

What do social movements imply

Answer 12

Political, organized, sustained and collective public displays or mobilizations

Question 13

Explain social movements in terms of interactions

Answer 13

Social movements seek to promote or resist social change and they always involve interactions among claimants, objects of claims, and a public of some kind

Question 14

Explain the means of social movements

Answer 14

Synthesis of campaigns (sustained, organized public effort making collective claims on targeted authorities). repertoires, and public self-representation (comes into being through unity, numbers, worthiness, and commitment; aiming at building an identity for the movement)

Question 15

What is the rationalist approach to social movements

Answer 15

Focuses on individual rational choices. Albert O Hirschman explains contestation as a possible strategy to express discontent among three possibilities: voice, exit and loyalty.

Loyalty: resigned acceptance of shortcomings of the decision which remain powerful enough to sustain discontent
Voice: expressing discontent against poor performance
Exit: withdrawal or departure

Question 16

What is an example of Exit

Answer 16

Withdrawal of MPs after Brexit

Question 17

How do the three possibilities compare in promoting political change

Answer 17

Voice corresponds to social movements and it can be seen as a sign of political vitality and a valuable source of feedback. Too much loyalty prevents an organization from correcting itself while too much exit can empty yhe movement from its stregth

Question 18

Explain Olson’s paradox

Answer 18

Collective action should be triggered when participants see it as advantageous, however, this is not always the case. This can be explained by a discrepancy between individual and collective interests (free riders). Negative and positive incentives can be applied to correct this problem

Question 19

Explain James davis’ ideo of revoltuion/social movements

Answer 19

Revolutions are prone to happen when a period of improvement is followed by a sharp worsening of circumstances

Question 20

What does Ted Gurr argue about social movements

Answer 20

relative deprivation theory argues movements are more likely to occur when people perceive an unbearable gap between their expectations and reality. This can take the form of progressive, decremental or aspirational change

Question 21

What does Anthony Oberschall say about social movements

Answer 21

all social movements rely on per-existent networks of solidarity, which he conceive as structures determining the behavior of social movements

Question 22

Which model according to Oberschall is the most violent

Answer 22

According to his theory, Model E (mobilization is brief, violent and poorly organized) which is (Links to the Authorities: Segmented i.e. absence of institutionalized relays calls for stronger mobilization to be heard; Links within the Group: Atomized Model) is the most violent such as uprisings in American ghettos in the 1960s

Question 23

Which model according ot Obserschall is the most likely to succeed

Answer 23

Links to Authorities: Integrated i.e. institutionalized relays can guarantee a peaceful way to voice claims but can also lead to blockages; Links within the Group: Associative Model -> Model C which is voicing claims through existing orgnizations

Question 24

What did Charles Tilly say about social movements

Answer 24

social movements are rather determined by the evolution of the historical structures. the rise of the nation state and the industrial revolution replaced traditional authority structures, placing the state at the central object of claims

Question 25

What does the public sphere refer to

Answer 25

According to Habermas, the public sphere refers “to all realm of our social life in which something approaching public opinion can be formed”

Access to the public sphere is guaranteed to all citizens a a portion of the public sphere appeaars in every conversation in which private individuals assembly to form a public body. As such, social movements take place in a space shaped by commuhnication.

Question 26

How did the public sphere emerge

Answer 26

According to Habermas, the public sphere did not exist as such in the Middle Ages as publicity was embodied by the existence of a ruler. there was no strict distinction betwee teh public and private realms. With reform, secularization and printing, religion became a private manner, a process of diffrentatio between private and public ebgan and the bourgeois class emerged. The rise of printed communication allowed for the creation of a enw public sphere where private individuals would assemble into a public body which could begin to use orginally officially regualted communcicatio against the public authority itself.

Question 27

How is medial used within the public sphere by social movemetns

Answer 27

Used to strategically voice their claims and achieve thier goals. Gthis allowed generation of exteral represetnation, mass audience for protest actions which permits them to become real and relevent when largely diffused. Social movemets communicate a.particular descritiio of socielty through mass emdia.

Question 28

How has the recent proliferatiio of mass information and commuhnication technologies led to a double process

Answer 28

fragmentation of the public sphere due to increased possibility to initiate and intensify discoourses of a multiplicity of backgrounds; dissolutionn of tradtioonal boundaries opening new possibilities for collective actio

Question 29

How have social movements changed the prospects of collective action

Answer 29

New means of communication modified the relationship between citizens and their government, particularly by providing alternative channels of voicing claims escaping from authoritarian control.

Question 30

Give an example of social netowkrs have changed the prospects for collective action

Answer 30

Jasmin revolution in tunisia leading to the toppling og Zine el-Alidine Ben Ali in 2010 where Facebook played a major role. the social platform cosntituted a revolutionary instrument facilitating the social movement , making censorhsip and cntrol amost impossible

Question 31

What do Muller and Hubrer argue about social media’s performance of the 5 decisive functions contrbutiing to social movements’ success

Answer 31

1. demostration: borderless communication and multicultural users
2. widening: increased size of the audience
3. bondibg: faciltiates bond between people due to weak istitutionalzation and visual content
4. acceleration: rapidity of digital communications
5. anonymity: reducig the costs of participation

Society and social movments depnd on how we communicate. Rapid change in communicating structures influence the way we organize as a collective

Question 32

What did Kelsen argue about Democracy

Answer 32

it is a system for processing conflict

Question 33

what did Prezworski argue about institutitions

Answer 33

Institutions matter in poor societies and ot in rich ones/ Counterargument that institutions are essential for stability and channeling conflict

Question 34

What is the definition of political institutions

Answer 34

organizations which create, enforce and apply laws

Question 35

How are conflicts processed in institutions

Answer 35

conflict must be framed by within institutional frameworks but be prevented from dismantling such framework. This is usually set by Constitutional principles in democracy

Question 36

What are the ethical considerations about the proper ways to absorb conflict in a democracy

Answer 36

1) impossibility of including everyones voice in representative democracy and determinig where to draw the line for inclusion and exlcusion in decision making
2) do leaders need to let conflict happen and if so what ways of resolving it should we prioritize

Question 37

Explain Rousseau’s General Will

Answer 37

ppl bind themsvels to a contract but do not subject themsives to any authority except their own collective will. this is known as the general will. the geeral will is geeral but cuz of broad number of people who subscribe to it but cuz its object is always the common good of all

Question 38

how does the general will coincide the relationship between private and collective interests

Answer 38

the genreal will reflects what enlightened pppl would want f they were able to make decisions solely as social beings and citizens and not as private individuals. individuals may possess private wills that express their particular interests but citizens must recognize and concur with the genreal will that mirrors the good of all

Question 39

how is general will exercised

Answer 39

rousseau belives genreal will is better discernable through voting and applying majority rule (not unanimity); “vote of the majority always obligates the rest”

Question 40

Explain the general will in terms of freedom

Answer 40

Freedom of rousseau is not to be free from restraint but rather being free to govern ourselves as we collectively will.
popular sovereignty is a moral imperative in this account of the social contract

Question 41

What problem does rule of the majority ie winner takes all pose

Answer 41

tyrannny of the majority, which means mposing the will of the most on different minorities

Question 42

what are different forms of the majority

Answer 42

absolute majority: 50% + 1
relative majority: greatest relative number
qualified majority: reached a greater arbitaryr threshold superior to 50%

Question 43

What does Madison propose to solve the tyranny of the majority problem

Answer 43

madisons federalist paper 10 seeks to give a solution to this problem by advocating faction control. factions can be understood as organizations that work against the common good and are inherently selfish, including political parties and interest grouos

Question 44

How does faction control reduce the problem of tyranny of the majority

Answer 44

“A number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.”

Remove the causes: Trying to remove factions would only lead to destroying liberty, be it by removing freedoms or giving every citizens the same interests, opinions and passions.

Control Consequences: Allow minority factions to participate in public life and decision making in order to force negotiations, coalitions, and push for consensus on critical issues.

He wanted to avoid Majority Factions, which are factions that can impose their will that goes against public good.

Question 45

how does democracy allow faction control to work

Answer 45

While factions may be a term applying to almost any organization that did not fit Madison’s considerations (J. Yoho), Democracy with its ability to absorb conflict into consensus aimed practices and through checks and balances system (Fed. 51) allows to control the influence of these groups over each other.

Question 46

what did Benhabib say about democracy

Answer 46

“model for organizing the collective and public exercise of power in the major institutions of a society on the basis of the principle that decisions affeccting the well being of a collectivity can be viewed as the outcome of a procedure of free and reasoned delibreation among individuals considered as moral and political individuals”

Question 47

What kind of view in Benhabib’s view of democracy

Answer 47

egalitarian; views democracy on open and free dialogue as means to resolve conflict, which telos is to reach consensus among parties based on rational argumentation

Question 48

What are the 3 conflictual common goods object of benhabibs analysis

Answer 48

democratic legitimacy, economic welfare, collective identity; This is interlinked as distributing X goods to Y (Persons), always imply recognizing Y to be part of a group (Gm) in virtue of which Y is entitled to X.
Therefore, the question of how to preserve both inclusionand collective identity, while ensuring a legitimate distribution process.

Question 49

what form of democracy does benhabib promote

Answer 49

The basic premise of deliberative democracy is that it allows to resolve this dilemma through discourse ethics, presumably:
“Only those norms and normative institutional arrangements are valid which can be agreed to by all concerned under special argumentation situations named discourse.”

Question 50

What does the deliberative democracy model require

Answer 50

Consensus means achieving mutual understanding on claims through dialogue.
The deliberative model requires that we create public practices, dialogues, and spaces in civil society around controversial normative questions in which all those affected can participate.

Question 51

who is deliberative democrqacy attractive to

Answer 51

the emphasis of the deliberative democracy model on democratic inclusiveness makes it particularly attractive to the concerns of excluded minorities, whether the sources of this exclusion lie in gender, ethnic, “racial,” cultural, linguistic, religious, or sexual preference grounds.
Deliberative democracy promises not only inclusion but empowerment, in that the insistence that democratic legitimacy can be attained only through the agreement of all affected assures that norms cannot be adopted and institutional arrangements advocated at the cost of the most disadvantaged and disaffected.

Question 52

what are some problems of deliberative democracy

Answer 52

1. Inconmensurability: Normative beliefs may be mutually exclusive and contradictory with those held by our fellow citizens, particularly due to epistemic considerations.
2. The Biases in the Public Nature of Reason-Giving. Often, some of the excluded groups are considered to be the other of reason, and therefore excluded from rational dialogue. Also, public speech has a particular form in which some issues can only be addressed within the boundaries set by the form (e.g. Diplomatic Speech)
3. The Unattainable Goal of Consensus through Deliberation. Habermas makes too much emphasis on rationality and, therefore, he supposes that only questions that deals with specific norms and justice can be addressed, but not “good-life” questions.

By relaxing this principle, Such a model could be used to collectively define the common good for all concerned.

Question 53

what is an example of “the unattaibale goal of consensus through deluberation”

Answer 53

E.g. Ethical questions can become justice questions:
Whereas the status of women and of children until quite recently was considered the backbone of the ethical specificity of distinct human communities, and was expected to come under the legal jurisdiction of the authorities of these communities alone, emergent international discourse on women’s rights has created a transnational discursive network among women’s rights activists, community representatives, legislators, and international workers.

Question 54

what is an example of inconmeasurability

Answer 54

“Not only Orthodox Jewish and Muslim groups in a liberal society, but the Catholic Church as well as the Amish could not pass the test of a robust criterion of moral autonomy, since autonomy means that individuals understand themselves in their rational capacities as the source of valid moral claims, and this obviously contradicts the very basis of many such associations” (S. Benhabib).

Question 55

what does chantal mouufe argue ab out consensus

Answer 55

For Chantal Mouffe, the goal of a consensus that would articulate all views under a single mutual understanding situation denies the same nature underlying politics: antagonism.
For her, politics is mainly the art of managing conflict and process conflict, which is ultimately ineradicable. she argues that antagonism is needed to form collective identities

This implies that any social objectivity, even if attained by consensus, is ultimately political and that it has to show the traces of exclusion. The point of convergence is precisely what we mean by hegemony.
This theoretical point would mark the end of change as, for Mouffe, political practice in a democratic society does not consist in defending the rights of preconstituted identities, but rather in constituting those identities themselves in a precarious and always vulnerable terrain.

Question 56

what is an example of mouffe’s arguent about consensus

Answer 56

Ex. Migration debates in Europe
This is a rather Hegelian view in which the other is view as an adversary and conflict is necessary to dialectical purposes of change, and mutually constituting identiti

Question 57

what is Mouffe’s idea of agonism

Answer 57

What democracy does, is to transform antagonism (between enemies) into agonism (between adversaries).

Agonism is necessary for politics to strive and to continue to reshape continually the boundaries of the community between the excluded and the included.

Question 58

how does modern democracy rely on agonism

Answer 58

Modern democracy’s specificity lies in the recognition and legitimation of conflict and the refusal to suppress it by imposing an authoritarian order. A unified consensus would not last as it would exclude differences that might emerge and cannot be eradicated.
Therefore, pluralist democracy demands a certain amount of consensus, but such a consensus concerns only some ethico-political principles as guidance. But, the consensus is always bound to be a conflictual consensus as principles themselves face many different and conflicting interpretations.
“This is why a pluralist democracy needs to make room for dissent and for the institutions through which it can be manifested. Its survival depends on collective identities forming around clearly differentiated positions, as well as on the possibility of choosing between real alternatives.” (C. Mouffe)
Ultimately, this model is aimed at preserving freedom of choice

Question 59

what does Freeden say about ideology

Answer 59

“An ideology is a set of ideas, beliefs, opinions, and values that (1) exhibit a recurring pattern, (2) are held by significant groups, and (3) compete over providing and controlling plans for public policy. (4) They do so with the aim of justifying, contesting, or changing the social and the political arrangements and processes of political community

1. It refers to traditions with staying power, where political practices and institutions are sustained with the ideology in question. It is a pattern because it is flexible rather than rigid.
2. This is particularly important in democracy. It refers to the plurality and contestability of ideologies within the political world.
3. Ideologies compete against each-other in the public arena to define the programmes for social, economic and political life.
4. They seek to influence political arrangements. Political actors are often recruited on the basis of political ideologies.

Question 60

what does Geertz say about ideology

Answer 60

ordered complex systems of cultural symbols that act as a representation of reality. They are selective of principles, practices, and symbols.
Ideologies give meaning to social facts and legitimize certain practices.
This allow for the political positioning of parties and political programmes.
And for citizens to interpret these practices

Question 61

What does Boix say about representatives

Answer 61

Citizens choose representatives through elections to set policies and govern on their behalf, by a process of delegation of power.

Representatives are usually organized in parties, defined by C. Boix as:
“stable organizations through which politicians coordinate their political activity across electoral districts, in parliamentary assemblies, and in executive governmental committees”.

Question 62

what are the functions political parties

Answer 62

1. Reduce costs associated with crafting and passing laws,
2. Enhance the ability of the legislature to hold the executive accountable,
3. Facilitate the mobilization of vote

Question 63

how do parties differ internally

Answer 63

1. their hierarchy,
2. the strength of their parliamentary wing in relation to the party apparatus,
3. the number and commitment of their membership, and in their cohesiveness.

Question 64

how do parties diverge externally

Answer 64

1. their ideological orientation,
2. the size of their electoral base and parliamentary representation,
   and
3. the stability and loyalty of the electorate.

Question 65

what does Boix’s socio-institutional account of parties rely on

Answer 65

three pillars: preferences of voters, their information and beliefs, and the electoral institutions.

Question 66

what are the behavior of voters dependent on

Answer 66

The behavior of voters is usually determined by their ideologies or policy opinions, and the viability of the candidates or their chances of winning.

Question 67

what is the logic of politicians

Answer 67

The logic of politicians is very similar and tends to respond to an electoral “market”.
Candidates will tend to pick up policies that are attractive to a sufficient section of the electorate, and they will only contest an election if they can appear as a serious or viable alternative.
We can speak of a market since voters seem to act as electing welfare-maximizing representatives (demand), and politicians as being recognized as useful and viable candidates (supply).
The expectations of the voters will likely affect their strategic behavior penalizing new entrants and benefitting strongest parties.
The market is framed by rules and institutions which specify how votes are translated into seats (districts, simple majority, etc.).

Question 68

What is the manifest functions of parties

Answer 68

Selecting programmes and preparing manifestos: These place parties into the political spectrum, by answering to the electorate demands and mobilize actual and potential voters.

Structure the electoral race by internally selecting the candidates.

Control representatives through party discipline.

Question 69

what are the latent functions of parties

Answer 69

Politicizing the population (pamphlets, manifestos, etc.).

Channel conflict through institutional means contributing to social cohesion.

Source of socialization.

Question 70

What was Europe like before political parties

Answer 70

Very small electorate due to the statute of allowed voters (less than 3% of male adults, in 1947, in France).

Elections were conducted through small, and mostly single-member districts and based on majoritarian rules (in the early 1930s, candidates ran unopposed in 1/3 of the constituencies in England).

Elected politicians acted mostly based on territorialized interests.

Question 71

how did the modern party system emerge

Answer 71

According to Boix, the increased role of the state and the gradual universalization of the suffrage led to the emergence of the modern party system.

The intensifying military competition in the XIXth century, and the emergence of industrial economy and major technical changes are the most important factors that contributed to the increased role of the state in society.
National governments were therefore at the core of a growing number of decisions involving the whole territory, thus creating incentives for having interests represented in parliament.
This is illustrated by political conflict over economic policy (urban-countryside, workers ruling classes) and education policies (Lois Jules Ferry, 1881-1882).

Question 72

Give examples of growing univeralization of siuffrage

Answer 72

Germany universal 1919, France universal 1945, US universal 1965

Question 73

What do Marx and Engels say about ideology

Answer 73

For K. Marx and F. Engels, ideology is a distorted picture of reality that normalizes or justifies capitalism’s contradictions.
“Religion is the opiate of the masses” (K. Marx)

They identified ruling ideologies with those of the ruling class being employed by the state to exercise domination.
Once ideologies are removed, people could access true knowledge about the world based on human and material positions within productive relationships.

Question 74

What does Manheim say about ideology

Answer 74

Ideology, for Mannheim, is a tool of domination but is not limited to it.
It mirrors historical and social environments and help navigate the social world.
Event though there are ruling ideologies, there is also the notion of utopia denoting a conception of a perfect society used by oppressed groups.
Intelligentsia are groups that provide ideologies as interpretations of reality. He believed that one day these groups will converge into adopting one single and unified vision of the world.

Question 75

What do Althusser and Gramsci say about the eternal centaur

Answer 75

An ideology becomes hegemonic when it emerges as an intellectual and moral order that becomes as an autonomous and superior culture within a given group.
It tends to unity and consensus specially when it is hegemonic.
For Althusser, ideology initially served as a way to facilitate the submission of the workers to the ruling class.
Ideology regroups religious, cultural and legal structures, mass media, family and education systems.

the superstructure maintains andf shapes the base and the base shapes and maintains the superstructure

Question 76

What are some criticisms of end of ideology

Answer 76

Big ideologies have become irrelevant in the modern world, due to the Western triumph and the rise in technologies.
See also the End of History in the 1990s by Francis Fukuyama.
This is related to the technocratic debate. If everything is governed by objective numbers, do ideas really matter?
This is important because instead of political parties constituted by politicians, we would have groups of experts and technocrats.
However, parties remain, why?

Question 77

How has science reduced ideology’s influence

Answer 77

As Mannheim and Gramsci imagined, scientific proceedings based on positivistic science and innovative techniques are being increase used in the design of public policy and public administration.
Technical expertise is usually considered as an objective formed of knowledge, thereby leaving little space for other ideologies.
There is a hegemonic belief that we should be guided by scientific truth and proof-based arguments, leading to a possible revitalization of the end of ideology thesis.

Question 78

What does Alain Desroieres say about ideology and technology

Answer 78

Alain Desrosières said, numbers still leave space to and are the foundation for democratic informed debates and still allowsome divergence in points of view.

Question 79

what did Luhmann say about mass media

Answer 79

“All technical tools of multiple reproduction aimed at the diffusion of communication”

Question 80

what does Deleuze say about communication

Answer 80

the transmission and propagation of Information.
Information for him is defined as a mot d’ordre, or order words. The information is transmitted because we are expected to believe the information is true, or to act as if it was true; and obey as a consequence.

Question 81

What is the definition of public opinion

Answer 81

Public opinion, an aggregate of the individual views, attitudes, and beliefs about a particular topic, expressed by a significant proportion of a community. (Britannica)

Question 82

How does information affect public issues

Answer 82

Information and communication therefore impacts beliefs of private individuals on public issues.
These individuals, when actively communicating public matters, find themselves within the Public Sphere.
i.e. Private persons collectively involved in discussing common interest questions.

Question 83

How does Habermas call evolution in communincation media

Answer 83

the structural transformation of the public sphere.
This has changed the way individuals communicate between each other on public matters.
Before mass-media the public sphere was limited to the King’s court or persona. People only discussed public matters in the court of the King
With the expansion of vernacular press, news paper, and bourgeois class; public matters start to be discussed in public places such as coffee shops and salons. The press allow individuals to stay connected across space on public affairs.
This is linked to the rise of nationalism and what Benedict Anderson calls Imagined communities.

Question 84

explain the link between community and communication

Answer 84

The word community comes from communication. No society could exist without it, as social interactions would not take place
In the 19th Century, this was a Bourgeois public sphere excluding the uneducated and poor people. Now with new means of communication, public sphere has expanded with the democratization of information technologies.
However, this is poses huge challenges to democracy and to public opinion formation. (Polarization, disinformation, and fragmentation).

Question 85

what is the relationship between media and democracy

Answer 85

Before 19th Century, public information was concealed within the Kings court and controlled by the Monarchy.
Then, it was mainly diffused through newspapers nationally, which could be subject of control and foreign news were also under scrutiny.
Now, in the XXIst Century, we are facing transnational flows of information which source cannot be verified.
Media strongly impacts the preferences (realist); beliefs and values (constructivist).

Question 86

examples of how media affects democracy

Answer 86

Examples: Strategic voting (rational choice and polls) Democratization and globalization (Tunisia case).
At the same time, we are entitled to a free and informed vote, and freedom of speech and press. Then what if our thoughts are not our own?

n the 2010s, personal data belonging to millions of Facebook users was collected without their consent by British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, predominantly to be used for political advertising.

Question 87

Explain regulation of media

Answer 87

Public owned agencies provide more truthful information with higher quality of content in developed countries.
Nevertheless, publicly funded broadcasters can be uncritical and lack neutrality, particularly concerning the opposition. (Benson et al.)
This creates the need for independent oversight agencies and regulations.

Question 88

what is an example of media regulation

Answer 88

Example: Mexico’s INAI, INEGI and electoral campaign regulations. These organizations are now being threatened by officialism and fake news.

Question 89

Explain primordalism

Answer 89

Nations as unified groups are seen as primordial, natural, or biological subgroups of humanity, thus nationalism is an important and natural behavior or feeling.
The Sociobiological Connection (Pierre van den Berghe)
The Cultural Connection (Clifford Geertz)

Question 90

Explain Perennialism

Answer 90

Nations are historical creations that have existed, evolved or assimilated throughout history.

Recurrent Perennialism & Continuous Perennialism

Question 91

What is the approach of Ernest Gellier and Benedict Anderson to the Nation

Answer 91

Modernism, Ernest Gellner, and Benedict Anderson
The origins of the nation must be found on the social forces that generated the context in which the ideas of a unified nation could germinate.
Nationalism can be conceived as a “political principle that holds that the political and the national (common culture) should be congruent”
This could only have emerged in the modern-industrial period with the rise of mass-literacy.

Question 92

What is the approach of Anthony Smith to the nation

Answer 92

Ethno-symbolism and Anthony Smith
Anthony Smith defined the nation “as a named human population sharing an historic territory, common myths and historical memories, a mass public culture, a common economy and common legal rights and duties for all members”.
Nation VS Ethnic Communities

Question 93

Explain the nation as a cultural artifact

Answer 93

The nation is a cultural artifact created at the end of the end of the 18th century as a consequence of convergent historical forces.

Question 94

explain the nation as an imagined community

Answer 94

The nation is an imagined community: “the members of the event the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow members…Yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion”.

Question 95

define the nation

Answer 95

The nation is limited, sovereign, and a community.

Question 96

Give an example of nation building

Answer 96

Mexican Revolution and the Project of National Unity

Question 97

Explain print-capitalism

Answer 97

Print-capitalism: an interaction between a system of production and productive relations (capitalism), a technology of communication (print), and the fatality of human linguistic diversity.
Print-capitalism replaced sacred languages for vernacular ones, impacting deeply on human relationships.

Question 98

explain nationalism

Answer 98

Nationalism (=/=Nation): malleable and narrow ideology, which values membership in a nation greater than other groups (i.e. based on gender, parties, or socio-economic group), seeks distinction from other nations, and strives to preserve the nation and give preference to political representation by the nation for the nation. (Bieber)

Question 99

explain the relatioship between nationalism and religion

Answer 99

Nationalism is deeply concerned about immortality and death.

Decline of religion as an integrative force.

“I am not claiming that the appearance of nationalism towards the end of the eighteenth century was ‘produced’ by the erosion of religious certainties. […] nationalism has to be understood by aligning it, not with self-consciously held political ideologies, but with the large cultural systems that preceded it, out of which – as well as against which – it came into being.” (B. Anderson)

Question 100

Explain the relationship between the center-periphery monarchy and nationalism

Answer 100

Decline of the Center-Periphery Monarchy
During the 17th Century, we see the decline of lineages, that posed the conditions of possibility for creating new loyalties within communities.

Question 101

Explain the relationship between the perception of time and nationalism

Answer 101

The advent of calendric time changed our perception of time that allowed us to conceive the nation as group of people moving together towards a common future

Question 102

Explain ho communities create an identity

Answer 102

Communities need to create symbols, narratives, myths to correspond to the picture of the nation to satisfy a need of creating an identity, which implies separating oneself from the other.

Question 103

explain the definition of an ethnic community

Answer 103

An Ethnic Community can be defined as: “a named human population with a myth of common ancestry, shared memories, and cultural elements; a link with a historic territory or homeland; and a measure of solidarity.“ (A. Smith)
First, the group must have a name for itself.
Second, the people in the group must believe in a common ancestry. This is more important than genetic ties, which may exist, but are not essential.
Third, the members of the group must share historical memories, often myths or legends passed from generation to generation by word of mouth.
Fourth, the group must have a shared culture, generally based on a combination of language, religion, laws, customs, institutions, dress, music, crafts, architecture, even food.
Fifth, the group must feel an attachment to a specific piece of territory, which it may or may not actually inhabit.
Sixth and last, the people in a group have to think of themselves as a group in order to constitute an ethnic community; that is, they must have a sense of their common ethnicity. The group must be self-aware

Question 104

explain the difference between ethnic group and nation

Answer 104

In the case of ethnic groups, they differ from nations in the sense that they lack a clearly defined territory, a public culture, economic unity, and legal rights and duties for everyone.

Question 105

explain ethnic conflict

Answer 105

Ethnic Conflict is a dispute about important political, economic, social, cultural, or territorial issues between two or more ethnic communities. Some ethnic conflicts involve little or no violence. Others, involve full-scale military hostilities and unspeakable levels of violence.

Question 106

explain how ethnic conflicts develop

Answer 106

Many ethnic conflicts start out as domestic disputes (intrastate). They can become but become interstate conflicts when outside powers become involved. In some cases, trouble spills over into neighboring countries. In others, neighboring powers intervene in domestic disputes to protect the interests of their ethnic brethren (internationalized).

Question 107

explain structural causes of ethnic conflict

Answer 107

1. Two or more ethnic groups must reside in close proximity.
2. National, regional, and international authorities must be too weak to keep groups from fighting and too weak to ensure the security of individual groups.

These conditions are often generated when empires collapse, and ethnic groups suddenly have to provide for their own security.

Question 108

explain how independence causes ethnic conflict

Answer 108

When empires break up, ethnic geography frequently creates situations that favor the offense over the defense. In some cases, ethnic groups will effectively surround “islands” of people from other groups.
Windows of opportunity and vulnerability will be created because newly independent groups will develop state structures at different rates. Groups that are further along in developing states and deploying military forces will have powerful incentives to go on the offensive—expelling minorities, rescuing islands of brethren, launching preventive attacks against potential adversaries—before rival groups are able to defend themselves or launch offensives of their own.

Question 109

explain domestic causes of ethnic conflict

Answer 109

The effectiveness of states in addressing the concerns of their constituents, the impact of nationalism on interethnic relations, and the impact of democratization on inter-ethnic relations.

When state structures are weak, nationalism is likely to be based on ethnic distinctions, rather than the idea that everyone who lives in a country is entitled to the same rights and privileges.

The emergence of ethnic nationalism makes some form of ethnic conflict almost inevitable. The rise of ethnic nationalism in one group will be seen as threatening by others and will lead to the development of similar sentiments elsewhere.

Question 110

Explain the Libyan tribal system

Answer 110

Starting point: Muammar al-Qaddafi death in October 2011.
The structure of Libyan society is principally tribal. The country is rich with tribes spread out throughout the country with many small tribal enclaves. Tribes in Libya offer a system of social and cognitive reference in which a wide range of corporate networks, of differing sizes, can organise themselves.
Each tribe is different according to its strength and the degree of proximity or loyalty it possesses towards the regime in power. It defines their identity but also insures their protection in times of crises.

Question 111

Explain how the tribal system led to the success of the Libyan Revolution

Answer 111

Gaddafi wanted to grant additional responsibility to tribes and hence coerce them to enforce the rule of law of a central government that would no longer need to take a party in tribal conflicts. He managed to maintain a corporatist State through a system of alliances that was able to contain ethnic conflict.

The Libyan revolution very quickly faced a dynamic of skirmishes resembling a civil war which offered little room for negotiation or compromise leading to the collapse of the regime, featuring foreign intervention.

Tribal leaders, in the name of centralised power, took on the fight against the diverse opposition forces on their own territories.

Question 112

Explain how no stable Libyan state has emerged post-Gaddafi

Answer 112

After the fall of Gaddafi, no stable socio-political order nor State has been able to emerge. This is in fact due to a return to “primary identities” shaped and defined by local identities and particularisms inherent to each group or subgroup, be it ethnic or tribal.

Libya’s transitional government ceded authority to the General National Congress (GNC) in July 2012, but the GNC faced numerous challenges over the next two years, including the spread of the Islamic state and other armed groups throughout the country.

Question 113

Explain the conflict between Libya and Islamist militant groups

Answer 113

In May 2014, General Khalifa Haftar launched Operation Dignity, a campaign conducted by the Libyan National Army (LNA) to attack Islamist militant groups across eastern Libya, including in Benghazi. To counter this movement, Islamist militants and armed groups—including Ansar al-Sharia— formed a coalition called Lybia Dawn escalating the conflict into a full-fledged civil war.

The battle for control over Libya crosses tribal, regional, political, and even religious lines. Each coalition has created governing institutions and named military chiefs—and each has faced internal fragmentation and division. The country ended up fragmented with two main contending centers of power. HoR based in Tobruk (East), GNC based in Tripoli.

Haftar upended peace efforts by launching a campaign to take western Libya and Tripoli with the backing of Egypt, UAE, France and Russia. At the GNA’s request, Turkey sent troops to Tripoli in early 2020 to reinforce the city’s defense and increased the size of the force ahead of the GNA counteroffensive

Question 114

give statistics on womens rights

Answer 114

1837: in the US, the first time women were allowed to enter higher education.
In 2024: in only 26/193 countries women serve as head of the executive.
Worldwide: 26% of Parliamentary seats are occupied by women.

Question 115

what is feminism in political science

Answer 115

In Political Science, Feminism first task was related to denounce the exclusion of women as political subjects in canonical texts.
This later translated into a search for integrating women into categories of political membership from which they had been originally excluded;
to show that women cannot be so integrated because their exclusion is constitutive of those very categories;
to draw the consequences of this impossible inclusion and reconstitute the categories of politics anew.

Question 116

explain gender political theory

Answer 116

In sum, Gender Political Theory seeks to rebuild new categories inclusive of women. With time, this will be expanded to other fights such as minority rights and LGBTQ groups (Post-Colonial and Queer Studies)

Question 117

Explain what Agathangelou says about sexual practices

Answer 117

Anna M. Agathangelou shows how the codification of certain sexual practices in India are both instrumentalized or weaponized by the State to legitimize its position and the result of a colonial legacy at the same time.
The codification of laws concerning these practices find their origins during British colonialism.
The reform and the application of these laws can be mobilized by the state to shape the image people have of it.
Therefore, she ends up showing how existing categories and practices are the result of sill existing colonial practices that undermine certain sexual minorities, and instrumentalize their fights in favour of the maintenance of the status quo.

Question 118

how were women exluded in political science

Answer 118

Within the discipline Oklin claims that the canonical authors never considered women as acting and judging members of the public realm.
Canonical thinkers took for granted the naturalized concepts of gender and the sexual division of labor that feminists, in their claims to citizenship, questioned.
One of the broader impulse of Feminist theory is to question what is, and what is not, political. Insofar as certain activities were deemed by canonical authors to be non-political, so, too, were those human beings who are primarily associated with them.
This is the case of reproductive, care, and sexuality questions among others.
During the 70s, the writings aimed at criticizing the exclusive association with women as beings whose biological capacities defined their social function, and the ascription of certain issues to the private realm.

Question 119

explain the concept of care

Answer 119

This concept is central to feminist ethics. It is a contestation of mainly liberal and contractualist accounts of justice.
Before, care was applied to the private sphere occupied by women, rather than occupying a central place in the search for solutions.
Fiona Robinson argues that the notion of care can work as moral compass to take political decisions.

Question 120

explain the ethics of care

Answer 120

An ethics of care must not be seen to translate simply into benevolent and humanitarian practices through which the strong states and organizations that make up the international community ‘care for’ weaker, vulnerable populations.
Rather, it means that the focus of attention is on attending to the needs, rights and interest of people as both givers and receivers of care. It recognizes humans as imbedded in relations and it places practices of care are the basic substance of morality.
A critical care ethics emphasizes the universality of the need to give and receive care. It challenges traditional understandings of ‘private’, ‘public’ and ‘international’ by revealing how hidden dependencies support political economies, as well as how the social constructions of gender and race are constitutive of the value we place on caring practices, and how these assessments affect dominant understandings of ‘autonomy’, ‘equality’, ‘labour’ and ‘citizenship’