Lecture 4 Pt. 3 Flashcards
totalitarianism
a political system that extensively regulates people’s lives
- such governments represent total concentrations of power and prohibit organized opposition of any kind
authoritarianism
a political system that denies popular participation in government
- such a government is indifferent to people’s needs lacks the legal means to remove leaders from office, and provides people with little or no means even to express their opinions
monarchy
a political system in which a single family rules from generation to generation
- during the medieval era, hereditary rulers claimed a virtual monopoly of power based on divine right
- a more contemporary system is constitutional monarchies
- this includes democracy and egalitarianism because of the ability to elect officials
democracy
a political system in which power is exercised by the people as a whole
- however, members of democratic societies rarely participate directly in decision-making
- this is seen in representative democracy, which places authority in the hands of elected leaders
participatory democracy
the people represent themselves and make their own decisions
social democratic
a mix of capitalist and socialist/welfare economies and politics
- democracies are often built on extensive bureaucracy and economic power
- considerable formal organization is necessary to carry over the expanding range of government activities undertaken by democratic societies
- with this, most everyday decision-making is carried out by career bureaucrats, and not necessarily the elected leaders
global freedom
defined in terms of national ratings on political rights and civil liberties
capitalist appraoch to political freedom
the personal liberty to vote for one’s preferred leader
socialist apprach to political freedom
freedom from basic want, meaning socialism strives to meet every citizen’s basic needs
nation states
political apparatuses over a specific territory with their citizens backed up by military force and a nationalistic, sovereign creed
5 ways in which country politics have become interlinked
- the steady growth of political interconnectedness over large regions, e.g., the EU and ASEAN
- a worldwide layer of global government has been introduced since 1945 (political institutions such as UNICEF and WHO have developed, and these play significant roles in world policies)
- multinational corporations have enormous power to shape social life throughout the world (politics is dissolving into business as corporations grow larger than governments)
- the information revolution has put national politics on to the world stage (no national government can fully manage the political events that occur within its borders)
- new social movements have also been involved in the new information revolution and turned their activities into global campaigns and actions
the pluralist model
an analysis of politics that views power as dispersed among many competing groups
- this approach is closely tied to structural-functional theory
- pluralists claim that politics is an arena of negotiation and believe that power is widely dispersed throughout society
- a second assertion holds that power has many sources, including wealth, political office, social prestige, personal charisma, and organizational clout
the power elitist model
an analysis of politics that views power as concentrated among the rich
- a country is dominated by three major sectors: the economy, the government, and the military
- elites circulate from one sector to another and at the top encounter no real opposition
the Marxist model
reckons that the state always works in the interest of the dominant, ruling, economic class
- it favors and supports ‘capital’
hagemony
refers to how a ruling/dominant group wins over a subordinated group through ideas
- to make hegemony work, dominated groups have to be taken into consideration, their interests noted and concessions given to them
6 ways political activities go beyond the accepted rules
- political revolution
- terrorism
- corruption and state crimes
- war
- nuclear weapons
- information warfare
political revolution
the overthrow of one political system in order to establish another
- no type of political system is immune to revolution; nor does revolution invariably produce any one kind of government
shared traits among revolutions
- rising expectations: revolutions more generally occur when people’s lives are improving, rather than when there is bitter resignation
- an unresponsive government
- radical leadership by intellectuals
- establishing a new legitimacy and ensuring long-term success
terrorism
violence, or threat of violence, employed by an individual or a group as a political strategy
- like revolution, terrorism is a political act beyond the rules of established political systems
4 insights about terrorism
- terrorists try to cast violence as a legitimate political tactic
- state terrorism, the use of violence, generally without the support of the law, against individuals or groups by a government or its agents
- democracies are especially vulnerable to terrorists
- terrorism differs in definition, often due to political differences
features of new terrorism
- organizational decentralization, loose clusters organized through chains/series of contact points
- operational asymmetry, unanticipated and unconventional acts of violence
- religious centrality
- weapons of mass destruction
corruption and state crimes
corrupt governments have enriched themselves in many ways; a corrupt dictatorship often results in decades of suffering for the vast majority of its citizens
war
many of the 20th-century wars were funded on a large scale through the mobilization of the whole economy, mass armies, massive firepower, tanks, and aircraft
- this led to major destruction and highlights the threat of today’s nuclear arsenals
degenerate wars
a deliberate and systematic extension of the war against an organized armed enemy to war against a largely unarmed civilian population
- this is typical of more and more modern wars
