Mid Term Flashcards
Power
Ability to achieve goals in a political system and to have others do as you wish them to.
Influence
Ability to change behaviour in others without exerting direct power over them.
Political Studies
Formal study of politics within and among nations.
Government
Institutions and people responsible for carrying out the affairs and administration of a political system.
338 MPs
Conflict
Differences in preferred outcomes among social groups.
Conflict Resolution
Process in domestic or international affairs that attempts to reconcile antagonism.
Mediation and negotiation.
Thomas Hobbes
Process of socialization is essential for the security of life itself.
Socialization
Individuals act in a social manner.
Creation of social and political authority and rules to regulate behaviour and permit operation of social units.
Public Goods
Resources that are present in a political system whose use by one individual should not affect use by others.
Should be provided by governments.
Liberal Democracy
Political system based on freedom and the principle that governance requires the assent of all citizens through participation.
Authoritarianism
Political system requiring absolute obedience to a constituted authority (e.g. North Korea).
The State
Only institution that holds access to the legitimate use of force within its territorial jurisdiction.
Modern State
Defined territorial boundaries, rule of law, sovereignty, legitimacy, bureaucracies, judicial systems, militaries.
Government
Part of the state apparatus.
Impermanent because elected governments come and go while the state remains intact.
Modern Western State
Appeared in Europe in the 1600s.
Defines territorial boundaries, rule of law, sovereignty legitimacy.
Everyone is equally subject to the rules of the states.
State’s capacity to collect/spend taxes gives it means to redistribute wealth and provide services.
Approaches
Political philosophy, Canadian politics, international relations/global politics, comparative politics.
Political Philosophy
Rooted in Aristotle and Plato, idea that humans are political animals by nature.
Canadian Politics
Focus on what is happening within Canada.
Parliament (Senate, 105, HOC, 338)
Federalism (National gov. in Ottawa, subnational gov. in provinces)
International Relations
Studies political/economic/legal developments on the global stage.
Realism, Liberalism, Global Marxism.
Comparative Politics
Comparing politics.
Analytical Approach
Political science as an empirical discipline rather than a science.
Behaviouralism
Concentrates on the ‘tangible’ aspects of political life rather than values.
Humans should be at the centre of political research.
Post-Behaviouralism
Attempt to reconcile the problems of behaviourism by allowing for values and ideology in its analysis.
Added personal views.
Structural-Functionalists
Focuses on the role of political structures and their function in society.
Systems Theory
Views politics as a system of interaction.
Politics is a dynamic process that flows.
Political Economy
Views politics and the economy as mutually dependent perceptions of the world.
Comparative Approach
Compares different systems of political authority.
Levels of Analysis
Accurate analysis must be inclusive of international, domestic, and individual arenas of interaction.
Globalization
Intensification of economic, political, social, and cultural relations across borders.
Ethnic and Religious Conflict
War or opposition among different racial, linguistic, or religious groups.
Protectionism
Tendency of countries to safeguard their own economic sectors or industries.
Political Organization
How humans govern themselves into the body politic.
Body Politic
Entirety of a political community.
Order
Condition in which units and interaction within a political system are marked by stability within accepted and enforced rules.
Democracy
Rule of the people based on idea that governance requires assent of all citizens through participation in elections.
Monarchy
Form of government by a single ruler who hold nominally absolute power.
Tyranny
Government by a single ruler who often exercises arbitrary power for their benefit.
System
Group of individual entities or actors who interact with each other to form an integrated whole.
International System
System of two or more actors that interact regularly in the global arena.
Organizations
Structured relations existing within a political community.
Established to distribute the responsibilities and the privileges that arise from formal associations with others.
Institutions
Groupings that have developed to attend to a particular societal need.
State
Recognized political unit, considered to be sovereign, with a defined territory and people and a central government responsible for administration.
Sovereignty
Absolute control over a defined area.
Max Weber
States have monopoly over legitimate use of force.
War
Use of armed forces in conflict with an enemy.
Nation
Group of persons who share an identity that is based on shared ethnic, religious, cultural, or linguistic qualities.
Nation-State
Autonomous political unit of people who share a predominant common culture, language, ethnicity, or history.
Sovereign state.
Political Action
Assumes the ability to act and then will to do so.
Agency
Individual or group action in a social context.
Power
Ability to achieve goals in a political system and to have others do as you wish them to.
‘Principle concept’.
Three Faces of Power
Steven Lukes
1. Decision-making power (policy, legislation)
2. Non-decision-making power (set agenda and discuss issue)
3. Ideological power (influence people’s thoughts)
Hard vs. Soft Power
Hard (tangible incentives and punishment)
Soft (ideas and influence)
Influence
How actors get other to do their will.
Closely related to power.
Authority
Power or right to force obedience.
Traditional Authority
Passed down through generations.
Rational-Legal Authority
Based on rules, norms, and accepted norms.
Charismatic Authority
Special qualities of the individual.
Leadership
Group of individuals who lead society.
Closely related to influence and authority.
Legitimacy
What is lawful and conforms to the standards of a political system.
Law
Rules imposed on a society by the governing authority.
Legislation
Laws enacted by governing authority.
Values
What an individual or community esteems as meaningful.
Dyck.
Equality
Parity in a political system.
Political Equality
Right to participate and be treated evenly.
Social Equality
Statue given to all.
Economic Equality
Distribution of benefits from the exchange of goods and services.
Ancient Greek Equality
Looked at differences no equality of humans.
Plato, Aristotle, etc.
Thomas Hobbes and John Locke Equality
All are deserving of equal treatment (political equality).
Adam Smith Equality
Equality through economic opportunity.
John Rawls Equality
Everyone would choose equality over the uncertainty of the alternative.
Social Order
Recognized social structure of power, responsibility, and liberty.
Security
Freedom from danger or injury.
Related to order.
Progress
Advancement in society towards a better and improved state of affairs.
Justice
State of affairs involving the maintenance of what is right and fair within a society.
Social Justice
Equitable distribution of goods and values in society.
Economic Justice
The redistribution of economic resources from certain groups in society to others.
Liberty
Freedom from despotic control.
Closely related to freedom.
Negative Liberty
Areas of activity where governments do not interfere, where an individual is free to choose.
Positive Liberty
Freedom to achieve one’s full potential where government does not get involved (e.g. economic redistribution).
Welfare
Legislation or social action taken to provide citizens with physical, financial, health, or other assistance.
Licence
Unlimited freedom to do as we please.
Duties
Related to rights, responsibilities to protect rights.
Rights
Liberties are closely related to rights of citizens.
Civil Rights
Those enjoyed variously from one political system to another.
Human Rights
Those that are considered inalienable.
Differing views on human rights in each political system.
Community
Social, political, cultural, and economic ties that bind individuals to one another.
Identity
A person’s understanding and expression of their individuality or group membership.
Philosophy
Study of questions about existence, knowledge, ethics, justice, and morality based on logical reasoning.
Political Philosophy
Investigation into the nature of politics.
Utopian
Idealized place or system.
Philosophical Inquiry
Done by posing answers to perennial questions.
Adam Smith
Let the market decide.
Market will determine supply and demand, no gov. involvement in the economy (right).
Karl Marx
Was opposed to capitalism (left).
Classical Period
Early thought about the nature of politics.
Medieval Philosophy
Life and religion (Christianity).
Humans are secondary.
Thomas Aquinas
Introduced Aristotle to the Christian world.
Deductive method, start with hypothesis and move to observation to support hypothesis.
Renaissance Thought
Secular approach to politics.
Niccolò Machiavelli
Examined the nature of power and leadership over ‘political realism’.
Modern Thought
Takes into account enlightenment and industrial thinkers.
Ideology
Set or system of ideas that form the basis of a political or economic system.
Left-Right Spectrum
Spectrum onto which specific ideologies are plotted.
Ideological Left
Emphasis on values such as equality, justice, and rights.
Ideological Right
Emphasis on values such as law and order, security, and stability.
Ideological Centre
Exact location depends on political jurisdiction in question.
What Makes Ideologies
Images result in attitudes which result in values which lead to beliefs which lead to ideology.
Liberalism and Self-Determination
Early liberalism thought espoused self-determination.
Human individual is believed to be a rational, self-interested creature whose desires are of paramount importance.
Negative liberty.
Dominant Western tradition.
New Liberalism
Emphasizes a positive liberty.
Freedom to pressure self-development.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
General will (will of the community).
Particular will (will of the individual).
Capitalism
Economic system where production and distribution of goods relies of private capital and investments.
Neoliberalism
Reinvigoration of classical liberalism in the last decades of the 20th century.
Seek to shrink the size of government and expand the role of the private sector.
Conservatism
Political ideology concerned with maintaining political and social traditions and customs.
Edmund Burke
Changes wrought by French Revolution degraded human condition and endangered social stability.
Representative Democracy
Political system in which voters elect others to act on their behalf (also called indirect).
Social and Cultural Conservatism
Emphasis on preservation of traditional moral values (‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’).
Threatened by globalizing culture.
Neoconservative Principles
- Patriotism and the immorality of dissent.
- Opposition to world government.
- Good vs. evil outlook on the world.
- Promotion of American goals through the use of force.
Socialism
Ideology focused on human community and society, the group as a social organism more than on the individual.
Key Socialist Principles
Generally optimist view of human nature, equality, community.
Revolutionary Socialism
Only way for capitalism to be overthrown is through violent revolution.
Evolutionary Socialism (Reformism)
‘Acceptable; face’ of socialism.
Evolved into the social democratic movement (NDP).
Communism
Form of socialism that is based on Marx and Engels.
Espouses class conflict to form a system where all property is publicly owned.
Nationalism
Seeks the separation of one nation from others (e.g. ‘Make America Great Again’).
Feminism
A belief in the full equality of men and women and the insistence that all barriers to such equality be removed.
Post-Colonialism
Critical theory that examines the legacy of colonial rule.
Environmentalism
Belief that the destruction of the biosphere is imminent unless radical changes are made.
Facism
20th century phenomenon that is an extreme form of nationalism accompanied by radical, social, and moral ideas.
Oppose liberalism, democracy, etc.
Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitlet.
Anarchism
Concerned with the primacy of the individual, in which outside interference into the people’s lives is minimized.
