Midterm Flashcards
Politics is defined as
the ability to achieve goals in a political system and to have others do as you wish them to
The power that political leaders have is said to come from:
the law and the electoral process
Why should students study politics?
To understand how events and decisions affect us.
To learn about how people organize themselves in a social environment.
To understand why some individuals and groups may benefit from social and political institutions but others may not.
This institution carries out the affairs and administration of a political system:
Government
A fundamental goal of politics is
achieving fairness in society
Harold Laswell defined ‘politics’ as:
Who gets what, when and how
Conflict resolution refers to
the process in domestic or international affairs that aims to reconcile antagonism through mediation and negotiation
The institution holds access to the legitimate use of force in its territory
The state
Approaches used in the study of politics
Political philosophy
Canadian politics
International relations
Comparative politics
Comparative politics is concerned with
making comparisons between countries to understand political events and problems
This method of political studies relies on the scientific method of inquiry
behaviouralism
The scientific approach of behaviouralism was criticized for
not sufficiently taking into account values and ideology
The political economy approach
sees the political and economic spheres as tightly connected
Ethnocentrism
the belief that one’s culture or group is superior to others.
Political scientists maintain that politics affects
everyone, in every part of our lives
Globalization is the intensification across borders, of
Economic, political, social and cultural relations
Multinational corporations are
Corporate bodies that operate in more than a single country
International politics is
the study of foreign policy and relations among states and other actors at the international level
Political studies is not restricted to the study of nation-states, because
politics is not confined to territorial borders
Political studies has found that
the borders of states do not necessarily divide countries. incorrect
countries may be closely connected despite being separate entities. incorrect
parts of countries may feel tighter connections to other countries, than their own country
Citizenship is defined as:
the status of being a formal member of a state
Canadian society has been described as
a mosaic
The term “body politic” refers to
a political community
In a political community, order refers to
when actors and interactions are marked by regularity and stability
The condition of order in a political community has the following trade-off
loss of freedom
Political studies defines agency as
the capacity of people to exercise their free will and act independently
When the exercise of power is divided among several government institutions in a state, we call this
the separation of powers
The three different forms of authority are
traditional, rational-legal, charismatic
When members in a political community accept those people in authority over them, we call this
legitimacy
A basic subject in political studies is considering the preference given to certain _______ over others
values
The equal status given to everyone’s basic characteristics represents
social equality
Freedom from danger or injury is the value of
security
To ancient Greeks, the meaning of justice considered
the structure of society
A modern conception of the meaning of justice considers
economic systems
A government deciding not to legislate in a certain area is an example of
negative liberty
The social, political, cultural and economic ties that bind individuals together is referred to as
community
The concept of identity has traditionally considered national and regional considerations, but now also considers
one’s personal identity
The term “philosophy”, comes from an ancient Greek word, which translated means:
love of knowledge
Political philosophy seeks to understand
the nature of politics incorrect
the significance of political phenomena incorrect
what happens in the world
Philosopher Thomas Hobbes viewed humans as
selfish and aggressive
When political philosophy is described as a normative exercise, this is meaning
it seeks to explain what ought to be
Western medieval political philosophers were primarily concerned with
the relationship between political life and Christianity
The modern political philosopher, Niccolò Machiavelli, focused on the nature and use of:
power
The approach to politics which emphasizes power and interests over ideas and social constructions, is:
political realism
_______ provide roadmaps for understanding the world.
Ideologies
What components make up what an ideology is?
images
attitudes
values
A set of ideas that forms the basis of a political or economic system, is:
an ideology
Ideology differs from political theory, because unlike political theory, an ideology:
includes a call for action in the real world
In Western countries, this ideology is typically situated in the centre of the ideological spectrum:
liberalism
This ideology favours liberty, free trade and moderate political and social change:
liberalism
A key philosopher of the ideology of liberalism is:
John Locke
Classical liberalism supports _______ liberty; reform liberalism supports _______ liberty.
negative; positive
Liberalism philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, introduced the concept of:
the general will
The philosophy aiming to maximize the pleasure of individuals in society, is called:
utilitarianism
This ideology favours maintaining political and social traditions and customs:
conservatism
Representative democracy, is:
a political system in which voters elect others to act on their behalf.
The ideology of socialism emphasizes _______ over _______.
groups; the individual
In socialism, the class that owns the “means of production” and is seen as exploiting the working class, is called:
the bourgeoisie
This ideology represents an appeal to individuals to unite with each other based on the ties that bind them and set them apart from others:
nationalism
