midterm Flashcards
Politics matter for, at least, three reasons
politics touches all aspects of our lives
decisions made by government impact our well-being, thus citizens have an obligation to follow and participate in politics
knowledge of politics is important for political action
Power is the ability to achieve what one wants. One can use:
coercion (the use of force or threat) - Hard Power
influence (the use of persuasion or inducement) - Soft Power
authority (through legitimate right)
Bureaucratic authority: based on office based power legal rational authority. Rule of law and legal mandate of office.
Zero-Sum Politics
Win/Lose Politics
Positive Sum Politics
Win/Win Politics
High Politics
Major Decisions (affects a country’s survival)
Low Politics
Minor Decisions
Hierarchical Politics
concentration of power at the top
Pluralistic Politics
multiple parties and groups involved
Westphalia is the basis for the modern definition of a state, a state MUST have these qualities to be considered as such:
Territory
Sovereignty
External Recognition ie. UN
People/Citizens
Three Types of Citizenship
Blood - born there
Refugee - fled there
Naturalization - Immigrate there
Ideology
The role of ideas and belief systems in social life; hence, some argue that ideology is everywhere and affects everyone.
Ideas that inspire people to act.
Helps us to understand human nature.
Capitalism (market ideology) promotes:
private property
free enterprise
equal opportunities in the market
Capitalism (market ideology) does not promote
equal distribution of wealth by the government
Liberalism
The focus is on the ability of individuals to express their own thoughts and make their own choices as they see fit—and in their best interest—because they are rational human beings Optimistic view of human nature Individual freedom (or liberty) Equality Rule of law Consent of the governed Responsible & moral free market Restrained government - ex. Charter of rights
Classical Liberalism
emphasizes limited government and the reliance on the power of the free market system to create the political and social change desired by citizens.
Classical liberialism promotes
protection of life, liberty, and property
role of government was limited to dispute resolution, rather than to dictatorial rule
laissez-faire.
Reform Liberalism
a greater role for government than in Classic Liberalism
Reform liberialism promotes
allow freedoms to occur on a more equal footing by the removal of social and economic barriers
providing programs such as health care, education, and welfare
Conservatism
Stresses the ideas of stability, order, and respect for authority and is based on the premist humans are imperfect, with a limited capacity of reason
Moderate change over time is preferable to radical change
Tax cuts to create more business opportunities in the private sector and high employment opportunities for the workers
Individualism and hard work
Pessimistic view of human nature; humans are evil and cannot be trusted.
Conserve traditional customs - they are god given - respect for accumulated wisdom from past generations
Socialism
people are social by nature and more apt to work cooperatively with one another rather than competitively:
Socialism promotes:
public ownership
government economic planning
distribution of wealth for the purpose of creating equal economic results for people of different social and economic levels
Fascism
National socialism
there are “superior nations” because of their race, and these superior nations will eventually dominate “inferior” nations. Charismatic Leader
“Survival of the fittest”
Militant Nationalism - pursuit of territorial expansionism
assigns to the state, particularly to one leader, the supreme authority for the total control of society
Neo-Fascism - preserving identity of the state against outside political forces and external influences - xenophobic
State Corporatism - taking over businesses by force for the good of the society.
Irrational, social darwinism survival of the fitness, do not like reason,
Environmentalism
is that humanity needs to improve its relationship with nature, that a proper balance between human activities and the health of the earth, including that of wildlife, must be maintained.
Feminism
is to advance the rights of women and to promote gender equality
Radical feminists
call for the need to build a female-centred new culture that would ensure comprehensive gender equality.
Liberal feminism
believes that the existing social and political structures are biased against women; it is only by reforming these structures, not completely destroying them, that gender equality can be achieved.
Socialist feminists
argue that private ownership guaranteed under the capitalist system is the source of gender inequality because males control the overwhelming majority of the wealth.
Anarchy
An ideology which believes that society may exist without a government.
John Locke
Life liberty property rights, known as liberalism.
House of commons
Lower house prime minister fusion of legislative and executive 308 seats
Senate
known as house of lord in the UK. Upper house in canada
Corporatism
incorporating individuals to help form government policies, maybe coercive.
Jus sanguinis
Born by blood, born by parents who are citizens.
Jus soli
born in a country’s territory and having the right to citizenship
Aristocracy:
rule by the few, also known as oligarchy
Social policies opposed by Neo-conservatives
Social equality, abortion rights and affirmative actions
Head of government Canada
Trudeau
Head of state Canada (formal executive)
Queen
Facaism VS Liberalism:
Liberalism more focus on the individuals focus on people’s right
-Facaism control all aspects of state, no regard for rights extreme right wing ideology
Authoritarianism
: power is by a military govt small group of people
Form of govt rule by a dictator
Microcosm theory of representation
choosing someone because they are a certain group. They reflect a proportion of a community
Microcosm theory of representation (4)
It
Descriptive representation
Problems: getting a equal number of people from this group
Impacts minority groups on the basis of representation.
People riding may not like this person .
The wishes of the people from that group may not be reflected.
Popular sovereignty:
For the people’s authority by the people
trustee representation
elected members make decisions on behalf of people known on the basis of trust , uses his or her judgement to make a decision for people. Edmund Burge said MPs must make decisions on the basis of their judgement.
Delegate representation
voting in accordance with the opinion of the people, represents the constituency.
Party discipline
following platform of the party dictated to vote according to the party you serve.
Consociational democracy
majority rule replaced by special representatives for minority groups in sharply divided societies. Works well in more divided societies
Social democracy
democratic system seeks political and economic equality for the people. Universal health care, progressive taxes welfare state promotes equality. Welfare state some regulation, for providing equal opportunity for all.
Deliberative democracy
emphasis on debate for arriving to decisions, small communities it is used to make decisions
Democratic government:
Power is derived for the people from the people
Legislative branch:
Power to make general laws, conduct of members in the community establishes healthcare and education policies.
Executive branch
does not make rules but proposes policies and helps to administer the states resources. For example monetary police.
Judicial branch
conflict resolution primary role. John locke early thinkers to advocate for the separation of powers. The legislative and executive branches need to separate.
Head of state = queen, known as formal executive has only symbolic powers, in rare circumstances such as the PM dying do they have power.
Head of govt= prime minister.
All members come from the house of commons only 1-2 senators.
Prime minister may not make decisions without a majority government which is formed when it has the support from the house of commons.
Senate is not a confidence chamber which means if a bill is not passed there the government will not have to resign as a result.
Minority government
no majority government is formed but the government is formed by party with most seats.
Standing committees:
communities elected to study particular areas of public policy ex.) finance and health citizenship and immigration.
Cabinet solidarity
prevent ministers from differing with government policy in public
Party caucus
giving party members a chance to be heard by their leader.
Presidential system
executive there is a fusion of formal and political executive head of state president and head of government is also president.
Separation between the legislative and executive branches
400 seats from congress + 100 senator + 3 Washington DC
Separation of the legislative branch and executive branch.
Fusion of political executive and formal executive.
Parliamentary system
there is no fusion. Instead of a separation the prime minister is head of government, and the formal executive is the head of state.
Prime minister sits in house of commons so fusion of executive and legislative branch
Fusion of executive branch and legislative branch separation of political executive and formal executive
