Nature and purpose of power Flashcards
What is politics about?
The organisation and management of conflicts or tensions between people and groups and what should happen.
What are the different forms of conflicts?
Direct alternatives and differences of priorities
What does politics analyse?
The policy and law making processes of the government
What is power?
Power is the ability to control influence or affect the behaviour of a person or group and make them behave in the ways that you want choose
What is the Executive?
The branch of government consisting of the PM or President along with their departments that formulate and administer laws
What does political and legal power refer to?
The use of governments and laws to regulate society
How is political and legal power enforced?
By the coercive power of the state through its executive control and ability to enforce laws through law enforcement
What does economic power refer to?
The use of financial inducements to control a person of group
What are forms of economic power at a personal level?
Bribery, extortion
What are forms of economic power at a high level?
Sanctions, taxation
What does Military power refer to?
The use of coercive force to control a situation in or outside of a nation-state
What is actual military power?
The military power which has been used
What is potential military power?
The military power which can been used
What does social or cultural power refer to?
The way certain values impact the ways people live or view themselves
What is an example of social or cultural power?
During the cold war the USA and Britain transferred their cultural values to other countries
What is authority?
The legitimate use of power
What is a magistrate?
A civil officer who administers the law, especially one who conducts a court that deals with minor offences and holds preliminary hearings for more serious ones.
What is a subject of power?
Someone whom the “authority” has power over
What happens when power is exercised legitimately?
It becomes authority
What are rights?
Rights are social or ethical principles that what outline what people are allowed to do, or are privileges owed by society
What is the contract theory
The implied contract between a citizen and government that the government is entitled to act and restrict the freedom of individuals based on the fact that they were voted in democratically
The term “sovereign” traditionally referred to?
A king or a queen
What is sovereignty?
The exclusive right to exercise supreme authority over a geographic region, group of people or oneself
What is a citizen?
A citizen is a member of a particular political or social community.
What is a state?
The governance of a specific geographic area and the individuals within it
What are nations?
A group of people who feel an identity in common based on ethnicity, language, culture, region and history
What is a nation state?
A nation state is a group of people who share similar identity, language culture or history and live inside a specific territory governed by a state
What are 5 examples of nation states?
Japan, China, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Saudi Arabia
What percentage of a population has to belong to the ethnicity if it is a nation state?
95%
What is influence?
A subtle, less overt use of power
What is autocracy?
Where power is vested in one individual
What are some examples of non formal use of power?
Family relations, Sport, Education, Religious organisations, Workplaces
What is apartheid?
A system of institutionalised racial segregation
What is a plebiscite?
Where eligible voters cast their vote on an important public matter, and they express the opinion or will of the people, but do not change the constitution
What is a royal commission?
An inquiry into a matter of public importance which is appointed by the governor general on advice on advice from the prime minister.
What was the link between religion and politics in the middle ages?
They were inseparable as the church ran many european towns
Two companies own what % of the newspapers?
90%
