People Flashcards
Plato
Wrote “The Republic”
It talks about how politics ought to be and the purpose of politics is to create justice.
Cave analogy
Politics is an art, not a science
Politics is concerned with serving the public good
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)
Wrote “The Prince” during the renaissance
Analyze politics as they really are (struggle for power) rather than how they ‘ought’ to be
Virtue and Fortuna (something you have no control over)
Politics is an art, not a science
Politics is about power and requires dirty hands
Conservative view of state power
Rene Descartes
“I think, therefore I am”
use of I to show the importance of individualism
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
Wrote “Leviathan” in 1651 based on the English Revolution.
Galilaeo’s scientific method
Focused on Individualism and self-preservation.
Believed in absolute monarchy.
Political power comes from the people, not God.
Conservative view of state power
John Locke (1632-1704)
Wrote “Two Treatises of Government” in 1689.
Empirical scientific method (looking at the world around him).
Believed in the natural rights of liberty and property.
Law of Self-preservation.
“Father of Liberalism”
Believed in a Liberal/Democratic State
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
Wrote the “Communist Manifesto” in 1848
Scientific Socialism method.
Anti-Capitalist
Revolutionary Socialism. Communism will replace capitalism.
Politics is negative as the “organized power of one class oppressing another.”
Aristotle’s Taxonomy of Government
Good; monarchy,aristocracy, and polity
Bad, Tyranny, oligarchy, Democracy.
Noam Chomsky
Marxist view of state power
Modern
Power is held by economic elites and is coercive and repressive.
Michel Foucault
Postmodern interpretation of state power
-Power exists beyond state/institutions
-power is not held but circulates
-power is productive
-Need to deconstruct power – No model of future society
Adam Smith (Died 1790)
Wrote “Wealth of Nations” 1776
Classic/economic liberalist.
-Belief in a free market
-Economic rights of the individual is key
J.S Mill (1806-1873)
Believed in Political Liberalism
-Liberty is a paramount value
Three basic kinds of liberty:
- Liberty of thought
- Liberty of Action
- Liberty of Association
Harm Principle
- Cannot partake in liberties that hinder and harm others’ liberty (crimes), important limitation.
- Tyranny of Majority
-Believed in free market
-Protection of civil and political rights, not social rights.
Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997)
Wrote “Two Concepts of Liberty” in 1969
- Talks about Negative liberty and Positive Liberty
T.H Green (1836-1882)
Reformed Liberalist (Welfare Liberal)
Belief in Positive Freedoms
John Meynard Keynes (1883-1946)
Welfare Liberal
Wrote “General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money”1938
- State intervention necessary in economics
T.H Marshall (1893-1981)
Welfare Liberal
Wrote “ Citizenship and Social Class” in 1950 -Social Rights as important as civil/political rights
- Creation of welfare states
Fredrich Hayek (1899-1992)
Neoliberalism.
Wrote “Road to Serfdom” in 1994
Talks about how government-controlled economy will lead to tyranny.
Milton Friedman (1912-2006)
Neo-liberalist.
Wrote “Capitalism and Freedom” in 1962
-Free markets and personal economic freedom are absolutely necessary for true political freedom to exist
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
Republicanism
Wrote “The Social Contract” in 1762
Philosophical Inspiration for the French Revolution
Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
Conservative
Wrote “Reflection on the Revolution in France” in 1790
Anti-Romantic/Revolutionary/Republican
Organic View of Society
Conservation of Tradition
Skepticism of Change
Pessimistic View of Human Nature
Belief of Law and Order
Emphasis on duties rather than rights
Inequality and Hierarchy
Belief in aristocracy leading society
Eduard Bernstein (1850-1932)
Socialist
Wrote “Evolutionary Socialism” in 1899
Thomas Picketty (age 52)
Socialist
Wrote “Capital in the 21st Century” in 2013
Income inequality is increasing and will lead to bad democracy and economy.
Taxing the wealthy
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
Utilitarian
Against Natural Rights but believes in the positive rights in the law
Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950)
The definition of Democracy is elections with real oppositions (not one-sided or heavily favoured)
Alexis De Tocqueville (19thC)
Wrote “Democracy in America” in 1835
French author who celebrated American democracy
Democracy = ‘nation of joiners’
Democracy depends on active, engaged civil society.
Gabriel Almond and Sydney Verba (1960s)
Wrote “The Civic Culture” in 1963
Comparative Analysis of 5 Nations
Three kinds of political culture
Subject: citizen is aware but passive Parochial: Citizen unaware of politics Participant: Citizen-aware and active
-Civic culture requires active citizens.
The USA is the best example of Civic Culture.
Robert Putnam (2000’s)
Wrote “Bowling Alone” in 2000
American democracy requires engaged citizens.
Decline in Civic participation in the last 40 years.
1900’s – 1960’s Increase in Service Associations
1970’s – Present – Decline in Service Associations
Causes of Decline: Dual career families, television, generational change, mobility.
The collapse of ‘Civil Society’ is bad for democracy.
Arneil
Wrote “Diverse Communities” in 2006
Opposed to Putnam’s thesis
Measures old rather than new forms of civic society
Civil Society changing rather than declining.
Decline in Old Kinds of Civic Activities/Groups
Increase in New Kinds of Civic Activities/Groups
Bottom Line Change r/t Decline in participation
Woodrow Wilson
Idealist School of Thought in IR (liberal view)
Origins after WW2.
Hans morganthau
Wrote “Politics Among Nations” in 1948
Realist school of thought in IR
Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)
Marxist.
Wrote about domestic policies.
Highlighted the naturalization of power in the creation of hegemony by elites, arguing that ruling classes maintained power and control, even in the absence of constant coercive force, because they made prevailing inequalities seem natural, inevitable, and even right.
