People

Question 1

Plato

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Rene Descartes

Answer 3

“I think, therefore I am”
use of I to show the importance of individualism

Question 4

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

Answer 4

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

Question 5

John Locke (1632-1704)

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Answer 6

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.”

Question 7

Aristotle’s Taxonomy of Government

Answer 7

Good; monarchy,aristocracy, and polity
Bad, Tyranny, oligarchy, Democracy.

Question 8

Noam Chomsky

Answer 8

Marxist view of state power
Modern
Power is held by economic elites and is coercive and repressive.

Question 9

Michel Foucault

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Adam Smith (Died 1790)

Answer 10

Wrote “Wealth of Nations” 1776
Classic/economic liberalist.
-Belief in a free market
-Economic rights of the individual is key

Question 11

J.S Mill (1806-1873)

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997)

Answer 12

Wrote “Two Concepts of Liberty” in 1969
- Talks about Negative liberty and Positive Liberty

Question 13

T.H Green (1836-1882)

Answer 13

Reformed Liberalist (Welfare Liberal)
Belief in Positive Freedoms

Question 14

John Meynard Keynes (1883-1946)

Answer 14

Welfare Liberal
Wrote “General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money”1938
- State intervention necessary in economics

Question 15

T.H Marshall (1893-1981)

Answer 15

Welfare Liberal
Wrote “ Citizenship and Social Class” in 1950 -Social Rights as important as civil/political rights
- Creation of welfare states

Question 16

Fredrich Hayek (1899-1992)

Answer 16

Neoliberalism.
Wrote “Road to Serfdom” in 1994
Talks about how government-controlled economy will lead to tyranny.

Question 17

Milton Friedman (1912-2006)

Answer 17

Neo-liberalist.
Wrote “Capitalism and Freedom” in 1962
-Free markets and personal economic freedom are absolutely necessary for true political freedom to exist

Question 18

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

Answer 18

Republicanism
Wrote “The Social Contract” in 1762
Philosophical Inspiration for the French Revolution

Question 19

Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Eduard Bernstein (1850-1932)

Answer 20

Socialist
Wrote “Evolutionary Socialism” in 1899

Question 21

Thomas Picketty (age 52)

Answer 21

Socialist
Wrote “Capital in the 21st Century” in 2013
Income inequality is increasing and will lead to bad democracy and economy.
Taxing the wealthy

Question 22

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)

Answer 22

Utilitarian
Against Natural Rights but believes in the positive rights in the law

Question 23

Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950)

Answer 23

The definition of Democracy is elections with real oppositions (not one-sided or heavily favoured)

Question 24

Alexis De Tocqueville (19thC)

Answer 24

Wrote “Democracy in America” in 1835
French author who celebrated American democracy
Democracy = ‘nation of joiners’
Democracy depends on active, engaged civil society.

Question 25

Gabriel Almond and Sydney Verba (1960s)

Answer 25

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.

Question 26

Robert Putnam (2000’s)

Answer 26

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.

Question 27

Arneil

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Woodrow Wilson

Answer 28

Idealist School of Thought in IR (liberal view)
Origins after WW2.

Question 29

Hans morganthau

Answer 29

Wrote “Politics Among Nations” in 1948
Realist school of thought in IR

Question 30

Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

Answer 30

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.