POLI Quiz Flashcards
3 Conceptions of Politics
- Aristotle’s “science of the good for men” in pursuit of human well-being & justice (the good life)
- Feminist Politics: the personal is political, power-laden social relationships shape society
- Robert Dahl’s Pluralism: social relationships that involve, power, rule & authority
Families/Villages vs Polis
Families & Villages for “mere life”-survival, clothing, security, food, basics all organisms are concerned with
Polis: (political community or state that legislates & forms institutions) for “the good life”-how to live well, thrive, healthcare, environment, several villages are united in a single complete community large enough to be quite self-sufficing, originating in the bare needs of life & continuing in existence for the sake of the good life
Who said & why are people “political animals”
Aristotle says people are (1) equipped with the gift of speech for expedient vs inexpedient, just vs unjust debate, (2) has a sense of good & evil, just & unjust.
Political differences between societies are connected by the coming together & debate for the good life
Implications of 3 Conceptions of Power
- Aristotle: school boards, city council
- Feminist Politics: gendered work, social roles, family life, sexuality
- Robert Dahl’s Pluralism: parents, workplace, education
The State + Connection to Aristotle & Dahl
State according to Max Weber: human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory
- Aristotle: state=where the polis is located
- Dahl: power/rule/authority over land = state, the state is only one political state out of many contrasting Aristotle
3 Classical Approaches to Political Ethics
- Plato: justice is to give each what is due, do no harm to friend or anyone else that has carried forward by contemporary thinkers
- Machiavelli: advocates wielding power for glory or wellbeing of the city, not having power for its own sake. Political leader cannot accomplish/gain much if cannot maintain/institutionalize power/the state
- Confucius: govern by moral excellence enforced by the leaders dutiful conduct → people lives up to this standard & retain their sense of shame. Govern by laws enforced by penalties→people avoid penalties & lose sense of morality/shame. Relying on law is limited without setting a dutiful example.
Thrasymachus View vs Socrates Counter
Thrasymachus’s view that “justice is nothing other than the advantage of the stronger → not completely right but right about what those in power often do or those who wield power are sometimes able to shape authoritatively how “justice” is generally understood in given society (3rd dimension of power seen in Eyes on the Prize).
Socrates coungters justice is actually what is advantageous for the weaker. Doctors do good for their patients, captains do good for their sailors.
Why does Socrates clarify justice to what is due instead of owed?
Those who are not in their “right mind” should not be given what is “owed”
Political Virtu vs Moral Virtu, Cruelty Used Well vs Cruelty Abused
Political Virtu (virtuosity=political effectiveness/ability) vs Personal/Moral Virtue. “cruelty well used”: cruelty that does not perpetuate in more cruelty than was first used, for the greater benefit of the people. cruelty abused: cruelty that results in more cruelty than what was first used, unnecessary, cruelty for the sake of cruelty
Conceptual, Empirical, Normative
Conceptual: concepts (power, oppression, democracy, justice)
Empirical: what exists, how political world works, questions of causality (why aren’t politicians not doing enough for climate change)
Normative: what is good or just? Prevailing norms of conduct (Norms, what is enough for climate change)
Environmental Economics
Environmental Economics exists to address negative externalities, ensuring markets are held accountable for the negative externalities they create
Negative Externalities
All products have negative externalities that can occur during production, transportation, disposal, usage, etc.
Negative externalities: deal between consenting adults that imposes costs on people not part of exchange
Why is it a mistake to think that we can address the problem of climate change independently of other environmental problems, such as the biodiversity crisis?
- Issues are all interconnected, related & mutually reinforcing problems.
ex. Climate change destroys habitats. Habitats contain natural carbon sinks, once destroyed increases emissions in air & climate change. Positive feedback loop. - We are growing attached to human flourishing, not the protection of the natural world.
ex. Climate Temp Down>Nature, ignoring biodiversity
David Wallace-Wells biodiversity crisis relation with anthropocene
Too quickly “naturalizes” human domination of the rest of nature, as if it is unavoidable, removing personal accountability.
Turns us away from economic + political processes that have caused these problems (ex. Europocene, Capitalocene)
Misleading to suggest all humans are equally responsible for global environmental problems
Gaventa’s 3 Dimensions of Power
One-Dimensional” View of Power: A exercises power/demonstrates that they possess power when they get another group B to act in a way that serves A’s interests at the expense of B’s interest
Two-Dimensional View of Power: if A continually dominates decision-making arenas, over time they may use this power to establish a mobilization of bias; a set of predominant values, beliefs, rituals, & institutional procedures “rules of the game” operate systematically & consistently to the benefit of certain persons/groups at the expense of others, placed in preferred position to defend & promote their interest that explains non-participation/acquiescence. Both A & B still have relatively clear sense of their own interest, just B feels a pointlessness to taking action
Three-Dimensional View: power may serve to shape the conception of the powerless about the nature & extent of the inequalities themselves, B no longer has a clear sense of their own interest, they have come to accept the more powerful group’s view of their proper status & interest
Foucault’s View on Truth & Power
Foucault states identities are a product of power, focuses on the level of knowledge production shaping conceptions of all members of society unconsciously.
Conceptions, identities, understandings are truths produced by institutions of knowledge production whose outputs are shaped/guided by the ongoing society’s power dynamics, while also justifying/rationalizing them implicitly or explicitly.
5 Key Findings of Ulrich Beck on Power in Global Politics
1. World Economy“ as a kind meta-power” in relation to the state: it can change the national and international rules, smaller players wield more power in the world economy, knight checking the king state fueled by info technology, with no sense of authority as only one or a few individual stockholders direct corporations. Globalization is nobody’s rule, no one is in charge, no one started it, it is organized irresponsibility. Once politics were bounded by territorial boundaries. State law making powers are weakened by the deterritorial economic power of privatization
2. Deterritorialization of power:broken out of the cage of territorially and nationally organized power conflict and has acquired new power moves in digital space, power of power players in the global economy grows precisely to the extent that they become extraterritorial factors, untouched by military or another state’s power
3. Idea that “the retreat of investors is what constitutes the nucleus of global economic power.”: threat is no longer state-to-state invasion but non-invasion/non-investment/withdrawal of investors. Not being overrun by big multinationals is worse than being overrun. the power of the economy surpasses the power of the state in various ways, unbounded by territorial boundaries, economic clout larger than the combined 100+ poorest countries in the world, the potential of retreat of investors holds fear/power/control over countries
4. State autonomy versus state sovereignty:
- Autonomy: independence
EU gives up autonomy in regard of economic policy & migration/immigration
- Sovereignty: ability to solve political problems
EU addresses political problems more effectively than these states could do on their own
5. The “nationality trap”: retreating to national identities & wanting to go alone. Independent world=nationalistic focus by nations states cause limitations in respect to global problems which require cooperation between states. Sovereignty today increasingly requires states to take a cosmopolitan or multi-national stance as sharing sovereignty increases sovereignty, thus there is a national interest in denationalization
Transnational Corporations
TNCs Transnational Corporations are transcend any single nation-state territory (de-territorial) with power that is “neither illegal nor legitimate; it is translegal, changes the rules of the national & international systems” yet still are based & invest
- Legal: no laws governing
- Illegitimate: there is little or no public debate and authorization concerning the effects of this power, no political institutions to govern the legitimacy of their actions
Utilitarianism - John Stuart Mill
Non-theistic moral theory, moral obligations everyone can agree on, judging existing laws & institutions on whether it provides the greatest good for greatest number.
Principle of Liberty + Climate Connection
Only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community against his will, is to prevent harm to others.
All restraint is an evil as they don’t produce results it was desired to produce, only justified when it produces results it was meant to produce. Since climate change politics is in order to prevent harm to others, those in power are responsible to use their power in order to solve the issue, despite the liberties it may infringe on individuals.
Mill Protoenvironmentalism
Mill foreshadowed limits of economic growth & stationary growth, constant stable production of only what is needed reached before compelled by necessity, not for larger population but happier population.
Negative externalities “earth must lose that great portion of its pleasantness”
That is, a political community is permitted in Mill’s view to restrict trade, or production for purposes of trade, if and when there are sufficient public purposes that would justify doing so
Political Tyranny vs Social Tyranny
Political Tyranny: the majority dictates matters of conduct where it has no right to do so through the use of law Or, laws are made according to what M calls the mere “likings and dislikings” of a majority society”
Social Tyranny: subtle majoritarian coercion outside of the law, society executes its own mandates, some they shouldn’t be able to meddle with
Fewer means of escape, penetrates details of life & enslaves the soul-one must act a certain way (ex. Peer pressure, 3D power)
Solution: implicit society learns what not to mandate, explicit education for freedom
Mill’s Utilitarian View on Individual Freedom
Government should indirectly maximize conditions, opportunities through policies for happiness through greater freedom to pursue one’s own good in their own way without preventing other’s pursuit, such as to provide basic rights (ex. Religious freedoms, freedom of expression, property rights, establish conditions for pursuit of personal happiness
Harm to Others
Any conduct that violates distinct & moral obligations to others
Moral Obligations
Obligation of Benevolence “good samaritan”: basic obligation to help & respect others not based on likings & dislikings, open to debate & shifts over time
Rightfully punished by moral coercion of public opinion
Obligation of Justice: human interests so important that they ought to be considered as rights
Rightfully punished by force of law
Basic problem & solution of On Liberty
How to delineate nature & limits of power legitimately exercised by society over the individual
Democracy & majority rule don’t address the need for limits of power as those who succeed in making themselves accepted as the majority through mobilization of bias shouldn’t be able to decide certain liberties of the minority.
Must be supplemented with principle of liberty. Power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community against his will, is to prevent harm to others
Bentham vs Mill on Utilitarianism
Bentham’s Utilitarianism: maximize greatest good = quantitative short term pleasure, like a cocaine dispenser for everyone
Mill: maximize human happiness = qualitative long term meaningful happiness, with pain & pleasure (pig vs human) two key components of human happiness are freedom and individuality
Property Rights Support or Conflic Liberal Values
Both. Example Elon Musk owns large social media companies, does that mean he controls social knowledge & discourse? Is it his property? His property rights infringe on the social liberties of others.
M saw accumulations of property as accumulations (concentrations) of power; ii) held that property rights should be regulated so as to promote “the greatest happiness
property ownership of certain sorts can give some undue power over others. The right the State inherently possesses, to require that the power which it has given shall not be abused.
Paradox Challenges Democratic Politics + Solutions
Belief that politics have territorial boundaries, strengthens the power of transnational power of big companies, who, with advantages of mobility & global network, weaken individual states by playing them against each other.
Addressing this paradox guided the development of the European Union (EU) & other international institutions.
A Central Paradox of the Neoliberal Model of State & Politics
Ideal of a “minimal state” with minimal powers & responsibilities, however paradox: still a lot of works for states to do (police protection, public transit) that costs money & conflicts with the push for minimal states
Authoritative Truths
Legitimacy in truth & affects how power is used in society
Gaventa’s 3 Dimensions of Power Methodological Implications + US Civil Rights Movement
- Study who participates, who gains & loses, who prevails in decision-making in various decision-making arenas (Polsby) Ex. Segregated to separate buses & must move for A
- Studying how powerful groups can establish over time a mobilization of bias that serves their interests - skewing political & societal rules of the game in their favor at the expense of the interest of other groups, why certain groups are more likely to participate in various decision-making arenas. Ex. Not causing uproar for racial lynching as it is a norm, will only incite more harm
- Study not only persistence of unequal power dynamics over time → inequalities of participation & non-participation, but also how it may shape the conceptions of the powerless about the nature & extent of the inequalities themselves, what is just & unjust. Ex. B believed they are inferior to A & should continue to be 2nd class citizens
3 Approaches to Power
- John Gaventa’s
- Michel Foucault’s
- Ulrich Beck’s
How society ensure good rulers, ruling? Plato vs Confucius vs Machiavelli
Confucius: faith in educating rulers for wisdom & virtue
Plato: envisioned a rigorous selective education of “philosopher kings” (guardians)
Machiavelli: favored republic rule
Thrasymachus “injustice is more profitable than justice” + Socrates Counter
Those who only act justly, when faced with someone willing to act unjustly, will be easily undermined.
Socrates (thus Plato) questions whether anyone really profits – in a deeper sense of flourishing in life – through bad conduct, and suggests that bad conduct is NOT really “profitable”. Emphasizes that such conduct would clearly not “profit” society as a whole
Cultural Relavtivism
Cultural relativity of political norms across cultural contexts and societies, there might be different intersubjectively held views or judgments across societies
Market-Based Program
Limits emissions at a modest cost while achieving large results by internalizing the environmental+health impacts into the price producers & consumers must bear, pay & account for in their behaviors, creates incentive to reduce environmental+health impacts (Note: markets will not be left independent of govt regulations)
Cap & Trade: limited number of licenses issued to emit a specified pollutant with a system of trade, understanding that all production necessitates pollution, requires government to set & enforce limits
Arthur Cecil Pigou: discourage economic activities that impose unrequited costs by putting a price on it, cannot ban, make prices reflect their full cost
Connection b/w Dahl + Feminist
Next 2 typically focus on relationships of unequal power, domination, do not completely reject the idea that good things can be achieved through politics, or that political relationships can be made just, democratic, and egalitarian, their focus on relationships of power, control, influence, and authority
FeministMill + 3D Gaventa
“All men, except the most brutish, desire to have, in the woman most nearly connected with them, not a forced slave but a willing one…. They have therefore put everything in practice to enslave their minds.…”
“The masters of women wanted more than simple obedience…. All women are brought up from the very earliest years in the belief that their ideal of character is the very opposite to that of men; not self will, and government by self-control, but submission, and yielding to the control of other. All the moralities tell them that it is the duty of women … to live for others … and to have no life but in their affections” (CW, vol. 21, pp. 271-72).
