Politics and liberalism

Question 1

Three ‘faces’ of power

Answer 1

Overt power
Covert structural power (limiting the scope of choices)
Ideational power (making A’s choices appear to be in B’s best interest)

Question 2

Arendt and Prussian General Carl Von Clausewitz on politics and violence

Answer 2

Arendt: politics as alternative to violence

Inverted…
Von Clausewitz: politics is way by other means
(Like saying sex is rape by other means)

Others emphasise the ever-present possibilities of violence due to the state’s monopoly of it

Question 3

3 elements of political ideology

Answer 3

1. Critique of existing order
2. Vision of future order
3. Theory of political change

Question 4

The source of liberalism

Answer 4

The enlightenment, especially Rousseau. Links to the faith in reason and individualism

Question 5

Criticisms of Francis Fukuyama’s End of History

Answer 5

His triumphalism of LD is criticised

• Ongoing destruction of the human and natural environment
• War-like attitudes of different nations that call themselves liberal

Question 6

Classical liberalists and modern liberalists

Answer 6

Classical liberalists: Free market means everyone rises to the occasion. All about removing all external constraints (Adam Smith)

Modern liberalists: recognise equal opportunity is hard to implement - you are a product of your environment. Freedom is enabled by the states interference to protect freedom.

Question 7

Liberalism’s core tenants

Answer 7

The roles and concerns of the individual “ends in themselves” (Kant) are of prime importance

Soviety is an aggregate of individuals: “There’s no such thing as society” (Thatcher)

Government has a limited role and should be treated with suspicion. (Adam Smith) Thus, strong civil society

Question 8

What is capital ‘L’ liberalism and how does she characterise them

Answer 8

Australian liberal party

Freedom had more weight than equality.

Broad church party

In Australia, the state has more of a role than it would in pure liberal theory - eg compulsory voting

Question 9

What are the purposes of institutions in liberal democracies

Answer 9

Institutions are designed to

guarantee civil liberty
and
ensure healthy civil society

Question 10

4 key themes of liberalism

Answer 10

Individualism

Freedom

Reason

Justice

Question 11

Challenges and tensions against liberal democracy (3 isms, 2 others)

Answer 11

Nationalism, populism, authoritarianism

Terrorist threat

Classic liberal free economy out of fashion

Question 12

What are her 2 main criticisms of liberalism?

Answer 12

That it is

• Used as a mechanism of oppression
• A mechanism to support Western attempts to dominate other parts of the world

Question 13

4 classical ideologies in opposition or competition with liberalism

Answer 13

Socialism
Conservatism
Nationalism
Fascism

Question 14

What are the two supposed branches of socialism

Answer 14

Revolutionary: Communism

Evolutionary: Social democracy

Question 15

What are some key ideas of Marxism in writing about democracy

Answer 15

Capitalism necessarily involves exploitation and commodity fetishism

Alienated labour

Question 16

How is nationalism thought to emerge? And when?

Answer 16

Emerged in the 19th century as decline if monarchical authority eroded previous loyalties

Question 17

What are the two types of nationalism

Answer 17

Civil nationalism - loyalty to values of a particular political community

Ethnic nationalism - loyalty to a shared inheritance based on culture / language / religion

Question 18

How does fascism reject the enlightenment

Answer 18

Rejects enlightenment and abstract intellectualising in favour of action, instinct, and emotion

Question 19

What was Mussolini’s famous quote

Answer 19

Everything in the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state

Question 20

What was Robert Paxton’s 7 features of fascism

Answer 20

1. The primacy of the group over everything
2. The belief that one’s group is a victim
3. Dread of the group’s decadence under the corrosive effect of individualistic and cosmopolitan liberalism
4. Closer integration of the community within a brotherhood whose unity and purity are forged by common conviction
5. An enhanced sense of identity and belonging in which the grandeur of the group reinforces individual self-esteem
6. The beauty of violence and of will when they are devoted to a group’s success in a Darwinian struggle