questions cours lecture Flashcards
Chap 3 : Politics and the state
What are the different understanding of the state?
- Idealist understanding: state = universal altruism (Hegel)
- Functional understanding: state = a set of institutions that saveguards public order and stability
- Organisational understanding : state = the “political association that establishes sovereign jurisdiction within defined territorial borders, and exercises authority through a set of permanent institutions”
What are the internal features of the state ?
- Sovereignty: absolute and unrestricted authority within defined territorial borders
- Public institutions: responsible for making and enforcing collective decisions
- Legitimacy: decisions of the state are accepted because they are supposed to reflect the common good
- Instrument of domination: monopoly on legitimate violence
- Territorial association: jurisdiction is limited to specific territory and all citizens living within it
What are the external features of the state?
According to the Montevideo Convention (1933):
- Defined territory
- Permanent population
- Effective government
- Capacity to enter into relations with other states
Define a pluralist state
- Liberal thought:
State = neutral arbiter (autonomous) that operates in the general interest and protests “life, liberty and property”
Pluralist state, separation of political and executive power:
Political authority is based on democratic principles giving all citizens an equal voice
Executive bureaucracy is neutral - Neopluralists:
Not all groups are equally powerful
The bureaucratic elites also have interests
Define a Marxist state
- state = instrument of oppression
- It reproduces existing class-based inequalities between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat
- Neo-marxists: state is a dynamic entity, reflecting balance of power in society, stage of struggle
Define the “Leviathan state” / bureaucratic state
- Associated with the New Right
- Leviathan (Hobbes) = expanding seamonster
- State is an autonomous entity that pursues its own interests
- State bureaucracy will inherently pursue growth and needs to be restrained
What is a nation?
- “Essentially contested concept”
- Def (Heywood 2019: 131):
Cultural: A group of people bound together by a common language, religion, history, traditions
Political: a group of people who regard themselves as a natural political community
What is the nation defined as a cultural community?
- Shared language, religion, history, traditions
- Nation as natural entity
- But: emergence of thinking about nation states is 19th century European
- Nation as new form of cultural cohesion based on shared ethnicity/history
- Stable but exclusive -> outsiders can never really belong
What is a nation defined as a political community?
- Group of people bound by shared citizenship
- An ‘imagined community’ (Anderson), bound by ‘invented traditions’ (Hobsbawn -> nationalism creates nations) -> anthems, flags
- Marxism: nation as invention of the bourgeoisie
Define the liberal view of nationalism :
- Inspired by French revolution
- Every nation is entitled to self-determination
- All nations are equal
- Aim: construct a world of sovereign nation states
- But: not at the cost of the individual (hence: universal human rights)
- International legal order necessary to prevent expansion and war
Define the conservative view of nationalism
- Traditionalism, patriotism, defence of historical values and institutions
- Nationalism as means to maintain social cohesion and order
- National unity is threatened from within (e.g. by “progressives”) and without (immigration, EU)
Define expansionist nationalism
- Imperialism -> agressive, militaristic expensionism
- Chauvinism: not all nations are equal, own nation is superior
- Other nations (or races) form a threat
- Myth of glorious past and future
According to Max Weber, what are the three sources of legitimacy/authority ?
- Traditional: that’s how we’ve always done it
- Charismatic: leader as hero or saint
- Legal-rational: based on agreed rules
Chap7 : Political Economy and globalization
What is political economy?
- The science that deals with the interaction between politics and economics
- Consequences of political interventions on the market and the distribution of wealth
- Consequences of economic developments for political decision-making
- State-market relationship
Define mercantilism/economic nationalism
- Mercantilism: heyday in the 15th – 18th centuries
- Goal: to increase the power and wealth of the state
- Inextricably linked to colonialism and imperialism
- Protectionism: discouraging imports through import duties (“tariffs”)
- Economy as a zero-sum game
Define Classical Political Economy
- Economic liberalism / Capitalism
- Adam Smith: The Wealth of Nations (1776)
- Emphasis on the individual as economic actor and utility maximizer
- Specialization and division of labour
- The “invisible hand” of the market brings supply and demand together through competition
- Laissez faire
- Economy as “positive sum game”
Define keynesianism
- Laissez-faire resulted in crisis and unemployment
- Government must maintain aggregate demand by investing in employment
- Influential in post-war European economies
- More stability, less inequality, but…
Define neoliberalism
- Market fundamentalism: market solves all economic and social problems
- Stimulating supply through favourable conditions for companies
- Very popular since the 1980s
- Liberalisation of the economy in the US, UK and far beyond
- “Washington Consensus” (stabilize, privatize, liberalize)
But: a lot of inequality and focused on the short term
What is the marxist approach of political economy?
- Class = relation to means of production
- Profit is made by “Extraction of surplus value from workers“
- Exploitation is inherent but normalized (false consciousness / cultural legitimation)
- Commodity alienation
What is the feminist approach of political economy?
- Women and men have been differently affected by the interaction between politics and markets (Brassett et al. 2021)
- Social reproduction = effort required to educate and care for people (and to reproduce workers)
- Kept out of the public/economic sphere
What are the 3 types of capitalism?
- Entreprise capitalism
- Social capitalism
- State capitalism
Define the concept of entreprise capitalism (aka liberal market economy)
- Closest to ideas of classical economists and neoliberalism
- Government intervention limited to regulatory bodies and minimal social safety net
- Flexible labour, weak trade unions
- Result: high inequality
ex: USA
Define the concept of social capitalism (aka coordinated market economy)
- Long-term investments rather than short-term profitability
- Social partnership
- Strong trade unions, protection against dismissal, minimum wage
- Extensive social provisions: healthcare, unemployment benefits, public pensions…
ex: Germany, The Netherlands
Define the concept of state capitalism
From: State-led investment, research, and trading decisions
To: economy that is significantly controlled by the state
Chapter 8 : Politics, society and identity
What is society?
- A group of people living in a certain territory
- Characterized by regular patterns of interaction + by social divisions
What are the 3 different perspectives on society?
- liberal : artifact formed by individuals to meet their individual needs, ideally based on harmony between competing interests and groups
- conservative : organic, naturally grown
- marxist : “The history of all existing societies is the history of the class struggle”(Communist manifesto 1848)
What is the idea developped by Robert Putnam in Bowling Alone (2000) ?
- Less political involvement due to declining participation in voluntary clubs and associations
- Cause: suburbanisation, two-income households and TV
- Note: creates image of a glorious past, ignores exclusion of women and people of color
What is identity politics?
- Fights against the oppression of certain groups
- A process of political-cultural self-affirmation
- Fights stereotypes and values developed by dominant groups
Define race and ethnicity
- Race:
A social construct that groups people based on physical characteristics (skin color, hair type, facial features)
No biological basis, but shaped by cultural, historical and social contexts. - Ethnicity:
Shared cultural characteristics, including language, traditions, customs, and a sense of shared history or religion
What is the famous saying of Simone de Beauvoir?
“One is not born but rather becomes a woman”
Chap 9 : Political culture and the media
What do we mean by political culture?
- Culture = way of life
(norms, values, behaviour)
Political culture = the ‘pattern of orientations’ towards political objects such as parties, government and the constitution, expressed in beliefs, symbols and values
- “Civic culture” (Almond & Verba 1963):
Culture influences politics
Certain political attitudes are better for democracy - Marxist approach:
Politics and capital influence culture
‘False consciousness’
Gramsci: bourgeois hegemony operates also through e.g. education, media..
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What is the relationship between media, politics and society (4 models)
- Pluralistic model
= media as an ideological marketplace in which a wide range of viewpoints are discussed - Dominant ideology model
= the media reproduce capitalist hegemony (marxist pov)
Chomsky, consent is manufacturer through:
Ownership of media by large corporations
Dependence on advertisers
Threats of legal action - The Values of Elites
= Assumes sufficient independence of journalists from owners/management
But bias stems from disproportionate representation of certain groups among senior journalists and editors - Market model
= The media reflect the opinions and preferences of the general public rather than shape them
Media gives people “what they want”
Tyranny of ratings, advertisers and market share
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Positive aspects about social media and democracy
- Access to political information, news
“Blogosphere” - Creating petitions, using social media to organize protests
- Enabling Global Social Movements
- Alternative source of information in the absence of free media
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Negative aspects about social media and democracy
- Polarizing
- spread hate
- Power of big technology corporations
- AI, “Post truth” and anti-intellectualism
**Chap 18. Security : Domestic and International **
What is the relation between security and the state?
Safety = basic human need
- Internal :
state maintains order within its borders (with the help of police, judicial system, sometimes the military) - External :
state provides protection against external threats (military)
What is the role of the police as main actor of the internal security?
- Civil policing as an alternative to military intervention
- Aims to fight crime and maintain law and order
- Routine and everyday
- Unarmed or armed for self-defense (but: militarization)
What are the 3 perspectives on the role of the police?
How neutral is the police?
- Liberal perspective: police as a neutral body to protect citizens
2.Conservative perspective: Police as enforcers of government authority, essential to quell unrest
3.Radical perspective: police as an instrument of oppression (e.g. through institutional racism)
What is a police state?
- A state where the police operate outside the legal framework and outside democratic control
- Fundamental civil rights are not guaranteed
- Climate of fear and intimidation
- Police as a private army under the control of the ruling elite
ex: Northe Korea
What is the role of the army?
Instrument of war, virtual monopoly on legitimate use of weapons
Tightly organized and disciplined
Serves national security in the public interest
The military and internal security
Emergency aid
Maintaining law and order in the event of major internal unrest
Support for dictatorial regimes
Military regime
What is realism in International Relations ?
- “Realist” perspective on international relations -> power realism
- Each state is power-oriented and rationally pursues national self-interest
Its main purpose is to maintain national security - International conflicts can only be contained by a balance of power
What is liberalism in International Realtions?
- “Idealistic” approach
- Optimistic view of human rationality and moral goodness (most people don’t want war)
- Acting in self-interest results in a balance
Importance of national political situation (democratic peace thesis) - Liberal Institutionalism: an international regime to impose order (United Nations)
What are the new types of war today?
- ‘”New” wars tend to be civil wars’ (Heywood 2019: 428)
- Power asymmetry
- guerrilla
- Cyber war
- terrorism
What is transnational terrorism?
Reactions of the states?
- Used in anti-colonial and/or by ethnic minority nationalism (IRA, ETA, Hamas), and by Islamic extremists (ISIS)
- Leverages global movements of people, goods, money, technology, and ideas
==> State responses:
* Extension of the legal powers of governments: surveillance, border control
* Military responses: “war on terror” (often counterproductive)
* Political negotiations and agreements (often the only lasting solution)
Chap.9 : World order and global governance
What do we mean by world order?
the distribution of power between and between states and other key actors, creating a relatively stable pattern of relationships and behavior
What are the three faces of power?
- Decision making power
- Agenda setting power
- Power to influence thoughts
What are the 4 main types of power?
- Military power = size and effectiveness of the armed forces; access to advanced weapons
- Economic power = size of the economy that leverages trading partners
- Structural power = the ability to decide how things are done, for example in international organisations
- Soft power = the ability to influence the preferences of others
A bipolar world : the cold war
- U.S./NATO vs. Soviet Union/Warsaw Pact
- Both have great economic and, above all, military power
- Balance of terror; “Mutually Assured Distruction” MAD
- Proxy-wars (Korea, Vietnam)
What is the meaning of “war on terror”?
The Global War on Terror is an international, American-led military campaign launched following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks (9/11)
–> War in Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003)
–> Led to more terror (“arc of extremism”)
–> Undermining America’s “soft power”
Towards a multipolar world order?
- The decline of the U.S.:
-> Dominance of military/destructive force remains
-> But combined with political weakness
-> Relative economic decline - The Rise of China:
-> Rapid economic growth
-> Growing soft power - Emergence of BRICS
What are the key features of global governance?
- Process of interactive decision-making that enables sovereign states to engage in sustainable cooperation and collective action
- “Intergovernmental“
- Polycentric
- Emergence of international organizations Because:
-> Liberals: cooperation leads to absolute gains
-> Realists: cooperation only realized because of U.S. interests
-> Critical Approaches: fair structures that Support Hegemonic Power of Neoliberalism
Politics definition
“the making, preserving and amending of general social rules”
What is ideology?
- Marxist approach: ideology as instrument of social control by the ruling class
- Conservative view: ideology is used by others to distort social reality
- Approach followed here: ideology as coherent set of ideas which provide a basis for organized political action.
–> Account of how the world works and what’s good or bad about that
–> A model of a desired future
–> An outline of how political change can and should be brought about
