Study Guide Chapters 1-3

Question 1

Define the simple definition of politics?

Answer 1

The collective making of decisions at many levels, i.e. family, friends, state, national, and international.

Question 2

What is the meaning behind critical thinking?

Answer 2

It involves awareness of three alternative points of views, such as the collected decision making, understanding political ideologies, and the ability to collectively explain why people behave politically.

Question 3

Rational-material Explanation

Answer 3

A political action in which people with certain resources of a material landscape behaves rationally based on their material position. Example, Self-centered interests of policies or people who may own land, oil, or other resources and are willing to go to war to secure.

Question 4

Institutional Explanation

Answer 4

A political action in which people of an organization reacts rationally based on the rules of the game surrounding laws, organizations and other rules. Example, the three U.S. branches of government exist to help shape political behaviors and decision-making between the executive, legislative, and juridical branches.

Question 5

Ideational Explanation

Answer 5

A political action in which people may impose their ideas or beliefs towards a certain political idea. Example, during election, people may be persuaded to vote democrat, liberal, or republic. Or the 2013 Political government shutdown based on the Obamacare ACA.

Question 6

Psychological (Explaining (individual choices)

Answer 6

Individual may have their own or genetic personality towards certain dispositions. Example, someone may claim to be a hardcore democrat or republican, until something happens where they have a change of heart.

Question 7

Quantitative methods

Answer 7

Ways to evaluate hypotheses within patterns of data represented by numbers across large cases. Example, the U.S. has long been wealthy, because their stable democracy is an implied and broad theory. Therefore, a political scientist would seek evidence by creating a database to score all countries on how democratically and economically developed they were in every year since 1800.

Question 8

qualitative methods

Answer 8

Ways to detect the evidence for how an outcome came about in particular cases. Example, using the same analogy as quantitative method, i.e., example, the U.S. has long been wealthy, because their stable democracy, we would dig deeper within the case to analyze richer more complex data about one case or small number of them.

Question 9

Artificial Environments (game theory)

Answer 9

A construct of artificial context used to explore how real-world people act with explanatory hypotheses.

Question 10

Comparative Politics (3 subfields)

Answer 10

Focuses on similarities and differences across political platforms and issues around the globe. Example, you may compare power of legislatures in Japan and France.

Question 11

International Relations (IR)

Answer 11

Focuses on the politics that operate around the globe and between countries, i.e., war, international trade, international law, or international organizations.

Question 12

Political theory

Answer 12

Theories that explain abstractly what we should expect to see in the world are critical parts of every part of the study of politics, not just a feature of this subfield. For example, this subfield provides distinctive kinds of theories that centers directly on normative theories of the good and the bad in political life, and their political ideologies.

Question 13

American politics (major subfield)

Answer 13

A practical importance of American universities that receives a large share of courses and faculty research. They are especially interested in understanding their own country and context.

Question 14

Normative theory

Answer 14

Describes how politics should be organized in the abstract and tend to ask such questions as, “What is the best kind of government” or “How should good leaders act?”

Question 15

Plato

Answer 15

An Athenian philosopher and author of The Republic who argued for a system of government led by philosopher-kings. He also argued that the city was like a person (humans soul has three parts, reason, spirit, and appetite.)

Question 16

Aristotle

Answer 16

An Athenian philosopher who saw the study of politics as the “master science” that guides how society in general proceed, and argued for a government balanced between the masses and an educated elite. He believed that cities and government arose because of psychological: human beings are naturally political animals who want to live together.

Question 17

Aristotle’s Classification of Governments

Answer 17

1. Genuine (reflects interests of all people). Rule one kingship, a few aristocracy and many polity (rule by representatives of all parts of society) 2. Perverted (reflects interests only of those in control). One Tyranny, a few Oligarchy, and many democracy (rule of the poor masses in their own crude interest)

Question 18

List the Asian philosophers from the ancient period? Discuss their connection to western government and politics.

Answer 18

1. Confucius (Chinese political thinker) - Hinted at rights for modern people, and called for individiuals to live, study, contemplation and leaders to act virtuously. He was a major influence on political thinking in Asia, and suggested that people could challenge tyrannical leadership.
2. Kautilya (Indian philosopher) - Took steps to reverse the priority of analytic and normative thinking. He argued that virtuous leadership should place power over moral goals, by asking what works realistically, first.
   These polictical philosphers highly influenced the rich political ideas of today. Even as far as Plato’s philosopher-king idea, people wished their leaders were more “thoughtful, far-sighted, and community-minded and less self-serving and power greedy.” And there are deep roots of the analytic views which shifted into explanatory political science from both Aristotle and Kautilya.

Question 19

Define Republic?

Answer 19

Government that is assigned power through public choice rather than passed down from one family ruler to the next. Example, Machiavelli was a Republic of Florence at the end of 1400s. He believed that people who acted good rather than fearful would lose out to their stronger competitors.

Question 20

List the three important social contract theorists and their main arguments regarding human nature, role of government and functions of the social contract.

Answer 20

1. Thomas Hobbes - (1588-1679) Latched onto Machiavelli’s theory with the Leviathan. He argued that people were born to fight, theaten and fear each other, aka “war of all against all” and everyone is better off with strong leadership/government. He initialed, the social contract theory, and felt rational that all individuals sign it to protect their protective state. Domestic politics operated within ordered rules and governance, and International relations operated outside the state. - Realist explanatory legacy - Absolute government
2. John Locke - Building upon Hobbes’ notion of the social contract steered away from Machiavelli’s views of conflict, and leaned toward people in the state of nature of competition for resources, realizing there may also have some crime. He and Hobbes were in agreement that rational people would create a social contract to form law and order. Liberal - Explanatory legacy - Limited government
3. Jean-JacquesRousseau (1712-1778) He argued that people were naturally good, and didn’t need to be confined to chains or the thought process of needing a social contract to protect their property. He believed that the system worked against the poor by practing inequality, based on rich tricking the poor to acquire their property. Government according to “General Will” - Marxist explanatory legacy

Question 21

List the three explanatory social sciences that developed in the 1800s as variants of rational-material narratives.

Question 22

What is classical liberalism?

Answer 22

The ideal and political philosophy that puts the political rights of private property and limited government in order.
Locke’s idea of human liberty was not primarily conflictual, but gave individuals the opportunity to do as they wanted, while safeguarding their possession, wealth and help them to cope without having much.

Question 23

Name several rational-material thinkers of individual liberty and wealth?

Answer 23

Adam Smith (1723-1790) - Contributed to the normative, and analytical issues within the Lockean tradition. He argued that free markets was a way for individual and the collective good to increase wealth by competition and selling whatever goods and services they had. (thus having an invisible hand) .

Karl Marx ( 1818-1883) Who disagreed with Smith in that he did not believe that a free market was good for everyone. Like Rousseau, he felt that ownership of private property creates and reproduces inequality. He thought that people would become independent and would no longer need government, police, or military.

Hobbesian held onto his tradition and scientific beliefs of rational-material conditions dictate the shape of society and politics. While both liberal- and Marxist - rational-material thinkers focused on the conditions underlying society and politics.

Question 24

What is surplus value?

Answer 24

Paying workers’ less than the real value of their work.

Question 25

Define capitalists

Answer 25

People who make money with money without working themselves.

Question 26

define bourgeois

Answer 26

The commercial class of people who make money by owning and investing in businesses.

Question 27

Define proletariat

Answer 27

Marx’s description of the working class people who made money by selling their labor rather than by owning/investing.

Question 28

Fascism

Answer 28

emerged as rejection of modern ideas of progress. Example, Mussolini and Hitler combined defense of mythical village life and nationalism. They believed that life comes from belonging to a powerful, aggressive country into the ideal of exclusion and conquest.

Question 29

Identify the main principles of environmentalism and political Islamism

Answer 29

Environmentalism argue that human quality of life is mixed with the natural environment, meaning that they feel immediate action is necessary for ecological catastrophe; while Muslims of Political Islamists feel that non-Muslims calls all Muslims to struggle (internal struggle for faith), but the most radical Islamists believes that violence and terrorism is endorsed by their opponents.

Question 30

nihilism

Question 31

Political philosopher

Answer 31

Someone who thinks heavily about fundamental questions of power and governance. They generally will ask, “What is the best kind of government? or How good leaders act?” Their answer always involved analytic thinking about how politics actually did work around what leaders needed to solve.

Question 32

absolutism

Answer 32

A government that assigns absolute unchecked power to a single individual.

Question 33

social contract

Answer 33

Created by Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), he thought that the world was better off if there were a “war of all against all.” His theory was much darker than Machiavelli had dreamed, thus argued that individuals sign a contract to consent to a governed and protective state.

Question 34

Hobbes- Inside states and outside states

Answer 34

Hobbes suggested that “domestic politics” were inside states and operated within ordered rules and governance, while outside the state, international states” had no social contract no higher authority, and war between states were to continue. [Key Concepts: conflict; security in the state of nature; why the state arises was to provide security; A likely state of a absolute government; however, absolute government would be most desirable; Realist explanatory legacy]

Question 35

John Locke (1632-1704)

Answer 35

His theory regarding the human society and its state of nature suggested that people might live well and compete for resources and would have some problems with crime. He desired a form of law and order government, but more limited. His normative arguments were that people had natural rights to “life, liberty and property” which inspired the American Revolution. [Key Concepts: competition; scarcity in the state of nature; why the state arises was to guarantee individual rights; A likely state of a limited government; however, limited government would be most desirable; Liberal explanatory legacy] — Classical liberalism of today is similar to Locke’s idea that prioritizes individual political rights, private property and limited government.

Question 36

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-118)

Answer 36

He thought human beings were naturally good, not conflictual and treacherous creatures as his predecessors describe. He believed that a pre-society state of nature would make a happy paradise. He didn’t believe that a contract would make everyone better off, instead the forming a state would allow people to acquire private property or force others in to accepting a government who protect the rich from the poor (inequality). [ Key Concepts: coercion/exploitation; no problem in the state of nature; why the state arises was to protect property rights of the rich; A likely state of a rich government; however, governed to “general will; Marxist explanatory legacy]

Question 37

Realism

Answer 37

The theory that international relations is always dominated by an anarchical conflict between states.

Question 38

Three Rationalist-Materialist Explanatory Theories: Liberal, Marxist and Realist

Answer 38

1. Liberal - Locke & Smith were the philosophical ancestors, and their competition for scarce resources for societies to follow free markets and become wealthy, harmonious and democratic
2. Marxist - Rousseau & Marx were philosophical ancestors, and their conflict over scarce resources to exchange and technology created more wealth for the rich while the poor remained poorer.
3. Realist - Machiavelli & Hobbes were philosophical ancestors, and their conflict over security to groups of people that threaten each other, with global division of power and repeat story of shifting alliances and war.