the political environment Flashcards
what is the general definition of the government?
group of people with the authority t given a country or state
what is democracy?
where the authority of the government is excessed on behalf of the people
power is either held by elected representatives or the people themselves
common people have power through representatives
why is the government considered as multi level?
what are the different levels?
defined as the vertical (multi level) and horizontal (multiple actors) dispersion of central government authority, creates a more efficient process of governing, refers to both political structures and also decision making processes
global - UN, WTO Regional - EU, Parliament National - contras nation, at least has to have a national army subnational - welsh government local - warwickjhore council
what are the critiques of multi level governance?
- some people think this ignores a hierarchal order which cannot be possible in such complex processes
- fail to distinguish between levels since public and private actors operate in interlocking roles both domestically and internationally
- ambiguous, come may think that certain levels have more power than others
what are the advantages of multi level governance?
- adds dimension of scale
- security: prevents one nation from imposing its personal agenda
- economic interdependence: increase in opportunity, costs of war, preventing likihood of war, effienciency,
what is a political ideology?
a relatively coherent set of political beliefs that justify a societies practise,, there is a span between right an left wing with communist and facist either side respectively and socialist and labour, conservative and nationalist in-between
two main uk one are right and left wing
what is left wing ideology?
liberal
believe that society is best served with an expanded role of government
communist
what is right wing ideology?
individual rights and civil liberties are paramount to government
giv is minimised
what is an anarchist?
absence of government and absolute freedom of the individual, regarded as a political ideal
an example is Iceland which was the words first and still is one today
what was Fukayama’s ideology on trip of governments business’ prefer?
‘end of history and the last man’
since french revolution democracy has proven to be the best system as opposed to any alternatives, arguing that mature democracies never go into war with each other
faced cirstis about the use of the word mature, who are these?
what was chomsky’s ideology on what type of governments business’ prefer?
‘deterring democracy’
financialised capitalism is a western elite system that sees democracy as a there focusing on americas advantage ruthlessly to enforce its national interests and in the process destroys weaker nations
typically which governments do businesses prefer?
prefer countries that are competitive at an all time low with
- highly skilled workers at low wage
- low levels of worker protection and unionisation
- low corporation tax
- allow offshore banking
what is offshore banking?
n offshore bank is a bank located outside the country of residence of the depositor, typically in a low tax jurisdiction (or tax haven) that provides financial and legal advantages.
what is meant by astroturf?
when political or corporate or other special interests disguise themselves, blogs on facebook and twitter to try and fool you to think an indpeenandat grass roots movement is speaking to try and giver the impression there’s a widespread report for or against an agenda when there is not, spread there message
what is lobbying?
persuasion or interest representation is the act of attempting to influence the actions, policies or decisions of officials in their daily life, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies
done by many types of people, associations dn organised groups
including private sector
who is the example that lobbies?
monsanto
how is monsanto an example of lobbying?
- Clarence Thomas was Monsanto attorney until 1979 and the was the supreme court judge who decided most of the patent laws in 1991
- Monsanto have close ties to the bush administration at the time of his presidency
- CEO of Monsanto was on board of the clintons advisory board
what is a special interest group?
organisations trying to pursue a common interest or cause, linked to some special interest groups use artificial lobbying, fake grass roots, fake news
what is commodification?
action or process as treating something as a mere commodity
a commodity is anything intended for trade
maximise profits through commodification
people can be commodities such as labour market
some things said shouldn’t be such as education and labour
give exmpaples of how businessification of governments has occurred?
- government departments become sales channels, presidents and MPs as CEOS
- suctions of the state are being commodified, not just the provision of public goods and services, such as elctricyt and airport operations
- government now creating policies that are more suitable to certain businesses, such as monsanto
- losing power to big corporations so have to deal with them
- policy formulation being contracted out to management consultancies
what are the five ways in which national gievrnmemts help businesses?
- spending on education, infrastructure and business parks
- de unionisation
- privatisation
- low wages
- public, private partnerships
why don’t businesses like unionisation?
collective efforts
employees no longer comes as an individual if part of a union so had more power can negotiate pay and work conditions which comes at a price to the employer
they protect workers rifts to ensure salaries , contacts and working hours are fair
the union can try and guarantee pay benefits and follow up mistreatment of employees
what are the reasons against business being able to influence governments?
managers unqualified to agnate in political debate
businesses have too much power money and control and would be unfair
business pure goal is profit so is very selfish
too selfish to care about common goof and health of the people
what are the reasons for businesses being able to influence governments?
pluralistic democracy (many participants) the echoic stakes are very high for firms, business counterbalances other social interests and business are a VITAL stakeholder of government
what is definition fo imperialism?
policy of extending a country power and influence through colonisation
use of military force and other means
