Intro to Global Politics

Political Socialization

-process by which one’s attitudes and values are shaped

-develop values, attitudes, beliefs, and opinions that engage them to support the political system

Public-Opinion Polls

surveys that seek to determine how different groups of people percieve political issues

Demographics

classifications of different groups of people that usually refer to one’s race, class, ethnicity, gender, level of wealth, age, place of residence, employment status, level of education and so on

Harold Lasswell defines politics as…

who gets what, when, and how

Broad Definition of Political Power

ability to get others to do what they would not do on their own

Social Contract Theorists

thinkers beginning in the 17th century who sought to explain human nature by looking at the terms by which governments are set up in the first place

Who wrote The Prince?

Niccolo Machiavelli

Who wrote Leviathan?

Thomas Hobbes

Anarchism

-doctrine that advocates the abolition of organised authority

-believe all government is corrupt and evil

Authoritarianism

form of government in which a large amount of authrity is invested in the state, at the expense of individual rights

Autocracy

-government in which almost all power rests with the ruler

exs. Soviet Union under Stalin; Iraq under Saddam Hussein

Capitalism

economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and operated for profit

Communism

political system under which the economy is controlled and directed by the state and in that sense “communal”

Conservatism

-political philosophy that tends to support the status quo and advocates change only in moderation

-upholds the value of tradition and seeks to preserve all that is good about the past

Direct Democracy

democracy in which the people as a whole make direct decisions, rather than have those decisions made for them by elected representatives

Facism

-nationalistic, authoritarian, anticommunist movement founded by Benito Mussolini

-response to the economic hardship and social disorder that ensued after the end of World War 1

Feminism

theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes

Feudalism

-medieval form of social economic and political organization

-pyramidal structure: head was king, next hierarchal chain of nobles, down to individual manors

Liberal

person who believes it is the duty of government to ameliorate social conditions and create a more equitable society

Libertartianism

belief that the government should not interfere in the lives of citizens, other than to provide police and military protection

Marxism

-theory developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

-became offical doctrine of communism

-key to how society operated was economics, all other aspects were conditioned by the economic system

Meritocracy

society in which power is wielded by those who deserve it rather than through membership in a certain class or possession of wealth

Monarchy

form of rulership whereby a queen or king holds absolute or limited power, usually inherited

Nation-State

-usually used to describe the modern state

-only applies when the whole population of a state feels itself to belong to the same nation

Oligarchy

political system that is controlled by a small group of individuals, who govern in their own interests

Pacifist

doctrine holding that war is never justified and that all disputes between nations should be settled peacefully

Plutocracy

government by the wealthy

Representative Democracy

system of government in which the people elect agents to represent them in legislature

Republic

form of government in which ultimate power resides in the people who elect representatives to participate in decision making on their behalf

Social Contract

poltical theory that a state and its citizens have an unwritten agreement between them (voluntarily entered)

Socialism

political system in which the means of production, distribution, and exchange are mostly owned by the state and used on behalf of the people

Terrorism

pursuit of a political aim by means of violence and intimidation

Theocracy

state of government that is run by priests or clergy

Totalitarianism

system of government where the ruling authority extends its power over all aspects of society and regulates every aspect of life

Utilitarianism

-politcal theroy developed in England in the 19th century by thinkers such as Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill

-duty of governemnt is to promote the greatest good for the greatest number

Arab Spring

-pro-democratic political movements in 2011 spreading throuhgout the Middle East and North Africa

-started after a 26 year old set himself on fire after a Tunisian police officer flipped his produce cart and stole becasue he was not paying a bribe

hard power

nations use hard power when they compel other nations to modify their behavior throguh military and/or economic force

soft power

leverage is gained through sway of diplomatic and cultural persuasion

Counterterrorism

-police or military strategy that employs offensive tactics to preempt or deter future terroristic attacks

-hard power

Counterinsurgency

-military strategy that includes military, polticial, economic, and humanitarian efforts in an attempt to win over the learts and minds of the domestic population

-both hard and soft power

Political Science

academic discipline that seeks to understand the relationship between individuals and political institutions

Social Sciences

-any number of academic disciplines that seek to understand human behavior

-anthropology, archeology, economics, criminology, political science, and psychology

3 major methodological traditions or schools of thought

traditionalism

behavioralism

postbehavioralism

Traditionalism

-seeks to understand if certain government or political institutions are behaving in accordance with how they “ought to behave”

-relies largely on normative evaluations

Normative

approach that seeks to determine how one “ought to live”

Quantitative Analysis

-uses data to interpret political phenomena to better understand the political world

-data may come from survey research or established data sets

Behavioralism

-looks at actual behavior of certain persons or institutions

-largely data driven and without a strong commitment to values

Variable

features or attributes of social science research

Correlation

relationship between 2 items or variables

Postbehavioralism

-hybrid of traditionalism and behavioralism

-in addition to conducting experiments or collecting data, try to answer some of the more important questions affecting the citizens, the states, and the world around them

Theory

an idea that has been tested that aims to demonstrate a correlation between political phenomena

Hypothesis

an educated guess about a particular experiment

Subfields of Political Science

-different content approaches within the overall discipline of political science

-political theory, American politics, comparative poltics, and international relations

Comparitive Politics

examines different types of institutions and issues within different countries/regions

International Relations

studies the way nations interact with one another and the influence of global trends on nation-states