POLI 201 - Notes

Politics

Politics

The processes and practices of power relations

Politicize/Politicization

Making something a political issue when it originally wasn't. Ex. BLM & refugees

Politics: Competing interest

Marx & Engels: the organized power of one class over another

Poltics: Allocation of scarce resources

Easton: agreement on the authoritarian allocation of resources

Politics: Power relations

Dahl: any persistent pattern of human relationships that involves, to a significant exten control, influence, power and authority

Held & Leftwich: found in between all groups, politics is about power and not solely in the real of government

Foucault: politics is th euse of power and is omnipresent

Power

The ability to make someone do something that they wouldn not otherwise do

• Robert Dahl: A has power over B to the extent that A can get B to do something that B would not otherwise do

• Regimes that rely only on power will only survive if they are able to impose coercion continually

Latent Power

Potential power

Hard power

Using resources or might to get what you want

Soft Power

The ability to influence and shape minds

Instrumental power

Using resources instrumentally towards desired end (Hard power). Ex. paying someone off

Structural Power

Institutional or agenda-setting power, related to ones positioning within a set social, political, or economic relation. Not considered hard or soft power. Ex. Students rating teachers

Ideological Power

Influencing the way people think (soft power). Ex. monarchy, government censoring media

Authority

The ability to induce deference in others. Regimes with authority have no need for force, because people recognize that the ruler has a legitimate right to execise power and therefore they consent to being ruled

Legitimacy

the belief that a rule or insititution ought to be accepetd/obeyed. Power you deive from your formal position or office held in th eorganization’s hierarchy of authority. Ex. Police

Max Weber’s types of authority

• Traditional authority: lean on it for legitimacy. Ex. Monarchy, religious institutions

• Charismatic authority: based on personal characteristics. Ex. Trump, Trudeau

• Legal-rational authority: an institutionalized system of authority. Ex. profs

The State

Formalized government of a country. There is no power higher than the modern state

• The center of politics

• Can determine who lives and who dies

• Consists of a territory, population, government & sovereignty

Sovereignty

Self-government with a monopoly on the use of force. Having the self right to self-determination

The market

Institutions and relations of financial exchange, and structures, there are actors within the market

Civil Society

Voluntary associations, independent (in theory) of the state and market, engaged in political processes. Have political goals (the need to engage in politics). Aim to change or reform the political status quo. Ex. NGOs

Agents & Actors

They intentionally have agency, they play part in politics; they act towards agendas, and they have will. Ex. People, companies

Institutions & Structures

Configure how we behave, don’t have will or agency, they don’t. Ex. Universities

Government

Hierarchically structured, formal institutions with authority to govern a state

• Not at the international level

Governance

The formal and informal institutions, actors and processes involved in governing

• Assemblage of all actors beyond government

• Involved market and states

• More in weaker states

Govern

Establishing order and facilitating collective action

Political science: The study of politics

• Focused on normative analysis

• Can’t exist without analysis

Normative Approach

Concerned with what ‘ought to be’; identify ‘the good’

Empirical Approach

Concerned with understanding ‘what is’ ; identifies observable phenomena

Behavioralism

Importance of the scientific method

Postivism

Application of the scientific methodology of the natural sciences

Interpretive/Semantic

Concerned with what (often observable) phenomena mean in relation to other things

• How individuals interpret issues in logic and facts

Analysis

Systemic deconstruction of a phenomena into its constituent elements to understand it

• Looking at the components of phenomena

• Can look at historical development - agency

• Cultural analysis

• Understanding behaviors

• Institutional analysis

Methodology

One’s overall approach to analysis. Ex. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies

Concepts

Abstract ideas used to make sense, and organize and think about the world

• Not tangible

Analysis Levels

• Individual. Ex. Putin

• Institutional. Ex. Russian institutions

• State. Ex. General politics

• International

Theory

Simplification of the world in order to understand it

• General explanations meant to identify and explain phenomena and relationships between phenomena

• Theories abstract from the specific

• They are supposed to be falsifiable

• May predict the future

• Bring clear understanding

Political Ideology

Ideas about the way politics/society is, the way it should be, and how to make it as it ought to be

• A comprehensive, structured belief set around something

• Shares a close relationship with real world material conditions

• Change in ideologies is often a reaction to a major event

  • Change in our foundation of understanding, leads to discomfort

Left Wing

• Egalitarian - all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities

• Socially progressive

• Larger role of government

• Class/social solidarity

• Internationalist (sometimes) - advocating and believing in cooperation and understanding between nations

• Didn’t care about social identity

Right Wing

• Individual freedoms socially conservative (sometimes)

• Minimal role of government

• Nationalism - advocacy of or support for the political independence of a particular nation or people

• Isolationist (sometimes) - favouring a policy of remaining apart from the affairs or interests of other groups

• Internationalist - advocating and believing in cooperation and understanding between nations

Liberalism

• Emphasis on the individual and individual liberty, pursue individual interests as much as possible

• Rooted in the Enlightenment - European intellectual movement

• Posed on a lot of the world by European colonialism

• Center or right of the spectrum

• Focuses on rationality - being guided by reason or being reasonable

• Built on economic (free market and capitalism)

ClassicOld liberalism

Role of the state is minimized to providing security and enforcing property rights

• Maximum freedom

• Replaced by embedded liberalism

• Nationalist

‘New’ Liberalism

A more active role of the state to correct for market failures

• Post-WWII ‘embedded’ liberalism

• Save liberalism from itself

• Avoid great depression and WWII

• Increase to a degree certain government regulations

  • Employment insurance

  • Welfare

Neoliberalism (or, the ‘new right’)

Minimal state intervention in the market/society

• Inefficiency of governement

• Pull back on government intrusion in the market

• Internationalist

Conservative

• Emphasis on traditionally-inherited values, norms, and institutions, social hierarchies and limited government

• Developed as a response/critique of the enlightenment and liberalism

• Emphasis on individualism

• More moral value within the community

Social Conservatism

Emphasis on preserving traditional social/cultural values and norms

Neoconservatism

Emphasis on American primacy, patriotism, and aggressive foreign policy

• Western supremacy

• Aggressive emphasis on western traditions

Marxism

• A materialistic understanding of historical development (historical materialism)

• Views include economic systems, including capitalism, as inherently contradictory and self-destructive

• Emphasis on economic class systems and class-based conflict

• Believe in the creation of a classless society

  • Ending class antagonism

Social Democracy

Democracy with emphasis on the welfare state

• Significant involvement in the state

Socialism

The state redistributes wealth and plays a large role in the market

Communist

The state owns property and controls all the means of economic production

• Public ownership

Facism

Authoritarian ultranationalism

• Emphasis on social order and hierarchy

• Anti-liberalism, anti-marxism

Neofacism

Re-emergence of identity based on social/political hierarchies

Anarchism

Rejection of social/political/economic hierarchies and authority

• Anti-establishment

• Traditionally associated with socialism

• Community plays a large roles

• Overlaps with the ideas of Karl Marx

• Skepticism of authority

Libertarianism

Emphasis on individual freedoms

• rooted in liberalism

• Ranges from left-wing to right-wing libertarianism

• They see utility in institutions and rules

Feminism

Set of ideas about the unequal status of women in social, political, and economic realms

First-wave feminism

Emphasis on equal rights and representation of womens

• Liberal feminism

• Emphasis on underlying notions on the relations between men and women

Second-wave feminism

Emphasis on underlying patriarchal social structures

Third-wave feminism

Emphasis on intersectionalities and sexual orientation and gender identity

Religious Fundamentalism

A strict interpretation of, and adherence to, religious texts and doctrines

• Not reducible to any one particular religion

Nationalism

Idea that nations should be the basic units of social/political life

Nation

A population that identifies as a common group in juxtaposition to others

• Ex. Quebecois

Populism

A political tactic and mode of representation

• Identification with a particular conception of ‘the people’ juxtaposed to a particular conception of ‘the elite’

Human rights

Emphasis on individual rights (negative rights)

• rooted in liberal philosophy

• Seeks to constrain the exercise of power

Social Justice

Justice in terms of recognition and the distribution of wealth/opportunities

• Seeks to upend relations of power

The State

A political community

The Modern State

Constituted by the notion of sovereignty

• Universal

• Equal

• Centralized & Formalized authority

• European creation

Sovereignty

Absolute authority & self-determination

Internal sovereignty

The absolute and ultimate power of the state

External Sovereignty

The capacity of the state to act independently and autonomously on the world stage

The Global South

Include states thats have

• A history of colonization

• Late or lacking industrialization - transforming the economy of a nation or region from a focus on agriculture to a reliance of manufacturing

• Maintain relatively high rates of poverty

• Generally consists of the regions of Asia, Africa, Central/south Americas & the MIddle East

Characteristics of the State

• Territory - the state has distinct and well-defined borders

• Population - the state contains people

• Government - it should be able to develop laws and have the capacity enforce the same within its borders. Should be recognized by other states globally

• Sovereignty - should have the full right to govern itself without interference by external entities

Max Weber

Political organization with a centralized government that maintains the monopoly of the legitimate use of force within a certain geographic territory

Other components of the State

• Provide public goods - a commodity or service that is made available to all members of society

• Bureaucracy - extend the reach of the state and to unite its territories under a single sovereignty

• Rule of Law - that everyone is accountable to the same laws

Functions of the State

• Defense - to deter any attack on the state, defend its independence and inviolability, and preserve its integrity

• Controling violence and policing

• Maintaining the rule of law

• Resource mobilization (i.e. taxation) and public goods provisions

• Correcting market failures

State Capacity

The ability of the state to perform its function

• Weak and strong state capacity

• OECD’s ‘resilient state’ & ‘fragile state’

4 Forms of State Capacity

• Extractive capacity

• Steering capacity

• Legitimacy capacity

• Coercive capacity

The (European-Based) Emergence of the State

Pre-modern states existed throughout history and across the world

• Ex. European fuedalism, African chiefdoms, Asain empires, etc.

Peace of Westphilia (1648)

Resulted in the treaty of Westphila

The French Revolution (1789-1799)

Strengthened state capacity

Montevideo Convention on the Rights & Duties of States (1933)

Furthur consolidated the principles of sovereignty

Colonialism

Formal political and economic control over another state, territory or poeple

• Was conducted through direct rule, indirect rule, and/or settler colonies

• colonialism was exploitive, extractive, autocratic and coercive

Modern European Colonialism (1493-1914)

• Period included the ‘scramble for Africa’ (1881-1914)

• Through colonialism the European state system was imposed over pre-existing political communities.

The night-watchman state

Government’s only function is to protect the right of its citizens

Ex. US, Classical Liberalism

Capitalist States

Exists for the promotion and growth of capitalism (ensures there isn’t a monopoly). Play a big role in making sure capitalism has a healthy environment to function in

Welfare States

The state plays a much bigger role in the regulation of the economy (market failure), a certain level of livelihood is met, and involvement in

Ex. Scandinavian states (social democracies, emphasis on state involvement), BC in comparison to AB

The Developmental States

Helping to assist the development of certain industries to make sure they are internationally competitive

Ex. Japan

Communist States

Ex. China, Nepal, & Cuba

Weak States

Ex. Somalia, South Sudan, Yeman

Failed States

Ex. Haiti

Strong States

Ex. Canada, US, North Korea

Theories of State Emergence: Social Contract Theory

We give up certain freedoms to this larger sovereign, the state, to protect our greater needs. Without a state, we would be in this state of chaotic anarchy (no state government). Leads to situations like perpetual conflict

Theories of State Emergence: Conflict Theories

Looks at the evolution of the state as resulting in different conflicts

• Ex. Westphalia is the first international legal principle to bring stability to the system

  • International law is consent-based because of international sovereignty

Pluralism

Power shared between many groups produces the best outcomes in society and government

Elitism

Major challenge to pluralism, some groups have more influences than others, we aren’t all equally existing voices

Corporatism

The state officially integrates the interests of certain groups. Nazi Germany came very close to being corporatist in nature. The state is made up of three main groups:

• Business interests

• Labor (labor unions)

• Public sector

Critical challenges faced by the current modern state

• Political integration - European union, giving up a large amount of sovereignty to a supranation

• Globalization (economic integration)

• Secessionist Movements - movements to breakup larger forms of state

  • Ex. Quebec, South Sudan

• Traditional authority - re-emergence of pre-existing forms of colonies

  • Ex. First Nations peoples

• Human-centered principles

• The ‘hollowing out’ of the state

Regime

Type of form of governing system

• Specific to certain institutions and relations of power

• Ex. Democratic and non-democratic regimes

Democracy

A political system based on elected representative self-government by citizens. Also a political regime associated with ‘rule by the people’ with recognized civil and political rights/freedoms

Procedural Definition of Democracy - Minimal Standards

Focuses on the presence of elections and some civil/political rights

Substantive Definition of Democracy

Emphasises outcome dimensions of democracy

• Ex.Representation, accountability, tolerance, etc

Freedom in the World

An annual report conducted by Freedom House

• Measures civil and political rights

• Total Score out of 100