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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