What is Politics? (Key Concepts from the Lecture Notes)

A set of practice flashcards covering key concepts from the lecture notes on politics, including definitions, theories, and theoretical debates.

What is the broadest definition of politics presented in the notes?

The activity through which people make, preserve and amend the general rules under which they live (involving conflict and cooperation).

Why is politics described as a social activity and as a dialogue rather than a monologue?

Because politics revolves around disagreement about how to live and how to resolve matters, requiring discussion and persuasion to reach collective decisions.

Why did Aristotle call politics the 'master science' of creating the Good Society?

Because politics is the central social activity through which humans strive to improve their lives and achieve the good life within a political community.

What are the two broad approaches to defining politics discussed in the notes?

Politics as an arena (the space in which political activity takes place) and politics as a process (a mechanism with distinctive characteristics that can occur in various contexts).

Who defined politics as the 'authoritative allocation of values' and what does that mean?

David Easton; politics involves the processes by which a government allocates benefits, rewards or penalties in response to pressures from society.

What does the term 'polity' refer to in political science?

A society organized through the exercise of political authority; traditionally, rule by the many in the interests of all.

What are the three 'faces' of power as described by Lukes?

Decision-making power (influencing the content of decisions), agenda-setting power (preventing issues from being aired), and thought-control power (shaping what people think and want).

What is civil society according to the notes?

Edmund Burke's 'little platoons'—private associations such as family, business, unions, clubs, and NGOs; a realm outside the state but connected to public life.

What is the public/private divide and how does it relate to politics?

Public life includes the state and public affairs; private life includes family and domestic life. The boundary is contested, with feminist critiques arguing that politics also occurs in the private sphere.

What does the slogan 'the personal is the political' signify?

Radical feminist claim that private/domestic life is political because power relations at home shape broader social life.

What is 'anti-politics' as described in the notes?

Disillusionment with formal political processes, leading to non-participation or support for anti-system movements and direct action.

What is behaviouralism in political science?

The belief that political analysis should be based on observable, quantifiable behaviour to make politics more 'scientific'.

What is rational-choice (public-choice) theory?

A formal approach that models rational, self-interested behaviour using economic-style tools, including game theory; applied to politics and IR.

What is 'new institutionalism' in political analysis?

Institutions matter as sets of rules (formal and informal) that guide behavior; institutions are embedded in historical and normative context and can be hard to reform.

What are 'critical approaches' to politics?

Feminism, critical theory, green politics, constructivism, post-colonialism, post-structuralism; they challenge the status quo and highlight inequalities, often with emancipatory aims.

What is constructivism in political analysis?

The view that social reality is constructed through inter-subjective meanings; identities and interests are formed and changed through shared beliefs and discourse.

What is post-structuralism, as discussed in the notes?

An approach emphasizing that ideas and concepts are shaped by language and power relations; advocates critical examination and deconstruction of power/knowledge discourses.

What is a paradigm in Kuhn’s sense, and why does it matter for political analysis?

A pattern or framework of ideas within which normal science operates; scientific revolutions replace old paradigms with new ones, making truth provisional.

What is an 'ideal type' and who introduced it to political analysis?

A Weberian mental construct highlighting essential features of a phenomenon to compare cases; not a real object (e.g., a revolution as an ideal type).

What is Easton’s model of the political system and its main components?

A system with inputs (demands and supports from the public), processes through gatekeepers, outputs (policies, laws, taxes), and feedback that shapes future inputs; tends toward long-term equilibrium.

What is the domestic/international divide and how is it challenged by globalization?

Traditionally, politics inside the state vs. politics between states; globalization creates cross-border flows and interdependence, blurring the divide and suggesting overlaps across spheres.