Aristotle the Father of Political Science

Vocabulary-style flashcards defining key political science concepts, types of power, and political ideologies based on the lecture notes.

Aristotle

The Father of Political Science

Politics (Harold Lasswell)

Defined as "who gets what-money,land,services, when-right away, later or never, and how -voting, agreement or rule".

Political Science

A major social science dealing with political and governmental structures and processes; the study or practice of the distribution of power and resources within a given community as well as interrelationship(s) between communities; branch of knowledge dealing with systems of government and the analysis of political activity.

Political Decision Making Characteristic 1

Politics always involves the making of collective decisions for a group of people.

Political Decision Making Characteristic 2

Decisions are made by some members of the group, exercising power over members of the group.

Government

The body of representatives that governs and controls the state at a given time.

Unitary Government

System of government where the central government holds all of the power and delegates to local levels.

State

Taken from the Latin "stare" (to stand), it is a political community that occupies a definite territory; having an organized government with the authority to make and enforce laws without the consent of a higher authority; also defined as a self-governing political entity.

Territory

Refers to the portion of the earth which is composed of aerial (air space above), fluvial (waters around and connecting the islands of the archipelago) and the terrestrial (landmass) domains.

Sovereignty

Element of state that is supreme and absolute power within its territorial boundaries.

Globalization

Process of forging international political, economic, religious and socio-cultural interconnections.

Power

The probability that one actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out his own will despite resistance, regardless of the basis on which this probability rest.

LATENT (Nature of Power)

Means a person has power but may choose not to use it.

RELATIVE (Nature of Power)

Power depends on the relationship between people, such as a department head having authority over teachers due to position in a hierarchy.

DYNAMIC (Nature of Power)

Evolves over time as individuals gain or lose certain types of power relative to other.

PERCEIVE (Nature of Power)

Exists when people believe someone has power because of certain qualities, even if that power is not formally given.

Information power

Dimension of power derived from knowledge.

Legitimate power

Power that comes from the belief that a person has the formal right to make demands, and expect others to be compliant and obedient.

Physical Power

A power derived from the material or physical advantage.

Ideology

Set of related ideas or systematic group of concepts and beliefs about culture, society and human life.

Communism

Based on common ownership; aims to establish society that is classless, egalitarian, and stateless, placing all property under collective ownership.

Conservatism

Desires to preserve institutions and is reflected in a resistance to, or at least suspicion of change.

Democracy

A system where people hold the power.

Socialism

Stands in opposition to capitalism and proposes an alternative which is more humane and equitable.

Liberalism

Advocating the freedom of individual, parliamentary systems of government, nonviolent modification of political, social or economic institutions; protection of individual liberty.

Anarchism

A political philosophy that advocates for the abolition of the state and all hierarchical institutions; envisions a stateless, self-managed, and voluntary society.

Fascism

Rejects rationalism and relies instead on its emotional appeal that life is a constant struggle and only the strongest survives.

Monarchism

The political advocacy or ideology that supports a system of monarchy where supreme power is vested in a single individual, usually a king, queen, or emperor, who typically holds office for life or until abdication.