Untitled Flashcards Set

Medieval Period: “The Dark Ages” due to their “intellectual darkness and barbarity.”

● Feudalism: Feudal system with ranks, and classes, serving the Monarchs and the Catholic

church

● Renaissance: “cultural rebirth” Rediscovering of the teachings and ideologies of Ancient

Greece and Rome. “Reawakening”

● English Civil War: a brutal and bloody time in history.

● Protestant Reformation: “16th century religious, political, intellectual, and cultural

upheaval” against the catholic church and their system, forcing people to think for

themselves.

● Enlightenment or Age of Reason: Time of the thinkers, individuals learned to put more faith

in themselves and in humanity, over the church and the Monarchs. Caused disharmony and

revolutions. Society growth.

● Humanists: Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and

agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking

and evidence over acceptance of dogma or superstition

● French Revolution: Three Estates

● American Revolution

● Declaration of the Rights of Man: wrote in 1789 based off of America’s Declaration. Basic

liberties, expanded individual liberties, consent of the governed, and protected the principle

of due process of law.

● Declaration of Independence: Wrote in 1776, inspired by the enlightenment thinkers, claimed

that unalienable rights were the foundation of all government.

● 3 types of Conservatives:

○ Classical: right, wish to maintain the status quo

○ Neo: far right, reactionary

○ Modern: left, advocate for melioristic change

● Universal suffrage: the right for all, regardless of class, gender, etc… to vote

● Feminism: the advocacy for men and women to be held in equal standing

● Suffragists: women who fought for the right to vote (Emily Davison)

● Separate spheres: the different spheres, and “rules” dictating what a man could and could

not do, according to their gender, and what a woman could or could not do, according to

their gender. Men where the breadwinners, women were the housewives.

● Positive liberty: the freedom to - the possibility of acting - or the fact of acting -in such a way

as to take control of one’s life and realize one’s fundamental purposes.

● Negative liberty: the freedom from- is the absence of obstacles barriers or constraints.

● Paternalism: the tendency for one nation to act controllingly over another nation intended to

aid the nation in looking after its best interests.

● Absolute monarchy: is a form of monarchy in which one ruler has supreme authority and

where that authority is not restricted by any written laws, legislature, or customs.

● Divine Right of Kings: the belief that kings are put into power by God

● Role of man vs. rule of law

● Superstition and tradition of the Catholic Church (indulgences)

● Tall Poppy Syndrome - Australia: cut down the tall poppies, egalitarianism.

Unit 3 Thinkers:

● Emily Davidson’s suicide

● Mary Wollstonecraft

● Olympe de Gouges: (1791), Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen:

beheaded for her ideas of equality.

● T.H. Green: supported positive liberty and argued that poverty, illness, prejudice and lack of

education could also be obstacles to freedom.

● Isaiah Berlin: wrote the book “Two Concepts of Liberty”, however feared that positive

liberty would lead to excessive government involvement.

● John Stuart Mill

○ Wrote “On Liberty” essay

○ “Harm Principle”

■ You can do whatever you want until your fist hits their nose

○ Tyranny of the Majority

● Nicolas de Condorcet

○ “There will come a time when the sun will shine only on free men who know no

master other than their own reason.”

○ Very progressive classical liberal, equality rights for everyone

○ “Man must unify regardless of race, religion, culture, or gender” - coexist.

● Voltaire:

○ “I disagree with every word you say, but I’ll defend with my last drop of blood your

right to say it.” - freedom of speech

○ Very sceptical about humanity- believed enlightened despot- Plate- philosopher kings

○ Technocrats - bureaucracy - Senate - philosopher kings

● Montesquieu

○ Checks and Balances -3 branches of governments- separation of powers

○ “Every man invested with power is apt to abuse it” - Lord Acton - “power tends to

corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

● Benjamin constant:

○ Liberty of the Ancients: participatory liberty, required slaves to do much of the

productive work, allowing the citizens to vote and debate etc.

○ Liberty of the Moderns: direct participation limited, needed representative

government in order to have your needs met, allow for referendums and plebiscites.

You give up a little bit of your voice, but it is necessary.

● Locke and Rousseau -Social contract theory:

● Edmund Burke - very conservative

○ Wrote “ Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

○ Enduring what you have now, is better than an instant, insane change into the

unknown.

○ “General wil of the people” would lead to the rule by the mediocre, uneducated and

disinterested.

○ Noblesse oblige - the wealthy’s responsibility to care for the poor- the obligation of

the noble.

● Thomas Paine

Unit 4 Modern Political Liberalism and the Will of the People:

● Will of the People: “Of the people, for the people, by the people…”

● Direct democracy: Liberty of the Ancients; a democracy in which people vote directly on

laws and policy, often through referendum or plebiscite

● Representative democracy: Liberty of the Moderns; a democracy in which people vote for an

individual who aligns with their ideology to represent their values to government

● Referendum: a binding vote in which the results of the vote must be taken into action

regardless of the government’s position

● Plebiscite: an advisory referendum in which the votes are seen only as advice to the central

government

● Proportional representation: a form of government in which all votes are taken into account

by fairly representing each proportion of votes within a constituency

● Binding and non binding: see plebiscite and referendum, whether or not a vote must be taken

into action by government

● Voter ignorance/apathy:

● Recall: an act or instance of officially recalling someone or something. The removal of an

elected government official from office by a petition followed by voting.

● Voter initiated referenda: switzerland

● First past the post/single member plurality/winner take all: 40% gov. Wins all seats

● House of Commons

● Constituency: the body of voter, who voted

● Member of Parliament(MP)

● Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA)

● Wildrose Party: central right

● Progressive Conservative: central right

● NDP: left

● Liberal Party: left

● Green Party

● Magna Carta

● Lobby Groups:

● Special interest groups

● PACs (Political action committees)

● Clout:

● Meritocracy

● Plutocracy

● Bureaucracy

● Disinterest

● Mandatory voting (Australia)

● Responsible government (parliamentary vs. republican government democracy)

● Head of state

● Head of government

● Royal accent

● Governor General

● Electoral college

● Apathy

● Separation of powers

● Checks and balances

● Legislative executive and judicial branch

● Parliamentary-cabinet government

● Presidential-congressional government

● Canadian Senate

● US Congress: Senate and House of Rep.

● Veto power

● Two-thirds majority

● Cabinet

● Concentration of powers

● Federalism

● Vote of non-confidence

● Party discipline (party whips)

● Party solidarity (Canada)

● Pork barreling (USA)

● “Crossing the floow”

● Power of the purse