Political Science Midterm Study Guide

• Study notes on midterms, power, ideas, institutions, competition, political regimes and democracy

Midterms General Information

• Midterm exams are 2 hours long
• Students select and answer one of two questions
• Build an argument based on a thesis statement
• The midterm is worth 25% of the final grade
• Answers should be 4-6 pages long, depending on handwriting size
• Answers require 2-3 major arguments
• Steps for answering the questions include analyzing the subject, reframing the question and building an outline

First Steps for Midterm Prep

• Read and completely understand the subject matter
• Define the chronological and geographical boundaries of the topic
• Write down definitions of key terms, such as moving from general institutions to democratic institutions

Tips for Midterm Essay Writing

• Strive for specificity in your analysis
• Conduct an in-depth analysis of the topic
• Avoid presenting a problem without thoroughly exploring all aspects
• Take a clear, unambiguous position on the topic
• Explain your points in depth
• State the obvious to ensure clarity

Narrowing Down the Subject

• Formulate a research question, for example: "Are ideologies really relevant for political behaviors?", "Is populism an ideology?", or "What is the future of democracy?"
• Develop a clear and simple thesis statement, such as: "Soft propaganda blurs the line between political communications and influences of ideas."

Outline

• Include 2-3 arguments to support your thesis
• Use examples to illustrate your points
• Counterarguments aren't required, but acknowledge other viewpoints to exhibit background knowledge
• Use titles to organize your essay
• Ensure smooth transitions between ideas

Session 6 - Specific Questions Example

• Ideas of economists and political philosophers are more powerful than typically understood, right or wrong; they shape the world

Idealism vs. Materialism

• You can support or argue against the author's position

Ideas as Drivers of Change

• Focus on one specific area, such as electoral policy, legitimacy, democracy, institutions, regimes, policies, or different definitions of power
• Example of policy change: policies will change the ideas about the environment (top-down effect)

Tips

• Accurately cite names of articles
• Be specific on all terms and policies discussed
• Give detailed answers

Research Questions Examples

• How do ideas influence changes in policy, distribution of power, or institutional reforms?

Lecture 2: Power

• Power to direct behaviour of others in a broad formal authority, Carpenter
• Gatekeeping power defines problems and debates and structures human activities, Carpenter
• Issues are organized into politics and others are organized out, Schattschneider
• US president has negative veto power as example

Conceptual Power

• The ability to define the terms and concepts in which human agents think, experiment and infer, Carpenter
• Example is defining pollution, church and religion

Foucault

• Power is a pervasive aspect of social life, not limited to the sphere of politics or open conflict
• Power is internalized, as effective as it is discrete
• Power exists only in relations; all are subjects and actors
• Power and resistance are two sides of the coin
• Power is functional in schools, hospitals and prisons

Max Weber

• Domination is achieved when command is obeyed by group; requires recognition of authority or legitimacy
• Can be traditional charismatic, legal-rational

Soft Power

• Form of power through persuasion and influence

Hard Power

• The use of threats and force

Sharp Power

• Information warfare, censorship for promotion of self interest

Yao and Mattingly: How Soft Propaganda Persuades

• Propaganda defined as dissemination of information to influence public opinion, Smith
• Hard form is blunt misinformation
• Soft propaganda is frequently in art and entertainment, expresses believable claims

Summary of Propaganda

• Hard form signals regime stability and intimidate public, but alone is not persuasive
• Soft form effectively provokes feelings of anger and strong anti-foreign nationalism
• These feelings cause long term effect, and influence political behaviors on attitudes to foreign policy

Lecture 3: Ideas

• Ideology is a systemic, well-developed and comprehensive set of ideas about politics, consisting of empirical and normative statements, Newton & van Deth
• Ideas are claims about descriptions of the world, causal relationships, or normative legitimacy of certain actions, Parsons 2002

Conservatism

• Belief in natural order already existing
• Traditional hierarchies should be preserved or isolated from politics
• Pessimistic view of human nature where human interactions should be regulated by institutions

Liberalism

• Free trade, free market
• Limited state power that must protect individual rights
• In order to avoid tyranny there must be power separation
• There must be slow reform by individual action

Christian Democracy

• Society is founded upon divine natural law
• Family, church and community important
• Social Institutions
• Protection for the weak and poor - but not through collectivism

Social Democrats and Socialism

• Social democrats: arrive to socialism through elections
• Communists and socialists: arrive for revolutions
• Equality of positions in society, more recently equality of opportunity
• Regulation by state and mixed economy
• Collectivization (socialism), redistribution (social democrats)

Since the 60s - End of Ideologies

• According to Wolfe, technical expertise is required to solve the problems
• Fukuyama said the victory of Western Liberal Democracy over Communism ended the ideological battle
• How material world shapes ideas, superstructures, materialism (Marxism)
• How ideas shape politics, (Idealism) Spirit of Capitalism example

Lindvall - Influence of Expert Ideas

• Expert ideas = shared beliefs about cause-and-effect relationships by actors recognized as experts on policy target

Influence of Expert Ideas Summary

• Real expert ideas exert a limited effect on policy
• Ideas influence policy instruments
• Why: makes politicians look more independent

Fiscal and Monetary Policy

• Fiscal Policies - taxation and spending
• Monetary policy - central bank policies, money supply, interest rates

Study:

• Comparing Austria, Denmark and Sweden in 1970, 1980, 1990s
• Fiscal monetary policies and high employment objectives, (Keynesian traditions)
• 1980s Keynesianism = new classical ideas and fiscal policies
• Low inflation goal in Denmark in 1976-90s used fiscal policy, Keynesian influence
• Economic council advised the government on economic policy (institution)

Lecture 4: Institutions

• Humanly devised constraints on social, political, and economic interactions with formal and informal traditions, North
• Both constrain and enable behaviour

Shepsle

• Rules decide the "set of choosing agents, the manner in which their preferences may be revealed, and alternatives for preferences"

Institutionalism

• Old: the government and law
• Behaviorism: neglected rule of institutions
• New: cooperative solutions to collective action problem rational choice inst

Historical Inst

• Institutions are inherited power structures of path dependency

Terry Moe

• Institutions are not just tools for cooperation, but of power distribution

Downs Theorem

• Institutions in democracies could be unfair with a winner total power

Sociological Inst

• Cultural norms, traditions, ideas which shape behavior

Ideational Structures

• Systems of beliefs which shape how we see the world + deational and discursive interactions

Demonstration of Rules, Practises, and Narratives

• 1- on paper
• 2- demonstrated through conduct
• 3 - words and symbols

Text 4: Birch, Voting for the Future

• Reforms to encourage long-term policy-making are best for electoral institutions to avoid democratic myopia problem
• Preference-shaping proposals better versus compositional

Specific Policy Proposals

• Tools for proportional representation (more consistency and consensus)
• Information tools for voters
• Manifesto requirements

Brazil example

• In Brazil, voting is compulsory until age 70, but ineffective

Lecture 5: Competition

Stigler

• Political and economic competition are different

Political vs. Economic Competition

• Political is mutually exclusive versus economical allows goods to exist simultaneously
• Outcome is uncertain in elections versus guaranteed to get goods for money

Too Many Parties

• Too many parties is bad versus many firms is good

Downs Theorem

• Voters right-lift spectrum is normally distributed
• Median voter position is what candidates and parties will align as objective politicians

Schumpeter

• Minimal conception of democracy, which is an institutional arrangement when individuals gain power to decide with competitive struggle

Arro's Impossibility Theorem and Condorcet's Paradox

• Majority rule (Locke, Rousseau)
• Pluralism (policies emerge from negotiation, bargaining, and compromise)
• Collective rationality (unelected experts solve issues for the greater social good)

Lecture 6: Political Regimes

• Political Regime - The concept of political regime refers to formal and informal structure and nature of political power in a country, including method of determining an office holder and the relationship between the office holder and the society at large, Siaro

Theories

• Aristotle: Monarchy, aristocracy, republic VS tyranny, oligarchy, democracy
• Montesquieu: limited VS despotic regimes
• Kelsen: Idea of real democracy. Autonomy vvs heteronomy.

Schumpeter

• Contestation the is essential feature of democracy

Electoral Requirements

• Competitive elections and universal suffrage, government is accountable to voters
• Procedural VS Liberal democracy (civil liberties, accountability, and strong rule of law)

Totalitarian

• Mass mobilisation, state control, and ideology

Diamond's Typology

• Liberal → electoral → ambiguous → competitive → electoral uncompetitive → politically closed authoritarian

Moller's Typology

• Liberal democracy, autocracy
• Illiberal: democracy, autocracy

Text 6: Benton, Bottom-Up Challenges

• How do local legal practices create dissatisfaction with democracy?
• Usos y Costumbres (UyC) - custom system of governing to protect indigenous traditions
• Ban on electoral participation for parties, public voting, restricted suffrage

Final Summary

• Political isolation leads to abstention in elections and creation of authoritarian enclaves