States & Nations PDF

STATES & NATIONS  STATES AND NATIONS 1. SOVERIGNTY 2. STATES 3. POLITICAL CULTURE 4. NATIONS 5. NATIONS STATES  SOVEREIGNTY WHAT IS SOVEREIGNTY? Jean Bodin (1530-1596) ‒ The highest authority – subject to no other h...

STATES & NATIONS  STATES AND NATIONS 1. SOVERIGNTY 2. STATES 3. POLITICAL CULTURE 4. NATIONS 5. NATIONS STATES  SOVEREIGNTY WHAT IS SOVEREIGNTY? Jean Bodin (1530-1596) ‒ The highest authority – subject to no other human authority & absolute “Powers associated with the highest authority of government”  SOVEREIGNTY POWERS OF SOVEREIGNTY 1. To make law ‒ Create, Amend, Repeal 2. To enforce rules of conduct ‒ Establish tribunals ‒ Compensate victims ‒ Punish offenders  SOVEREIGNTY POWERS OF SOVEREIGNTY (CONT’D) 3. To carry out the executive functions of government ‒ Raising revenue ‒ Maintaining armed forces ‒ Minting currency ‒ Providing government services to society 4. To deal with other sovereigns ‒ Right to rule domestically without interference from other sovereigns TYPES OF SOVEREIGNTY SOVEREIGNTY 1. Personal ‒ Monarch ‒ Hobbes, Bodin – absolute sovereignty 2. Parliamentary ‒ Britain vs. Canada ‒ Blackstone 3. Popular ‒ Consent of the people * Sovereignty may be divided or delegated ‒ E.g. Federal/Provincial ‒ Administrative agencies – HRC, AMA  STATES WHAT IS A STATE? State = population + territory + sovereignty ‒ Is Canada a state? ‒ Is Quebec a state? ‒ Is Palestine a state? ‒ Is Taiwan a state?  STATES Citizenship = Membership in a state ‒ Modern citizenship is more inclusive ‒ Owing allegiance and receiving protection from the state ‒ Rights, freedoms, and duties therein “the right to live within the territorial boundaries of the state” In democracies = the right to participate in politics (vote, run for office…) Duties include obeying laws, paying taxes, military service…  POLITICAL CULTURE WHAT IS POLITICAL CULTURE? ‘attitudes, beliefs, values and norms that people have developed toward government and politics’ ‒ Parochial culture – no expectation of positives from government ‒ Subject culture – some positive expectations of government, but not personally involved  POLITICAL CULTURE WHAT IS POLITICAL CULTURE? (CONT’D) ‒ Participatory culture – high expectations of government and political participation Essential to liberal/constitutional democracy ‒ Polyarchal cultures Unified – agree on social values, participation, respect ‒ Fragmented cultures Lack of agreement on values, no unity, frequent violence; coups d’etat, ethnic cleansing, assassinations… ‒ Psychology and ideology impact political culture  POLITICAL CULTURE WHAT IS POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION? Transmission of political culture from one generation to another ‒ Family ‒ School ‒ Peers ‒ Media  NATION WHAT IS A NATION? Nation = ‘an identity shared by a large number of people based upon, but not reducible to, objective factors such as common race, language, religion, customs, and government.’ The focus of this identity can be fluid – Renan’s ‘daily plebiscite’ ‒ The commonalities leading to a ‘desire to continue life in common’. Ethnic nations – centre around language, race, religion… Civic nations – centre around political systems/orders/values  NATION ETHNICITY Claims to nationhood and desire for sovereignty/autonomy or recognition Substate nations ‒ E.g. Canada’s francophones in Quebec & New Brunswick ‒ Aspirations to nationhood and greater sovereignty Indigenous peoples ‒ First Nations seek greater autonomy Immigrants ‒ Traditional values may be politically relevant  NATION STATES ‘where the limits of common identity coincide with the boundaries of sovereign authority’ ‒ Iceland, Sweden, Poland… Contending claims can complicate categorization. ‒ U.S. – Latinos, Nation of Islam claim it is a multinational state ‒ Great Britain – nationalist movements in Northern Ireland, Scotland & Wales ‒ Spain – Catalan & Basque minorities – some seek independence  NATION STATES Binational state = two nations coexist within a state ‒ Belgium Multinational state = more than two nations coexist within a state ‒ India Multi-state nations = a nation divided between or among states ‒ North and South Korea ‒ Basques in France and Spain