Chapters 1 to 3 PDF

Words are the daughters of earth and that things are the sons of heaven CHAPTER 1: Concepts and Theories in Politics ○ Lang...

Words are the daughters of earth and that things are the sons of heaven CHAPTER 1: Concepts and Theories in Politics ○ Language always has a limited value ○ Language tends to simplify and misrepresent the infinite complexity of the real world Language and Politics Politics is a social activity and therefore conducted through the Understanding Political Concepts medium of language Concept – is a general idea about something, usually expressed in Language – a system of expression which employs symbols, in this a single word or a short phrase. case words, to represent things ○ General – they can refer to a number of objects, to any object ○ is both a tool with which we think and a means by which we that complies with the general idea itself communicate with others. ○ Building blocks of human knowledge; the tools with which Roles of language we think, criticize, argue, explain, and analyze 1. Passive – reflect reality as accurately as possible Problems with political concepts 2. Positive and Active – capable of firing the imagination and 1. Difficult to disentangle from the moral, philosophical and stirring the emotions ideological views of those who advance them Words do not merely reflect the realities around us, they also help to Evident in prescriptive or normative concepts shape what we see and structure our attitude towards it. Values – refer to moral principles or ideals, that Language is a political weapon which should, ought or must be brought about. ○ Shaped and honed to convey political intent 2. Often become the subject of intellectual and ideological ○ Less concerned with the precision of language than its controversy propaganda value Essentially contested concepts - no neutral or Political correctness (PC) settled definition can be developed ○ To develop bias-free terminology that enables political 3. Fetishism of concepts – concepts are treated as though they argument to be conducted in non-discriminatory language have a concrete existence separate from and, in some ○ However, it imposes an ideological straitjacket upon senses, holding sway over, the human beings who use them. language that both impoverishes its descriptive power and Words are treated as things rather than as devices for introduces a form of censorship by denying expression to understanding things. ‘incorrect’ views. Solution: classify concepts as ‘ideal types’ or Political terms explanatory tools; concepts as analytical tools ○ Stand for ideas, concepts, and values which are highly (Weber) complex and often fiercely contested ○ Most political terms carry heavy ideological baggage 3 Subdivisions of the Study of Politics  1. Political Science Political theory was in a beleaguered state through much of the ○ ‘Science’ refers to a means of acquiring knowledge through twentieth century observation, experimentation and measurement The death of political theory was a consequence of the rise of ○ The scientific method as the central feature positivism, which argued that normative concepts are Involves verifying or falsifying hypotheses by meaningless as they are not empirically verifiable testing them against empirical evidence preferably After the 1960s, political theory re-emerged using repeatable experiments ○ Growing dissatisfaction with behavioralism ○ Essentially empirical, claiming to describe, analyze and ○ faith in the ability of science to uncover objective truth was explain government and other political institutions in a undermined by advances in the philosophy of science rigorous and impartial manner. ○ Emergence of new social movements and end of consensus 2. Political Theory politics brought normative and ideological questions back to ○ Involves the analytical study of ideas and concepts, both the forefront of political analysis normative and descriptive. Modern political theory ○ Interested in examining what major thinkers said, how they ○ Placed greater emphasis upon the role of history and developed or justified their views, and the intellectual culture in shaping political understanding context in which they worked. ○ Political theory has become increasingly diffuse and ○ Theory – an explanatory proposition, an idea or set of fragmented ideas that in some way seeks to impose order or meaning Conventional political theory has been shaken by the emergence of upon phenomena. an ‘anti-foundationalist’ critique that challenges the rationalism 3. Political Philosophy that lies at its heart. ○ Any abstract thought about politics, law or society ○ Anti-foundationalists reject the idea that there is a moral and ○ Two main tasks: rational high point from which all values and claims to 1. Critical evaluation of political beliefs, paying knowledge can be judged. attention to both inductive and deductive forms of ○ The fact that fundamental disagreement persists about the reasoning location of this high point suggests that there is a plurality 2. Attempts to clarify and refine the concepts employed of legitimate ethical and political positions; our language in political discourse and political concepts are valid only in terms of the ○ Political philosophers are inevitably concerned with context in which they are generated and employed. justifying certain political viewpoints at the expense of ○ Political theory is a dialogue or conversation which human others and with upholding a particular understanding of a beings share their differing viewpoints and concept rather than alternative ones understandings with one another Political Theory in the 21st Century  The influence of the social environment or experience upon the human character CHAPTER 2: Human Nature, The Individual, and Society Emphasizes the malleable quality of human nature or what has been called as its plasticity Human nature is plastic Human Nature Political significance of the belief in nurture Shorthand for ‘this is what people are really like’ a. Shift political understanding away from Essential and immutable character of all human beings biology and towards sociology Highlights what is innate and ‘natural’ about human life 2. Intellect vs. Instinct Should be reflected in behavioral patterns that are regular and a. Intellect distinctively human Emphasize thinking, analysis, and rational All models of human nature are therefore normative: they are calculation constructed out of philosophical and moral assumptions and are Faith in human reason reached its high point during therefore in principle, untestable the Enlightenment, the so-called Age of Reason Ideas based on rationalism – physical and social 3 Debates of Human Nature world can be explained by the exercise of reason 1. Nature vs. Nurture alone a. Nature b. Instinct Biological or genetic factors; there is an established Highlight impulse and non-rational drives and unchanging human core. Human beings are driven by non-rational appetites: Political significance of the belief in nature: aversions, fears, hopes and desires, the strongest of a. Political and social theories should be which is the desire to exercise power over others constructed on the basis of a pre-established (Hobbes) concept of human nature While what he called ‘naked reason’ offers little b. Roots of political understanding lie in the guidance, prejudice, being born of natural instincts, natural sciences in general, and in biology in provides people with security and a sense of social particular identity (Burke) Political arguments shall therefore be Human aggression and cruelty is therefore seen constructed on the basis of biological innate or ‘natural’ theories, giving such arguments a 3. Competition vs. Cooperation ‘scientific’ character a. Competition b. Nurture Inevitable if humans are naturally self-interested; inevitable feature of social life  Human beings are selfish and egoistical by nature nature, individualists ignore the fact that human behavior Individuals act to maximize pleasure and minimize varies from society to society, and from one historical period pain, calculating each in terms of ‘utility’– use-value to the next. b. Cooperation Human beings are altruistic and sociable Individual and Community Humans have highly developed capacity for Rugged individualism cooperation or ‘mutual aid’ (Kropotkin) ○ Extreme form of individualism Selfishness and competition are in no way natural; ○ Sees the individual as almost entirely separate from society rather, they have been cultivated by a capitalist and so discounts the importance of the community society that rewards and encourages self-striving. ○ Based upon the belief that individuals possess not only the capacity for self-reliance and hard work but also that The Individual individual effort is the source of moral and personal An individual is a single human being development Implies that the single human being is an independent and ○ However, so long as social inequality and deprivation meaningful entity, possessing an identity in himself or herself continue to exist, it is difficult to see how individuals can Individuals are not merely independent but they are also distinct, be held to be entirely responsible for their own even unique; each individual has a personal identity. circumstances. This line of argument shifts attention away To understand human beings as individuals is usually to believe in from the individual and towards the community. universalism, to accept that human beings everywhere share Community certain fundamental characteristics. ○ may refer, very loosely, to a collection of people in a given The concept of the individual is one of the cornerstones of Western location, as when the populations of a particular town, city political culture or nation are described as a community. ○ suggesting a social group, a neighborhood, town, region, Individualism group of workers or whatever, within which there are A belief in the primacy of the individual over any social group or strong ties and a collective identity. collective body, suggesting that the individual is central to any Individualism has also been regarded with suspicion by many political theory of social explanation. conservative theorists. From their point of view, unrestrained Not only a normative principle but also a methodological device individualism is destructive of the social fabric. ○ Conclusions based from the assumption about a ‘fixed’ or ○ Will lead to atomism and produce a society of vulnerable ‘given’ human nature, usually highlighting the capacity for and isolated individuals rationally self-interested behavior ○ Drawback: both asocial and ahistorical; by building political The Individual in Politics theories on the basis of a pre-established model of human Two approaches on the role of individual in politics: 1. Sees politics entirely in personal terms c. Relationship between individuals and History is made by human individuals who, in effect, institutions impress their own wills upon the political process d. Relationship between individuals and society Critiques ○ No individual can be understood in to see politics in terms of leadership and isolation from his or her social personality is to ignore the wealth of cultural, environment; no one comes into the economic, social and historical factors that world ready formed undoubtedly help shape political e. Historical processes developments ○ Politics is ‘made’ by individuals, it tends to imply that the individual comes individuals who are clearly part of the into the world ready-formed, owing nothing historical process but who, to society for his or her talents, qualities, nevertheless, possess some kind of attributes or whatever. capacity to shape events according to 2. Individual actors are either irrelevant or merely act as their own dreams and inclinations. puppets Individuals are shaped by factors such as: Society a. Economic mode of production Societies are characterized by regular patterns of social interaction, ○ All of history and every aspect of suggesting the existence of some kind of social ‘structure’. individual behavior was therefore Moreover, ‘social’ relationships involve mutual awareness and at understood in terms of the developing least some measure of cooperation. class struggle. In political theory, however, society is often understood in a more b. Relationship between individuals and their specific sense, as what is called ‘civil society’. In its original form, cultural inheritance civil society referred to a political community, a community ○ Practical politicians are therefore living within a framework of law and exhibiting a common guided in their behavior and allegiance to a state. decision-making, often unknowingly, by what the economist Keynes Collectivism referred to as ‘academic scribblers’. collectivism stresses the capacity of human beings for collective ○ individual thinkers were themselves action, stressing their willingness and ability to pursue goals by influenced by the intellectual working together rather than striving for personal self-interest. traditions of their time, as well as by sometimes used as a synonym for socialism, though, to confuse the reigning historical and social matters further, this is done by critics of socialism to highlight what circumstances. they see as its statist tendencies, while socialists themselves employ  the term to underline their commitment to the common or collective roots of social conflict lie in the existence of private interests of humanity. property, leading to fundamental and irreconcilable class conflict. Theories of Society 1. Atomistic/Individualist theory of society Social cleavages and identity ○ Individualist conception of society; society is a human A ‘social cleavage’ is a split or division in society, reflecting the artifact, constructed by individuals to serve their interests or diversity of social formations within it. Such cleavages are born out purposes of an unequal distribution of political influence, economic power ○ Society is nothing more than a collection of individual units or social status. or atoms Whereas cleavage implies a split or division, encouraging us to treat 2. Organic theory of society social groups or collective bodies as entities in their own right, ○ Society may operate as an organic whole exhibiting identity links the personal to the social, in seeing the individual properties more normally associated with living organisms – as ‘embedded’ in a particular cultural, social, institutional and a human being or plant. ideological context. ○ societies are complex networks of relationships which ○ Identity refers to a sense of separate and unique selfhood, ultimately exist to maintain the whole: the whole is more but it also acknowledges that how people see themselves is important than its individual parts. shaped by a web of social and other relationships that ○ all social activity plays some part in maintaining the basic distinguish them from other people. structures of society, and can therefore be understood in ○ Identity thus implies difference; an awareness of terms of its ‘function’. difference sharpens or clarifies our sense of identity. 3. Conflict theory of society (Pluralist) ‘politics of recognition’ – based upon the idea that identity should ○ draws attention to conflict between the various groups and be fully and formally acknowledged, and that difference should be interests in society. embraced, even celebrated. ○ an open and competitive political system is capable of ○ Class reflects economic and social divisions, based upon ensuring social balance and of preventing a descent into an unequal distribution of wealth, income or social status. A unrest and violence. ‘social class’ is therefore a group of people who share a ○ Elite theories similar economic and social position, and who are thus highlight the concentration of power in the hands of a united by a common economic interest. small minority, and so underline the existence of ○ ‘Gender’ refers to social and cultural distinctions conflict between ‘the elite’ and ‘the masses’. between males and females, in contrast to ‘sex’ which ○ Marxism highlights biological and therefore ineradicable differences The most influential conflict theory of society between men and women.  ○ ‘Race’ refers to genetic differences among humankind which supposedly distinguish people from one another on biological grounds like skin or hair color, physique, physiognomy and the like. The term ‘ethnicity’ is therefore preferred by many because it refers to cultural, linguistic and social differences, not necessarily rooted in biology. ○ Religion Religious differences remain the obvious fault-lines within such societies. ○ Culture in general and language in particular have been very potent sources of political conflict, particularly in view of their importance in establishing national identity. Language embodies distinctive attitudes, values and forms of expression, helping to create a sense of familiarity and belonging. Culture, in its broadest sense, is the way of life of people. ○ A multicultural society is one characterized by cultural diversity arising from the existence, usually as a result of immigration, of two or more groups whose beliefs and practices generate a distinctive sense of collective identity. The political importance of culture has been underlined by: a. The advent of modern, multicultural societies b. The emergence of multiculturalism as a distinctive political stance or orientation Critique: multicultural societies as inherently fractured and conflict-ridden, arguing that successful societies must be based upon shared values and a common culture.  The use of violence, force or intimidation can be seen as ‘non-political’, indeed as the CHAPTER 3: Politics, Government, and the State breakdown of political process itself 2. Public affairs ○ The distinction between the ‘political’ and ‘non-political’ Politics is defined as: coincides with the division between the public and private 1. The art of government spheres of life ○ Classical definition of politics The traditional distinction between the public realm ○ The exercise of control within society through the making and the private realm conforms to the division and enforcement of collective decisions between the state and society ○ Politics can be understood to refer to the affairs of the polis State – a political association which exercises ○ Politics has therefore come to be associated with ‘policy’, sovereign power within a defined territorial formal or authoritative decisions that establish a plan of area; a collection of institutions that are action for the community. public because they are responsible for the David Easton defined politics as the authoritative collective organization of community life and allocation of values are thus funded at the public’s expense Polity – a system of social organization centered Society – a collection of autonomous groups upon the machinery of the government and associations, that are private in the sense ○ Politics is confined within governmental institutions that they are set up and funded by individuals People, social activities, and institutions outside to satisfy their own interests rather than those government are also outside of politics. of the larger society. Politics is confined to the formal exercise of authority ○ Politics is restricted to the activities of the state itself and within the machinery of government the responsibilities which are properly exercised by public ○ Politics refers not simply to the making of authoritative bodies decisions by government but rather to the particular means Areas of life in which individuals can and do manage by which these decisions are made. for themselves are regarded as ‘non-political’ Politics as the art of the possible; as a means of Politics stops only when it infringes upon ‘personal’ resolving conflict by compromise, conciliation and affairs and institutions negotiation ○ Therefore, politics is a public activity Politics is no utopian solution but only the 3. Power and resources recognition that if human beings cannot solve ○ Most radical definition of politics problems by compromise and debate they will Politics pervades every corner of human existence resort to brutality ○ Politics is at the heart of all collective social activity, formal 4. International/Supranational level – concerned with and informal, public and private, in all human groups, cultural, economic, and diplomatic relationships institutions and societies (Leftwich, 1984) between and amongst nation-states but also ○ Politics comprises any form of activity through which includes supranational bodies such as the UN etc. conflict about resource-allocation takes place ○ Politics is everywhere; given the widespread potential for Politics arises out of the existence of scarcity, out of power-related conflict, politics may come to be seen as the simple fact that while human needs and desires coextensive with social existence itself. are infinite, the resources available to satisfy them are always limited. Government Politics takes place whenever and wherever power To govern – to rule or exercise control over others and other resources are unequally distributed ○ The activity of government therefore involves the ability to Marxists – end of politics will occur once a make decisions and to ensure that they are carried out classless, communist society came into ○ Government exists whenever and wherever ordered rule existence, leaving no scope for class conflict, occurs and therefore no scope for politics. Government can be identified with a set of established and Modern feminists – politics of everyday life; permanent institutions whose function is to maintain public order relationships within the family, between and undertake collective action husbands and wives, parents and children, are Three functions of government: every bit as political as relationships between 1. Legislation or the making of laws employers and workers, government and its 2. Execution or implementation of laws citizens. 3. Interpretation of law, the adjudication of its meaning ○ Politics as the allocation of scarce resources occur at Issues surrounding the concept: different levels: 1. Although the need for some kind of government enjoys 1. Personal level – involves family and domestic life, near-universal acceptance, there are those who argue that where it is conducted through regular or continuous government is both oppressive and unnecessary (anarchism) face-to-face interaction 2. Government comes in such bewildering varieties that is 2. Community level – addressing local issues or difficult to categorize or classify its different forms disputes but moving away from face-to-face 3. Government cannot be understood in isolation, separate from interaction and towards some form of the society over where it rules. representation. 3. National level – focus upon the institutions of the Why have Government? nation-state and the activities of major political The classic argument in favor of government is found in parties and pressure groups social-contract theories  ○ Social-contract theorists see government as a necessary 2. Power is fragmented and dispersed throughout a defense against evil and barbarity. number of institutions, creating internal tensions or Arguments are referred from a hypothetical society checks and balances. without government, the so-called state of nature 3. Government is limited by the existence of a vigorous ○ Social-contract theory constitutes the basis of modern and independent civil society. political thought ○ The cornerstone of liberal democracy is political pluralism Anarchists hold a more optimistic view of human nature, The existence of a variety of political creeds, stressing the capacity for rational understanding, compassion, and ideologies or philosophies and of open competition cooperation, thus government and all forms of political authority are for power amongst a number of parties unnecessary. Post-communist governments ○ Distinguished by factors such as Governments and Governance 1. the absence or weakness of a civic culture that All governments have the objective of ensuring orderly rule but emphasizes participation, bargaining and consensus they do so in very different ways. 2. instabilities arising from the transition from central ○ One of the earliest attempts to classify forms of government planning to some form of market capitalism was undertaken by Aristotle: (DAMPOT) 3. the general weakness of state power reflected in the Democracy re-emergence of ethnic and nationalist tensions or the Aristocracy rise of organized crime Monarchy East Asian governments Polity – rule by many, interest of all ○ characterized by the priority given to boosting growth and Oligarchy delivering prosperity, over considerations such as Tyranny – worst, reduce citizens to slaves individual freedom in the Western sense of civil liberty. Liberal democracies ○ exhibit broad support for ‘strong’ government, sometimes ○ Respect the principle of limited government, which is exercised through powerful leaders or ‘ruling’ parties, upheld in 3 ways: underpinned by widely respected Confucian principles such 1. Liberal democratic government is constitutional as loyalty, discipline and duty. Constitution – defines the duties, Islamic governments responsibilities, and functions of the various ○ Contains both fundamentalist and pluralist forms government institutions and establishes the 1. Fundamentalist – political and other affairs are relationship between government and structured according to religious principles individual 2. Pluralist – Islam has the status of an official state religion but operates alongside a form of ‘guided’ democracy.  Military governments Inputs – consist both demands and supports ○ The classical form of military government is the junta, a Outputs – decisions and actions of government clique of senior officers that seizes power through a ○ Outputs generate feedback which in turn will shape further revolution or coup d'etat. demands and supports ○ Other forms of military government include ○ Stability is achieved only if outputs bear some relationship to military-backed personalized dictatorships and regimes in inputs. which military leaders content themselves with ‘pulling the strings’ behind the scenes. The State governance refers, in its widest sense, to the various ways in The state has which social life is coordinated. ○ Various institutions of government The growing emphasis upon governance resulted from ○ Individuals as citizens ○ The blurring boundaries between the state and civil society ○ Territorial component – authority confined to a precise ○ Government becoming increasingly complex, leading to the geographical area idea of multi-level governance ○ Sovereignty – absolute and unrestricted power The traditional image of government as a command and control State authority system has thus been displaced by one which emphasizes instead ○ Territorially limited bargaining, consultation and partnership. ○ Universal jurisdiction; everyone living within the state is subject to its authority Political Systems ○ Compulsory jurisdiction; backed up by coercion, i.e., A ‘system’ is an organized or complex whole, a set of interrelated legitimate violence as practical expression of state and interdependent parts that form a collective entity. sovereignty Systems analysis has broadened the understanding of government by Government is merely a part of the state; its mechanism, gives highlighting the complex interaction between it and the larger authoritative expression to the state society. State – permanent entity; government – temporary ○ Systems analysis therefore rejects a piecemeal approach to ○ Government power can be held in check only when the politics in favor of an overall approach: the whole is more current government is prevented from encroaching upon the important than its individual parts. absolute and unlimited power of the state A political system therefore extends far beyond the institutions of ○ The state reflects permanent interests of society; government government themselves and encompasses all those processes, is inevitably influenced by the politicians in power. relationships and institutions through which government is ○ Dictatorship likely occurs if government succeeds in linked to the governed. harnessing the sovereign power of the state to its own goals. ○ A political system consists of a linkage between what Easton called ‘inputs’ and ‘outputs’. Theories of the State 1. Liberal Theory of the State ○ Modern anarchists describe the state as ‘an instilled ○ State as a neutral entity acting in the interests of all and mentality for ordering reality’--the state is a state of mind representing what can be called the common good or public interest Role of the State 2. Pluralism 1. For classical liberals and the New Right ○ Political power is dispersed amongst a wide variety of social ○ State confined to a minimal role groups 1. Maintenance of domestic order, protecting individual ○ Equality exists among organized groups and interests in that citizens from one another each enjoys some measure of access to government and 2. Ensure voluntary agreements or contracts which government is prepared to listen impartially to all. private individuals enter into are respected done ○ Polyarchy – rule by the many through a court system 3. Neo-pluralist Theory 3. Need to provide protection against the possibility of ○ Modern industrialized state is both more complex and less external attack, necessitating some form of armed responsive to popular pressures. service ○ It is impossible to portray all organized interests as equally ○ Individuals should enjoy widest possible liberty powerful since a capitalist economy business enjoys ○ Economic and social matters should be left entirely in the advantages which other groups cannot rival hands of individuals or private businesses to ensure ○ Business class as more influential competitiveness, efficiency and productivity. 4. New Right 2. For communists ○ strong antipathy towards government intervention in ○ Abolishment of private enterprises and set up centrally economic and social life, born of the belief that the state is a planned economies parasitic growth which threatens both individual liberty and ○ Economy was transferred entirely from civil society to the economic security. state. 5. Elite theories 3. For totalitarian states ○ Political power is concentrated in the hands of the few ○ Construction of an all embracing state, whose influence ○ Classical and modern elite theories penetrates every aspect of human existence. 6. Marxism ○ Abolition of civil society, dissolving individual identity ○ the state emerges out of the class system, its function being within the social whole. to maintain and defend class domination and exploitation. ○ Politicize every aspect of human existence to establish 7. Anarchism comprehensive state control. ○ Most radical condemnation of state power; state is evil and Death of politics, as individuality, diversity and unnecessary as it only reflects the desire of those in power, conflict are abolished. to subordinate others for their own benefit.