Roskin Political Science Lecture Notes PDF

Know your professor Ph.D. in Political Science from Duke University, USA Undergraduate at University of Warwick, UK Previously: Postdoctoral Fellow at East Asia Center, University of Virginia and Center for the Study of Contemporary China, University of Pennsylvania...

Know your professor Ph.D. in Political Science from Duke University, USA Undergraduate at University of Warwick, UK Previously: Postdoctoral Fellow at East Asia Center, University of Virginia and Center for the Study of Contemporary China, University of Pennsylvania Research: Authoritarian politics, political institutions, political economy, China Twitter: @HongshenZhu Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Syllabus 1. Class participation (10%) Students are required to attend all the lectures and tutorial sessions. Students will be graded according to their degree of class participation and other relevant contributions to the class discussion. 2. Tutorial Team Presentation (20%) Each student will sign up a topic for presentation during the course within a team of 4. 3. Term Paper (20%) Each student based on their presentation will write a paper of approximately 7 pages including references (Times New Roman, 12-point font, double spaced). 4. Final Examination (50%) This will assess students’ understanding of the basic concepts, case studies, and debates encountered in this course. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Participation (10%) University regulation: “A student whose accumulated leave of absence exceeds one-third of the term should not be assessed and awarded credits for the courses enrolled in the term.” https://www.ln.edu.hk/f/upload/44090/arup4.pdf This 1/3 can consist of any combination of tutorial and lecture attendance (26 total). Somethings are more important than studying (e.g. health, family, etc.) You will be pardoned if your total absences are below or equal to five classes Note that medical leave is included in accumulated leave. No need to email me or give notice to me about your absence If your absence is higher than five, each absence will deduct 1/20 of the 10% grade Being absent for 10+ classes may face risk of not getting credits Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Political Science: An Introduction Fourteenth Edition, Global Edition Roskin | Cord | Medeiros | Jones Chapter 1 Politics and Political Science Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Learning Objectives 1.1 Evaluate the several explanations of political power. 1.2 Justify the claim that political science may be considered a science. 1.3 Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of several theoretical approaches to political science. 1.4 Contrast normative theories of politics to political science. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  What Is Politics? 1.1 Evaluate the several explanations of political power. Government context Nongovernment context – Happens in the workplace, families, classrooms Ongoing competition between people, usually in groups, to shape policy in their favor Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Political Power (1 of 4) Niccolò Machiavelli – Power to shape others' behavior Biological – Forming a political system and obeying is innate to human behavior. – How do we explain instances when political groups fall apart and people disobey authority? Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Political Power (2 of 4) Psychological – Similar to biological in terms of obedience – Milgram study ▪ Administration of shocks to a victim ▪ Administrators surrendered actions to authority figure. – "Groupthink" and obedience to authority Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Political Power (3 of 4) Cultural – Behavior is learned; "nature vs. nurture." – Holds that bad behavior can be unlearned and society improved, though slow change. – Contradictions ▪ Where does culture come from? ▪ If all behavior is cultural, political systems should all be different based on different cultures. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Political Power (4 of 4) Rational – People know what they want ▪ "Civil society" better than anarchy ▪ Classical political theorists Hobbes and Locke – How can we explain a change of mind? ▪ People make judgments all the time. Irrational – People are emotional. – "Feed people myths to control them." Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  What Is Political Science? 1.2 Justify the claim that political science may be considered a science. Differs from "politics" – Many find politics distasteful. Political scientists are like biologists who study a disease-causing bacterium. – Do not "like" bacterium – Interest in how it grows, does damage, etc. – Do not get angry at the bacterium and smash the glass Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Politicians Political Scientists love power are skeptical of power seek popularity seek accuracy think practically think abstractly hold firm views reach tentative conclusions offer single causes offer many causes see short-term payoff see long-term consequences plan for next election plan for next publication respond to groups seek the good of the whole seek name recognition seek professional prestige Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  The Master Science Aristotle – Founder of the discipline Political science is the "master science." Politics is the study of "who gets what" (Lasswell) Almost everything is political. – Economics especially Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Can Politics Be Studied as a Science? Science may imply a certain subject for study. Treating political science like natural science – Quantify data – Validate hypotheses Large areas of politics are not quantifiable. Empirical discipline – Accumulates quantified and qualitative data Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  The Struggle to See Clearly (1 of 2) More difficult to study things as they are than what one wishes them to be Reasoned – Stating assumptions to minimize bias – Max Weber ▪ Beware of structuring the study so it supports a given view. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  The Struggle to See Clearly (2 of 2) Balanced – Acknowledging that there are other ways of looking at the subject Supported with evidence – Qualitative, quantitative, and public – Primary and secondary sources Theoretical – Connected to a broader theoretical point ▪ Polemics Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  What Good Is Political Science? Pushing one's political views to the side – Not being so partisan in the first place Objective and complex analysis without bias, popularity, or simplification. Can warn those in office that all is not well, thus contributing to good government – U.S. in the 1960s – Iran under shah's regime Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  The Subfields of Political Science U.S. Politics Comparative Politics International Relations Political Theory Public Administration Constitutional Law Public Policy Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Theory in Political Science 1.3 Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of several theoretical approaches to political science. Knowledge is more than accumulating facts. Theories provide meaning for patterns of facts; they are not facts themselves. – Suggestions as to how the facts should be organized Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Behavioralism (1 of 2) Focus on institutions in the U.S. from late nineteenth century through mid-twentieth century – Communist and Fascist dictatorships launched reexamination. Claimed to concentrate on actual behavior as opposed to thoughts or feelings Took over field in 1960s Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Behavioralism (2 of 2) Criticism – Far from "scientific" and "value-free" – Focused on relatively minor topics and strayed from big questions Postbehavioral – Qualitative data of traditionalists – Quantitative data of behavioralists Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  New Institutionalism 1980s pull away from behavioralism Institutions not simply reflections of social forces Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Systems Theory (1 of 2) "Political systems" model devised by David Easton – Systems as entities similar to living organisms Politics of a given country work like a feedback loop Citizen "inputs" recognized by decision makers who process them into "output" decisions and actions. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Figure 1.1 A model of the political system. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Systems Theory (2 of 2) Issues – Feedback can be split. – Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia do not fit the systems model. – How could it explain the Vietnam war? – "Black box" Model is static, biased toward status quo, and unable to handle upheaval. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Figure 1.2 A modified model of the political system. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Rational-Choice Theory (1 of 2) Argue that one can predict political behavior by knowing interests of actors involved Enrages other political scientists with know-it-all attitude Theorists sometimes call themselves neoinstitutionalists. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Rational-Choice Theory (2 of 2) Contributed a lot despite not being a dominant paradigm Game theory – Constructing the proper game explains why policy outcomes are unforeseen but not accidental. – Games can be mathematized. – Weakness is correctly estimating expected payoffs. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  "Political Theory" versus Theory in Political Science 1.4 Contrast normative theories of politics to political science. Departments often house both political scientists and political theorists. – Scientists try to understand how things do work. – Theorists look at how things should work. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  The Normative Study of Politics (1 of 2) Aristotle was the first empirical political scientist. – Constructed Politics, which combined descriptive and normative approaches. European medieval and Renaissance political thinkers took a religious approach. – Seeking to discover the "should" Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  The Normative Study of Politics (2 of 2) Machiavelli – Realist who argued for rationality and toughness in exercising power Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  The Contractualists (1 of 2) Thomas Hobbes – "State of nature" before civil society was founded was bad. – People would prefer a bad monarch over anarchy. John Locke – Original state of nature was not bad but property was insecure. – Rights to life, liberty, and property Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  The Contractualists (2 of 2) Jean-Jacques Rousseau – "Noble savages" in the state of nature – Social Contract General will – What everyone wants over selfish needs – In a just society Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Marxist Theories (1 of 3) Things do not happen by accident. – Spiritual Zeitgeist Economics – "Surplus value" goes to capitalist owners. – Overworking, under-purchasing proletariat results in overproduction and depressions. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Marxist Theories (2 of 3) Social class – Small class of those with means to production – Large class of those who work for the small class – Bourgeoisie obsessed with hanging on to property ▪ Cause war because of need for economic gain – Proletariat has no country, but rather shared suffering under capitalists Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  Marxist Theories (3 of 3) History – Led to tyranny and failure in Communist countries – Still interesting and useful in a system of analysis – Contributions ▪ Societies are never fully unified and peaceful. ▪ We must always ask, "Who benefits?" in political controversy. – Capitalism has not collapsed due to its flexible nature. ▪ Marx missed the point that capitalism is not one simplified system. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.