Introduction To Comparative Politics PDF

INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS SOVEREIGNTY, AUTHORITY, AND POWER What exactly is a state? State as the MAX WEBER organization that maintains a monopoly of violence over a territory....

INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS SOVEREIGNTY, AUTHORITY, AND POWER What exactly is a state? State as the MAX WEBER organization that maintains a monopoly of violence over a territory. What exactly is a state? The state defines who can and cannot use weapons and force, and it sets the rules as to how violence is used. States often sponsor armies, navies, and/or air forces that legitimately use power and sometimes violence, but individual citizens are very restricted in their use of force. States also include institutions: stable, long- lasting organizations that help to turn States, Nations, and Regimes The concept of state is closely related to a nation, a group of people bound together by a common political identity. Nationalism is the sense of belonging and identity that distinguishes one nation from another. Nationalism is often translated as patriotism, or the ACTIVITY: FIND-A-PAIR COR…RUP...TION Compare and contrast the causes and consequences of corruption across two distinct countries or regions. What factors contribute to the prevalence and persistence of corruption in these contexts? What are the most effective anti-corruption strategies employed globally? Analyze the successes and failures of these strategies in relation to political, economic, and social conditions. How does civil society contribute to the fight against Need for the study of comparative governments A comparative study of governments not only streamlines the progress of objective and rational judgement about political systems, but at the same time disperses the dangerously ambiguous form of ethnocentrism, that one’s own country is superior to any other.  It is well known that Aristotle, in his time, compared and contrasted various political systems and developed an explanatory theory regarding their generation. In a way, Aristotle was certainly the first scholar of comparative politics and considered the study of comparative politics as the oldest and most significant to What is Politics? When the American president and Congress start their annual tussle over the federal budget, they are clearly engaged in politics. When terrorists crashed hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001, their acts were patently political. SITUATIONS A family discussing where to take its vacation. A country deciding whether to go to war. The world seeking to limit the damage caused by pollution.  We live in groups that must reach collective decisions about sharing resources, about relating to other groups and about planning for the future. As social creatures, politics is part of our fate: we have no choice but to practice it. Politics is what we are for. -Aristotle  So one aim of politics is compromise: to reach an agreement acceptable to all even if the first choice of none. Crick (2000, p. 21) defines politics as the ‘activity by which differing interests within a given unit of rule are conciliated by giving them a share in power in proportion to their importance to the welfare and the survival of their community’. Political Culture and Political Ideologies Types of Political Culture 1. What is political culture? 2. Compare and contrast consensual and conflictual political culture. POLITICAL CULTURE POLITICAL CULTURE Political culture refers to the collection of political beliefs, values, practices, and institutions that the government is based on.  For example, if a society values individualism, the government will generally reflect this value in the way that it is structured and in the way that it operates. If the government does not reflect basic political values of a people, it will have difficulty remaining viable. POLITICAL CULTURE may be analyzed in terms of social capital-- amount of reciprocity and trust that exists among citizens, and between citizens and the state. Societies with low amounts of social capital may be more inclined toward authoritarian and anti-individual governments, and societies with more social capital may be inclined toward Types of Political Culture Consensual political culture Although citizens may disagree on some political processes and policies, they tend generally to agree on how decisions are made, what issues should be addressed, and how problems should be solved. -By and large, a consensual political culture accepts both the legitimacy of the regime and solutions to major problems. Conflictual political culture Citizens in a conflictual political culture are sharply divided, often on both the legitimacy of the regime and its solutions to major problems.  For example, if citizens disagree on something as basic as capitalism vs. communism, conflict almost certainly will be difficult to avoid.  No matter how we categorize political cultures, they are constantly changing, so that over time, conflictual political cultures may become consensual, and vice versa. -So when the Russian president dictates a major change of policy, the Chinese government enforces economic development of rural lands, the British prime minister endures another round of derision, or Mexican citizens take a liking to a leftist leader, you POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES Political culture also shapes political ideologies that a nation’s citizens hold. Political ideologies are sets of political values held by individuals regarding the basic goals of government and politics. An ideology refers to a set of ideas that “structure political understanding and so set goal and inspire activism, shape the nature of political systems, and act as a form of social cement” (Heywood, 2017). LIBERALISM Liberalism places emphasis on individual political and economic freedom. Liberalism is part of the political culture of many modern democracies, including the United States.  Liberals seek to maximize freedom for all people, including free speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of association. Liberals also believe that citizens have the right to disagree with state decisions and act to change the decisions of their leaders. COMMUNISM Communism rejects the idea that personal freedom will ensure prosperity for the majority. It holds that an inevitable result of the competition for scarce resources is that a small group will eventually come to control both the government and the economy. COMMUNISM For communists, liberal democracies are created by the rich to protect the rights and property of the rich. To eliminate the inequalities and exploitation, communists advocate the take over of all resources by the state that in turn insures that true economic equality exists for COMMUNISM As a result, private ownership of property is abolished. Individual liberties must give way to the needs of society as a whole, creating what communists believe to be a true democracy. SOCIALISM shares the value of equality with communism but is also influenced by the liberal value of freedom. Unlike communists, socialists accept and promote private ownership and free market principles. SOCIALISM socialists believe that the state has a strong role to play in regulating. the economy or even owning key industries within it, and pro viding benefits to the public in order to ensure some measure of equality. Comparison with Other Ideologies Liberalism Socialism Communis m maximizes improves overthrows capitalism capitalism capitalism follows free uses mixed imposes market economy state economy collectivizati  Liberalism Socialism Communism allows private surrenders surrenders all property private private property that property generates wealth to the government maintains eliminates or eliminates class divisions eases class class divisions divisions  Liberalism Socialism Communism sees the state regards the uses the state as a neutral state as a as an arbiter representation instrument to of the common ease class good conflict views human regards regards nature as humans as humans as intrinsic to the social social individual creatures creatures Short-Answer Paragraph. Answer the following questions in two to three sentences. 1. What is the relationship between private owners of the means of production and wage laborers in a capitalist society? 2. How does exploitation occur in a capitalist society? 3. How will the revolution of the proletariat