POLI 1001 Final Exam Studying & Notes PDF

POLI 1001: Introduction to Government and Politics I\ Professor: Dr. Rachael Johnstone\ \ **Approaches to the study of politics**\ - Political analysis has three major branches:\ o Normative\ o Empirical\ o Semantic\ **Normative**\ - Questions about values\ o What kind of society should we want? Wha...

POLI 1001: Introduction to Government and Politics I\ Professor: Dr. Rachael Johnstone\ \ **Approaches to the study of politics**\ - Political analysis has three major branches:\ o Normative\ o Empirical\ o Semantic\ **Normative**\ - Questions about values\ o What kind of society should we want? What should we value?\ - These questions are necessary to the function/evaluation of politics\ **Empirical Analysis**\ - Aims to identify observable phenomena.\ o About how things are not how they ought to be\ **Semantic Analysis**\ - Focus on the meaning of concepts, their origins, and why/how we use them\ **Approaches do not function in isolation**\ o Data does not speak for itself\ - Neither do normative principles\ **Deductive and inductive theories**\ - Two major groupings of empirical approaches:\ o Deductive reasoning\ ▪ Creates theory from first principles\ ▪ Ex: Rational Choice Theory\ Individuals as self-interested, utility-maximizers\ **Prisoner's dilemma Takeaways**\ - Difficulty of reaching optimal outcomes\ - For rational choice theories → evidence of why individuals do not innately cooperate\ - Other theories → evidence for the value of cooperation\ **Deductive and inductive theories**\ - Inductive reasoning\ o Explanatory generalizations drawn from empirical observations\ o Ex: Behaviouralism **Difficulty defining the State**\ - Concept varies across space/time\ - Type of state also varies\ **What is the state?**\ - An important level of political analysis\ - A political community where a single mechanism exercise supreme authority within a given territory\ **Treaty of Westphalia (1648)**\ - Response to decades of conflicts in Europe\ - Enshrined norms of non-interference\ - European model of the state later exported\ o Often by force (Colonialism)\ **Weber**\ - State's have:\ o A bounded territory\ o Ultimate authority\ o Ability to use force\ **What pressures exist on weber's definition?**\ **Marx**\ - State is:\ o An apparatus ("superstructure")\ o That produces and protects capitalism ("mode of production")\ o Primary function → entrench/enforce class relations\ **Weber v. Marx**\ **Describe the state differently:**\ Weber → State as an apparatus of power\ Marx → State as a result of power\ Locke → State's primary purpose is to protect private property **What is political Theory?**\ - Theories which ask one or more of the following:\ 1. What virtues of individuals does good governance require?\ 2. What institutions are needed in a good society?\ 3. What ends/ideals should a good society promote?\ **Machiavelli (1469-1527)**\ - Wrote: The Prince\ o Written while he was in exile\ - Focused on the traits a virtuous prince should posses\ o Roman sense of virtue → strong, capable, courageous, seeking glory\ - The Lesson: We cannot understand historical thought without its context **Rawls (1921-2002)** **The Veil of Ignorance** **Q. How would you set up the institutions of society? What principles, values, and ideals, do you think are important in creating an ordered society?** **Behind the Veil**\ - You have no knowledge of your\...\ o Place in society\ o Class\ o Social Status\ o Wealth\ o Talents\ o Natural abilities\ o Opinion about the good/justice/values\ o Natural levels of optimism/pessimism/risk-taking\ - You do know:\ o Basic facts about humans\ ▪ We need to eat, cannot fly, etc.\ o Basic facts about human psychology\ ▪ are roughly equal (no Superheroes), have likes/dislikes,\ beliefs\ o Moderate scarcity\ ▪ We do not have unlimited material resources\ o Basic facts about institutions/economics/politics\ **What Is Rawls' view?**\ - Two basic principles:\ 1. Equal basic liberty\ 2. Equal offices\ o Difference principle\ **Why have a state and a government?**\ - Power\ - Power ≠ authority\ o Power implies coercion\ o Authority does not\ **Political authority**\ - Legitimate Political Authority: The right to command and the right to be obeyed\ o Distinct from power (ability to compel compliance)\ - De jure authority synonymous with political authority\ - De facto authority compels with force (i.e. a mugger)\ **Autonomy**\ - Autonomy: Freedom to govern oneself combined with responsibility to use our reason.\ - Assumes that:\ o We have an obligation to use our reason\ o Humans are responsible for their actions\ o Responsibility requires consideration of one's actions\ ▪ Self-legislating\ **Q. What is the problem with authority and autonomy for Wolff?**\ **Autonomy v. Authority**\ - The state is defined through its authority\ - Humans are defined by their autonomy\ - No clear room for reconciliation\ o Anarchism only clear choice\ **So, why do we obey authority?**\ - Tradition\ - Official positions\ - Extraordinary characteristics\ **Key concepts**\ - The State of Nature\ o Some sort of pre-social state of affairs\ o Varies enormously amongst thinkers\ - The Social Contract\ o Thought exercise\ ▪ Can be real or hypothetical\ - Consent\ o Agreeable or favourable disposition to a proposition\ ▪ Hypothetical Consent: never really happened (What would people consent to?)\ ▪ Tacit Consent: silent/unspoken consent\ ▪ Explicit Consent: defined articulation of consent\ o Contracts we're looking at rely on hypothetical consent\ **Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)**\ - State of nature:\ o Horrible place\ o Life in state of nature is "nasty, brutish, and short"\ - Why do we need a contract?\ o To create stability\ - What does the contract require?\ o Majority consent to give authority to sovereign\ o Acquisition to sovereign's authority **John Locke (1632-1704)**\ - State of nature:\ o Governed by three natural laws (God given):\ ▪ Duty not to harm others\ ▪ Duty to preserve self\ ▪ Duty to preserve others wherever possible\ - Why do we need a contract?\ o Inconvenient to obey three laws\ - What does the contract require?\ o Unanimous individual consent\ **Wolff, Locke, and Hobbes**\ - All recognize conflict between people and authority\ - Each offer a different solution:\ o Wolff → No legitimate political authority, but state's are important/fact of life\ o Hobbes → Consent (probably a monarchy)\ o Locke → Consent (results vary) **History of democracy** - Roots of democracy can be traced to Ancient Greece - Form of direct democracy - Evidence of democratic norms also in North America - Great Law of Peace - Influential in American and French Revolutions - No universally accepted definition - But some common ground - Promotion of: - The "common good" - Political equality 1. That all should govern in the sense that all should be involved in legislating, in deciding on general policy, in applying laws, and in government administration. 2. That all should be personally involved in crucial decision-making (in deciding on general laws and matters of general policy) 3. That rulers should be accountable to the ruled (that is, be obliged to justify their actions to the ruled and be removable by the ruled) 4. That rulers should be accountable to the representatives of the ruled 5. That rulers should be chosen by the ruled 6. That rulers should be chosen by the representatives of the ruled 7. That rulers should act in the interests of the ruled - Democratic rule assumes people should govern themselves - Disputes concern how they should do this - Three dominant theories: 1. Protective theory 2. Participation theory 3. Deliberative democracy - Protective theory - Direct democracy as unrealistic/undesirable - Participatory theory - Active participation creates better citizens - Deliberative democracy - Debate increases legitimacy of democratic decisions 1. Inherent value - Is it good in itself? 2. Instrument value - Is it good for its effects? 3. Incidental value - Does it have good side-effects? - A "demanding system" - Not reducible to majority rule - Necessitates: - Voting and respect for election results - Protections of liberties/freedoms - Respect for legal entitlements - Free discussion - Uncensored distribution of new and fair comment 1. Intrinsic importance of political participation and freedom 2. Instrumental importance of keeping government accountable 3. Constructive role in the formation of values and understanding of needs/rights/duties - Does not need to be accepted by all - But everyone has reason to accept it **Why is ideology so important?**\ - Allows us to organize our interpretations of facts/events/actions\ - Reflects/shapes social/historical circumstances\ - Hugely influential\ **What is political ideology?**\ "\[A\] set of ideas, beliefs, opinions, and values that":\ (1) demonstrate a recurring pattern\ (2) are held by significant groups\ (3) aim to influence public policy\ (4) in order to justify, contest, or change social and political\ arrangements/processes.\ Freedan (2003, 32) **Left/Right spectrum**\ - Origins in French Revolution\ - Attempt to impose clarity\ o Continuum itself largely ideological\ **Ideological denial**\ - Ideology, for many, is a bad word\ - Some deny that they are ideologies at all\ **The end of ideology?**\ - Growing confluence of existing ideologies by the mid 20thC\ o Is the concept still useful?\ ▪ Probably yes\ - Not just about grand principles\ - Reclaimed by "the people"\ - Explicit rather than imposed\ **A note on terminology**\ - Ideologies interpret and seek to control political language\ o Necessarily interpret language differently\ - They are political tools\ o Judged on their relevance/ability to shape society "\[E\]lusiveness is not simply dissimulation, trickery, or sloppy thinking -- though it may be any of these -- but the harnessing of political language in order to provide one of the most valuable scare resources of politics: public political backing." (Freedan 2003, 57) **Marxism**\ - Ideology = ideas/tool of the ruling class (the bourgeoisie)\ o Myth of unified political community\ - Core Principles:\ o Historical materialism\ o Dialectical materialism\ o Alienation\ o Class Struggle\ o Surplus value\ o Proletarian Revolution\ o What is Liberalism?\ **Liberalism**\ - Common portrayal:\ ▪ Meta-ideology of the West\ o Morally neutral\ - Core principles:\ o Liberty\ o Individualism\ o Freedom\ o Equality\ o Toleration\ o Consent\ **Offshoots of liberalism**\ - Classical Liberalism\ o Limited role of the state\ ▪ Internal/external security & protection of private property\ - New (or modern) Liberalism\ o More sympathetic to state intervention (e.g. welfare state)\ o Social reform to correct inequality\ - Neoliberalism\ o Return to classical liberalism (kind of)\ o Favours deregulation/privatization\ o Rollback of welfare state **Are there Alternatives?** Francis Fukuyama **Q. Are there alternatives to liberalism?**\ No real alternatives\ Critiques from the right and left\ Right\ o Thin sense of community\ o Concerns about bureaucratic power\ Left\ o Huge inequalities persist\ o System fails to rise to today's challenges\ **Implications of these critiques**\ From the right\ o Push towards authoritarianism\ From the left\ o Push towards anarchism\ **What happened to American Conservatism?** David Brooks **Q. How does Brooks characterize conservatism?**\ - Sentiment over reason\ o Value of cultural wisdom\ o Trust in emotional responses\ - Compelling account of human nature\ - Social vision not limited to institutions\ o Includes development of good citizens\ **Q. What is Brooks' core argument?**\ - American instantiations of conservatism antithetical to classical conservatism\ - American conservatism is in tension with itself\ o Backward and forward-looking\ o Values stability and change\ o Materialist and morally rooted\ **Q. How did conservatism "devolve into Trumpism"?**\ - Brooks offers three reasons:\ 1. Race\ 2. Economics\ 3. Loss of national confidence\ - Cause held together by "hatred of the Other"\ o State of perpetual war\ **Conservatism**\ - Core principles:\ o Anxiety about change\ o Value of tradition\ o Social order outside human control\ o Human imperfection\ o Hierarchy\ o Authority\ o Property\ **Socialism**\ - Core principles:\ o Community\ o Equality\ o Social Class\ o Common Ownership\ **Thin ideologies**\ - More restricted in ambition/scope\ **Nationalism**\ - Ubiquitous but limited in scope\ - Sole focus on the role of the nation\ **Populism**\ - Focuses on candidates/movements that identify with "the people" \- Claim that other groups/interests are damaging the people's interests\ - Present themselves as:\ o Anti-elite\ o Anti-pluralist\ - Often seen as anti-democratic\ **Anarchism**\ - Distrust/rejection of state\ - Society based on agreement/cooperation\ - Optimistic about human nature\ **Feminism**\ - Starts from the premise that gender inequality is unjust\ - Sex/gender as primary social divisors\ - Critiques the way ideologies are mapped\ o State focus obscures other power-dynamics\ **Waves of feminism**\ - First wave\ o Equal rights in public sphere\ ▪ Suffrage\ - Second Wave\ o Public/private spheres\ o Not equality, but liberation\ o Critiqued for universalizing experiences\ - Third Wave\ o Continued work of second wave\ o New focus on intersectionality\ **Political parties and ideologies**\ - Political ideologies shape and are shaped by political actors\ - Most modern ideologies are represented by political parties\ o The ideology and party line are not necessarily identical\ o Conservatism ≠ the Conservative Party **What is identity politics?** - Formulating an emancipatory political agenda for a specific identity group - Goal: self-determination - What constitutes an "identity" is disputed - Often treated as a wedge issue **Identity politics** - Source of major political change - Generally seen as an extension of liberal ideas - Two main beliefs underlie IP: - Identities are repositories of knowledge - Oppressed groups must lead their own liberation **Origins** - The term emerged in the 1970s **Shift in attitudes towards IP** - Common criticisms: - Opposition to a group's objectives or approach - Overemphasis on difference **Critiques** 1. Fractures political communities 2. Insufficiently emancipatory 3. Epiphenomenal to genuine sources of oppression **Fractures political communities** - Problem of intersectionality - Use of strategic essentialism - **Intersectionality:** "no axis of identity can be understood as separable from others" **Insufficiently emancipatory** - Problem of IP: - Defines identity in relation to dominant constructions - New definitions dependent on dominant constructions **Epiphenomenal to genuine sources of oppression** - Real roots of oppression are material, not cultural **Is race political?** (Debra Thompson) **Q.** **What does Thompson argue? What are the main takeaways from this piece?** **Is race political?** - Yes, it is "\[u\]ndeniably political both in content and consequences" (526). - Utilizes broader conception of politics **Defining Race** - Socially constructed over time - State "heavily involved" - "Conceptually fuzzy" - Self-identification (subjective) - Lack of systemization **Q. Should we collect data based on race?** - Statistics are important for recognition - But they require the creation of categories - Benefits likely outweigh harms **Why isn't there more work on race in Canadian political science?** - Dominant narrative ignores/denies racial problems - Problems of rigour in studying race - Significant focus on elites/institutions - In which minorities are underrepresented - Two pervasive ideas: 1. Two-founding nations 2. Anti-Americanism **Where do we go from here?** - Reconsider focus on elites/institutions - Recognize pervasiveness of race across subfields **Thinking critically about identity** - Are identities real? - Identities are socially constructed - They are "socially embodied facts about ourselves and the world" (Alcoff and Mohanty 2006, 6) **Takeaways** - Identities matter - Identities are mutable - IP held to dramatically different standards than other approaches **What is political culture?** - A shared way of life - Ideas/values/beliefs/symbols/orientations towards political system - Distinct from public opinion - Learned, but difficult to change "Culture is something like the air we breathe. It is all around and in us. We take it for granted. Culture changes slowly. Stable and enduring, it is more like climate than like the weather, whose buffeting storms are transient. Culture does not come and go, as does fashion. It is cross-generational: we inherit it from our forbears, teach it to our children, and transmit it to future generations." (Wiseman 2007, 13-14) **Why is political culture so important?** - Describes differences between people and states - Explains why some groups hold power - Determines a regime's legitimacy **Conceptual Challenges** - Both conceptual and methodological challenges - Incorrect assumption of a single political culture - Relationship between attitudes and institutions unclear - Both shapes and is shaped by the state **Why study political culture?** - It seems to explain something important about politics - Political actors believe political culture matters - It may help to explain policy outcomes **Nationalism, membership and the Politics of minority Claims-making** **Keith Banting, Allison Harell, and Will Kymlicka** **Q. What puzzle does this piece address?** - Marginalization within national communities - Some believe it to be inevitable - Some suggest that inclusion is possible, under two conditions: 1. Immigrants/minorities given accessible path to full membership 2. Immigrants/minorities show commitment to join the nation **Q. What method did they employ?** - Experimental survey (N = 2100) - Tested responses to four groups: - Seniors - French-speaking Quebeckers - Immigrants - Aboriginal Peoples **Findings** - Membership penalties evident for: - French-speaking Quebeckers - Immigrants - Aboriginal Peoples - Their right to make claims seen as lower than the majority - Explained in part by perception of a lack of social commitment - Membership penalties variable **Q. What lingering normative issues do they identify?** - Why should the legitimacy of minorities by dictated by majority perceptions? **What is multiculturalism?**\ - Mosaic \> Melting pot\ - Often juxtaposed with nationalism\ o But this does not bear out in practice\ - Difference not merely tolerated, but affirmed/celebrated\ **Canadian multiculturalism policy**\ - Stability depends on constructive responses to diversity\ - 1971 → Multicultural policy (largely symbolic)\ - 1982 → Multiculturalism enshrined in Charter (S. 27)\ - 1988 → Multiculturalism Act\ - Multiculturalism part of Canadian national identity\ **Does cultural identity matter?**\ - Yes, because Individual identity is culturally embedded\ o Important for self/group definition and recognition\ o Necessary for the exercise of choice\ - Not everyone agrees that cultural identity matters\ **The puzzle**\ - How do we balance diversity against cohesion?\ o Possible answer: Multiculturalism\ - How do we balance group rights with the primacy of individuals in liberalism?\ **Kymlicka**\ - Seeks to reconcile liberalism with multiculturalism\ - Starts with two premises:\ o Culture enables individual autonomy\ o Cultural is instrumentally valuable for individual self-respect\ - 3 silos of group accommodation\ **Immigrant/Ethnicity Groups**\ - Assimilationist approach replaced with:\ o Point system\ o Multicultural conception of integration\ - Key claims: Religious and cultural recognition\ **Indigenous People**\ - White Paper (1969)\ o Attempts to abolish Indian Act rejected\ - Charter of Rights and Freedoms\ o S. 25 and 35\ - Shift from paternalism/assimilation to self-government\ - Key claim: Self-determination\ **Francophones/Quebecois** \- 1960s → Quiet Revolutions\ - 1969 → Official Languages Act\ o Shift from second class citizenship to linguistic equality\ - Key claim: Cultural recognition\ **Takeaways?**\ - There is no singular model of Canadian diversity\ - Multiculturalism is a positive force\ o Not contrary to liberalism\ **Guy Rocher, unrepentant critic of Canadian multiculturalism"**\ Jean-Philippe Warren **Q. What are Rocher's critiques of Multiculturalism?**\ - It undermines the "bicultural and binational nature of Canadian society"\ o Front for English-language assimilation\ - Believes language and culture cannot be separated\ - Multiculturalism cannot be the foundation of a nation **"What has multiculturalism achieved in Canada and what are its challenges?"**\ Ratna Ghosh **Q. What did multiculturalism achieve? What are its challenges?**\ - Achievements\ o Recognized Canada's demographic diversity\ o Paradigm shift in ideology (from homogeneity to heterogeneity)\ - Challenges\ o Obscures structural inequities/racism\ o "Vertical mosaic" still in place\ **Critiques of multiculturalism**\ - Reinforces an essentialist view of culture\ - Fears that it:\ o Threatens political stability\ o Endangers individual rights\ o Encourages social breakdown/violence