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Introduction to Political Science Summary MidTerm
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Summary of the first half of the ipol course (including lectures and readings) this is all you have to know for the midterm
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Shortcuts:Sys = system
Int = international
Pol = politics
Sov = sovereignty
Indv = individual
Btw = between
Govt = government
Mvts = movements
Ideologies:
Liberalism (classical/modern): key ideas: individualism, freedom, reason, equality,
toleration, consent, constitutionalism
Early L rising middle class attacked absolutism and feudal privileges advocating constitutional
and representative govt
Older L focused on concept of free market
New L focused on society and welfare reforms
Classical L: extreme commitment to individualism/ atomism = negative liberty = absence of
external constraints on the indv, negative freedom = freedom FROM something, H = egotistical,
owning nothing to society, unsympathetic attitudes towards state and govt, state = necessary
evil, market is self regulatory = economic L laissez faire capitalism
Modern L: more support for ‘big’ govt (interventionist), positive freedom = personal
development, ability of the indv to gain fulfillment and achieve self realization, recognition of
state intervention, welfare liberalism (beveridge report 1942, 5 giants), Keynesianism approach
= regulated capitalism
Neoliberalism: An updated version of classical political economy that was developed in the
writing of free-market economists such as Hayek, central pillars = market and individual,
believing that unregulated market capitalism will deliver efficiency and growth (private good,
public bad). The ‘nanny state (a state with extensive social responsibilities) is seen to breed a
culture of dependence and to undermine freedom
Conservatism: key ideas: tradition, pragmatism, human imperfection, organicism, hierarchy,
authority, property
late 18th early 19th reaction against econ and pol change, wanted ancien regime back
E. Burke belief in “change in order to conserve”
Paternalistic conservatism: outgrowth of traditional C, UK divided into 2 nations “Rich and Poor”
(Disraeli), neo feudal ideas = noblesse oblige, Toryism = belief in hierarchy an emphasis on
tradition and support for duty and organicism, blend of market competition and govt regulation
After 1945 Christian Democracy (ideology within Eu C) social market principles and qualified
interventionism
The New Right: Reacting against apparent failure of Keynesian social democracy and concern
about “social breakdown”, attempted to marry 2 traditions: neoliberalism and neoconservatism
Neoconservatism: wishes to restore and return to traditional values (family, religion and the
nation), authority seen as guaranteeing social stability and social cohesion, emergence of
,multicultural and multi-religious societies as unstable, skeptical about growing influence of
supranational bodies (EU,UN)
Socialism: key ideas: community, fraternity, social equality, need, social class, common
ownership
Early S fundamentalist, utopian and revolutionary character
19th rev socialist followed Lenin called Communist
Reformist socialists came to be called social democracy
Marxism: economic sys conditions the pol superstructure sys, inevitable proletarian rev will
occur when proletariat have full class consciousness, class of itself and in itself
Social democracy: balance btw state and market, desire to humanize capitalism through state
intervention, Keynesian economy would secure full employment, mixed econ would help govt
regulate econ activity and comprehensive welfare provision funded via progressive taxation
Anarchism: belief that law, govt and state are indispensable, pol authority is evil and
unnecessary, preference for a stateless society
Feminism: society is characterized by gender inequality and that this structure of male power
should be overturned; Mary Wollstonecraft
First wave: women’s suffrage movement 1840s/50s
Second wave: more radical demands, enhance role of women in society 1960s
Third wave: diversity within gendered relations (= intersectionality), attention to diversity in
gender identities
Liberal F: goal is equal access for women and men to the public realm, based on a belief of
genderless personhood
Socialist F:seeks to restructure economic life to achieve gender equality, based in links between
patriarchy and capitalism
Radical F:aims to overthrow patriarchy through a radical transformation of all spheres of life, but
especially ‘the personal’.
Post - colonialism: focused on pol, societal, econ, cultural and psychological legacies of
colonialism, structural and institutional racism, it recognizes that ‘inner’ subjugation can persist
long after the political structures of colonialism have been removed, establishment of non
western and anti western pol ideas and traditions
Green Ideology: concern about the damage done to the natural world by the increasing econ
development, anxiety about the survival of the human species, offers an alternative to the
anthropocentric view of the world
Populism: appeals to voters’ gut feelings, frequently driven by rejection of minorities and their
rights, strong focus on a leader, skeptical of democratic institutions, suspecting elites to have
rigged them, “Power to the People”, bordering on Fascism?, people divided into 2 groups: pure
people and corrupted elite, anti pluralist
, Cosmopolitanism: ideological expression on globalization, all people are entitled to equal
consideration regarding their citizenship status or other affiliations
Modern C: moral or cultural character
Positivism: The theory that social, and indeed all forms of, enquiry should adhere strictly to the
methods of the natural sciences.
Poststructuralism: emphasizes that all ideas and concepts are expressed in language which
itself is enmeshed in complex relations of power, influenced by writings of Foucault, link btw
power and sys of thoughts using idea of discourse (human interaction, especially
communication), this implies that knowledge is power, reject the idea of absolute and universal
truth, they still argue that it is possible to expose hidden meanings in particular concepts,
theories and interpretations through a process of deconstruction (close reading of philosophical
or other texts with an eye to their various blind sports and contradictions)
NB: •Communism: normative ideal
•Socialism: political system
•Marxism: theory of history
Politics as an arena: associated with an arena or location, behavior becomes political bc of
where it takes place
Def: The art of government: exercise of control within society through the making and
enforcement of collective decisions, Public affairs: beyond politics itself, distinction btw public
and private; political and non political
Approaches: Behaviouralism, rational choice theory, institutionalism
Politics as a process: mechanism, political behavior takes place in any social contexts, relates to
the way decisions are made
Def: Compromise and consensus: pol as particular means of resolving conflict, Power and the
distribution of resources: politics as power, ability to achieve a desired outcome through
whatever means
Approaches: Feminism, Marxism, Post positivist approaches
Feminist and Marxists: “the personal is the political”
Approaches to the study of politics:
Philosophical: normative, ethical questions, what “should” be brought up
Empirical: descriptive, experience is the only basis on knowledge
Declining of the state:
State = emerged 16th 17th c, a system of centralized rule that succeeded in subordinating all
other institutions and groups
Key features of the state (inside):
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