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Samenvatting political science – comparative government and politics.
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Samenvatting political science – comparative government and politics.Semester 2. 2018-2019.
Chapter 1.
4 main themes:
Systematic and comparative overview of the key concepts.
1. Political concepts: politics, power, state.
2. Political institutions: democratic models.
3. Political actors and behaviors: voters, political parties.
4. Political outcomes: quality of government.
Political science: a social science discipline (menselijke relaties ect.)
What is political science? -> study of governments, public policies and political processes, system
and political behavior. ‘Master science’ -> Aristotle.
Comparative politics:
Broadening understanding.
Enabling classification. -> bepaalde specificaties.
Testing hypotheses.
Prediction and control.
Politics is the progress by which people negotiate and compete to reach and enforce college time
decisions.
Concept = a term, idea or category such as power or democracy.
Conception = a broader understanding or interpretation of a concept.
Government and governance.
Government = institution and offices through which societies are governed.
In democracy: government offers security and predictability.
Governance = the process by which decisions/ laws/ policies are made, with or without the input
of formal institutions.
Politics.
Politics = the process by which people negotiate and compete in the process of making and
executing shared or collective decisions.
Three aspects of politics:
1. Collective activity, between and among people.
2. Involves making decisions on matters affecting two or more people.
3. Once reached, political decisions become authoritative policy for the group.
Two approaches of what is politics/ political:
1. Politics as an arena= behavior becomes political because of where it takes place.
Art of government.
Public affairs.
o (public or private).
2. Politics as a process= behavior becomes political because of distinctive qualities.
o Politics as conflict and compromise. People disagree, linked with: conflict and
cooperation. -> diversity and scarcity (not enough).
Politics as power. (Lasswell) Who gets; what, when, how? -> study of shaping and sharing power.
,Power= the capacity to bring about intended effects.
Different sources of power:
Political power.
Military power.
Economic power.
Intellectual power.
Approaches to study politics:
Theoretical approaches:
School of thoughts or ways of study politics.
Influence identifying and structuring what question to ask.
And where
Five theoretical approaches:
1. Institutional:
Important tradition in comparative politics. -> organizations matter more than the people
(shape individual behaviors). institutions, politics. -> vooral instituties, hoe deze elkaar
kunnen beïnvloeden.
2. Behavioural:
Individuals rather than institutions (political attitudes and behavior), social science. People
(individuals), natural sciences. -> met name individu.
3. Structural:
Objective relation between social groups (embrace change). Networks (individual/
groups), history. -> interactie als factor voor handelen, (groepsdruk).
4. Rational:
Focus on individual rather than social groups. Rationality/ self-interest as core
assumptions. Choises (interests), economics. -> maximal voor zichzelf. Eigenbelang.
5. Interpretive:
Focus on ideas and interpretations, ideas rather than material forces -> social approach
rather than psychological one. Ideas, sociology. -> idee wat participatie. Hoe burgers
ergens over denken.
Power.
Politics as power: who should get what, when and how?
The study of shaping and sharing power.
Power (to) = the capacity to bring about intended effects, ability to achieve goals.
Power (over) = forceful mode to influence, focus on relationships.
Three dimensions of power:
1. Power as decision-making = who prevails when preferences conflict? The greater the
correspondence between a person’s view and decisions reached, the greater is that
person’s influence. (Dahl)
2. Power as agenda setting = who controls whether preferences are expressed?
(Bachrach/ Baratz). -> wel of niet op de agenda.
3. Power as thought control = who can shape preferences? (Lukes). -> hoe komt een
voorkeur tot stand, wie bepaald deze voorkeur.
VB. war in Syria.
Assads power over people.
1. Decision-making power: regime.
, 2. Non-decision making (agenda setting): people (changes needed).
3. Preference formation (thought control): Assad -> people busy with ISIS, forgetting Assad.
Political power = the ability held by individuals and groups in society that allows them to create
and enforce laws and policies for the community.
The state, authority and legitimacy.
Four interconnected concepts (elements of political power):
1. Power.
2. Authority = the right to exercise power and influence of a particular position that comes
with that position. -> mensen hebben het recht om een bepaalde vorm van macht uit te
voeren.
3. Legitimacy = people belief that the power-holders have right to exercise power and
authority. (different from legality = being lawful). -> mensen vinden het terecht dat een
bepaald persoon macht geniet. (Trump has authority but not the legitimacy).
o Can we have legitimacy without authority? yes, people accept the idea of
someone who has no formal authority, but people follow the person.
4. Jurisdiction (sovereignty) = the territory/ sphere of activity over which the legal authority
of (political) power extends.
Types of political power:
1. Legislative = the power to make laws and policies.
2. Executive = the power to put plans, policies or laws into effect and enforce them.
3. Judiciary = the power to interpret las and punish who brake them.
Ideology.
An ideology today, understood as any system of thought expressing a view on:
Human nature.
The proper organization of, and relationship between state and society.
The individual’s position within this prescribed order.
Ideology = system of connected believes, shared view of the world/ blueprint for how politics,
economics and society should be structured.
Figure 1.1: five major ideologies: p.11
Ideology Typical features.
Anarchism All forms of governmental authority are unnecessary, and society is best
structured around voluntary cooperation and free association.
Marxism Elimination of the states and private property will lead to the creation of
classless, non-exploitative and self-governing society.
Liberalism Individuals are the best judges of their own interests. Tolerant society,
maximizes personal freedom, government which is limited but freely elected.
Conservatis Traditional institutions and practice work best, free market most efficient at
m meeting social needs, government should be as decentralized as possible.
Fascism Achievement of national unity through an authoritarian state, strong leadership,
mass mobilization and emphasis on nationalism and militarism.
Comparative politics.
Goal of comparative politics -> to understand how political institutions and processes operate by
examining their workings across a range of countries.
, Broadening understanding.
Improves our understanding of government and politics. Comparing our system with other
systems.
Interpret the news + helps with practical political relationships.
Predicting political outcomes.
Helps understanding possible outcome of elections.
Classifying political systems.
Typology = system of classification by which states, institutions, processes, political cultures and
so on divided into groups or types with common sets of attributes.
We can make broad assumptions about the states in each group.
Aristotle based his scheme (stability and effectiveness) on two dimensions:
1. The number of people involved in the task of governing. -> participation.
2. Whether rulers governed in the common interest or in their own interest. -> stability.
Typology of political systems. Figure 1.2 Aristotle’s classification of governments p. 14.
Aristotle’s classification of political systems. -> This is different from our conception!
Who rules? -> One person The few The many
Who benefits?
Rulers Tyranny Oligarchy Democracy
All Monarchy Aristocracy polity
Three worlds system:
1. First world: democratic industrialized states, most of which partners in the Western
alliance against communism.
2. Second world: communist systems, including most of those states ranged against the
Western alliance.
3. Third world: poorer, less democratic, less developed states.
Chapter 2.
What is a state?
State = territory, population, marked by borders, having a government that is regarded as both
sovereign by the citizens of the state and other governments of other states.
(Figure 2.1: the qualities of a state p. 21)
People/ citizen = mass of population living within the state.
Territory = fixed portion of the surface of the earth inhabited by the people of the state.
Government = managing authority through which the will of the state is formulated,
expressed and carried out.
o Government policies and activities rather than institutions. (good governance VS
democracy).
Sovereignty = supreme source of authority of the state to command and enforce
obedience (internal), which is recognized by other states (external).
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