Cato Sluyts
Introduction to politics
Raube, Skrypal
Block 1, concepts, theories and ideologies in politics
WHAT IS POLITICS AND WHY DOES IT MATTER (04/10/2022)
“Politics is the art or science of directing and administrating states or other political units.”
-> “Politics applies only to human beings or at least those beings which can communicate
symbolically, and thus make statements, invoke principles, argue and disagree (but can be
about non-human beings).” – Oxford dictionary
“Politics is the gathering and being-together of those who are different […] politics
originates from the in-between-humans, (so no zoion politikon).” – Hannah Arendt
Greek system: difference to community of éthnos (heritage) and the economics of the realm
of the oikos (family)
Polis = city, it’s citizens and constitutions
Tà politika = public affairs of the polis
Polity = the institutional dimension
Policy = content/material dimension politics
Politics = the process dimension
Diversity = different interests and values
Scarcity = being short of goods
The study of politics is a study of power in which political power evolves -> power as a
process is the essence of political science, all factors that play into this process matter ->
thus politics/political science cannot be separated from the other disciplines.
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,Cato Sluyts
WHAT IS POLITICS AND WHY DOES IT MATTER (06/10/2022)
polity policy politics
Institutional dimension or Content or material Political process dimension
order of political system dimension of politics within which political
decisions are taken
E.g., elections: mix between polity and politics
Diaspora = a group of people who spread from one original country to other countries, or
the act of doing so
Why do we need (the study) of politics
• Distributive justice (fair and just distribution of economic goods)
• Recognition of honors (politics of recognition)
• Relationship between liberty and equality (liberty over equality over liberty)
• Relationship between majority and minority
The end of history = victory of capitalism and democracy
• Spread and diffusion of liberal democratic values (‘liberal script’)
• Democratic peace and integration into the capitalist world economy
(interdependence) because democracies do not fight each other
-> But currently democracies are having a hard time because of the contestation growing
But there are new players e.g., the upcoming Chinese capitalism doesn’t come with
democracy
Contestation growing
• Alternatives to the liberal democratic model (developmental models)
• Nationalism (who is the dominant nation in a region rather than how to coexist)
• Identity politics (e.g., black lives matter)
• Globalization (a lot of effect on politics, we’re becoming alike)
• Anti-politics and populism (“get rid of the elites = ruling class”)
What is the key focus of political studies
• The state: “the monopoly of legitimate use of physical force” -Weber
• Sovereignty (state as the supreme law-making body over a given territory and
people)
• Activities of the state and the public realm
• Decision-making based on compromises and consensus and political institutions
That’s too narrow, we should focus beyond the state to find, explore and explain politics ->
• Political choices of individuals
• Politics within smaller groups (e.g., families)
• Politics within societal groups, associations, businesses, etc.
• Politics within state governments and institutions
• Politics of international relations (global politics)
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Beyond classic ideologies and political theories
• Cosmopolitism (supporters of universal rights)
• Environmentalism
• Multiculturalism (coexisting in multicultural environments)
• Feminism
The function of politics
• Politics as a civilizing activity (towards peace)
• Democratic politics as the superior form as politics -> apologetic?
• Politics beyond compromise and a commitment to ‘stability’
• War as the continuation of politics by another means (von Clausewitz)
How can we know how and why politics is being conducted the way it is
• Deductive method:
o Top-down
o Theory first (theoretical proposal)
o Hypotheses and testing hypotheses through empirical analysis
• Inductive method
o Bottom-up
o Observation and empirical research
o Discussion of existing theories and general theorizing
Can politics be a science
• Politics as political science, not laboratory
• Subject to politics is the human and we cannot treat humans as ‘inanimate objects’
• Imperfect information over ever-changing human action =>
methodology/approaches that try to cope with this
• Problem/question of ontology (reality) and epistemology (knowledge)
o Is there a reality (a political world) that exists independent of what we are
interpreting into it
o Can we know what exists
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STATES AND POWER (11/10/2022)
How and why is politics shaped by the state and power
The concept of the state is key to understand the world as well as politics
Politics and the state
Conditions to define as ‘state’, three element doctrine by George Jellinek:
• A permanent population
• A defined territory
• A government
Montevideo Convention on Rights and Duties of States 1933 (Article 1) adds:
• Capacity to enter into relations with other States
Key points when thinking about states:
• The State as an institution claiming a “monopoly of the legitimate use of physical
force in enforcing its order within a given territory” (Weber in: Garner 2020, p.26)
• State structure: which entity has the supreme legislative power/and or supreme
power, and conducts relations with third countries?
• Internal/external sovereignty: “relationship of a superior to his inferiors within a
state (internal sovereignty) and relationship of the ruler of the state itself towards
other states (external sovereignty)” (Malanczuk 1997, 17)
• “The concept of sovereignty, linked to the notion of impersonal administrative
power [...] become a constitutive part of the modern state...” (Giddens 1985, p.4)
States representation in Brussels:
1) Of the state to Belgium
2) Of the state to United nations
3) Of the state to NATO
How helpful is the concept of sovereignty
• It can help us explain how the state is so powerful
• Limits of the notion of sovereignty relate to reality
• De Jure and De facto sovereignty
o Shared sovereignty, but no dissolution of the state in times of globalization
Constitutionalism
• Written/unwritten constitution of a state
• Competences/functions that rest with the state
• Implementation of rules and (law) enforcement by the state
• Citizen rights and rule of law: no random and unfair law enforcement and chances
for free trial, separation of powers
Three kinds of states
• Night watchman state (limited interventions, liberal concept, e.g., Britain)
• Developmental state (state-industrial/economic relations, e.g., Japan)
• Social-democratic state (social and economic equality, e.g., Scandinavia)
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