Lecture 1 – The state as the key arena for politics
The word Politics comes from Ancient Greece
Affairs of the city = "Polis" -.> Something that concerns all of the city, the process in which
different interests/desires are combined to create a common good.
Politics is the process in which different desires/interests are integrated in order to create
a/pursue the common good
Politics is about:
❖ Conflict and cooperation: The process of resolving conflicts in which rival views and
competing interests are reconciled because 'we are not alike' and 'there is never
enough to go around'.
Everyone has another opinion, which means there's no way everyone will agree on a
political choice and how the common good should be pursued. Politics is about
managing this conflict, rules and procedures are set to make decisions on this. In a
democracy this is by voting.
❖ The public sphere of the state: struggle for power and leadership that gives an
individual or a group the ability to make authoritative decisions for the public as a
whole, for society.
❖ Pursuit and exercise of. power: it provides the focus for understanding the production,
distribution and use of resources. Who gets what, when, how, why and, where?
it is able to make other people do things that they would otherwise not do/not do in
the same way.
What makes something a State?
a geographic territory with internationally recognized boundaries
an identifiable population that lives within these boundaries
a (internationally) recognized government
e.g., Kosovo is not a state because it is not internationally recognized
Every UN member state has to recognize a state as a state for one to become a sovereign
state. Not the majority but everyone.
All states have sovereignty, this is the ability to act within a territory, independently from
internal or external rivals.
Internal: supreme authority domestically
External: independence internationally (no international authority that can tell the state what
to do)
,If there's either internal or external disagreement (rebel, riot etc), the state is not fully sovereign
Cyprus is a member of the EU, when it became a member its entire territory became part of
EU, even though Northern Cyprus is occupied by a foreign power
EU member states give away part of their sovereignty by their membership, because by being
a member, the EU can also affect a state's politics and disagree.
This 'Limited' sovereignty is caused by the many international institutions working together
over the world. This has made individual sovereignty much harder to achieve
What does the state do?
❖ Protect its territory and the population within it.
Max Weber: "Monopoly of legitimate violence" legitimate right to protect its territory
and the population within (legitimate violence because its accepted; it is useful and
according to the rules: violence against attackers and member of society that break the
rules / monopoly because the state is the only one that society gives the right to apply
force against invaders and individuals)
❖ Provides 'collective goods', has institutions that help society function (laws, regulation,
taxation, infrastructure, currency)
Government: leadership that runs the state
States differ based on
❖ Territorial organization:
Unitary: most power is centralized at the national level, little regional authority (France)
Federal: significant power given to regional bodies by constitution. Shared sovereignty
between federal and state governments. (Germany, USA)
❖ Strength: what makes a state strong or weak?
Size: geographic spread and population (China vs Monaco)
Strength of the economy: (Germany vs Slovenia)
Military might: (USA vs Iraq)
Legitimacy: "right to rule", consent to rule on the part of the people. (Lack of legitimacy:
communist regimes in EE and USSR)
Legitimacy/Right to rule is rooted in: (according to Max Weber)
❖ Traditional authority: traditional customs and values (monarchy; the British queen, no
political power but a lot of authority)
❖ Charismatic authority: personality of the ruler (political representative, Hitler)
❖ Rational-legal authority: system of collectively agreed rules. Appears in modern
bureaucratic states where the personal aspect is replaced with the authority if the
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, office and the publicly received mandate. One respects and obeys the office, not the
person of the ruler. (Person you vote for is not necessarily in power, Rutte)
Pros and Cons of the state
•A neutral arbiter (Liberals)
•The embodiment of the common good (Social
Pros Democrats)
•The result of society's need for authority and discipline
(Conservatives)
•A useless and immoral limitation of individual freedom
(Anarchists)
Cons
•An instrument of oppression (Marxists)
•An instrument of male power (Feminists)
Is the state as important today as it used to be?
❖ Globalization has rendered the world economically and politically interdependent to
the point that there is little room left for sovereign states.
❖ Multinational corporations and supranational institutions determine much of the
economic policies of individual states.
Lecture 2 – Democratic and non-democratic politics
What is politics about?
❖ Conflict and cooperation
❖ The pursuit and exercise of power
❖ Focuses on the public sphere of the state
Power: The ability to achieve a desired outcome, to make others (usually willingly) do what
they would otherwise not do.
❖ A relational concept
❖ Often faced with coercion or force. One fears powers
❖ 3 faces of power:
Decision making; choosing from a menu (paying taxes)
Agenda setting; influencing what's on the menu (tuition fees )
Thought control; shaping what people want or need to be on the menu
Individual liberty and state power should be equal, they're like Ying & Yang
If individual liberty is high, there's a low state power.
If the state power is high, individual liberty is low.
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