Introduction to Political Science
The notes in this document include direct quotes and paraphrasing from the IPOL textbook
by Andrew Heywood (2019).
Heywood, A. (2019) Politics. Fifth edition. London: Macmillan International Higher
Education/Red Globe Press.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: What is politics?................................................................................................3
Definitions of politic.....................................................................................................................3
Distribution of power and resources:.............................................................................................................4
Approaches to the study of politics:.............................................................................................5
Chapter 2: Political ideas and ideologies............................................................................6
Classical ideological traditions......................................................................................................7
Liberalism........................................................................................................................................................7
Socialism.........................................................................................................................................................9
Feminism.......................................................................................................................................................11
Green ideology..............................................................................................................................................12
CHAPTER 3: Politics and the state.....................................................................................13
4 approaches to the state...........................................................................................................13
Role of states..............................................................................................................................17
Minimal state................................................................................................................................................17
CHAPTER 4.......................................................................................................................20
Traditional Authority....................................................................................................................................20
Charismatic Authority...................................................................................................................................20
Legal-rational Authority................................................................................................................................20
Problems of legitimacy.................................................................................................................................20
Non-democratic Legitimacy..........................................................................................................................22
Understanding democracy..........................................................................................................22
Models of democracy.................................................................................................................23
Limited/Protective Democracy.....................................................................................................................23
Developmental Democracy..........................................................................................................................24
People’s/Socialist Democracy.......................................................................................................................24
Pluralist view.................................................................................................................................................25
Elitist View.....................................................................................................................................................25
Corporatist View...........................................................................................................................................26
The New Right View......................................................................................................................................26
Marxist View.................................................................................................................................................27
Cosmopolitan democracy...........................................................................................................27
CHAPTER 5 – Regimes of the Modern World.....................................................................27
Classification of Regimes............................................................................................................28
Classical Typologies.......................................................................................................................................28
Three worlds typology..................................................................................................................................29
Modern Systems of Political Rule (Regime types).......................................................................29
, Western Liberal Democracy.........................................................................................................................29
Democratic triumph and winter.................................................................................................30
Illiberal democracies/ electoral authoritarianism........................................................................................30
East Asian Regimes.......................................................................................................................................31
Islamic Regimes.............................................................................................................................................31
Military Regimes...........................................................................................................................................31
CHAPTER 6 – Nations and Nationalism.............................................................................32
CHAPTER 7: Political Economy and Globalization..............................................................37
State-centric Political Economy....................................................................................................................37
Classical/ neoclassical political economy.....................................................................................................37
Marxist Political economy.............................................................................................................................38
Types of capitalism.....................................................................................................................38
Enterprise/Liberal capitalism/ American Business Model............................................................................38
Social Capitalism (Coordinated)....................................................................................................................39
State Capitalism (state-led)..........................................................................................................................39
Keynesian......................................................................................................................................................40
Neoliberalism................................................................................................................................................40
Globalization..............................................................................................................................41
Forms of globalization................................................................................................................41
Rise of Neoliberal Globalization....................................................................................................................42
2007-09 Crisis and Legacy...........................................................................................................42
Backlash against globalization......................................................................................................................44
Chapter 8: Politics, Society and Identity............................................................................44
Decline of Class Politics.................................................................................................................................45
New technology and the ‘information society’...........................................................................46
Rise of individualism...................................................................................................................46
Identity politics...........................................................................................................................47
Manifestations of identity politics..............................................................................................48
Cultural Diversity..........................................................................................................................................48
Models of multiculturalism...........................................................................................................................49
Gender and identity......................................................................................................................................50
Intersectionality............................................................................................................................................50
Gender and trans theory..............................................................................................................................50
Religion and politics......................................................................................................................................50
Islamism........................................................................................................................................................51
Chapter 9: Political culture and media..............................................................................51
Approaches to political culture...................................................................................................51
The Civic-Culture Approach..........................................................................................................................51
Conservative Approach.................................................................................................................................53
Political culture in crisis..............................................................................................................53
Decline in Social capital................................................................................................................................53
Culture wars..................................................................................................................................................54
Media and Politics......................................................................................................................54
Theories of Media: Views of media’s political impact.................................................................55
Pluralist Model..............................................................................................................................................55
Dominant-ideology model............................................................................................................................55
, Elitist-values model.......................................................................................................................................55
Market Model...............................................................................................................................................56
Media on Democracy....................................................................................................................................56
Media and Political leadership.....................................................................................................................57
Media and Culture of Contempt...................................................................................................................57
Media and Policy-making..............................................................................................................................57
Social media and Politics............................................................................................................58
e-democracy.................................................................................................................................................58
E-campaigning and political marketing........................................................................................................58
Erosion of civility and center politics............................................................................................................58
Post-truth politics.......................................................................................................................58
Chapter 18: Security: Domestic and International.............................................................59
Domestic Security.......................................................................................................................60
Police and Politics.........................................................................................................................................60
Role of police................................................................................................................................................60
Police states..................................................................................................................................................61
The military and domestic politics..............................................................................................61
Types of military use.....................................................................................................................................61
International Security.................................................................................................................62
Approaches to international politics...........................................................................................62
Liberal Approach...........................................................................................................................................63
Critical Approaches.......................................................................................................................................63
New security challenges...............................................................................................................................63
Nuclear proliferation....................................................................................................................................65
Chapter 19: World Order and Global Governance.............................................................66
New World order..........................................................................................................................................66
War on Terror...............................................................................................................................................66
Dimensions of Global Power.........................................................................................................................69
Global Governance.....................................................................................................................69
Global economic governance.......................................................................................................................70
Bretton Woods system.................................................................................................................................70
The United Nations.......................................................................................................................................71
Chapter 1: What is politics?
Definitions of politic
The definition of politics is contested.
General definition: The activity through which people make, preserve and amend the
general rules under which they live. It is inextricably linked to the phenomena of conflict and
cooperation. Politics in a broader sense is better thought of as a search for conflict
resolution than as its achievement as not all conflicts can be resolved.
There are four general definitions of politics falling under the two categories of politics as an
arena or politics as a process.
Politics as an arena: Politics as an arena means that Politics as a process: Politics as a process means that
politics is associated with an arena or location, in politics is viewed as a mechanism, in which case
which case behavior becomes political because of political behavior can take place in any social
where it takes place. contexts. Relates to the way in which decisions are
, made.
Art of government: (politics = government/exercise Compromise and Consensus: (negotiation). Sees
of authority). The exercise of control within society politics as a particular means of resolving conflict,
through the making and enforcement of collective involving compromise, conciliation and negotiation
decisions. Chancellor Bismarck - “Politics is not a rather than through force and naked power. Crick
science… but an art’. This classical definition has to who endorsed this view gave the following
do with the origin of the word as polis =‘city-state’, definition: “Politics is the activity by which differing
therefore what concerns the state = politics. It can interests within a given unit of rule are conciliated
also be described as the “authoritative allocation of by giving them a share in power in proportion to
values” (David Easton), meaning that politics their importance to the welfare and the survival of
encompasses the various processes through which the whole community.” Conflict is inevitable in this
government responds to pressures from the larger view and this view has faith in the efficacy of debate
society, by allocating benefits, rewards or penalties. and discussion.
Limitations of the definition: Highly restricted: The Limitations: Critics point out that this perspective is
realm of the political is restricted to those state heavily biased towards the form of politics that
actors who are consciously motivated by ideological takes place in Western pluralist democracies and
beliefs and who seek to advance them through has little to say about one-party states or military
membership of a formal organization such as a regimes.
political party, therefore excluding neutral members This view is also unmistakably positive in character
such as civil servants, judges etc. This definition also and compromise is, bound to mean dissatisfied
explains the pejorative images attached to politics members on both ends of an argument which leads
which has given rise to anti-politics (Machiavellian). to growing popular disenchantment with
democratic politics across much of the developed
world.
Public Affairs: (public/private divide). This definition Distribution of power and resources:
moves beyond politics as government to what (politics as power). The broadest and most radical
politics as public life or public affairs. The distinction definition says that rather than confining politics to
between the political and the non-political coincides a particular sphere, politics is at work in all social
with the division between the public and private activities, formal and informal, public and private, in
sphere of life. all human groups, institutions, and societies. So,
Distinguishing between public and private: 2 ways what is it that actually distinguishes behavior as
- The institutions of the state are regarded as political? At its broadest, politics concerns the
public in the sense that they are responsible production, distribution and use of resources in the
for the organization of community life and are course of social existence. It is therefore power, or
funded at the public’s expense out of taxation the ability to achieve a desired outcome through
(courts, police, social security system). Private whatever means. Politics can be the struggle over
affairs are funded by individual citizens for scarce resources and power can be seen as the
their own interests (community groups, trade means through which this struggle is conducted.
unions, private businesses). Feminists and Marxists endorse this view of politics,
- ‘Open’ institutions are included in the public seen in the feminist slogan “the personal is the
realm, transferring the economy among other political.”
things from the private to the public realm. Limitations: However, views like this one portray
Limitations: Some feminist thinkers are opposed to politics in largely negative terms such as oppression
this definition of politics since the public sphere of and subjugation. These negative outlooks also deem
life has historically been the preserve of men while politics as ultimately unnecessary.
women have been confined to a private existence
centered on family and domestic capabilities.
,According to this definition, the role of women in
society would have no political importance.
Other liberals want to narrow the realm of politics, as
it can be seen as unwanted interference. They
believe that private life is a realm of choice, personal
freedom and individual responsibility.
Approaches to the study of politics:
- The philosophical tradition: This approach is preoccupied with ethical,
prescriptive or normative questions, reflection a concern with what ‘should’, ‘ought’
or ‘must’ be brought about, deeply grounded in Plato and Aristotle’s thinking. Plato’s
ideal society would be a benign dictatorship dominated by a class of philosopher
kings.
- The empirical tradition: Opposes the philosophical tradition in that it attempts
to offer a dispassionate and impartial account of political reality, opposite of the
normative view. Concerned with descriptive not prescriptive. Acquired philosophical
support from the doctrine of empiricism, which believed that experience is the only
basis of knowledge and that all hypotheses and theories should be tested by a
process of observation. This relates to positivism which proclaimed that the social
sciences (and all practices) should adhere to the methods of the natural sciences.
- Behavioralism: This approach was affected by positivism and gave politics reliably
scientific credentials because it provided objective and quantifiable data in the
studies of voting behavior, the behavior of legislators, politicians…. However,
dissatisfaction in behavioralism has grown as the narrow obsession with quantifiable
data threatens to reduce the discipline of politics to little else, and interest in
normative questions has revived since the 1970s.
- Rational-choice theory: Draws heavily on the example of economic theory in
building up models based on procedural rules usually about the rationally self-
interest behavior of the individuals involved. (Prisoner’s dilemma) Can provide a
useful analytical device, which may provide insights into the actions of voters,
lobbyists, bureaucrats and politicians as well as into the behavior of states.
Overestimates human rationality in that it ignores the fact that people seldom
possess a clear set of preferred goals and rarely make decisions with full accurate
knowledge.
- New institutionalism: Traditional institutionalists focused on rules, procedures
and formal organization of government. While remaining faithful to the core belief
that institutions matter (political structures shape political behavior), new
institutionalism has revised our understanding of what constitutes an institution:
political institutions being thought of as sets of rules which guide behavior,
institution being individual actors rather than political organizations. New
institutionalists emphasize that institutions are embedded in a particular normative
and historical context rather than capable of existing in a vacuum. Sometimes policy
is shaped by unwritten conventions or understandings than by formal arrangements.
- Critical approaches: They are critical in that they seek to contest the political
status quo by aligning themselves with the interest of marginalized and oppressed
groups. They have also tried to go beyond the positivism of mainstream political
science, these so-called post-positivist approaches are critical in that they not only
take issue with the conclusions of mainstream approaches but also subject these
, approaches to scrutiny (questions the idea of an objective reality). Emphasizes the
role of consciousness in shaping social conduct. Post-structuralism emphasizes that
all ideas are expressed in language which itself is enmeshed in complex power
relations.
Concept: A general idea about something. Tools with which we think, criticize, argue,
explain and analyze. In order to make sense of the world we must imposed meaning onto it,
through the construction of concepts. Concepts may not actually be able to capture the
phenomena they are referring to in real life, as they are constructed by singling out certain
basic or central features of the phenomenon which means that other features are
downgraded or ignored altogether. We have to accept that there are competing versions of
concepts (essentially contested concepts). Models and theories are broader than concepts
as they comprise a range of ideas rather than a single idea.
Model: Representation of something that has the purpose of resembling the original object
as faithfully as possible. Conceptual models are analytical tools in which meaning can be
imposed on what would otherwise be a bewildering and disorganized collection of facts.
Theories are a proposition that offers a systematic explanation of a body of empirical data.
Models and theories are limited in that they are loaded or contain biases. This is why
analytical devices are constructed on the basis of broader macro theories.
Domestic politics is concerned with the state’s role in maintaining order and carrying out
regulation within its own borders where international politics is concerned with relations
between or among states. Whereas politics ‘inside’ has an orderly character, stemming from
the ability of the state to impose rule from above, politics in the ‘outside’ has an anarchic
character, derived from the fact that there is no authority in the international sphere.
The inside outside divide has become more difficult to sustain as a result of globalization:
flows and transactions, the movement of people, goods, money, information and ideas. This
is seen in the substantially greater vulnerability of domestic economies to events that take
place elsewhere in the world and by the wider use of digital technologies that enable people
to communicate with each other that national governments find difficult to control. In
contrast to ideas of hyper globalizers, states though transformed, remain the most
significant actors in both the domestic and the international spheres. Spatial
interdependence: what goes on within states and what goes on between states impact on
each other to a greater degree than ever before.
Chapter 2: Political ideas and ideologies
Ideology: Refers to a developed social philosophy or world-view. The term was coined by a
French philosopher to mean ‘science of ideas.’ Political ideology arose out of the transition
from feudalism to industrial capitalism and so the earliest classical ideologies developed as
