poli sci 1000
Terms
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- politics
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activity relating to influencing, making or implementing collective decisions for a political community.
eg deciding what to spend gov. money on. - political power
- the ability to achieve an objective by influencing the behaviour of others, particularly to get them to do what they would not otherwise have done
- power achieved by:
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coercion: threats of neg. consequences. eg law enforcements/military aggression
inducement: rewards or bribes. eg patronage
persuasion: use of info to get people to act the way you want them to. eg gov health advisories/propoganda - political agenda
- the issues considered important and given priority in political deliberations
- pluralist system
- where many diff interests are able to influence decisions of governments. eg democracies not dominated by elites and entrenched interests (traditionally US)
- elitist perspective
- power in all societies is concentrated in the hands of the few. economic and social elite really in charge -> democracy is a sham
- common good
- what is good for the entire political community
- free rider problem
- a problem with voluntary collective action, b/c all actors can enjoy benefits of group action without contributing. eg reducing greenhouse gas emissions - requires gov to achieve the common good
- perspectives of common good
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individual - common good is what serves interests of individuals -> limited gov. involvement
collectivist - common good is what serves the interest of community as a whole -> suggests indivs. should sacrifice own interests for the good of community - authority
- the right to exercise power that is accepted by those being governed as legitimate
- legitimacy
- acceptance by the members of a political community that those in positions of authority have the right to govern
- individualist perspective
- a perspective that views human beings as acting primarily in accordance with their own interests
- normative analysis
- analysis that includes examining ideas about how the community should be governed and what values should be pursued through politics
- policy analysis
- analysis that involves evaluating existing policies and assessing possible alternatives to deal with particular problems
- state
- an independent, self governing political community whose governing institutions have the capability to make rules that are binding on the population residing within a particular territory
- government
- the set of institutions that makes decisions and oversees their implementation on behalf of the state for a particular period of time
- sovereignty
- the principle that states are the highest authority for their population and territory and are not subject to any external authority
- nation
- a group of people who have a sense of common identity and who typically believe that they should be self governing within their home land
- binational and multinational states
- states whose populations are composed of two or more nations
- multiculturalism
- the idea that different cultures within a country should be recognized and respected and provided with encouragement and support to help them retain their cultures and traditions
- national self determination
- the idea that nations should have the right to determine their political status, including choosing to have their own sovereign state
- nationalism
- the idea that the nation state is the best form of political community and that a nation should have its own self governing state
- citizenship
- the idea that a country's permanent residents are full members of the political community with certain duties and rights
- utilitarianism
- the view that humans seek to maximize pleasure and minimize pain and that government should act to achieve the greatest happiness for the greatest number
- negative freedom
- the absence of physical and legal restraints on the actions of individuals
- positive freedom
- the capacity to do something worth doing or enjoying
- democracy
- rule by the people
- direct democracy
- a system in which citizens themselves make the governing citizens
- liberal, representative democracy
- a political system that combines a high level of individual freedom and the election of representatives to a legislative body
- plebiscitary democracy
- a form of democracy in which citizens have greater control through the use of such device as referendums, initiatives, and recall elections
- referendum
- a vote by citizens on a particular issue of a proposed law
- initiative
- a procedure that gives citizens the right, by obtaining a sizable number of signatures on a petition, to have a proposition that they have drafted put to a vote by the electorate for approval
- recall
- a procedure that allows citizens to remove representatives from office. by gaining a sufficient number of signatures on a petition, citizens can require that their representative seek re election before the term of office is over
- deliberative democracy
- a political system in which decisions are made based on discussion by free and equal citizens rather than by elected representatives alone