Politics & Governance

• Politics is the activity through which people make, preserve and amend the general rules under which they live
• Politics can be defined in various ways: as the exercise of power, the science of government, the making of collective decisions, the allocation of scarce resources, the practice of deception and manipulation
• Politics as the art of Government:

  • Takes place within a polity, a system of social organization centered on the machinery of government
  • Practiced in cabinet rooms, legislative chambers, government departments by politicians, civil servants, and lobbyists
• Politics as public affairs:

  • Distinguished between 'the political' and 'the personal'
  • Civil society contains public institutions that are open and accessible to the public
• Politics as compromise and consensus:

  • Resolves conflict through compromise, conciliation, and negotiation
  • Portrayed as 'the art of the possible'
• Politics as power:

  • Politics is present in all social activities and human existence
  • Involves the production, distribution, and use of resources, essentially power
• Political science is the study of the state and government
• Importance of Political Science:

  • Part of Liberal education contributing to holistic development
  • Educates students for citizenship
  • Provides civic skills and humane ideals for responsible participation in political and social life
  • Prepares students for careers in law, foreign service, public administration, politics, teaching, economics, etc.
  • Equips students with intellectual resources for human achievements
• Political science began in the 14th century B.C. with Aristotle's work 'Politics'

  • Aristotle is known as the "Father of Political Science"
  • Niccolo Machiavelli is considered the "Father of Modern Political Science"
• • International Relations, International Law, and International Organizations: examines foreign policy and relationships between countries
  • Comparative Government: compares states in various aspects
• Areas of Political Science:

  • Political Theory: analyzes fundamental political concepts and historical norms
  • Public Law: regulates government structure, administration, and relations with citizens and foreign governments
  • Public Administration: implements government policy and prepares civil servants
  • Political Dynamics: studies societal forces influencing political decisions
  • Legislatures and Legislations: focuses on the role of legislatures in lawmaking
• Political Science is related to Social Sciences:

  • History: provides insight into states' origin, growth, and development
  • Economics: offers an economic perspective on the state
  • Sociology: explains power dynamics between the state and citizens
  • Psychology: studies political parties' operations to control the government
  • Anthropology: traces the evolution of the state from smaller groupings
  • Geography: useful in studying external political problems, boundaries, and trade relations
  • Philosophy: presents alternative visions of the state
• Political Science exam
• Political Philosophy infuses certain values in political theories
• Jurisprudence is concerned with the analysis of existing legal systems and the ethical, historical, sociological, and psychological foundation of the law
• The nature of law and the statues enacted by legislatures are indispensable to the political scientist
• Observational method is used to determine voting behavior of the electorate using election statistics and opinion polls
• Historical method enlightens students on the origin and evolution of the state and its institutions
• Comparative method helps students draw similarities and differences in structures and systems of government, laws, constitutions, judicial systems, electoral processes, political parties, culture, and customs of different countries
• Analytical method aims to discover the significant elements of political institutions to analyze their worth and value
• State is defined as a community of persons permanently occupying a definite portion of territory, independent of external control, and possessing an organized government
• Four elements of the state are people, territory, government, and sovereignty
• Sovereignty and independence are used interchangeably for a state
• State is distinguished from nation and government
• Theories on the origin of the state include divine rights theory, social contract theory, force theory, natural theory, patriarchal theory, and instinctive theory
• Four kinds of sovereignty are legal sovereignty, political sovereignty, internal sovereignty, and external sovereignty
• Inherent powers of the state include police power, power of eminent domain, and power of taxation
• Purposes and objectives of the state include domestic order and tranquility, common defense, blessing of liberty and justice, promotion of general welfare, promotion of public morality, and acts of government
• Political ideologies are comprehensive sets of beliefs about the nature of people, institutions, and government
• Conservatism values the wisdom of the past and opposes widespread reform and change
• Liberalism aims for individual freedom and self-expression, with changing concepts of liberty and freedom
• Classic liberalism stresses human rationality, individual property rights, constitutional limitations on government, and freedom from external restraint
• Modern liberalism looks to the state to prevent oppression and advance the welfare of all individuals
• Feminism seeks to improve the political, social, and economic position of women
• Feminism:

  • First-wave feminism (19th and early 20th century):
  • Promoted equal contract and property rights for women
  • Opposed ownership of married women by their husbands
  • Activism focused on the right to vote
  • Second-wave feminism (1960s to 1980s):
  • Betty Friedan criticized the idea that women could find fulfillment only through childrearing and homemaking
  • Slogan "The Personal is Political" linked women's cultural and political inequalities
  • Third-wave feminism (early 1990s):
  • Challenges definitions of femininity from second-wave feminism
• • Emphasizes intersectionality of women's lives based on race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender, and nationality
  • Examines international issues related to women's lives
  • Examples: Simone de Beauvoir, Margaret Fuller, Rebecca Walker
• Environmentalism:

  • Philosophy and social movement for environmental conservation and improvement
  • Seeks to influence political process through lobbying, activism, and education
  • Aims to protect natural resources and ecosystems
• Anarchism/Leftist Wing:

  • Belief in no government and seeking equality and justice through abolition of the state
  • Society is natural, people are good but corrupted by artificial institutions
  • Emphasizes individual freedom and denies authority hindering human development
  • Opposes concentration of economic power in business corporations
  • Linked to utopian and millenarian religious movements in the Middle Ages
  • Modern political anarchism outlined by William Godwin, P.J. Proudhon, and others
• Socialist/Leftist Wing:

  • Economic system where property is held in common
  • Socialism today commonly refers to "market socialism"
  • Goal is social equality and distribution of wealth based on contribution to society
  • Friedrich Engels developed modern socialistic theory advocating elimination of capitalism-based production methods
  • Diverse political philosophies within socialism, ranging from reformism to revolutionary socialism
• Communism/Leftist Wing:

  • Political and economic philosophy
  • Main writings: Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Principles of Communism by Friedrich Engels
  • Aims to focus on class struggle and overthrow the upper class
  • The Communist Manifesto outlines ten essential planks for Communism
  • Aims for working class to replace bourgeoisie as ruling class to establish socialism