POSC

• Political science- the study of the state, study of investigation interrogating of state
• State- is a community of persons, more or less numerous, permanently occupying a definite portion of a territory, having a government of their own through which a great number of inhabitants render habitual obedience and enjoy freedom from external control.
• Elements of the state

  ●People ( Nation)

  ●Territory

  ●Government

  ●Sovereignty
• Can there be a state without a nation?

  yes
• can there be a nation without a state?

  No
• there can be a single state with many nations in it
• Government- It is an agency through which the will of the state is formulated, expressed, and carried out.
• In Government it is a institution that should protect the rights of its people and that acts as the machinery of the state
• The Constitution refers to that body of rules and principles with which the powers of sovereignty are regularly exercised.
• Branches of the government: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial
• Executive Branch

  ●The branch tasked to administer and enforce the law
• Legislative Branch

  ●The branch that makes, alters or repeals the laws
• Judicial Branch

  ●The branch that interprets the laws and decides on cases
• A constitution is the fundamental law of the land.
• The constitution is supreme or highest among all other laws created by the government.
• Inherent powers of the state

  ●Once a state existed, meaning it possessed all the elements of statehood, it also possessed the inherent power.
• The three inherent powers of the state are: Police Power, Power of taxation, and Power of eminent domain
• Police Power

  ●It has been referred to as the power of the state to enact such laws or regulations and enforce them about persons and property as may promote public health, public morals, public safety, and general welfare.
• Power of taxation

  ●It is the power of the state to impose a charge or financial burden upon persons and property or property rights, for the use and support of the government and to enable it to discharge its duties and functions
• Power of eminent domain

  ●It is the inherent power of the state to take private properties for public use upon paying to the owner a just compensation.
• Preamble

  ●It is the introductory part of the constitution
• Political theory 

  • The study of how we do and should think about the nature and organization of political life and its limits
• Political theory

  • Concerned chiefly with the ideas of past and present political thinkers and the doctrines and proposals of public movements and groups. 
• Political theory

  • Liberty, justice, rights, oppression, democracy, power, environmentalism,and secularism  
• Social contract theory (John Locke)

  • There is a contract between  the government and the governed
  • The government must protect the citizens and extend to them basic services. 
  • If the government cannot provide these services– the citizen has the right to overthrow the government that is capable of doing it.
• Theory of Basic Liberties (John Rawls)

  • A central part of social justice is a requirement that a “fully adequate” system of basic liberties be protected and given priority over (that is, never sacrificed to) social goods such as prosperity, efficiency, and a high level of culture.
  • Ex. freedom of conscience, association to engage in political activty, and from arbitrary arrest
• Political institutions 

  • Studies the formal and informal rules, practices, and regularities at both the domestic and international levels that guide and constrain political choices and activities
  • It concerns the emergence, dynamics, and consequences of institutions in authoritarian and non-authoritarian regimes.
• Public opinions

  • Refers to the aggregation of the viewers of individuals in society. 
  • The term public opinion is derived from the concept of l’opinion publique popularized by Rousseau 
• • This view of public opinion was espoused by George Gallup who suggested that public opinion was the average opinion that could be measured by summing up the opinions of every individual in society to form an aggregate opinion. 
  • It is seen as a means of informing decision-makers of the will of the people, especially toward public policy
• International relations 

  • Relations across boundaries of nation-states. It addresses international political economy, global governance,  intercultural relations, national and ethnic identities, foreign policy dxdcdu. 
  • It is multidisciplinary
• Global governance

  • Purposeful order that emerges from institutions, processes, norms, formal agreements, and informal mechanisms that regulate action for  common good.
• Power 

  • Simply is no more but the excess of the power of one above that of another
  • Philosophical; intuitive 
  • Relational at least two parties
• Power by Max Weber

  • Is the probability that one actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out his will despite resistance
• Power by Parsons

  • Mechanism operating to bring about change... In the process of social interaction 
  • Gives premium to the role of structures, rather than the agents
  • The role of the individuals or the person is less emphasized. Can the individual be not powerful?
• Power by Foucault 

  • Power does not exist but power needs to be considered as a productive network which runs through the whole social body
  • Network (political power, economic power, social power)
• Influence

  • Denotes one’s ability to get others to act, think, or feel as one intends.  A mayor who persuades voters to approve a bond issue exercises influence. A businessman whose promises of support induce a mayor to take action, exercises influence
• Power is a capacity to get others to act based on the positional authority that is exercised over others, often leading to resentment
• Influence is the ability to modify how a person develops, behaves, or thinks based on relationship and persuasion; often leading to respect
• Authority is a quantity or capacity of a person, institution, rule or order which becomes important in defining whether such quality or capacity is correct or authentic so that people can follow the rules and regulations without any hesitation
• Weber argued that those who structure regimes are likely to choose, based on the regime’s own best interest, to create authority that is spelled out in a regime’s constitutional law.