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• Political Structures


  System of behaviors occurring in governance
• Power


  Ability to do something in order to achieve a desired outcome
• Authority


  Rightful or legitimate power
• Social Contract


  Agreement made by the members of society with those with authority that determines their relations with one another
• Political Obligation


  Responsibility of citizens to abide by or follow the government
• Types of Authority (Max Weber)

  • Traditional
  • Charismatic
  • Legal-rational
• Leviathan


  To protect people from themselves; without the social contract, there can be no order
• Nature of the human being (Hobbes): all human beings enjoy absolute equality; they desire the same thing: power
• State of nature (Hobbes): a state of war where there is no guarantee for one's life; life in the state of nature is "nasty, poor, brutish, and short"
• Reason for the establishment of the social contract (Hobbes): self-preservation; people gave up their rights to protect their lives
• Obligation of subjects (Hobbes): preserve the social contract by following the ruler; disobedience or rebellion against the government is tantamount to going back to the state of nature, which is a state of war
• State of nature (Locke)

  A state of "perfect freedom"; but inconveniences arise from the practice of equality of all, i.e., in terms of their life, liberty, and possessions
• Nature of man (Locke): equal with other men; rational: man has reason that enables him to determine what is right from wrong and recognize the rights of other men
• Role of government (Locke): not to rule absolutely but to rule over people as their trustee; sovereignty has not been given up by the people but has been entrusted to the government; people have the right to resist when the ruler has become abusive
• "Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains" (Rousseau)
• Purpose of the social contract (Rousseau): to form an association which will defend and protect with the whole common force the person and goods of each associate, and in which each, while uniting himself with all, may still obey himself alone, and remain as free as before
• The purpose of the social contract according to Rousseau is to express the "General Will", which is aimed at the good of all. It is different from the "will of all" which is the sum of particular wills
• For Rousseau, the people remain sovereign. This means that they are the highest power. Once they enter a social contract, they do not lose this power. They do not give it up ("sovereignty is inalienable"). They also do not divide sovereign power and delegate the power to another body such as a small group of men and women ("sovereignty is indivisible")
• Constitution


  System of rules which defines the responsibilities and powers of the government and its institutions, and the dynamics between the state and its citizens
• Constitutionalism


  Political components which establish a system of check and balance
• Purposes of Constitutions (Heywood)

  • Empower states
  • Establish unifying values and goals
  • Provide government stability
  • Protect freedom
  • Legitimize regimes