1st Midterm Flashcards
(41 cards)
Sovereignty
Quality of a state of having an independent legitimate authority over a geographic area that is recognized by its citizens and neighboring states.
Government
Entity exercising control or regulation of a political unit (city, state, etc.)
Ex: Logan, Utah, Obama administration
Politics
Collective process for dealing with conflict (through government) or process by which human communities make collective decisions.
Social Contract Theory
Theory from Thomas Hobbes that people surrender some freedoms to submit to the authority of a ruler in exchange for the protection of their remaining right. Contract between government and the people.
Ex: we pay our taxes for basic necessities like roads, schools, etc.
Authoritarian Regime
A regime lacking democratic characteristics, ruled by a single leader or group of leaders. Few civil liberties.
Ex: Communist China, Cuba
Totalitarian Regime
A regime that controls virtually all aspects of society and eliminates all traces of civil society.
Ex: Germany/Hitler, Soviet Union/Stalin, Cuba
Anarchy
No legitimate source of government. Chaos, failed states.
Ex: Somalia
Charismatic Legitimacy
The right to rule based on personal virtue, heroism, sanctity, or other extraordinary characteristics.
Ex: George Washington was a war hero, JFK was classy and charming, Hitler was a good speaker.
Rational/Legal Legitimacy
The right of leaders to rule based on their selection according to an accepted set of laws, standards or procedures.
Ex: U.S. President is elected by the people and the electoral process. He is in office once he has enough votes. (But he might obtain that office through charisma)
Traditional Legitimacy
The right to rule based on a society’s long-standing patterns and practices.
Ex: The European “Divine Right of Kings”. In absolute monarchies the right to rule was passed on father to son.
State
A set of ongoing institutions that develops and administers laws and generates and implements public policies in a specific territory.
Ex: U.S, U.K, Denmark. Recognized “governments” with internal AND external legitimacy.
Nation
A group that proclaims itself a nation and has or seeks control of a state.
Ex: The United States is a nation. It has control of states and it has nationalism (the desire to be a state)
Failed State
A state that is so weak that is loses effective sovereignty over part or all of its territory.
Ex: Lebanon (randomly created by Europeans after WWI in order to create a majority Christian country) is considered a failed state because it hasn’t had working government in 11 months. It had no separation of church and state (each position of power was held by a different religion), a non-flexible constitution, and an armed militia.
Absolutism
Rule by a single monarch who claims complete, exclusive power and sovereignty over a territory and its people.
Ex: An early version of a modern state. Fifteenth century, absolutist leaders own power by defeating other lords because they had the resources to do so. Legitimacy was still based on tradition.
Science
A system of acquiring knowledge that uses observation and experimentation to describe and explain natural phenomena. Testable/falsifiable.
Ex: Gravity can be tested. Physics, chemistry.
Rational Choice Theory
Explanation of political behavior that assumes that individuals are rational beings who bring a set of self-defined preferences to maximize self gain; these assumptions are then used to model political behavior.
Ex: Prisoner’s dilemma. Arrested for murder. Do you out your friend or hope he keeps the secret?
Correlation
A mutual relationship or connection between two or more things.
Ex: the majority of smokers might be overweight but that does not mean that smoking causes obesity.
Political Ideology
A systematic set of beliefs about how a political system ought to be structured.
Ex: Political ideologies define everything about the system that they are imposed on. China is based on communism, Nazi Germany was based on fascism.
Fascism
A political ideology. Unity in the state is emphasized, the state’s legitimacy is more important than the people’s rights. Hyper nationalistic. Typically grows out of disaster.
Ex: Hitler and the nazis (but they added the racism)
Bourgeoisie
The class that owns capital; according to Marxism, the ruling elite in all capitalist societies.
Ex: The white collar, upper-class in the U.S. The one percent. They Romney’s. The people that the rest of us hate.
Proletariat
A term in Marxist theory for the class if free wage laborers who own no capital and must sell their labor to survive; communist parties claim to work on the proletariat’s behalf.
Ex: the blue collar workers in the U.S. Obama tries to appeal to them. The people who start revolutions.
Marxism
Structuralist argument that says that economic structures largely determine political behavior; the philosophical underpinning of communism.
Ex: Communist China- elites have all the money while the rest work their butts off. Leaders claim to care about the workers. Bolshevik revolution, French Revolution.
Vanguard Party
Lenin’s concept of a small party that claims legitimacy to rule based on understanding of the proletariat before that are a majority of the populace.
Ex: Lead the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. Wanted the party to rule until the country was fully industrialized. Lenin wanted this movement to spread through all of Europe.
Liberalism
Political ideology to maximize individual liberties and limit state power. Legitimacy comes from the people.
Ex: the Framer’s U.S.
