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Political Science vocab Flashcards

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1
Q

What is politics

A

a process within or among political communities where in public values are articulated, debated, and prescribed by political actors where policy judgments are made. “authoritative allocation of values for a society”

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2
Q

Who are political actors

A

people who seek to advance their interests

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3
Q

How is the metaphor of a game serve out understanding of politics?

A

you pick up on patterns and make observations that makes the game easier to understand. you pick up on who are the players? what is the game about? how is the game ordered? best strategies?

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4
Q

What is civil disobedience?

A

Making a statement so people will ultimately change their mind about it

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5
Q

What is the goal of political science?

A

not to understand current events but to introduce you to how political scientists think. Explanation and recommendations. claim about what something is and recommending how things should be

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6
Q

What are models?

A

stylizations meant to approximate in very crude fashion some real situation

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7
Q

what is a theory

A

taking the model and applying it to specific situations

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8
Q

What are policy judgments

A

A policy judgment is a basis for a legal decision considering factors that are outside the direct interpretation of the law. Often, policy judgments may be made based on the assumed intent of the lawmaker

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9
Q

what do political actors have and want?

A

they have influence, power, and/or resources. They want a law or issue to be resolved. they use their resources to get what they desire

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10
Q

Essential properties

A

Property 1: Comparability–Alternatives are comparable

Property 2: Transitivity–X>Y, Y>Z, then X>Z. always 3 choices

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11
Q

How do people make decisions in a group?

A

based on their order of preferences

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12
Q

What does it mean to have someone set the “agenda”

A

when the group preference can’t be figured out, a person sets the agenda by setting 2 preferences and letting the others choose

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13
Q

Normative

A

what something should be

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14
Q

Positive

A

theoretical description. how it actually is

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15
Q

What is distributional politics?

A

Ex: having 3 people and trying to come up with 3 ways of splitting 1000 thousand dollars whether by splitting it evenly between all 3 or splitting it between 2 people or 1 person taking the whole thing. Endless ways to distribute which is why someone needs to set the agenda

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16
Q

The Arrow Impossibility Theorem

A

reasonable conditions for translating individual preferences into a group preference.

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17
Q

What are the 4 conditions of the Arrow Theorem

A
  1. Condition U (Universal Domain)
  2. Condition P (Pareto Optimality)
  3. Condition I (Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives)
  4. Condition D (Non-Dictatorship)
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18
Q

Condition U (Universal Domain)

A

Each person makes their own list of preferences

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19
Q

Condition P (Pareto Optimality)

A

When no one’s first preference is the same as the others, they pick the one that is highest up in everyone’s list of preferences. so no one is worse off. Some are better off

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20
Q

Condition I (Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives)

A

if there are 2 choices left, no one person decides

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21
Q

Condition D (Non-Dictatorship)

A

No distinguished individual dictates what preference the group does

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22
Q

What are the conditions for a majority rule?

A
  1. A-Anonymity
  2. N-Neutrality
  3. M-Monotonicity
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23
Q

What is single-peakedness

A

you can’t always get what you want but you can get close to it. being satisfied with “as good as it’s going to get”

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24
Q

what is the indifference curve

A

people have preferences and people want to get as close to thier preferences as possible

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25
Why is the median voter so significant?
They are what the candidates try to get as close to as possible because the closer they are, the more votes they are going to get
26
What is Pure Majoritarian?
any leader can make any amendment to any legislator
27
What is a closed rule committee system?
brings something out to vote up or down. If it's voted up, the status quo is changed, but if it is voted down, the status quo stays the same
28
What is an open rule committee system?
proposal can be amended on the floor--combines closed rule and pure majoritarian
29
what is the most important thing that needs to be known in both of the systems?
the bodies preference
30
Sophisticated voting
not voting for your true preference in order to get your actual preference and still keep your votes as a candidate at the same time
31
Heresthetic
chance of obtaining their preferences. a political strategy by which a person or group sets or manipulates the context and structure of a decision-making process in order to win or be more likely to win
32
Plurality runoff
if no candidate gets more than 50% of the votes, drop the lowest go getter until someone gets 50%. Discourages smaller parties
33
Approval voting
which ones can most people live with. doesn't let you put down your first preference just which one you'd be agreeable with
34
Borda count
allows voters to express preferences about all the options
35
Proportional Rep
vote for a party; not a single rep. encourages smaller parties
36
Single transferable vote
indicated order of preferences over the candidates. complicated to collect all the preferences
37
Prisoners dilemma model
Ex: 2 people commit a crime and are put into 2 different rooms for questioning by the police. Do they keep quiet or blame the other person to save themselves?
38
Internalized values
good people that are willing to cooperate
39
external enforcement
Ex: if we have a product and we deliver you a product that is defective, but you paid for it not knowingly, then you could sue us. too complex and expensive. could just write a letter to the company
40
collective action
multi-person cooperation. begin by trusting and then you do whatever the other person does. better if more people participate
41
why do groups exist?
1. Individual benefit 2. Group benefit 3. selective incentive
42
Political entrepreneurs
someone who sees and opportunity for an interest group. a dividend/gain is not being enjoyed so they find people to join that group and profit
43
paradox of voting
people vote not just for instrumental (beneficial) reasons but for experiential reasons
44
What is a public good
a non-excludable and non-rivalrous good because no one can produce it. Ex: air. public shares collective rights
45
What is a private good
an excludable and rivalrous good because people can produce it. Ex: my house--there is more than one house
46
Externality
a byproduct of activity on unwilling parties. Ex: steel companies in someone's backyard that cause a lot of noise and pollution
47
Components of political science
Ethical, Empirical, and Prudential
48
Ethical: main points, question, and foundation
Main point: political values Question: What ought to be? Foundation: Philosophy
49
Empirical: main points, question, foundation
Main point: political phenomena Question: what is? Foundation: Science
50
Prudential: main points, question, foundation
Main point: Political judgment Question: what can be? Foundation: public policy
51
Types of political research
1. non-empirical | 2. empirical
52
Non-empirical: applied and theoretical
applied: normative philosophy theoretical: formal theory
53
Empirical: applied and theoretical
applied: engineering/policy research--helps solve a clear technical problem theoretical: social science theory--human interaction and then human behavior
54
ethics of research
must be conducted in an ethical manner. so no harm to the subject, no psychological stress, no imposition, information remains confidential, and no misleading the subjects
55
characteristics of good research
1. demonstrates factual support | 2. interesting and important problem (clarity, and theoretical significance)
56
Explain causality using the variables
independent: explaining the change dependent: the thing that changes
57
elegant theory
simplicity, predictive, and importance
58
Measuring accurately
reliability: gives the same result again and again validity: measure relates to the concept
59
Precision in Measurement
Interval: 1, 2, 3 Ordinal: first, second, third Nominal: names of groups
60
causality: essential question
does change in A lead to change in B or is it just a coincidence? ***CORRELATION DOES NOT MEAN CAUSATION***
61
"controlling" a variable means...
holding constant C in order to compare A and B
62
2 types of research design
1. with a control group | 2. without a control group
63
without a control group
measure the dependent variable, observe independent variable, measure dependent variable again
64
with a control group
natural experiment and true experiment
65
3 types of sampling
random, quasi random, and purposive sampling
66
Aristotle
believed in the polis. Authoritarian not totalitarian
67
Polis
Greek city-state. every polis is connected--partnership is for good
68
difference between living and living well
living=necessities and living well=extras
69
speech in the polis
man can see and hear things that communicate or we can communicate good and bad, just and unjust
70
Plato's classic work and problem stated in the book
the Republic. what is justice and what is the ideal life for the polis?
71
Allegory of the Cave
painful for prisoners to be dragged into the sun after being in the cave but then they get accustomed to it and don't want to go back into the dark
72
The philosopher-king
should order the life of the polis in accordance with a vision of the good that their superior intellect allows them to perceive
73
Plato's typology of deficient governments
Aristocracy: government by the best Timocracy: government by people of honor and wisdom Oligarchy: government by the rich and lovers of money at the expense of the poor Democracy: government by the numerous poor Tyranny: government by a lawless individual
74
Aristotle's typology of governments: number rule in accord with ruling the common good
* Monarchy: one person. governed by a virtuous ruler. not likely because it's hard to pick one good person to rule and when you have to pick a new leader, it's harder * Aristocracy: by a few. governed by the virtuous few * Polity: the many. constitutional government--a mixture of democracy and oligarchy. most likely--most practicable. neither rich or poor dominate
75
Aristotle's typology of governments: rule motivated by individual or class self-interest
* Tyranny: governed by one lawless person * Oligarchy: governed by the rich and noble. rule at the expense of the poor * Democracy: government by the poor and free
76
Augustine makes 2 claims
1. Christianity is universal | 2. The end goal is Heaven
77
Augustine's famous work
The City of God
78
Thomas Aquinas's famous work
Summa Theologica
79
What are the 4 big chapters within Summa Theologica
1. Creation 2. fall 3. Redemption--God tying to help us come back to him 4. Treatus on Law
80
what are the 3 principles of man that cause quarrels?
1. Competition: for gain 2. Diffidence: for safety 3. Glory: for reputation
81
Human Condition
always worried about violent deaths. so you're going to pick someone with super political power that is powerful enough to keep people apart because it's better than the alternative which is death
82
The reason for policy
for the preservation of the property of all the members of that society
83
modern political thought: Thomas Hobbes
the need for a supreme sovereign leader
84
Modern political thought: John Locke
social contract for popular, limited, and responsible, representative government
85
Modern political thought: Locke
people aren't the same as they used to be
86
John Stuart wrote...
On Liberty

Political Science (1 decks)

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