PO101 Major Topics- Beginning to Midterm

Some more PoliSci...

Democratic Theory

• Order- structure, laws
• Power- can be seized
• Justice- rights
• Hobbes- state of nature was state of war, form govt. to keep peace and order, monarchy
• Locke- private property leads to war, civil society needed rules, citizens give up liberty to commonwealth to preserve their wealth, constitutional democracy
• Rousseau- property led to inequality which led to a naturalized social contract, normative social contract- man has free will and chooses to create a society that is more just, politics restores freedom, direct democracy
• Federalist #10: need to control factions through rep. democracy
• Republic- enough representatives to guard against whims of few, but not too many, larger area = strength of majority unknown, govt. power depends on consent of governed, has: constitution, limits against absolute power, mechanisms of freedom
• Presidentialism- president elected, chooses cabinet from outside govt.
• Parliamentarianism- PM chosen by Parliament, party power stronger, cabinet chosen from MPs
• Constitutional democracy- adaptive constitution, minority rights, some centralized control, electoral systems, limits (check and balances, separation of powers, federalism, reelection, rule of law
• Dahl's characteristics: maintain system, protect rights, ensure fairness, encourage consensus, provide govt. that can solve problems

Nationalism

• Canada- short history, no authoritarianism, similar religions, British majority, 2 national languages (status for minority), no influence by other nations, everyone was an immigrant, 1 war
• Yugoslavia- long history, authoritarianism, various religions, various majority that share power, Serbs oppress others, impacted by WWI, WWII, and USSR, some people have always lived there, constant warring

Race

• Parties need to appeal to a moderate electorate to be successful
• Race and culture can be used as tools for political gain
• Ghetto underclass because of concentration effect in 1960s
• Plight deepens b/c of: concentration effects, unemployment, racism, incarceration, bad schools, breakdown of families, subculture that glorifies swagger over work, decrease in blue collar jobs
• Loury- Social Capital- need targeted performance enhancement, education, and training / problems need to be addressed as trans-racial

Civic Culture- civic culture, political socialization, social capital, public opinion, voting constraints

• Political socialization- good citizenship: identification with nation, actions, civic training, voting: minimum degree of invovlement, agents of socialization: family, school, religion, peers, media, workplace, gender, events
• Tocqueville- Americans volunteer
• Civic culture (Amond and Verba)- political culture (independent variable) affects effectiveness and stability of govt.
• Characteristics: orientation to political system, talk about politics, pride in nation, self-confidence in govt., involved in elections, participate, membership in voluntary organization, tolerance to opposition parties, civil cooperation and trust
• Parochial citizen- politically unaware / subject citizen- passive relationship with government / participant citizen- active with govt.
• Political cultures may or may not be congruent with political system
• Social capital- social organizations that work for coordination and cooperation for mutual benefits
• Putnam- "Bowling Alone"- b/c women working, mobility, TV, urban sprawl, decrease religion
• Lipset- criticism- more voluntary orgs., increase religion, increase charity, increase patriotism
• Institutional issues- SMD leads to decrease in social capital / PR increases
• Public opinion- intensity- how much people care / salience- how prevalent an issue is / volatality- how easily public opinion changes / political generations- ours vs. WWII / life cycle- changing views based on age or point in life
• Issue publics (Converse)- people know most about 1-2 issues
• Popkin- get info about other issues- delegation, heuristics (short cuts- react to policy), representativeness, incumbency, by-product theory of info, drunkard's search
• Politicians manipulate voters- crafted talk, priming (what they chose to talk about), framing (how they talk about an issue), media
• Voting constraints- doesn't want to vote, voter reg., civic engagement (social capital- b/c of socio-demographic, edu., age, income, employment, minority status), polling locations, absentee ease, ease of info, privacy, intimidation, eligibility, elite status needed?, primaries, voting legitimacy?, competitiveness of vote

American Exceptionalism

• Standard explanation- no monarchy or feudal society aspects, all "born free", Lockian liberalism (judicial review, constitutional emphasis), lack of socialist tradition
• Cultural explanation- influx of new vs. traditional, immigration, social change
• Double-edged sword (Lipset)- good: freedom, meritocracy, work and education ethic, bad: fewer obligations, Horatio Algerism, us vs. them, violence, imperialism
• Economic explanation- weak lower/labor class = wealthy dominate, unrestricted expansion = didn't have to deal with class conflict, liberal market economy
• Institutional explanation (Steinmo)- causes: federalism, separation of powers, fragmentation of powers, electoral systems, presidentialism, effects: character of legislature, bureaucracy, parties, voters, interest groups, public policy, political culture
• False idea?- unique things: egalitarianism, less govt. interference, less socialism and unions, higher pride and patriotism, more religion, constant immigration, but all countries have exceptional characteristics

Interest Groups and Pluralism / Social Movements

• Federalist #10- faction- groups who form to protect and promote their interests at the expense of the greater good, human nature makes factions inevitable, can't prevent so must control by: large republic, federalism, separation of powers
• Interest groups- access: lobby Congress, lobby Executive, courts, public, media, protest and demonstration, violence
• Pluralist theories- group formation is part of human nature, govt. should work to expand transparency (but elite interests don't want that), military-industrial complex, iron law of oligarchy, iron triangles (committee, bureaucracy, interest groups)- pros: stability, increase expertise, efficiency, cons: undemocratic, intertia, elite advantage: resources, access to leaders, shared group conciousness
• Social movement- want to change the nature of pluralism / work against interest groups and businesses
• Social movement theories- mass society- strange people do strange things, relative deprivation- increase expectations and inequalities = frustration, resource theories- how groups organize (material, solidarity benefits- meet people, purposive- feel good), process theories- systematic vulnerabilities, timing (come about b/c: pre-existing social networks, creation of an insurgent consciousness, shifting political opportunities, shifting social control response of other groups

Extra-Constitutionalism- activism to the extreme

• Occurs when democracy isn't possible (majority controlled by minority elite)
• Occurs when democracy doesn't work for your interests (minority in democratic world)
• Religion- Old Boston, Catholic Church ran adoptions
• Media- media as business driven by corporate interests, media as an opinion shaper, impact of blogs and internet
• Violence- types: premordial (quasi-nationalistic), separatist, revolutionary, coup, issue-based / military mutiny / guerilla / terrorism
• Terrorism- characteristics: deep-seeded grievances, mostly in countries struggling to modernize, rarely works and seldom as sole means / goals: demonstrate capacity, symbolic action or personal fulfillment, attempt to motivate action / response: swift, severe, lawful punishment, improve security and research into small group violence dynamics, address issues of contention
• Revolutions- reasons: political (system not working/dictator), erosion of legitimacy, regime lost effectiveness (inflation, corruption, unemployment) / characteristics: quick, dramatic system change, organization needed, types: agrarian, mass-based, elite-based, "Great", separatist, religious, peaceful / stage: old regime breaks down, mass mobilization, moderates take over first, then extremists, thermidor- purge extremists / problems after: one tyranny replaced with another?, end badly? / examples: separatist- Mexican Revolution, agrarian- China, Cuba, "Great"- U.S., France, Russia, Religious- Iran, Peaceful- Velvet Revolution / heading off revolutions: end injustices that cause them, hard to do

Parties

• Functions: bridge between people and govt. (linkage), aggregation of interests- bring together common interests, integration into political system, political socialization, mobilize voters, organize govt.
• Duverger's Law- SMD = 2 party system- need strong, centralized control
• Parties and govt. (schattschneider)- designed to take over govt. (organize, Duverger's law), govt. by consent of governed, what is the best system of govt.?
• Party strength- weak because candidate-centered elections
• Parties fail (Lawson and Merkel)- parties are arenas of elite decision process, substitute arrives - interest consolidation no longer occurs, other vehicles of mediation between state and society: environmental, supplementary (alternative party), communitarian (focus on regional communities), anti-authoritarian
• U.S.- increase independents in 1970s and 1980s / 1990s and 2000s- polarization of citizens, strong party cohesion- no
• Other views: parties weakening- since 1890s, weak overall, increase in candidate voting / parties stronger- surge of party power, increase ideological polarization, increase in unity in party voting in Congress

Campaign Finance

• U.S.- FECA (1971)- disclosure, media limits, contribution limits, allow unions and companies to get involved / Buckley v. Valeo (1976)- some restrictions are unconstitutional: can't put limits on how much candidates can spend, can't put limits on self-financing, can't put limits on independent expenditures (soft $) / 527s- issue advocacy ads, not related to specific candidates or campaigns, have odd names / PACs- strict $ rules, can be associated with specific candidate
• UK- weak / candidates have limits, parties have limits on spending but not on contributions / no disclosure- large influence of major newspapers, external donations allowed / free media time
• France- only public finance, limited private donations / extensive transparency / but govt. gives lots of $ to contractors and some $ is funneled back to parties
• Spain- public financing, loose reporting of contributions (lax enforcement), bank loan problem
• Considerations: is $ speech?, public financing or free airtime?, enforcement, other corruption mechanisms, how to pass CFR legislation, issue advocacy or soft $, internet, can society ever stop the $ flow?, do contributions affect legislation?, transparency, loans

Media

• How it affects political participation (Patterson)- creating cynical public that distrusts govt., destroying cohesion and social capital, increase in tabloid journalism, journalists hold politicians to standards that they never come close to keeping themselves
• Media-attack journalism (Sabato)- inquisition-style, focus on scandals, journalists: have to be more aggressive b/c of image makers and spin doctors, consequences: decreased access to public officials, decrease trust in media
• Mass media and politics (Graber)- functions: surveillence, interpretation, socialization, manipulation, greater media influence, freedom of press: is there a separate freedom, require less supervision b/c of journalistic ethics?, but they are a corporation, Supreme Court- media is no different than citizen critic / generate political action: prompt public reaction, prompt office holders to act, work with officials to generate actions, surrogates for public officials, mouthpieces for govt. or interest group, frame issues
• Concerns- selective coverage, non-comprehensive coverage, doesn't provide comprehensive picture, media oligopoly, too close or too critical of govt.

I hope you enjoyed some more PO101 notes.  Next, DANTE!