Political Science Cheat Sheet

Chapter 1:
-Why Study Politics? – self & public interest
-What is politics? – no real definition “Art of the possible” “who get what when & how” “authoritative allocation of values”
-Sciences: Hard: biology, chemistry, physics, math(experiments can be replicated & get same results) Soft: archeology, political science (cant be replicated, lots of theories), experiments cant be replicated
-Basic Concepts of politics-
-Power-
-Political science majors study power NOT politics
-Hard power- forcing someone to do something ex. Injuring, kidnapping
-Soft power- more persuasive approach ex. Bribery, lying, threatening
-Legitimacy- recognition by a population that those who are in charge should be in charge & not somebody else -internal idea, only country that we are in can recognize legitimacy
-sovereignty- recognition by 1 countries gov that gov of another country should be in charge of that country & not somebody else -external idea, can recognize other countries sovereignty
-authority- the right to govern (usually an individual) -authority comes with respect & being personal -can gain more authority by being charismatic & personal
-order-
-republics- form of gov where people are in charge/have power, almost all republics are democracies -direct democracy- people are directly responsible for making all the decisions, NO country governs this way -representative democracy- elect one person to make decisions -monarchies- power lies in hands of a small group of people ex. King,queen, prince, princess -tyrannies- can be one person or small group
-justice- “we willingly accept the rule of few over many only if public interest/common good is significantly advanced in the process.

-Political Scientists-
-quantitative- data driven, tangible data, positivism/ qualitative- uses words instead of numbers, normativism ex.morality
-Subfields of political science-
-political theory- difficult to be proven wrong, you can really only teach political theory
-American Politics- focus on what we do here, focus on federal gov, constitution, etc
-Comparative Politics- look how dif countries do the same things differently then compare. Ex. How crime is addressed between dif countries
-International Relations- look how countries interact, look how NGO,NATO,IGO interact
-Public Administration- similar to American politics but for a different country, look at one specific country & study it.
-Political Economy- emerging political science field & economics field, must have firm grasp of both fields

Chapter 2:
-Ideology And The “Public Good” - any set of fixed, predictable ideas held by people how to serve public good -America much more conservative than Europe liberal there socialist here
-Anarchism- absence of government, they don’t want violence, only no government, endorsement of positive human nature (people are basically good), gov makes you perceive anarchism is a negative thing
-Nihilism- much more violent than anarchism
-Monarchism- conservative, all power in hand of one person, predominant form until recently
-Facism- (began in Italy during WW2 era), right wing(more than conservative), superiority of race, emphasis of order, obedience to state, glorification of military, emphasizes reason, rely on mythology, instills pride of their people to them, hitlers volk
-Capitalism- predominant ideology today, minimal gov interference, very conservative ideology, Adam Smith thought the key was to let free market control
-Libertarians- economically conservative, socially liberal, gov should only do things we cant do on free market, believe in legalization of weed, prostitution, same sex, saves $ from police, jails, separate church and state
-Socialism- liberals, endorses social welfare & collective prosperity, roots in Karl Marx, class struggle between Bourgeoisie(wealth) & proletatrait(poor), focus on group rather than individual, egalitarian society-no class diff, evry1 equal, Marx’s ideas never tried
-democratic socialism- uses fiscal policy instead of violence, egalitarian society is goal too, Robin hood the system(take from rich to give to poor), prevelant in European countries now
-ideology in America- we prefer results, not rhetoric, role of religion in policy? 1st amend. says gov cant have religious views

Chapter 3:
-Utopia- perfect society, gives us something to strive for
-Dystopia- perfect order gone wrong, George orwells 1984, set in england
-Plato’s Republic- goal of achieving justice, 3 layers of society; Producers Auxiliaries(defenders) Guardians(Kings), Socrates-platos mentor, believed in rigid class structure, layers in harmony, Justice- when everything is doing what it is suppose to
-Allegory of the cave- only philosophers can understand truth, determine who have sex, can rule
-The Noble Lie- searching for truth, using lies to justify their rule, leaders don’t crave power while those who crave power cant lead
-Francis Bacons New Atlantis- Bensalem-fictional island in pacific, science and research are the goals of society, conquest of nature
-Karl Marx- capitalism contains seeds of its own destruction, everything centers on economics, surplus value/profit-believes profit should go to who made shoes, false consciousness, dictatorship of proletariat and communism, history is an ongoing class struggle
-B.F. Skinners Walden Two- Utopian Vision, all behavior is a result of external stimuli, people rewarded for good & punished for bad, trained to be happy, father of behavioral psychology
-Common Threads- NO more conflict, fundamental change, What about once theyre achieved?- now become resistant to change

Chapter 4:
-Constitutional Democracy- elections need to be regular free & competitive, must have free press, must have representative legislatures & independent judiciary, must have constrains on executive power
-Democratic Thoughts- Alexis de Tocqueville- felt that tyranny of majority was a dictatorship, John Locke- rule of law applies to everyone the same
-Constitutionalism- govs power can be limited, purpose of constitution is to define power of gov, US constitution is short & vague which allows to adapt easily(more durable) & easier to write & explain
-Models of American Democracy- -Hamiltons Federalism- strong central gov, believed checks & balances were important but shouldn’t be absolute, opposed Jefferson -Jeffersons Anti Federalism- populist; wanted ordinary population to be in charge if absolutely possible, regular constitutional conv. -Madison’s Balanced Gov- not a fan of the people- believed theyre ignorant & irrational, good mix of both sides, -Calhouns Brokered Gov- people are selfish, since gov is made up of people gov is selfish, believed in dual federalism(layer cake), rejected majority rule, compromise and concensus
-Structure of Government- Unitary: single central national gov for entire country, federal: U.S. is set up this way, 2 separate layers national & regional, confederal: regional govs retain all the power(very decentralized, power spread out, don’t last long)
-U.S. Constitution- delegated powers are powers delegated to congress, Atricle 1 section 8, reserved powers are powers reserved for states, 10th amendment, now all are same(maybe national has a little more),
-Variations of Democracy-
-American Presidentialism- pres. Independept of congress, both can do what they want
-British Parliamentarianism- have fusion of powers of executive & legislature, most “efficient form of gov”
-French Hybrid- separately elected president, prime minister elected from parliament
-Role of Citizens in Democracy-
-Protective: emphasis is placed on safeguarding liberty rather than security, all about making money and business
-Developmental- teaches citizens how to be good citizens (in newer countries)
-Pluralist- competition between various interests in society, stratified- elite at top poor at bottom
-participatory- people directly participate, only works for small groups
-cosmopolitan- citizens view themselves as citizen of world rather than country

Chapter 5:
-Natural Dictatorship- predominant form of gov throughout history
-Monarchies- hereditary govs (passed down)
-Theocracies- religious form of gov, out of date
-Juntas- military gov
-Civilian Dictatorship- small group of civilian dictators
-“Virtues” of authoritarianism- efficient since simple, can act quickly since only 1 decision maker, don’t have to deal with special interest groups, can organize population fast, lot of stability
-“Vices” of authoritarianism- power is addictive, must create mythology in order to get people to believe you, when leader dies succession crisis occurs(who will take over) & produces instability, military can do whatever, lack respect for rights
-Characteristics- coup d’ etat- almost always come to power by force, rely on censorship in media to silence opponents, high level of corruption, low crime rates, sever economic inequalities, high level of poverty(intended for pverty to happen)
-China- started total then shifted auth.,
-Maos Revolution- believes in Marxism, started capitalist then converts communism, Great leap forward- 5 year plan (ended in 2 yrs), then launched cultural revolution, purge of communist party, when Deng Xiaping came about turned more authori., red guard- ideological police force
-Tiananmen Square- size of Olympic event, in 1989 college students protested about tuition & books, got bigger & turned focus onto freedom, thousands died once troops were sent in
-Falun Gong- part meditation exercise philosophy, china gov believed its a threat, internet search of it blocked, many went to jail
-Iran- mostly Persian population, Farce is main language
-Theocracy- old form of gov being practiced today, until 1979 it was a monarchy run by a shah, religious government type
-Shah Pahlaui- last shah of iran, helped modernize iran, was a dictator, was pro-western economically & socially, sovac- secret police force
-Ayatollah Khomeini- died in’89, ultra conservative, exiled to france by shah
-Iran Iraq War- took over embassy in Iran, Iraq invaded Iran in 80’s, used to be allies with Iran, once Sudam invaded Iran we became allies with him due to embassy incident, we put an American embargo on Iran
-Myths of authoritarianism- it’s a sign of the times, rulers are always tyrants, never legitimate, always unpopular, no redeeming features, worst form of gov(totalitarianism is worse)
-Q’s to consider- Why do people accept authoritarian gov –fear, don’t know any better,
Is technology beneficial? – doesn’t help, opposition can spread message easier
***totalitarianism wants control of everything, has utopian vision, authoritarianism only controls what needs to be controlled

Chapter 6:
-totalitariansim- political system in which every facet of life is tightly controlled by the gov, gov relies on the use of secret police & strong ideological vision, implemented through mass mobilization & propaganda.
-Characteristics- violence, mass mobilization, rely heavily on propaganda to brainwash people
-Key elements of total revolution- leadership, ideology- most focus on great evil must be able to blame someone, must have a plan for everything even failure, instigate fear so people run to gov for help
-end of revolution- eliminate opposition, lenins salami tactics turn 2 people against each other, institute monolithic state
-ex of totalitarianism- soviet union- lenin & stalin-Marxist ideology, Nazi Germany- right wing(facist) totalitarianism feared jews, Mao’s China- fought in two front war now china is authoritarianism
-Why study totalitarianism?- Not all are gone, n. korea still has it, understanding may lead to prevention.