Political Science 1010
Introduction to Political Science
First Exam Review


Politics and Political Science

• Definition of politics

Approaches to the study of politics
-Understand each approach and what each entailed

Classical theories Early Philosophers Plato Aristotle Machiavelli Contractualists Hobbes Locke Rousseau Marxist theory "Traditional" political science

Modern theories Behavioralism Post-behaviorialism Systems theory Moderization theory Rational choice theory Neo-insititutionalism

The nature and problems of collective action

• collective goods
• free-riding
• coordination
• principals, agents, and agency loss

Nations and States

• definitions of each
• essential elements of nationhood
• crises of nationbuilding

Classifying governments

Aristotle's six types Monarchy - Tyranny Aristocracy - Oligarchy Polity - Democracy

Control of economy and redistribution of wealth Statist Socialist Laissez-faire Welfare State

Constitutions

• Purposes and elements of a constitution
  • statement of national ideals
  • formalizes structure of government
  • establishes legitimacy of government
• Government limits and individual rights and liberties
  • liberty v. order tension
  • types of rights
    • human (political) rights
    • civil rights
    • economic rights

Government power continuum

• Democracy
• Limited Democracy
• Authoritarianism
• Totalitarianism

Essential elements of democracy

• popular accountability
• political competition
• alternation in power ("two turnover test")
• right of dissent and disobedience
• political equality
• free press

Political Ideologies

• Classic Liberalism - Adam Smith
• Classic Conservatism - Edmund Burke
• Modern Liberalism - T.H. Green
• Modern Conservatism - Milton Friedman
• Libertarianism
• Marxist Socialism - Karl Marx
• Democratic Socialism - Eduard Bernstein
• Communism (Marxist Leninism) - V.I. Lenin
  Dimensions of ideology
  • Economic (Left/Right)
  • Social (Authoritarian/Libertarian)
  • Typology based on these dimensions
    • Liberal
    • Conservative
    • Libertarian
    • Populist/Communitarian
  
  
  Key terms you should know:

  anarchy aristocracy authoritarian authority behavioralism bourgeois capitalism civil rights collective action communism conservatism (classical and modern) constitution cross-cutting cleavages democracy economic rights

  empirical fascism feudalism free-riding government human (political) rights idealism ideology imperialism individual security laissez-faire legitimacy liberalism (classical and modern) libertarianism means of production

  nation nationalism national security normative oligarchy political capital politics polity populism postbehavioralism power preference falsification proletariat public (collective) goods

  realism regime security social contract socialism sovereignty state state of nature state security statist "the other" totalitarian tragedy of the commons tyranny welfare state