INTRODUCTION TO

THE STUDY OF
POLITICS
Chapter 1, Magstadt

Why study politics?

People always disagree, and it is
interesting to uncover the processes at
work during these conflicts (and their
resolutions).
The study of logic, as well as the other
social sciences, may also help here.
Politics, however, may be the most
significant of these studies.

Why study politics?

The self-interest
Satisfaction of personal needs depends
largely on the workings of the government.
The study of politics allows us to know how
government works (or why it doesnt).
The public interest
Civil society is inevitably affected by its
political environment. The study of politics
helps the public deal with the possible
pressures of this environment.

The State and Civil Society

Source:
http://www.zetterberg.org/Papers/ppr1997c.
htm

Politics and everyday life

Man is by nature a political animal.
-Aristotle
Politics is in a general sense about the
way human beings govern and are
governed.
It therefore affects our lives in countless
ways on a daily basis.
The example of Adolf Eichmann can help
illustrate these effects.

The story of Adolf Eichmann

Adolf Eichmann was a Nazi functionary
who administered much of the
extermination program.
Hannah Arendt wrote of Eichmann as not
being a particularly unusual man.
He had a strong desire to get ahead, to
be a success in life.
He also took special pride in his ability to
do his job efficiently.

Politics and everyday life

Being a normal person, it would not be difficult
to picture an Eichmann in more familiar
surroundings.
Such a person would be a workaholic, concerned
with advancement, and eager to please
superiors.
Not being a particularly harsh person, he/she
may even be a faithful spouse or a loving parent.
The Nazis were commonly described as being
affectionate and caring towards their own
families, after all.

Politics in everyday life

The key point is that this person is so
caught up in the real world, that he/she
has no time for (or interest in) abstract,
moral, social, or political questions.
Despite being quite ordinary, Eichmann
was still able to do horrific things to his
fellow man.
This may be attributed to the cultural and
political environment during Nazi Germany.

Politics in everyday life

As German leadership equated mass
extermination with patriotism, it was difficult for
the Eichmanns (ordinary Germans) to resist the
performance of their functions.
It would require a rare combination of intellectual
independence and moral courage to go against
such a trend.
These qualities are the ones that you may acquire
in the study of politics.

All propaganda is lies ---- even when it is telling the truth.

-George Orwell

Basic concepts in politics

Politics has been defined in countless
ways, and each one deserves
recognition.
Agreement regarding a uniform
definition is therefore a futile activity.
However, there are certain concepts in
politics that are considered more
important than most. They are power,
order, and justice.

Power
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power
corrupts absolutely.
-Lord Acton

The usual notion of power in politics is

the ability of governments to make and
enforce rules, and is linked inevitably to
the concept of authority.
However, power involves much more
than physical force.
QUESTION: What are other forms of
power?

Power in material form

It is common to associate power in material forms.
In this way, power is more tangible and can
readily be measured.
Critics of this notion, however, claim that it is too
narrow.
Joseph Nye, in particular, distinguishes between
hard power and soft power.

Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the
comprehension of the weak, and that it is doing Gods service;
when it is violating all His laws.
-John Adams

Power and its distribution

Power is never equally distributed in any
society or state.
However, the need to concentrate power in
the hands of a few raises questions, doubts,
and sometimes suspicions among people.
It is difficult to determine who really rules any
state, whether it is the government or not.

Who watches the watchmen?

-Juvenal

Power and Authority

These are terms that are often confused,
and are in fact even used
interchangeably.
In reality, they are two distinct concepts.
QUESTION: What is the difference between
power and authority?
CLUE: Authority flows from the norms that
are recognized and embraced by the
vast majority of society.

Power and Authority

Authority is closely related to, and in fact
implies, the idea of legitimacy.
Legitimacy is a condition in which power
is exercised through established
institutions, and according to rules that
are freely accepted by people as being
right and proper.
Authority may then be considered as
legitimate power.

The test of legitimate

authority
However, to determine if a person is in fact
an authority, we must not consider the
ability of people to agree or disagree by
exercising their rights to vote or to stage
popular demonstrations.
We must consider how much value people
attach to these rights instead.
The consent of the people to live with or
without these rights is the important
factor.

The test of legitimate

authority
Power itself may be seized in many ways.
Assuming a status of leadership may then
necessarily follow.
If people allow this to happen, then there
may be authority, but it is not legitimate.
Authority, however, cannot be seized. It can
only be asserted or claimed.
When assailed, therefore, authority loses its
legitimacy and becomes naked power (or
what some people may call despotism).

Order
Political order denotes structures, rules,
rituals, procedures, and practices that
make up a political system.
The political system, on the other hand,
is built upon the foundations of society.
Society is closely related to the concept
of community, or an association of
individuals that share a common identity.

Order, government, and the

state
Order is also related to government, or the
machinery that rules society.
Governments may then be differentiated
into many other forms: republics,
monarchies, oligarchies, dictatorships, etc.
This further leads to the concept of the state,
which is the sole location of sovereignty.
A sovereign state is a community with welldefined territorial boundaries administered
by a single government.

The state, the country, and the nation

The state can also be confused (more or
less rightfully) with the term country.
Although a state may not always be a
country, the distinctions are few.
However, the state or the country must
not be equated with the nation, which is
a distinct group of people who share a
number of fundamental identities or
backgrounds.

Nation-states, etc.
This distinction gives rise to the
concepts of the nation-state,
multination-states, multistate-nations, or
even stateless nations.
QUESTION: What are some examples of
these combinations?

Justice
The sheer number of people to be governed
gives rise to various conflicting claims on
how such governance should be performed.
The importance of the public interest
becomes relevant when evaluating the
governments actions.
The question of justice addresses this fact,
which is more or less considered in state
affairs (more often, however, it is not).

Justice
The need to ask whether something is
just coincides with the ability to think
and speak intelligently about politics.
The question whether government is
acting justly therefore carries with it
other questions related to politics.

Extreme justice is extreme injustice.

-Cicero

QUESTION: What is justice?

How we study politics

As there is no uniformly effective
method of studying politics, the
discipline becomes multifaceted.
Different approaches, different kinds of
questions, different audiences, all exist
and thrive at the same time.
The study of politics, like the other
sciences, seeks to answer the more
important questions.

Methods in political study

The most basic division regarding methods to
study politics is between positivism and the
normative approach:
Positivism emphasizes empirical research
and places weight in measurable variables
that are more likely considered to be facts.
The normative approach mainly considers
the value of political concepts or phenomena.
Whether you choose one over the other is
not important.

Examples of political science specialties

Political theory Seeks to answer normative

questions through reason and logic.
Comparative politics Seeks to contrast and
evaluate governments and political systems.
International relations Seeks to analyze
how nations interact.
Public administration Seeks to study how
bureaucracies implement governmental
policies.