Introduction to Political Sciences

1. Introduction to Political Sciences Repetition for Midterm 1

2. Introduction to Political Sciences Session 2 What is Political Science?

3. What is politics? • Definition • Key concepts: • Power: influence and coercion • Authority: The legitimacy of power • Dimensions of legitimacy: • Input: Democratic procedures • Output: Performance of the political system/govt • Social: social coherence, so that rule of the majority is accepted by the citizens

4. Who are the people? • People are Citizens: Not all people living in a state have the right to vote (foreigners without citizenship) • Tension between nation and state – nation state implies that each state consists of one nation • Illustration: electoral turnout in Belgium, Independence of Kosovo

5. Approaches to the study of politics • Normative vs. Empirical analysis • Normative: What should be • Empirical: What is observable • Rationalist vs. constructivist approaches • Rational choice theory: benefit maxismising (Political Economy) • Constructivism: preferences shaped in interaction, socialisation (Political Sociology)

6. Normative approch of political philosophy: Who should rule? • Aristotle: danger of a tyranny of the majority • Bodin: defence of absolutism • Hobbes: Leviathan: unconstrained rule • Locke: in favor of constitutional government/republicanism • Montesquieu: system of checks and balances

7. Empirical approach of European integration theories • Which factors drive the integration process? • Which actors are the most important ones? (intergovernmentalism vs. Supranationalism) • What shapes their preferences? (rationalist vs. Constructivist approaches) • How is the interaction constrained? (bargaining power, agenda setting, role of norms ...)

8. Introduction to Political Sciences Session 3 The State

9. Rival Thories of the State • Pluralist view: neutral arbiter • Marxist view (Capitalist state): instrument of the ruling class • The Leviathan state: growing intervention into society as a result of internal dynamics • Patriachal State: similiar to Marxist view – state as a reflection of the power structure in society, “a mens’ world”

10. Role of the state • Minimal states • Development states • Social democratic states • Collectivised states • Totalitarian states

11. Has the state lost power in recent times? • Globalisation • Competition leads to pressure to cut corporate taxes and wages • Regional integration (EU) leads to less autonomy in fiscal, monetary policy, but regional integration also a means to regain power (pooled sovereignty) • Substate governance • Pressure for decentralisation • But: public-private partnership can lead to better solutions (complexity of modern societies9

12. Introduction to Political Sciences Session 4 Political Ideologies

13. What is an ideology? • Definition: set of ideas, blueprint for action • Categorisation: Central question: What is the proper role of the state? • State interference in economy • State inference in private life

14. Main ideologies • What was the historical context of the evolution of a certain ideology? • What are the main ideas of the different ideologies? • Illustration: Be able to apply our matrix to contempory debates about the proper role of the state