Political Order

1. Political Order The institutionalized system through which some individuals or groups acquire and exercise power over others.

2. The State • The state is the supreme political authority in a society. It is the only authority which can claim monopoly and legitimacy over the use of force within a territory.

3. Power • Power is the ability to control the behavior of others even in the absence of their consent. Power can be legitimate—when people recognize the rights of those exercising power to do so; or illegitimate—when people do not recognize the rights of people to do so.

4. Authority • When people recognize the rights of someone to exercise power, that person or entity has authority—the form of power whose legitimacy is recognized by those to whom it is applied. When power is illegitimate then coercion is necessary. For a political system to survive, it must be regarded as legitimate by its participants.

5. Type of Authority • Traditional: Power is legitimated by custom, birthright, or tradition (monarchies) • Legal-rational: Power is legitimated by rules and procedures which define the rights and obligations of rulers. (U.S.) • Charismatic—Power is used through the force of personality, or charisma, which inspires people to follow a leader. (Hitler)

6. State Types--Authoritarian • Authoritarianism: form of government where rulers tolerate little or no public opposition and cannot be removed from office by legal means. Can be monarchies where rulers claim power through birth; dictatorships where power is seized by an individual; juntas where military officers stage a coup d’etat against an existing government.

7. Totalitarian • Totalitarianism: form of government where rulers recognize no limits to their authority and where every aspect of social life is regulated by the state. Includes mass propaganda, state surveillance, genocide, media control, etc. More resistant to change than authoritarian regimes.

8. Democracy • Democracy: form of government where authority belongs to the people who have the right to participate in decision-making and appoint and dismiss rulers. No pure democracy has ever existed. We have representative democracy.

9. Requirements for democracy • Economic development • Restraints on government power, i.e. checks and balances • Absence of major cleavages • Tolerance of dissent, no “tyranny of the majority” • Access to information, a free press • Diffusion of power

10. Liberty and equality • We have the liberty, freedom, to be rich, but do we have social equality? Socialists have social equality but do they have liberty? What is the relationship between capitalism and democracy? • Lindblom’s Politics & Markets argues that you don’t get democracy without capitalism and socialism entails some form of authoritarianism.

11. Nations and States • Nation—group that lives within a territory, shares a common history, culture, identity, usually language. • Nationalism—the practice of being a nation • State—the political order including police, military, executive, judicial, legislative • Nation-state—supreme political authority within a territory that includes state and represents nation. Example, Japan is a nation-state. Quebec is a nation without a state

12. Human Rights • Human rights: rights to which all people are entitled. United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone shall live free and equal in dignity and rights.” Includes rights of children, women, people to be fed, free of violence, etc.

13. Political Party • Political party—the organization whose purpose is to gain legitimate control of government. Links individual voter to government, defines policy alternatives (the party platform), transmits public opinion to politicians (the party pollster), mobilizes grass-roots participation.

14. Voting • Voting systems—differ according to structure. U.S. two party system versus European proportional representation. Two party system based on simple plurality—candidates win who get most votes. Proportional system—candidates get number of seats in government based on proportion of votes they get in election: 15% of votes get 15% of seats in legislature. Minority parties get representation and there is stricter “party discipline.’ U.S. has less party discipline and majority do not vote. Europeans vote at 90% rate; U.S. vote at 40% rate.

15. Interest Groups • Interest groups: organization formed to sway public opinion and political decisions. Lobbyists are persons who work for interest groups. Political action committees (PACS) interest groups whose goal is to raise money for politicians.

16. Theories • Functionalist—state fulfills functions to maintain order and social control; enforces norms through the codification of laws; arbitrate conflict by deciding who gets what/when/how; plans and/or direct economy; relates to other states. • Conflict—state merely protects the interests of wealthy and elite. State is site of class conflict and center of social conflict. • Symbolic interaction—individuals learn to vote and participate as a citizen of a state through their political socialization.

17. Future of the nation-state? • Will be move beyond individual states to a united nations of one state? Or will be always be a collection of states? Will nations splinter off into more states?