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Introduction to Political Science

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Introduction to Political ScienceKey Terms
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Table of contents
  1. Preface
  2. Introduction to Political Science
    1. 1 What Is Politics and What Is Political Science?
      1. Introduction
      2. 1.1 Defining Politics: Who Gets What, When, Where, How, and Why?
      3. 1.2 Public Policy, Public Interest, and Power
      4. 1.3 Political Science: The Systematic Study of Politics
      5. 1.4 Normative Political Science
      6. 1.5 Empirical Political Science
      7. 1.6 Individuals, Groups, Institutions, and International Relations
      8. Summary
      9. Key Terms
      10. Review Questions
      11. Suggested Readings
  3. Individuals
    1. 2 Political Behavior Is Human Behavior
      1. Introduction
      2. 2.1 What Goals Should We Seek in Politics?
      3. 2.2 Why Do Humans Make the Political Choices That They Do?
      4. 2.3 Human Behavior Is Partially Predictable
      5. 2.4 The Importance of Context for Political Decisions
      6. Summary
      7. Key Terms
      8. Review Questions
      9. Suggested Readings
    2. 3 Political Ideology
      1. Introduction
      2. 3.1 The Classical Origins of Western Political Ideologies
      3. 3.2 The Laws of Nature and the Social Contract
      4. 3.3 The Development of Varieties of Liberalism
      5. 3.4 Nationalism, Communism, Fascism, and Authoritarianism
      6. 3.5 Contemporary Democratic Liberalism
      7. 3.6 Contemporary Ideologies Further to the Political Left
      8. 3.7 Contemporary Ideologies Further to the Political Right
      9. 3.8 Political Ideologies That Reject Political Ideology: Scientific Socialism, Burkeanism, and Religious Extremism
      10. Summary
      11. Key Terms
      12. Review Questions
      13. Suggested Readings
    3. 4 Civil Liberties
      1. Introduction
      2. 4.1 The Freedom of the Individual
      3. 4.2 Constitutions and Individual Liberties
      4. 4.3 The Right to Privacy, Self-Determination, and the Freedom of Ideas
      5. 4.4 Freedom of Movement
      6. 4.5 The Rights of the Accused
      7. 4.6 The Right to a Healthy Environment
      8. Summary
      9. Key Terms
      10. Review Questions
      11. Suggested Readings
    4. 5 Political Participation and Public Opinion
      1. Introduction
      2. 5.1 What Is Political Participation?
      3. 5.2 What Limits Voter Participation in the United States?
      4. 5.3 How Do Individuals Participate Other Than Voting?
      5. 5.4 What Is Public Opinion and Where Does It Come From?
      6. 5.5 How Do We Measure Public Opinion?
      7. 5.6 Why Is Public Opinion Important?
      8. Summary
      9. Key Terms
      10. Review Questions
      11. Suggested Readings
  4. Groups
    1. 6 The Fundamentals of Group Political Activity
      1. Introduction
      2. 6.1 Political Socialization: The Ways People Become Political
      3. 6.2 Political Culture: How People Express Their Political Identity
      4. 6.3 Collective Dilemmas: Making Group Decisions
      5. 6.4 Collective Action Problems: The Problem of Incentives
      6. 6.5 Resolving Collective Action Problems
      7. Summary
      8. Key Terms
      9. Review Questions
      10. Suggested Readings
    2. 7 Civil Rights
      1. Introduction
      2. 7.1 Civil Rights and Constitutionalism
      3. 7.2 Political Culture and Majority-Minority Relations
      4. 7.3 Civil Rights Abuses
      5. 7.4 Civil Rights Movements
      6. 7.5 How Do Governments Bring About Civil Rights Change?
      7. Summary
      8. Key Terms
      9. Review Questions
      10. Suggested Readings
    3. 8 Interest Groups, Political Parties, and Elections
      1. Introduction
      2. 8.1 What Is an Interest Group?
      3. 8.2 What Are the Pros and Cons of Interest Groups?
      4. 8.3 Political Parties
      5. 8.4 What Are the Limits of Parties?
      6. 8.5 What Are Elections and Who Participates?
      7. 8.6 How Do People Participate in Elections?
      8. Summary
      9. Key Terms
      10. Review Questions
      11. Suggested Readings
  5. Institutions
    1. 9 Legislatures
      1. Introduction
      2. 9.1 What Do Legislatures Do?
      3. 9.2 What Is the Difference between Parliamentary and Presidential Systems?
      4. 9.3 What Is the Difference between Unicameral and Bicameral Systems?
      5. 9.4 The Decline of Legislative Influence
      6. Summary
      7. Key Terms
      8. Review Questions
      9. Suggested Readings
    2. 10 Executives, Cabinets, and Bureaucracies
      1. Introduction
      2. 10.1 Democracies: Parliamentary, Presidential, and Semi-Presidential Regimes
      3. 10.2 The Executive in Presidential Regimes
      4. 10.3 The Executive in Parliamentary Regimes
      5. 10.4 Advantages, Disadvantages, and Challenges of Presidential and Parliamentary Regimes
      6. 10.5 Semi-Presidential Regimes
      7. 10.6 How Do Cabinets Function in Presidential and Parliamentary Regimes?
      8. 10.7 What Are the Purpose and Function of Bureaucracies?
      9. Summary
      10. Key Terms
      11. Review Questions
      12. Suggested Readings
    3. 11 Courts and Law
      1. Introduction
      2. 11.1 What Is the Judiciary?
      3. 11.2 How Does the Judiciary Take Action?
      4. 11.3 Types of Legal Systems around the World
      5. 11.4 Criminal versus Civil Laws
      6. 11.5 Due Process and Judicial Fairness
      7. 11.6 Judicial Review versus Executive Sovereignty
      8. Summary
      9. Key Terms
      10. Review Questions
      11. Suggested Readings
    4. 12 The Media
      1. Introduction
      2. 12.1 The Media as a Political Institution: Why Does It Matter?
      3. 12.2 Types of Media and the Changing Media Landscape
      4. 12.3 How Do Media and Elections Interact?
      5. 12.4 The Internet and Social Media
      6. 12.5 Declining Global Trust in the Media
      7. Summary
      8. Key Terms
      9. Review Questions
      10. Suggested Readings
  6. States and International Relations
    1. 13 Governing Regimes
      1. Introduction
      2. 13.1 Contemporary Government Regimes: Power, Legitimacy, and Authority
      3. 13.2 Categorizing Contemporary Regimes
      4. 13.3 Recent Trends: Illiberal Representative Regimes
      5. Summary
      6. Key Terms
      7. Review Questions
      8. Suggested Readings
    2. 14 International Relations
      1. Introduction
      2. 14.1 What Is Power, and How Do We Measure It?
      3. 14.2 Understanding the Different Types of Actors in the International System
      4. 14.3 Sovereignty and Anarchy
      5. 14.4 Using Levels of Analysis to Understand Conflict
      6. 14.5 The Realist Worldview
      7. 14.6 The Liberal and Social Worldview
      8. 14.7 Critical Worldviews
      9. Summary
      10. Key Terms
      11. Review Questions
      12. Suggested Readings
    3. 15 International Law and International Organizations
      1. Introduction
      2. 15.1 The Problem of Global Governance
      3. 15.2 International Law
      4. 15.3 The United Nations and Global Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)
      5. 15.4 How Do Regional IGOs Contribute to Global Governance?
      6. 15.5 Non-state Actors: Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)
      7. 15.6 Non-state Actors beyond NGOs
      8. Summary
      9. Key Terms
      10. Review Questions
      11. Suggested Readings
    4. 16 International Political Economy
      1. Introduction
      2. 16.1 The Origins of International Political Economy
      3. 16.2 The Advent of the Liberal Economy
      4. 16.3 The Bretton Woods Institutions
      5. 16.4 The Post–Cold War Period and Modernization Theory
      6. 16.5 From the 1990s to the 2020s: Current Issues in IPE
      7. 16.6 Considering Poverty, Inequality, and the Environmental Crisis
      8. Summary
      9. Key Terms
      10. Review Questions
      11. Suggested Readings
  7. References
  8. Index
Arab Spring
a movement across the Arab world in the early 2010s seeking to expand democracy
authority
the permission, conferred by the laws of a governing regime, to exercise power
blasphemy
insulting speech or publications about a religion or its tenets
broad legitimacy
the trait a government has of being seen by the broad population subject to its authority as rightfully exercising its power
bully pulpit
the potential power of the president to influence legislators and the broad population
charismatic legitimacy
the accumulation of legitimacy through forceful leaders whose personal characteristics captivate the people
civil disobedience
the nonviolent refusal to follow authorized exercises of governmental power with the purpose of demanding political change
coalition government
an alliance of individual parties that by themselves do not have the support of the majority of a parliament but that, by agreeing to work together, can form a team of ministers that can acquire the support of the majority of parliament
failed state
a condition where a state has collapsed so thoroughly that the area it once ruled experiences the absence or near absence of governmental power altogether or becomes an empty shell ruled by an unauthorized group
federalism
a regime type that authorizes a national government to exercise some powers and governments whose laws cover only a small region, such as a state or province, to exercise other powers
Fidesz
an ideologically conservative, nationalist party that enjoys popular support in Hungary
fragile state
a condition where the capacity of a state to exercise control over an area such that it can provide minimal conditions of law, order, and social stability deteriorates to a precariously low level
governing regime
a set of organizations, and their associated rules and procedures, that has the authority to exercise the widest scope of power—including the power to have the final say over when the use of force is acceptable—over a defined area, and which seeks to exercise its authority with legitimacy
hard authoritarianism
the condition where a regime acts without any consultation with the broad majority of citizens
head of state
a political leader who represents the unity of the country
Hindu nationalism
a political movement that sees India as an inherently Hindu country
Juche
the North Korean regime’s ideology of national self-reliance
judgments about legitimacy
the perspective of individual citizens or groups of citizens who make determinations about whether their government is or is not legitimate
Knesset
the unitary national parliament of the State of Israel
manufactured consent
support for a regime that results from state programs and activities designed to indoctrinate the people and instill that support
monopoly on the right to use violence
a government claim to the right to use violence or to approve its use by others
police state
a state that uses its police or military force to exercise unrestrained power (see also: security state)
political freedom
the freedom to participate in a meaningful way in democratic elections that can shape the actions of one’s government
power
the ability to impose one’s will on others to secure desired outcomes
propaganda
misleading statements and depictions meant to persuade by means other than rational engagement
rational-legal legitimacy
a type of legitimacy that develops as a result of the clarity and even-handedness with which a regime relates to the people
rightfulness
the property a constitution, law, policy, or electoral outcome has of being morally appropriate and consistent with basic justice and social welfare
rule of law
a condition where states operate within clearly defined legal rules
security state
a state that uses its police or military force to exercise unrestrained power (see also: police state)
shadow government
an organization, not authorized or desired by the government asserting rule over an area, that effectively displaces and serves the same function as the official government
soft authoritarianism
a condition where a regime affirms its right to rule apart from consultation with or approval from the public but nevertheless frequently seeks the input of the people and frequently attempts to advance what the people desire
Supreme Leader
in Iran, an office vested with ultimate political authority that must be held by a Shi‘a cleric of the Twelver school who is respected among the leading clerics of Iran; in North Korea, the popular name used for the nation’s most powerful leader
theocracy
a system of government in which religious leaders have authorized governmental power and possess either direct control over the government or enough authorized governmental power to be able to control the government’s policies
third wave of democratization
a movement that began in the 1970s that saw democratically accountable structures of government emerge in Spain, Portugal, South Korea, and, somewhat later, in Latin American countries such as Chile
traditional legitimacy
a form of legitimacy that accrues when the governing regime embraces traditional cultural myths and accepted folkways
unicameral
a legislative body that has only one house or chamber
unitary system
a system of government in which all major electorally accountable officials are responsive to the entire citizenry and make and enforce laws for the entire country (often with the exception of minor local-level matters that are handled by locally elected assemblies)
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