Political Science

List the basic structure of political science.

1. American government and politics 2. International Relations 3. Comparative politics 4. Political theory/political philosophy

List the 3 major components of political science

1. Ethical component 2. Empirical component 3. Prudential Component

The biological, physiological, psychological and social elements of humans influence political values, behavior, and judgments. (What are the key questions)

1. Given human beings social needs, how do we explain conflict, aggression, and war? Are conflict and cooperation rooted in our biological nature? 2. Why does discrimination on the basis of biological differences persist in social communities?

What are the stages that all successful revolutions must pass through?

1. economic difficulties and the desertion of the intellectuals from existing values. 2. a failure on the part of the existing government to maintain its legitimacy, affirm its power, and crush the rebels. 3. the achievement of power by the revolutionaries, with the moderates initially in power. 4. the displacement of the moderates by more radical revolutionaries who undertake a reign of terror. 5. a return to more normal behavior after the firs of revolution die down.

Currently, our planet supports approximately _____ billion people, and estimates of future population levels run as high as _____ billion people by the year 2050. This population tidal wave will likely put enormous strains on political systems in the future as government seeks to assist in the fulfillment of human needs.

7.2, 9

List and describe the four major tasks of Political Science.

A concern for what is right or wrong in politics, which leads to the task of ethical recommendation; a concern for political phenomena, which leads to the task of empirical understanding, a concern for what can sensibly be done, which leads to the task of prudential judgment or action; and the theoretical integration of these ethical, empirical, and prudential concerns

Define Class?

A division of people by their economic, social, and political standing

Define the concept of carrying capacity?

A population size supportable without suffering deterioration

Define cultural identity: perceived difference between people

All decisions that individuals make about their lives are colored by their cultures, ethnic groups, genders, and classes

Define gender

As distinct from sex, is used in the social sciences as a cultural definition

What is culture?

Basic needs and capabilities shared by all people, characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people.

People are not informed by their state imperative but also?

By their different values and views of reality

What are the four traditional subfields of political science?

Comparative politics, international relations, political philosophy or theory, public administration, public law

Why is Ethnocentrism difficult to combat?

Difficult to combat because there is a positive reality that helps cause the negative outcome.

What is behaviorialism?

Emphasizes empirically observable, discoverable, and explicable patterns of behavior

Why is enlightenment important in politics today?

Enlightenment has shaped political philosophy of liberal democracy, democratic socialism, and communism.

List and describe the three major components of Political Science.

Ethical- political values, what ought to be? Philosophy Empirical- Political phenomena, what is? Science Prudential- Political judgment, What can be? Public Policy

The 7 phases of the decision making process as seen by Harold Lasswell.

Intelligence, recommendation, prescription, invocation, application, appraisal, and termination.

What are the 2 categories of cultural change?

Internal, external

Define External Change

Invented and promoted in one culture and are introduced, from the outside, to another culture.

Humans have unique characteristics that distinguish them from other living creatures. What are the four unique characteristics:

Large brain size, upright posture, longevity, and thought

Most biologists, anthropologists, and social psychologists contend that human aggression is ____________ behavior.

Learned

What lessons do we gain from the Nunavut case study?

Nunavut addresses cultural diversity in a new way by giving local power while retaining national unity and sovereignty.

What are Social Communities?

Our cultural history, our economic and religious philosophy and institutions, our racial and ethnic origins, and our class structures all provide context for our political behavior.

What is Assimilation?

Overtime, all people will give up the customs of their inferior cultures to become full members of the superior ones.

What are the political problems that can arise do to limited or finite resources?

People not being able to provide for themselves or family, not being able to construct buildings, schools, complexes, housing, etc.

Define transnational immigrant

Persons who have migrated from one nation-state to another live their lives across borders, participating simultaneously in social relation that embed them in more than one nation-state

10 important propositions that the chapter offers for understanding the impact of the physical, social, and cultural environment on politics.

Physical coexistence, biological nature/biological destiny, human needs, reduction of distance, vulnerability to disaster, exhaustion of nonrenewable resources/growth of population, global warming, growth of cities, revolution of rising expectations

Human beings also have certain social needs as:

Physiological needs for air, sleep, water food, and shelter

Define Patriotism

Placing of one's primary loyalty in the state

Describe the major elements of cultural primacy.

Prioritize the autonomous rights of individual cultures, regardless of their power. Nations, cultures, ethnic groups, and indigenous peoples are the units of interest.

Defin Cultural Primacy

Prioritize the autonomous rights of the individual cultures

how is politics defined?

Search for critical understanding of the good political life, significant empirical understanding, and wise political and policy judgments

Alexis de Tocqueville in his work "Democracy in America" sought to explain American society and politics by calling attention to several important factors. What are these factors?

Significance of a unique American History, relatively free of aristocracy and feudalism. He stressed the value of an anglo-saxon inheritance of constitutional liberty and a sound of religious tradition. And he thoroughly appreciated the strategic worth of a bountiful land removed from europe by 3,000 miles of ocean.

Describe the major elements of global primacy.

Societies, or ethnicities, based on gathering and hunting, tribal, or primitive state organization are outdated. They cannot share in the wealth of the world as long as they remain in their current lifestyles.

What is religious fundamentalism?

Strict adhere to some belief or ideology, especially in a religious context.

Explain political theory/political philosophy

Study of fundamental questions about governance.

Explain comparative politics

Study of political and governance processes in countries around the world.

Define Paternalism

Taking a superior position over others and trying to control their actions

What is the contemporary situation for the Inuit in Nunavut?

The Canadian government and the inuit of Nunavut have embarked on a bold experiment in cooperative cultural living which is being carefully watched by many countries.

What is Causality?

The concept that a condition or behavior exists or takes place because of the influence of another fact

What is global primacy?

The division of the world into specific political or economic entities is outmoded.

Define Immigration

The movement of people from one state to another

Define the concept of political health

The political, economic, and social well-being of the political community

Define civic culture?

The set of attitudes toward citizenship and politics that helps sustain a democratic, stable, and effective nation.

Define Integration

The social sciences and the value of interdisciplinary fertilization

What are the important points of state primacy?

The state is viewed as the most important unit for both national and international interaction. The most important primary political identity for all groups and individuals should be as citizens of the state of their birth or naturalization.

What are ethics?

The study of the nature of moral standards and choices of judgment and behavior

What is necessary to understanding global issues?

The vast diversity of the world's peoples

What is a nation's prescriptive constitution?

Traditional way of conduction social, economic, and political business.

What is cultural relativity?

Used to describe one solution to the problem of the application of ethnocentricity. Cultural relativity suggests that the actions of people within each culture should be evaluated according to the rules of the culture.

Chapter 2 introduces significant cultural distinctions in the contemporary world in order to begin to explain why people will . . . . ?

Value various economic, political, and environmental issues differently

What is enlightenment?

Western-dominated movement committed to reason, freedom, and progress that emerged most clearly in the late eighteenth century, the century of the American and French revolutionaries.

Describe Enlightenment

Western-dominated movement committed to reason, freedom, and progress.

What is empiricism?

What has been, what is, and what will be

What is political prudence?

Workable public policies developed through wise judgment about the practical tasks of politics respectful both of sound values and the limitations and opportunities of social reality

Define Racism

a belief in the superiority of inferiority of a given race

Define Sexism

a belief in the superiority of one sex over the other

Define Pure Science

as against applied science or practical problem solving

Define Ethnocide

destruction of a culture

Define Regularities

discoverable uniformities in political behavior, that can be expressed in generalizations or theories with explanatory and predictive value

People's methods of earning a living have always crucially influenced political life. The larger economic relationships of society have enormous impact on politics and public policy. We seek to protect our _____________ _____________, and this leads most inevitably to politics.

economic interests

Karl Marx held that a society's economic structure, especially its system of economic production, was the real foundation upon which the political superstructure and other aspects of the superstructure - such as religion, art, and ethics - rested. For Marx, the power of the ruling class came from its control of ______________ ________________.

economic life

Human needs significantly influence what 3 things?economic and social life and thus politics.

economic, social life, and politics.

Economics throws light on _____________ and _____________, values always at the heart of the struggle for power that is politics.

equality, inequality

Political Science is thus concerned with the search for meaningful knowledge of the interrelated __________, _____________, and ____________ components of that community concerned with public life.

ethical, empirical, prudential

Define Ethical Component

every community adheres to certain values, is inspired by certain purposes, is dedicated to certain goals, and is committed to certain conceptions of the good life

Define commitment to verification

generalizations through testing

Define Internal Change

generated by people within the society

What are the basic elements of global primacy?

globalization, syncretism, assimilation, and acculturation

Define Acculturation

individuals will modify their cultural upbringing by adapting to a new culture.

Define Ethnocentrism

involves judging the customs of another culture to one's own standards.

In order to create a peaceful and cooperative world, people must?

must come to understand the differences that exist between cultures and respect the depth of those differences.

Define Systemization

on the importance of theory in research and in the development of a coherent and orderly body of knowledge

Politics does not occur in a vacuum. Although political actors are free to make choices to fulfill their values, they must make these choices in an environment not entirely of their own choosing. Politics, and political decisions, can be understood only in terms of the __________, ____________, and ______________, environment in which a community is embedded.

physical, social, and cultural

In important ways, that larger environment - ________________, __________________, ___________________ - influences political values, behavior, and judgment and sets the stage on which political play proceeds.

physical, social, cultural

Define Quantification

possible, relevant, and meaningful

Easton's 8 intellectual foundation stones of behavioralism.

regularities, commitment to verification, techniques, quantification, values, systemization, pure science, integration

An enduring source of conflict the world over. Western civilization has been shaped no less by religious conflict than by religious adherence.

religion

A final global category, one that has no biological base but great human consequence, is__________ ___________ or _______________.

social hierarchy or class

Economic interests are not the only powerful influences in society and therefore politics. Other groups - _____________, _______________, ______________, ___and _____________ ______________, - are also at work, and their efforts to protect their vital interests also impinge on politics.

social, ethnic, racial, and religious groups

Explain international relations

study of how countries and other major actors in the international system interact with each other.

Explain American government and politics

study of how the system of governance in the united states works.

People need to __________, ____________, and ____________ ____________ and _____________.

survive, grow, and develop mentally, and socially

Define Techniques

the goal of obtaining ever more rigorous means for observing, recording, and analyzing the behavior

Political Science is a field of study characterized by a search for critical understanding of:

the good political life, significant empirical observations, and wise political and policy judgments

Cultural Primacy mandates ____________________ of cultural differences without ethnocentric judgment.

tolerance

Politics and political science cannot be understood in a ______________. the activity that is politics and the discipline that is political science exists in a larger world and are affected by a larger environment.

vacuum

Define Values

valuation and empirical explanation involve two different kinds of propositions that, for the sake of clarity, should be kept analytically distinct

Define Empirical Component

what has been, what is, and what will be. Causes of war, conditions that make for peace, the factors influencing democratic or undemocratic rule, and the circumstances connected with justice or injustice within a political community.

Define Prudential Component

workable public policies developed through wise judgment about the practical tasks of politics.