Not on Review Sheet

politics

• Exercise of power

• Public allocation of things that are valued

• Resolution of conflict

• Competition among individuals and groups pursuing their own interests

• Determination of who gets what when and how

• Process through which power and influence are used in the promotion of certain values and interests

levels of analysis

• Global, state, regional, local, familial

• Governmental v. non-governmental

power

the ability to compel someone to do what one wants them to

authority

what makes it possible to concentrate power

government

a group of people with ultimate authority over a territory

legitimacy

the belief that whoever has authority should have authority [by results, habit, and/or procedure]

state

an organized territory with authority over its borders, security, the economy, the welfare of its citizens, etc.

observational research

• Data already exists in the world, the researcher gathers it

• Researcher observes patterns of connection between independent and dependent variables

• Researcher must figure out ways to control for other factors influencing outcomes

types: surveys, statistical analyses, and qualitative methodologies

experiments

• Researcher manipulates the independent variable to create new data

• Researcher accounts for other factors through random assignment to treatment and control groups

• Experiments provide higher rates of internal validity compared to observational studies but sacrifice external validity since they are not conducted in the “real world”

• The researchers can manipulate the independent variable

types: experimental surveys, games, and field experiments

collective action

• Involves collective decision-making, collaboration, and joint activities aimed at bringing about social, political, or economic change

• Can take various forms, such as protests, strikes, boycotts, or advocacy campaigns

• Often aims to bring about social, political, or economic change

• By pooling resources, knowledge, and efforts → can have a greater impact than individual actions

• Successful: requires effective communication, organization, and leadership

public good

a good or service that everyone can enjoy regardless of whether they contribute anything

• Non-rivalrous — supply is not impacted by consumption

• Non-excludable — one cannot prevent someone from using the public good

ideology

• Inform personal opinions and public activity

• Helps to make sense of politics and gain allies for public debate

• Based on assumptions about how the world works and our prioritization of different basic values

• How individuals make sense of personal views and how they correlate with broader societies

due process

criteria

• People can’t be accused of crimes unless they could have been aware of the law before the crime was committed

• When people are accused of crimes, they must be told what they’re being charged with and with what evidence, and they must be allowed to gather and present their own evidence to counter the charges

• Judges may not interest or bias and must remain attentive

• Once a judgement has been made, means for later consideration (appeals) must be available

effective policy

a policy that gives the state and the people of the state the greatest benefits at the least cost

• Takes into the social cost of government action, including positive and negative externalities (indirect results) of policy

europe

place

• Pre-modern agriculture produced little if any surplus, and poor transportation limited trade by land to a roughly 20-mile radius

• There were some exceptions to this limitation

  • Nobles violently seized control of regions and controlled mills to get surpluses

  • Kings wanted to monetize the micro-economies in order to get surpluses directly from peasants and create a bureaucracy to challenge the nobles

  • Merchants monetized the economy through trade and established armed trading cities

• Because there were extensive coastlines and waterways in Europe, merchants were a lot more powerful (relatively) compared to kings

peace of westphalia

• Ended the 30 Years War (in the Holy Roman Empire) and the 80 Years War (in the Spain and the Dutch Republic)

• Created sovereign states without an international superior governing entity

• Individual states largely decide their own systems of law making/enforcement and dispute settlement

• The primary goal of international law is to create minimal rules of co-existence

  • Enduring relationships are optimal but individual states’ needs come first

• Cross-border violations should be settled privately

• All states are legally equal

• Differences may be settled by force

• The primary goal of the states as a collective should be maximizing their own freedom

modern europe

• Formed by revolution (consolidations of power against an elite ruling class)

• Colonialism

colonialism

reasoning

• Increased economic growth due to industrialization: wealthier people want more done for them and are willing to pay for it

• Increased “hidden taxes” (eg. excise taxes, payroll withholding of income taxes)

• Electoral democracy leads to party competition

• Government bureaucracies develop pressure for expansion

• World trade makes governments lose control over what’s happening in the state, leading them to grow to attempt to maintain power

GDP

the total amount of all economic transactions in a state

PPP

GDP per capita adjusted to take into account the fluctuations in value of other currencies relative to the dollar

progressive tax

a tax that takes a greater percentage of income from a person who is relatively well off and a smaller percentage from one who is not doing as well

structural functionalism

Ir theory that emphasizes governmental structures and a state’s key functions (not unique to democracies)

political socialization

the process through which individuals acquire their orientation toward the political world

• Affective (emotional) and cognitive (intellectual)