Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Bourgeoisie, Main Source, Elitism

• School: Western University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: Political Science 1020E
• Professor: John Grant

Document Summary

Political science lecture 2- politics and the state. Main branches of the state: government, legislative, executive- minister of the cabinet, bureaucracy, judiciary, armed forces. Sovereignty: supreme political authority unlimited by other power. The nature of supreme political power is spelled out in constitutions. Means that there is a tension between governments being able to possess supreme political power and limits the constitution can put on the government. Anything the government does must fit with what the constitution allows it to do. One of the defining features of a state is that it possesses sovereignty over itself. How much intervening does the state do in people"s lives. Non- interventionist: night watchman state, provide security and protection, allow economy to function unhindered, critical of large bureaucracy. If you don"t think the state should be doing that much then there shouldn"t be as many employees and there shouldn"t be as many programs: protect individual freedoms; valorizes individual responsibility, prefers local government, e. g.