PS 210 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Democracy, Trust Law, Social Darwinism
12 Oct 2018
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Department
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PS 210
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Lecture 8/24/18
Coercion and Authority are not the same thing. You trust the weatherman’s authority, he isn’t
coercing you.
Lecture 8/27/18
Rational Choice Theory says that based on the scenario, humans will work to maximize their
utility (we know this from Economics).
RCT has criticisms. Gaining information has a cost. Preferences change sometimes. (If I don’t
feel strongly about an issue I might align my belief with my political party or friends). What
works for individuals may not work for collective actors.
Are emotions the opposite of rationality or a part of them?
Post materialist says development leads to less concerns over economic issues and more concern
of identity issues.
Post modernists are like, “hey we can’t define a culture that exists in all society sooo.”
Political Ideology- (see PS 101) How should the government be structured? Democrats and
Republicans don’t really have strong political ideology. They want government intervention here
but not there. Libertarians are at least pretty consistent.
Hegemony? Hegemony.
Ideology is what justifies the ruling class’s political dominance.
Lecture 8/29/18
Institutions are the rules of the game. Incentives and constraints in social structures influence
political behavior. Marx suggests that economic structure heavily influences political behavior.
Marx focuses on institutions, but not all institutionalists are Marxists.
Rational Choice Institutionalists believe that institutions are the products of rational actors. For
democracy to succeed, key players must have incentives to support the system. (Key players, not
everyone. Homeless people are not key players in the political system.)
Historical Institutionalists have the goal to explain real world political outcomes through the
past. They think of institutions as critical junctures on historical path analysis (think the butterfly
effect).
Do institutionalists really explain anything?
Who rules?
Pluralist theories say the people matter.
Elite theories say people with money (Marxist), men (feminist), and white people (critical race)
matter.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Why do states exist? Boix wants to answer this. Can we cooperate without states? How do states
effect the welfare of people?
Why is there inequality? John Locke thinks inequality exists because of property. Rousseau
thinks the rich steal from the poor and then convince the poor to create a state to protect what
little they have left. Boix thinks they are both a little right.
Tabula Rasa. There are no states. You may produce (hunt, gather, etc.) or loot. In a primitive
society there are no technological advancements. We are all generally equal (We can all kill each
other with rocks if we want!) There’s no real incentive to loot. You can’t sustain that. If you all
cooperate you all benefit. Selfish behavior is not tolerated. There is no sovereign. High levels of
social control. High levels of irregular violence. No growth or wealth.
~Economic Shocks~
Fast forward. We invented a fishing net! We are all still equal in our group, but our wealth
increases. We are now unequal with a different, non-fishing group. Now they have an incentive
to loot. The non-fishing group has tamed dogs.
Violence may destroy all gains now. What is the political solution? The dog group will take over
and absorb/rule the fishing group. This is the most sustainable choice. The monarchy/dictatorship
is born.
Fishers (producers) may then organize in their self-defense. They must be homogenous and
threatened. This could create a republic. Some republics are clever and exploit others.
Which regime prevails?
Well it depends on everything, but mostly technology. Do we have more offensive or defensive
technology? Did we tame horses or invent irrigation? Normally technology benefits looters.
Monarchies have the desire to not improve production. I don’t want my slaves to have free time
and slaves don’t want to work harder for something they won’t profit from. This is where we get
the millennium of stagnation.
Agriculture changes everything. Inequality grows. People don’t like that. It’s 1820 and the
average life expectancy is 26 and we get paid the equivalent of 2 dollars a day. Tech has changed
to benefit producers. I now can kill people with a gun that requires basically no skill. I can
defend myself against looters!
Also, I’m so loaded I can buy them off. Money can be cool like that.
Lecture 8/31/18
Violence per capita has seriously declined over the span of humanity.
Boix has a pretty interesting theory but he has some blind spots. What about the patriarchy? How
is that explained?
What are the characteristics of a state?
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Coercion and authority are not the same thing. You trust the weatherman"s authority, he isn"t coercing you. Rational choice theory says that based on the scenario, humans will work to maximize their utility (we know this from economics). Preferences change sometimes. (if i don"t feel strongly about an issue i might align my belief with my political party or friends). What works for individuals may not work for collective actors. Post materialist says development leads to less concerns over economic issues and more concern of identity issues. Post modernists are like, hey we can"t define a culture that exists in all society sooo. They want government intervention here but not there. Ideology is what justifies the ruling class"s political dominance. Incentives and constraints in social structures influence political behavior. Marx suggests that economic structure heavily influences political behavior. Marx focuses on institutions, but not all institutionalists are marxists.
