COMS 230 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Political Philosophy, Nationstates, Great Power
8 Sep 2016
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Democratic values: voting, responsibility, self-determination, government, consent, legitimacy, participation, nation-states, freedom of opinion, choice, alternation of power, accountability, compromise, public interest, equality. Democracy is a word that people are overwhelmingly invested in, universally positive evaluation, most people want it, widely embraced. Used to describe belief systems that reduce the complexity of the world, over-simpli ed. Belief systems that are anti-intellectual based on emotional reaction. Often implicit message of us versus them: liberalism. Political theory that came out of the enlightenment. Humans enjoy natural rights to life, liberty and property. Fairly new concept that emerged to combat the divine right. Freedom of opinion/expression/to assemble are fundamentally liberal. Distinction between negative liberties and positive liberties. Don"t guarantee a platform to exercise/carry out freedoms necessarily. Actively build the capacity of people and enable actions that wouldn"t be available otherwise. Can be a clash between negative and positive liberties (e. g. support for public education based on personal circumstances)
