POL101Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Structural Analysis, Louis Althusser, Institute For Operations Research And The Management Sciences
The State
●Previously
○Background + three alternative conceptualizations of power
○Power-over and power-to
■Power-over
●Repressive and coercive
●Instrumental and hierarchical
■Power-to
●Productive and creative
●Collective, inclusive, democracy
○Power and politics are not only about interests and decisions, and (also primarily) about
shaping collective life
○Who cares?
■Recognizing power as a collective, creative, and participatory recenters
democracy as an activity rather than a system or thing;
●Democracy and citizenship as action as potential antidotes to apathy
■Locating power not just as institutions but in relations shifts conversations from
political to social change
●Not only about new leaders but about new citizens
■This is what democracy looks like replaces procedure with participation -- closes
spaces for corruption, manipulation, inertia;
●By replacing procedure with participation, potentially we are closing
loopholes that allow for corruption, stagnation, constituted powers for the
state to think that it is an enemy of itself
■Power-over closes horizons (there is no alternative)
●Encourages us to accept when leaders say there are no alternatives to
the present
■Power-to opens space and time for creative collaboration - particularly pressing
given the global ecological and social financial crisis
●Charles tilly: War-Making and State-making as organized crime
○The story european philosophy tells itself, and exports through NGOs , transnational
bodies, and late 20th century - 21st century regime change and democracy-building
efforts is conveniently bloodless
○Modern nation-states are result of related processes of war-making and state-making;
closer to organized crime than “a more perfect union”
●How stated form shapes how they act
○Conventional narrative: modern european states were result of time overlapping
processes
■Social contract
■‘Open market’ in which would-be sovereigns compete for allegiance
■Coming together of a society of shared norms, practices, identities
●Language, religion, economic practices
○Tillly’s account: 4 interrelated functions
■War-making: Army
■State making: Police
■Protection: courts and assemblies
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Background + three alternative conceptualizations of power. Power and politics are not only about interests and decisions, and (also primarily) about shaping collective life. Recognizing power as a collective, creative, and participatory recenters democracy as an activity rather than a system or thing; Democracy and citizenship as action as potential antidotes to apathy. Locating power not just as institutions but in relations shifts conversations from political to social change. Not only about new leaders but about new citizens. This is what democracy looks like replaces procedure with participation -- closes spaces for corruption, manipulation, inertia; By replacing procedure with participation, potentially we are closing loopholes that allow for corruption, stagnation, constituted powers for the state to think that it is an enemy of itself. Power-over closes horizons (there is no alternative) Encourages us to accept when leaders say there are no alternatives to the present. Power-to opens space and time for creative collaboration - particularly pressing.
