PSC 1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Collective Action, Cultural Identity, Social Contract
22 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
State-political-legal unit with sovereignty over a particular territory and the population that resides within its borders. Success and stability of state rest on: sovereignty- the responsibility for and legal authority over the conduct of internal affairs/use of force. Successful vs. weak state: legitimacy- degree to which citizens willingly accept state"s sovereign authority to use power, efficiency- ability of states to maintain effective order. Determines if a state is successful or failing. Collective action problem: clash between individual and collective interests, state must solve this problem, create political order. The prisoner"s dilemma: illustrates collective action problem, prevalent in politics, shows how in politics our choices are interdependent: what i choose might affect others, successful state reconcile individual and collective interests and thus address collective action problem. Hobbes" problem: clash between individual and collective interests, state of nature, levianthan. Everyone limits their ability to do as they please in order to achieve some collective benefit.
