POL 100 Study Guide - Spring 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - United States Constitution, President Of The United States, Nationstates
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
POL 100
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Thursday, January 4, 2018
Introduction to Politics - Notes
o Understanding Politics:
o What is politics?
o According to some political scientists politics is the subset of human behaviour
that involves the use of power or influence.
o Exit, Voice, and Loyalty
o What do you do when there is a change in your environment that is detrimental
to you?
o Albert Hirschman’s 1970’s classic: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty.
o Exit - Accept that there has been a detrimental change in your environment
and alter your behaviour to achieve the best outcome possible given your new
environment.
o Voice – Use your “voice” (complain, protest, lobby, take different action) to try
to change the environment back to its original condition.
o Loyalty – Accept the fact that your environment has changed and make no
changes to your behaviour.
Example:
Exit:
Voice:
Loyalty:
Increased
workload at your
job, without pay
raise.
Quit your job.
Complain to your
boss.
Keep working
and keep your
mouth shut.
o When is Behaviour “Political”?
o Voice requires influence.
o In order to change one’s environment, one typically needs to change the
behaviour of people. So politics is involved when voice is used.
o But it’s also involved whenever voice is considered.
o The decision whether to respond with exit, voice, or loyalty is a
“political” decision.
o This means the politics doesn’t just begin when voice is chosen.
o A Definition of Politics
o In this course we will define politics more narrowly: “Politics is actively related
to influencing, making, or implementing collective decisions for a political
community” (p. 4).
o Summary
o Politics is actively related to influencing, making, or implementing collective
decisions for a political community.
o Using voice is political as it involves trying to influence others.
o Power
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Thursday, January 4, 2018
o “Power is the ability to achieve an objective by influencing the behaviour of
others, particularly to get them to do what they would not otherwise have
done” (p. 4).
o “Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you
aren’t.” – Margaret Thatcher, previous UK Prime Minister.
o Coercion → Power
o Inducements → Power
o Manipulation → Power /Persuasion → Influence (lines are blurry)
o Leadership → Influence
o The Three Faces of Power
o Lukes, Power: A Radical View (1974)
o First face:
o The ability to affect decisions.
o Second face:
o The ability to ensure that issues are nor raised → Control of the
political agenda.
o Political agenda means the issues that are considered important and are given
priority in political deliberation (p. 7).
o Third face:
o The ability to affect the dominant ideas of society.
o It is making you think certain ways.
o What you perceive to be right and wrong.
o How far can we go in making people think the way we want them to
think?
o Influence the way people think.
o You can make people value things that are not in their self-interest.
o The Common Good
o Common good: “what is good for the entire political community” (p. 13).
o Free rider problem: “a problem with voluntary collective action that results
because an individual can enjoy the benefits of group action without
contributing” (p. 10). * Important concept!
o Example: tutorial groups with fun discussions and organized people. But one
person starts doing less and less work or doesn’t care as much. Thus, they’re
relying on other people and enjoying the benefits without putting in the work.
o Authority and Legitimacy
o “Authority is the right to exercise power that is accepted buy those being
governed as legitimate” (p. 10).
o Authority is anyone in power.
o “Legitimacy is the acceptance by the members of a political community that
those in position of authority have the right to govern” (p. 11).
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Quit your job. workload at your job, without pay raise. Keep working and keep your mouth shut: when is behaviour political , voice requires influence, in order to change one"s environment, one typically needs to change the behaviour of people. So politics is involved when voice is used: but it"s also involved whenever voice is considered, the decision whether to respond with exit, voice, or loyalty is a. * important concept: example: tutorial groups with fun discussions and organized people. But one person starts doing less and less work or doesn"t care as much. Trying to generalize specific statements and compare them to all of politics. Political theory is involved with these types of questions: policy analysis combines both of the above. Evaluates existing policies and determines possible changes: why study political science, 1 in 5 canadians work in government agencies. Thursday, january 4, 2018: key concepts, politics, read chapter 1 and 2.
