POL 2104 Final: Exam notes

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Part 1IN THE FINAL EXAM, YOU WILL BE GIVEN TEN (10) OF THE FOLLOWING TERMS
Explain in 3-4 sentences each the meaning and importance of any seven (7) of the following
terms within the context of this course. This part is worth 15 points (2 points per term + 1 point if
you wrote your correct group number on both booklets).
A. Freedom House
- Conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom, and human rights
- Wendell Wilkie and Eleanor Roosevelt were first honorary chairpersons
-Freedom in the World Report assesses each country’s degree of political freedoms and
civil liberties
- is cited by political scientists, journalists and policy makers
- uses countries ratings of 1-7 to rank political rights and civil liberties
- world is then divided into free, partly free and not free
- they present the information in a graph
- there is a certain amount of arbitrariness in ranking (what is the difference between 1
and 2?
- has limitations but is useful in some other ways
-significance comes from the fact that there are degrees of democracy and it does not
mean one thing (is not a linear progression either)
B. false consciousness
- how technology and class are constructed affects how we think and what we believe in
or value
- false consciousness refers to the superstructure that makes it impossible for people to
see the truth of exploitation
- religion is the “opiate of the masses”
- democracy is a sham
- nationalism divides working class
- superstructure: all non-economic relations in society, including politics, national identities
and culture, religion, gender, ideology, science, education, law, family, philosophy, etc.
- the base, which is the means (technology, tools) and relations (classes, capital)
of production, drives superstructure
- the term is one used by Marxists for the way in which material, ideological, and
institutional processes in capitalist societies mislead people
- these processes hide the true relations between classes and the real state of affairs
regarding exploitation suffered by the working class
C. Srebrenica (massacre/genocide)
- July 1995
- Killing of more than 8000 Muslim Bosniaks, mainly men and boys during the Bosnian
War
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- Perpetrated by units of the Bosnian Serb Army of Republika Srpska
-significance in how this definition in applied (arbitrariness in what constitutes genocide)
D. Totalitarianism
- connotes violence and terror
- totalistic ideology seeks the fundamental transformation of domestic institutions
- distinct from authoritarianism
- has a highly centralized state whose regime has a well-defined ideology and seeks to
transform and fuse the institutions of state, society and economy
- main objective is the use of power to transform the total institutional fabric of a country to
meet an ideological goal
- violence and terror often become necessary tools to destroy any obstacle to change
- violence and terror are used to break down existing institutions and remake them in the
leader’s own image
- emerges when those in power profess a radical or reactionary political attitude that
rejects the status quo and sees dramatic change as indispensable and violence as
necessary
- examples: Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin (1930s-50s)
E. liberalism-plus
- Western democracy cannot work in all contexts, and although there are no alternatives
yet, the ideas and experiences of non-Western countries offer new ideas for democratic
innovation
- secondary argument: liberalism-plus is meant to convey the need to look seriously at
non-Western ideas that give greater meaning to political liberalism’s core spirit of
tolerance, pluralism, and accountability
- why is Western democracy not suitable for non-Western countries?
- other societies want less individualism, more traditional social values, more economic
equality, and more consensual and participatory politics
- from Exploring Non-Western Democracy by Richard Youngs
- In Europe, thinkers call for more participative and deliberative forms of
democracy in the face of protests and the rise of new social movements
- focus on notions of liberalism that go beyond the protection of personal rights
- West needs to work hard to avoid misunderstanding others’ perspectives on
democracy
- liberalism should properly be understood as tolerance, effective participation, and
protection against injustice and repression.
- societies around the world are likely to create their own democratic combinations
F. social licence to operate (Whose Development? By Catherine Coumans)
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- mining and other development agendas/projects can erode the very basis of economic
sustainability and development
- negative impacts of the mine come from dislocation, economic distortions,
punishing labour practices for mine employees, lengthy and ad hoc tax holidays,
political corruption and severe degradation of ecosystems
- affects the livelihood and subsistence of local communities
- mining conflicts has led to the need for industries and companies to obtain a social
license to operate
- this is to avoid risking reputation of the project, costly delays, potential project
loss, and increased pressure for more effective regulation of the industry
- in response to this, mining companies have more urgently emphasized the need for local
level benefit sharing and community-level development projects at their mine sites
- seeks ways to better disperse funds and programs at the local level
- actively promoting a positive association between mining and development
G. perestroika
- Perestroika: means restructuring (1987)
- the policy of restructuring the centrally planned Soviet economy
- the intention of liberalizing and reforming communism during the cold war
- Reagan viewed USSR as an evil empire and built up its military while the Soviet Union
was too poor to meet the challenge
- Gorbachev understood the cost of an arms race and recognized economic stagnation
- Perestroika included limited forms of democratic participation and market based
incentives in the economy
- By seeking reform, Gorbachev threatened people who were happy with the status quo,
and many people resisted the reforms
- Turmoil increased until the Soviet Union was broken up, communism in there collapsed
and the Cold War ended
H. Imperialism
- imperialism occurs when a state extends its power to directly control territory, people,
and resources beyond its borders
- leads to empires and the creation of colonies
- can be pursued through multinational corporations
- imperial institutions worked to “export the state”
- goal was to transport the state from the modern world to countries that were not
“modern”
- brought healthcare, Western medical practices, education in the colonizers’
languages
- created local elites and local bureaucratic structures staffed by workers from
imperial powers to consolidate control
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Document Summary

Part 1 in the final exam, you will be given ten (10) of the following terms. Explain in 3-4 sentences each the meaning and importance of any seven (7) of the following terms within the context of this course. This part is worth 15 points (2 points per term + 1 point if you wrote your correct group number on both booklets): freedom house. Conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom, and human rights. Wendell wilkie and eleanor roosevelt were rst honorary chairpersons. Freedom in the world report assesses each country"s degree of political freedoms and civil liberties is cited by political scientists, journalists and policy makers uses countries ratings of 1-7 to rank political rights and civil liberties. Killing of more than 8000 muslim bosniaks, mainly men and boys during the bosnian. Perpetrated by units of the bosnian serb army of republika srpska.

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