POL 101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Gender Equality, Distinct Society, Liberal Democracy
2 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
Political science expresses the aspiration among those who study politics to do so in an objective way. It involved the attempt to understand why things are the way they are and therefore how they may be changed, rather than how they ought to be. Core concepts: power, authority, identity, stability, and equality. Politics is about the exercise of power. Power: the ability to influence what happens. Politics involves all three factors of power coercion, influence and authority. Democratic politics relies primarily on the town no-coercive species of power: but coercion is used, and no democracy is without its system of courts, police, and prisons. In a democracy those in power must justify their use of coercion as being necessary to maintain such values as freedom, equality, justice, and the rule of law. The existence of the state is a necessary condition for a social order that allows for the peaceful resolution of conflict.
