General Vocab
What is the definition of political science?
The systematic and scientific study of politics.
Whose best known work was The Republic?
Plato
What are the titles of Karl Marx's two most famous works?
The Communist Manifesto and the Capital
What is the definition of totalitarianism?
Ideology that espouses the complete political, economic, and social control of people and institutions by a dictatorial, single-party regime
What are the four main sub-disciplines of political science?
American Politics
Comparative Politics
International Relations
Political Theory & Philosophy
What is the definition of politics?
All the relations, processes, and values associated with the practice of government.
Whose ideal regime was "a virtual republic"?
Niccolo Machiavelli
What are the main ideas/features of social democracy?
Liberal democratic principles
Egalitarianism
Government ownership of key industries
Promotion of extensive welfare state
What is a dictatorship?
What is the definition of positivism?
Knowledge can only be derived from observation
What is the definition of political ideology?
The beliefs and practices that guide political actors in political communities. Political ideology inspires both political leaders and members of the public.
Who emphasized the value of education for nurturing strong and independent women?
Mary Wollstonecraft
What are the main ideas of modern American liberals?
Willing to employ government power for political, societal, and economic ends
Government responsible to help disadvantaged societal groups
Open to big and sudden changes in society
Progressive values; more secular
What were the main ideas of fascism in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s?
Total control of private and public life
Glorification of the nation-state
Racial superiority and Anti-Semitism
Imperialism and state expansion
What are the main features of liberal democracy in the United States?
Constitutional government (liberalism)
Rights-respecting government (liberalism)
Popular government (democracy)
Representative government (democracy)
Responsible government (democracy)
General welfare government (democracy)
What is the definition of liberal democracy?
A constitutional government characterized by popular rule, protection of basic rights, and political and economic competition. Combines classic liberalism and democracy.
Who are the social contract theorists?
Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau
What are some examples of the role of the "means of production" in identifying social classes in different social and economic systems in human history? Provide example and define.
Feudalism (agriculture societies): lord (owns land) and serf (owners her own labor)
Capitalism (modern societies): bourgeoisie (owns capital), and proletariate (workers; sell labor)
What is the relationship between authoritarianism and ideologies?
Authoritarianism is not a universal set of ideas and practices (it is different than liberalism, Marxism, and Social Democracy). There are many different kinds of authoritarian ideologies.
What are the main tenets of Daniele Caramani's definition of the technocracy model?
Homogenous view of the people and society
Interest of the people are identified through rational and scientific methods
Experts are above politics
They produce rational solutions to societal problems
Top-down governance
What is Max Weber's definition of the state?
"A state is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory...the state is a relation of men dominating men, a relation supported by means of legitimate...violence."
Which of the political thinks do NOT support democratic ideas?
Aristotle, Edmund Burke, Niccolo Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, Plato, Augustine
What is the relationship between nationalism and the establishment of liberal democracy?
Liberal democracy developed in modern nation-states
Liberal democratic ideas sparked movements of national self-determination
People of the same nation decide their own affairs
What is the definition of authoritarianism?
A type of political organization, a category of regimes
Political authority is concentrated in one limited segment of society
Government is controlled by "some"
What are the 7 steps of scientific inquiry?
Formulating a research question
Developing a theory
Identifying the variables
Operationalizing the variables
Generating hypotheses
Testing the hypotheses with evidence
Reporting results