Politics and Power
This famous definition describes ______ as determining “who gets what, when, and how.”
What is politics?
This approach to studying politics is the systematic effort to understand why politics works the way it does.
What is political science?
This subfield studies political institutions, behavior, conflict, and power specifically within the United States.
What is American Politics?
This philosopher argued in The Republic that society should be ruled by philosopher-kings.
Who is Plato?
These are “packages of beliefs about how politics works and should work” that provide rough theories for real-world political action.
What are political ideologies?
A law officially written into a city's legal code is this type of rule.
What is a de jure rule?
Questions about how political life ought to be organized, rather than simply explaining how it currently works, belong primarily to this category.
What is political philosophy?
“Why are some countries democratic while others are authoritarian?” is a typical question in this subfield.
What is Comparative Politics?
This philosopher famously described human beings as “political animals” and politics as the “master science.”
Who is Aristotle?
Classical liberals use this term for freedom from interference, coercion, or unnecessary government restraint.
What is negative liberty?
Clean drinking water, public safety, accessible education, and protecting civil rights are examples of this concept concerning benefits to society as a whole.
What is the public interest?
Workers support a higher minimum wage because they expect their income to increase. Businesses oppose it because they expect their labor costs to increase. This explanation focuses on actors' interests and material positions.
What is a rational-material explanation?
In this subfield, the absence of a government above states comparable to governments within states is described as anarchy.
What is International Relations?
This philosopher argued that people in the state of nature would experience a “war of all against all” and therefore need a powerful government capable of maintaining order.
Who is Thomas Hobbes?
This form of liberalism argues that freedom sometimes requires government action to give people the actual capacity and opportunities necessary to pursue their goals.
What is modern liberalism or positive liberty?
A community shares a language, history, and culture and sees itself as belonging together, but it does not control an independent territory. Politically, this community is best described by this term.
What is a nation?
Two cities have identical public support for a minimum wage increase. One city passes it, while the other cannot because state law prohibits local governments from establishing their own minimum wage. This explanation focuses on the “rules of the game.”
What is an institutional explanation?
A scholar asks whether a carbon tax actually reduces emissions after implementation. According to the distinctions from class, this question belongs most directly to this subfield.
What is Public Policy?
Unlike Hobbes, this philosopher argued for a more limited government and maintained that human beings possess rights to life, liberty, and property.
Who is John Locke?
This conservative tradition warns that institutions contain knowledge accumulated through generations and therefore favors gradual, incremental change over radically redesigning society.
What is Burkean conservatism?
Country A possesses a population, government, and clearly defined territory, but another country ultimately controls its political decisions. Country A, then, lacks _______.
What is sovereignty?
Two people with similar incomes and similar political opportunities nevertheless disagree about immigration because one views immigration as fundamental to the country's identity while the other views cultural preservation as more important. This explanatory approach would focus primarily on their beliefs and interpretations.
What is an ideational explanation?
Consider these two questions:
These questions fall primarily into these two different subfields, respectively.
What are Comparative Politics and Political Theory?
Philosopher A sees inequality and oppression as central political problems and favors broad participation and the “General Will.” Philosopher B sees insecurity and conflict as the central problem and favors a strong sovereign. Name both philosophers.
Who are Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Hobbes?
One ideology criticizes liberal capitalism because concentrated private ownership can generate inequality and exploitation. Another rejects liberal individualism and pluralism in favor of hierarchy, authority, national unity, and the nation above the individual. Name both, in that order.
What are socialism and fascism?