ContentsArticlesPolitics Political science Ideology Comparative politics International relations International relations theory Power in international relations Realism in international relations theory Neorealism (international relations) Neoclassical realism Postclassical realism Historical sociology Absolute gains Relative gains Offensive realism Defensive realism Soft power Hard power Composite Index of National Capability Comprehensive National Power Hans Morgenthau Idealism (international relations) Liberal international relations theory English school of international relations theory Neoliberalism in international relations Sociological liberalism Interdependence liberalism Institutional liberalism Liberal Peace Theory List of wars between democracies Marxist international relations theory Functionalism in international relations Neofunctionalism Critical international relations theory 1 10 16 23 25 36 44 48 54 56 57 57 59 60 60 62 63 66 68 74 75 79 82 83 85 88 88 88 89 113 118 119 121 123

World-systems theory Constructivism in international relations Feminism in international relations Sociology of the family Bananas, Beaches and Bases Dependency theory Neo-Gramscianism Anarchy is What States Make of It Robert A. Dahl How Democratic Is the American Constitution? Political sociology Public policy doctrine Sociology History of sociology Positivism Antipositivism Structural functionalism Conflict theory Social research Computational sociology Deviance (sociology) Sociology of gender Feminist theory Political economy Public policy Public administration Theories of political behavior Drug policy Drug policy reform Political system State (polity) Democracy Social psychology

125 137 142 143 150 150 157 159 159 162 166 167 170 192 201 210 213 223 226 231 236 245 246 253 258 260 269 271 275 277 280 289 308

ReferencesArticle Sources and Contributors Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 310 318

Article LicensesLicense 324

Politics

1

PoliticsPolitics (from Greek , [politiks]: citizen, civilian), is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs. It also refers to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in other group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions. It consists of "social relations involving authority or power"[1] and refers to the regulation of public affairs within a political unit,[2] and to the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply policy.[3]

EtymologyThe word "politics" comes from the Greek word "" (politika), modeled on Aristotle's "affairs of the city", the name of his book on governing and governments, which was rendered in English mid-15 century as Latinized "Polettiques".[4] Thus it became "politics" in Middle English c. 1520s (see the Concise Oxford Dictionary). The singular "politic" first attested in English 1430 and comes from Middle French "politique", in turn from Latin "politicus",[5] which is the romanization of the Greek "" (politikos), meaning amongst others "of, for, or relating to citizens", "civil", "civic", "belonging to the state",[6] in turn from "" (polites), "citizen"[7] and that from "" (polis), "city".[8]

HistoryThe history of politics is reflected in the origin and development of the institutions of government.

Native AmericansLewis H. Morgan author of Ancient Society considers the American Indians to be the link between the primitive and patriarchal state of society.[9] According to legend and the Codex Chimalpopoca, Quetzalcoatl being intoxicated with pulque had incest with his sister Quetzalpetlatl. Upon realizing the act, he declared: "... I've sinned. I'm not fit to rule." He burned his palace, buried his treasures and left forever the beloved city of Tollan, cradle of Toltec civilization.[10]

Patriarchal societiesAll patriarchal societies are known by certain characteristic features: 1. Male kinship is prevalent. Men are counted as kin because they are descended from the same male ancestor. 2. Marriage is permanent. It is not until one woman is married to one man that certainty of fatherhood appears in society but it is not a general rule of patriarchal society for polygamy does exist in the earlier stages of social development. 3. Paternal authority is the ruling principle of the social order. In ancient Rome, the patria potestas extended to all descendants of one living male ancestor; it comprised control and punishment not to mention questions of life and death.

European Parliament

These features of the development of the patriarchal state of society are as common among the Jews as among the Arabs, among the Aryans as among the Dravidians and even among the Germanic and Celtic peoples. The patriarchal state of society consists of two stages, tribe and clan. The tribe is a large group of hundreds of members who descend from one common male ancestor, sometimes from a fictitious character satisfying the

Politics etiquette that descent from the male is the only basis of society. The clan, on the other hand, is a smaller group reaching back into the past for only four generations or so to a common well-known male ancestor. The clan always breaks down into smaller units when its limit is reached. According to the Scottish historian W. F. Skene in volumen 3 of Celtic Scotland, the tribe or larger unit is the oldest. When the tribe breaks down, clans are formed. When the clan system breaks down, it leaves the households or families as independent units. Finally, with the withering away of patriarchal society, the family is dissolved and the individual comes into existence.[11]

2

The stateThe origin of the state is to be found in the development of the art of warfare. Historically speaking, there is not the slightest difficulty in proving that all political communities of the modern type owe their existence to successful warfare. As a result the new states are forced to organize on military principles. The life of the new community is military allegiance. The military by nature is competitive. Of the institutions by which the state is ruled, that of kingship stands foremost until the French Revolution put an end to the "divine right of kings". Nevertheless, kingship is perhaps the most successful institution of politics. However, the first kings were not institutions but individuals. The earliest kings were successful militarily. They were men not only of great military genius but also great administrators. Kingship becomes an institution through heredity.

Sun Tzu

The king rules his kingdom with the aid of his Council; without it he could not hold his territories. The Council is the king's master mind. The Council is the germ of constitutional government. Long before the council became a bulwark of democracy, it rendered invaluable aid to the institution of kingship by: 1. 2. 3. 4. Preserving the institution of kingship through heredity. Preserving the traditions of the social order. Being able to withstand criticism as an impersonal authority. Being able to manage a greater deal of knowledge and action than a single individual such as the king.

The greatest of the king's subordinates, the earls in England and Scotland, the dukes and counts in the Continent, always sat as a right on the Council. A conqueror wages war upon the vanquished for vengeance or for plunder but an established kingdom exacts tribute. One of the functions of the Council is to keep the coffers of the king full. Another is the satisfaction of military service and the establishment of lordships by the king to satisfy the task of collecting taxes and soldiers.[12] The state and property Property is the right vested on the individual or a group of people to enjoy the benefits of an object be it material or intellectual. A right is a power enforced by public trust. Sometimes it happens that the exercise of a right is opposed to public trust. Nevertheless, a right is really the creation of public trust, past, present or future. The growth of knowledge is the key to the history of property as an institution. The more man becomes knowledgeable of an object be it physical or intellectual, the more it is appropriated. The appearance of the State brought about the final stage in the evolution of property from wildlife to husbandry. In the presence of the State, man can hold landed property. The State began granting lordships and ended up conferring property and with it came inheritance. With landed property came rent and in the exchange of goods, profit, so that in modern times, the "lord of the land" of long ago becomes the landlord. If it is wrongly assumed that the value of land is always the same, then there is of course no evolution of property whatever. However, the price of land goes up with every increase in population benefitting the landlord. The landlordism of large land owners has been the most rewarded of all political services. In industry, the position of

Politics the landlord is less important but in towns which have grown out of an industry, the fortunate landlord has reaped an enormous profit. Towards the latter part of the Middle Ages in Europe, both the State - the State would use the instrument of confiscation for the first time to satisfy a debt - and the Church - the Church succeeded in acquiring immense quantities of land - were allied against the village community to displace the small landlord and they were successful to the extent that today, the village has become the ideal of the individualist, a place in which every man "does what he wills with his own." The State has been the most important factor in the evolution of the institution of property be it public or private.[13] The state and the justice system As a military institution, the State is concerned with the allegiance of its subjects as disloyalty is a risk to its national security. Thus arises the law of treason. Criminal acts in general, breaking the peace and treason make up the whole of criminal law enforced by the State as distinguished from the law enforced by private individuals. State justice has taken the place of clan, feudal, merchant and ecclesiastical justice due to its strength, skill and simplicity. One very striking evidence of the superiority of the royal courts over the feudal and popular courts in the matter of official skill is the fact that, until comparatively late in history, the royal courts alone kept written records of their proceedings. The trial by jury was adopted by the Royal Courts, securing it's popularity and making it a bulwark of liberty. By the time of the Protestant Reformation, with the separation of Church and State, in the most progressive countries, the State succeeded in dealing with the business of administering justice.[14] The state The making of laws was unknown to primitive societies. That most persistent of all patriarchal societies, the Jewish, retains to a certain extent its tribal law in the Gentile cities of the West. This tribal law is the rudimentary idea of law as it presented itself to people in the patriarchal stage of society, it was custom or observance sanctioned by the approval and practice of ancestors. The intolerable state of affairs in the 10th century where every little town had its own laws and nations like France, Germany, Spain and other countries had no national law till the end of the 18th century, came to an end thanks to three great agencies that helped to create the modern system of law and legislation: 1. Records. From the early Middle Ages in Europe there come what are called folk-laws and they appear exactly at the time when the patriarchal is becoming the State. They are due almost universally to one cause: the desire of the king to know the custom of his subjects. These are not legislation in the sense of law-making but statements or declarations of custom. They are drawn from a knowledge of the custom of the people. Unwritten custom changes imperceptibly but not the written. It is always possible to point to the exact text and show what it says. Nevertheless, the written text can change by addition with every new edition. 2. Law Courts. By taking some general rule which seemed to be common to all the communities and ignoring the differences, English common law was modelled after such a practice so that the law became common in all the districts of the kingdom. The reason why in the rest of Europe, there was no common law till centuries later is because the State in those countries did not get hold of the administration of justice when England did. One of the shrewdest moves by which the English judges pushed their plan of making a common law was by limiting the verdict of the jury in every case to questions of fact. At first the jury used to give answers both on law and fact; and being a purely local body, they followed local custom. A famous division came to pass: the province of the judge and the province of the jury. 3. Fictions. Records and Law Courts were valuable in helping the people adapt to law-making but like Fictions, they were slow and imperfect. Though slowly, Fictions work because it is a well known fact that people will accept a change in the form of a fiction while they would resist it to the end if the fact is out in the open.

3

Politics

4

Finally there is the enactment of laws or legislation. When progress and development is rapid, the faster method of political representation is adopted. This method does not originate in primitive society but in the State need for money and its use of an assembly to raise the same. From the town assembly, a national assembly and the progress of commerce sprang Parliament all over Europe around the end of the 12th century but not entirely representative or homogenous for the nobility and the clergy. The clergy had amassed a fortune in land, about one-fifth of all Christendom but at the time, in the 12th and 13th British parliament centuries, the Church was following a policy of isolation; they adopted the rule of celibacy and cut themselves from domestic life; they refused to plead in a secular court; they refused to pay taxes to the State on the grounds that they had already paid it to the Pope. Since the main object of the king in holding a national assembly was to collect money, the Church could not be left out and so they came to Parliament. The Church did not like it but in most cases they had to come. The medieval Parliament was complete when it represented all the states in the realm: nobles, clergy, peasants and craftsmen but it was not a popular institution mainly because it meant taxation. Only by the strongest pressure of the Crown were Parliaments maintained during the first century of their existence and the best proof of this assertion lies in the fact that in those countries where the Crown was weak, Parliament ceased to exist. The notion that parliaments were the result of a democratic movement cannot be supported by historical facts. Originally, the representative side of Parliament was solely concerned with money; representation in Parliament was a liability rather than a privilege. It is not uncommon that an institution created for one purpose begins to serve another. People who were asked to contribute with large sums of money began to petition. Pretty soon, sessions in Parliament would turn into bargaining tables, the king granting petitions in exchange for money. However, there were two kinds of petitions, one private and the other public and it was from this last that laws were adopted or legislation originated. The king as head of State could give orders to preserve territorial integrity but not until these royal enactments were combined with public petition that successful legislation ever took place. Even to the present day, this has always been the basis of all successful legislation: public custom is adopted and enforced by the State. In the early days of political representation, the majority did not necessarily carry the day and there was very little need for contested elections but by the beginning of the 15th century, a seat in Parliament was something to be cherished. Historically speaking, the dogma of the equality of man is the result of the adoption of the purely practical machinery of the majority but the adoption of the majority principle is also responsible for another institution of modern times: the party system. The party system is an elaborate piece of machinery that pits at least two political candidates against each other for the vote of an electorate; its advantage being equal representation interesting a large number of people in politics; it provides effective criticism of the government in power and it affords an outlet for the ambition of a large number of wealthy and educated people guaranteeing a consistent policy in government. These three institutions: political representation, majority rule and the party system are the basic components of modern political machinery; they are applicable to both central and local governments and are becoming by their adaptability ends in themselves rather than a machinery to achieve some purpose.[15]

Politics The state and the executive system The administration is one of the most difficult aspects of government. In the enactment and enforcement of laws, the victory of the State is complete but not so in regards to administration the reason being that it is easy to see the advantage of the enactment and enforcement of laws but not the administration of domestic, religious and business affairs which should be kept to a minimum by government. Originally, the state was a military organization. For many years, it was just a territory ruled by a king who was surrounded by a small elite group of warriors and court officials and it was basically rule by force over a larger mass of people. Slowly, however, the people gained political representation for none can really be said to be a member of the State without the right of having a voice in the direction of policy making. One of the basic functions of the State in regards to administration is maintaining peace and internal order; it has no other excuse for interfering in the lives of its citizens. To maintain law and order the State develops means of communication. Historically, the "king's highway" was laid down and maintained for the convenience of the royal armies not as an incentive to commerce. In almost all countries, the State jealously maintains the control of the means of communication and special freedoms such as those delineated in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution are rather limited. The State's original function of maintaining law and order within its borders gave rise to police administration which is a branch of the dispensation of Justice but on its preventive side, police jurisdiction has a special character of its own, which distinguishes it from ordinary judicial work. In the curfew, the State shows early in history the importance of preventing disorder. In early days, next to maintaining law and order, the State was concerned with the raising of revenue. This led eventually to modern State socialism. It was then useful to the State to establish a standard of weights and measures so that value could be generally accepted and finally the State acquired a monopoly of coinage. The regulation of labor by the State as one of its functions dates from the 15th century, when the Black Plague killed around half of the European population. The invariable policy of the State has always being to break down all intermediate authorities and to deal directly with the individual. This was the policy until Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations was published promoting a strong public reaction against State interference. By its own action, the State raised the issue of the poor or the State relief of the indigent. The State, of course, did not create poverty but by destroying the chief agencies which dealt with it such as the village, the church and the guilds, it practically assumed full responsibility for the poor without exercising any power over it. The Great Poor Law Report of 1834 showed that communism ran rampant in the rural areas of England. In newly developed countries such as the colonies of the British Empire, the State has refused to take responsibility for the poor and the relief of poverty in spite of the fact, that the poor classes lean heavily towards State socialism. Recognizing the great power of the State, it is only natural that in times of great crisis such as an overwhelming calamity the people should invoke general State aid. Political representation has helped to shape State administration. When the voice of the individual can be heard, the danger of arbitrary interference by the State is greatly reduced. To that extent is the increase of State activity popular. There are no hard and fast rules to limit State administration but it is a fallacy to believe that the State is the nation and what the State does is necessarily for the good of the nation. In the first place, even in modern times, the State and the nation are never identical. Even where "universal suffrage" prevails, the fact remains that an extension of State administration means an increased interference of some by others, limiting freedom of action. Even if it is admitted that State and nation are one and the same, it is sometimes difficult to admit that State administration is necessarily good. Finally, the modern indiscriminate advocacy of State administration conceals the fallacy that State officials must necessarily prove more effective in their action than private enterprise. Herein lies the basic difference between Public and Business Administration; the first deals with the public weal while the second deals basically in profit but both require a great deal of education and ethical conduct to avoid the mishaps inherent in the relationship not only of business and labor but also the State and the Administration.[16]

5

Politics The varieties of political experience According to Aristotle, States are classified into monarchies, aristocracies, timocracies, democracies, oligarchies, and tyrannies. Due to an increase in knowledge of the history of politics, this classification has been abandoned. Generally speaking, no form of government could be considered the best if the best is considered to be the one that is most appropriate under the circumstances. All States are varieties of a single type, the sovereign State. All the Great Powers of the modern world rule on the principle of sovereignty. Sovereign power may be vested on an individual as in an autocratic government or it may be vested on a group as in The swearing of the oath of ratification of the treaty of Mnster in 1648 a constitutional government. Constitutions are (1648) by Gerard ter Borch. written documents that specify and limit the powers of the different branches of government. Although a Constitution is a written document, there is also an unwritten Constitution. The unwritten constitution is continually being written by the Legislative branch of government; this is just one of those cases in which the nature of the circumstances determines the form of government that is most appropriate. Nevertheless, the written constitution is essential. England did set the fashion of written constitutions during the Civil War but after the Restoration abandoned them to be taken up later by the American Colonies after their emancipation and then France after the Revolution and the rest of Europe including the European colonies. There are two forms of government, one a strong central government as in France and the other a local government such as the ancient divisions in England that is comparatively weaker but less bureaucratic. These two forms helped to shape the federal government, first in Switzerland, then in the United States in 1776, in Canada in 1867 and in Germany in 1870 and in the 20th century, Australia. The Federal States introduced the new principle of agreement or contract. Compared to a federation, a confederation's singular weakness is that it lacks judicial power. In the American Civil War, the contention of the Confederate States that a State could secede from the Union was untenable because of the power enjoyed by the Federal government in the executive, legislative and judiciary branches. According to professor A. V. Dicey in An Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution, the essential features of a federal constitution are: a) A written supreme constitution in order to prevent disputes between the jurisdictions of the Federal and State authorities; b) A distribution of power between the Federal and State governments and c) A Supreme Court vested with the power to interpret the Constitution and enforce the law of the land remaining independent of both the executive and legislative branches.[17]

6

Politics Political party A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to attain and maintain political power within government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions. Parties often espouse an expressed ideology or vision bolstered by a written platform with specific goals, forming a coalition among disparate interests.

7

As an academic disciplinePolitical science, the study of politics, examines the acquisition and application of power.[18] Related areas of study include political philosophy, which seeks a rationale for politics and an ethic of public behaviour, political economy, which attempts to develop understandings of the relationships between politics and the economy and the governance of the two, and public administration, which examines the practices of governance. The first academic chair devoted to politics in the United States was the chair of history and political science at Columbia University, first occupied by Prussian migr Francis Lieber in 1857.[19]

SpectraLeft-right politicsRecently in history, political analysts and politicians divide politics into left wing and right wing politics, often also using the idea of center politics as a middle path of policy between the right and left. This classification is comparatively recent (it was not used by Aristotle or Hobbes, for instance), and dates from the French Revolution era, when those members of the National Assembly who supported the republic, the common people and a secular society sat on the left and supporters of the monarchy, aristocratic privilege and the Church sat on the right.[20] The meanings behind the labels have become more complicated over the years. A particularly influential event was the publication of the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in 1848. The Manifesto suggested a course of action for a proletarian revolution to overthrow the bourgeois society and abolish private property, in the belief that this would lead to a classless and stateless society. The meaning of left-wing and right-wing varies considerably between different countries and at different times, but generally speaking, it can be said that the right wing often values tradition and social stratification while the left wing often values reform and egalitarianism, with the center seeking a balance between the two such as with social democracy or regulated capitalism. According to Norberto Bobbio, one of the major exponents of this distinction, the Left believes in attempting to eradicate social inequality, while the Right regards most social inequality as the result of ineradicable natural inequalities, and sees attempts to enforce social equality as utopian or authoritarian.[21] Some ideologies, notably Christian Democracy, claim to combine left and right wing politics; according to Geoffrey K. Roberts and Patricia Hogwood, "In terms of ideology, Christian Democracy has incorporated many of the views held by liberals, conservatives and socialists within a wider framework of moral and Christian principles."[22] Movements which claim or formerly claimed to be above the left-right divide include Fascist Third-position economic politics in Italy, Gaullism in France, Peronism in Argentina, and National Action Politics in Mexico.

Authoritarian-libertarian politicsAuthoritarianism and libertarianism refer to the amount of individual freedom each person possesses in that society relative to the state. One author describes authoritarian political systems as those where "individual rights and goals are subjugated to group goals, expectations and conformities",[23] while libertarians generally oppose the state and hold the individual and his property as sovereign. In their purest form, libertarians are anarchists, who argue for the total abolition of the state, while the purest authoritarians are totalitarians who support state control over all aspects

Politics of society. For instance, classical liberalism (also known as laissez-faire liberalism,[24] or, in much of the world, simply liberalism) is a doctrine stressing individual freedom and limited government. This includes the importance of human rationality, individual property rights, free markets, natural rights, the protection of civil liberties, constitutional limitation of government, and individual freedom from restraint as exemplified in the writings of John Locke, Adam Smith, David Hume, David Ricardo, Voltaire, Montesquieu and others. According to the libertarian Institute for Humane Studies, "the libertarian, or 'classical liberal,' perspective is that individual well-being, prosperity, and social harmony are fostered by 'as much liberty as possible' and 'as little government as necessary.'"[25]

8

World politicsThe 20th century witnessed the outcome of two world wars and not only the rise and fall of the Third Reich but also the rise and fall of communism. The development of the Atomic bomb gave the United States a more rapid end to its conflict in Japan in World War II. Later, the development of the Hydrogen bomb became the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. The United Nations has served as a forum for peace in a world threatened by nuclear war. "The invention of nuclear and space weapons has made war unacceptable as an instrument for achieving political ends."[26] Although an all-out final nuclear holocaust is out of the question for man, "nuclear blackmail" comes into question not only on the issue of world peace but also on the issue of national sovereignty.[27] On a Sunday in 1962, the world stood still at the brink of nuclear war during the October Cuban missile crisis from the implementation of U.S. vs U.S.S.R. nuclear blackmail policy.NYC UN

Political corruption

Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.

William Pitt the Elder

[28]

Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by private persons or corporations not directly involved with the government. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties. Forms of corruption vary, but include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement. While corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and trafficking, it is not restricted to these activities. The activities that constitute illegal corruption differ depending on the country or jurisdiction. For instance, certain political funding practices that are legal in one place may be illegal in another. In some cases, government officials

Politics have broad or poorly defined powers, which make it difficult to distinguish between legal and illegal actions. Worldwide, bribery alone is estimated to involve over 1 trillion US dollars annually.[29] A state of unrestrained political corruption is known as a kleptocracy, literally meaning "rule by thieves". "Favoritism is the only use of power." Richard L Kempe "Politics is the art of creating situations involving the threat of loss." Richard L Kempe

9

References[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] "Definition of politics" (http:/ / dict. die. net/ politics/ ). dict.die.net. . "Politics (definition)" (http:/ / everything2. com/ index. pl?node_id=303454). everything2.co. . "Definition of politics" (http:/ / www. thefreedictionary. com/ politics). thefreedictionary.com. . "Politics" (http:/ / www. etymonline. com/ index. php?term=politics). Online Etymology Dictionary. . Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short. "A Latin Dictionary" (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ hopper/ text?doc=Perseus:text:1999. 04. 0059:entry=politicus). Perseus Digital Library. . [6] Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott. "A Greek-English Lexicon" (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ hopper/ text?doc=Perseus:text:1999. 04. 0057:entry=politiko/ s). Perseus Digital Library. . [7] Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott. "A Greek-English Lexicon" (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ hopper/ text?doc=Perseus:text:1999. 04. 0057:entry=poli/ ths). Perseus Digital Library. . [8] Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott. "A Greek-English Lexicon" (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ hopper/ text?doc=Perseus:text:1999. 04. 0057:entry=po/ lis). Perseus Digital Library. . [9] Jenks, Edward (1900). A history of politics (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=Z3gCAAAAYAAJ& pg=PA1& dq=politics+ history#v=onepage& q=). J. M. Dent & Co.. pp.615. . "In spite of the constantly increasing intercourse..." [10] Aun Weor, Samael (2008). The Doomed Aryan Race: Gnosis, the Global Crisis and the need to awaken consciousness. Glorian Publishing. p.1. ISBN1934206300. [11] Jenks, Edward. A history of politics. pp.1672. "We now approach the consideration of the secong stage of social development..." [12] Jenks, Edward. A history of politics. pp.7396. "The origin of the State, or Political Society, is to be found in the development of the art of military warfare." [13] Jenks, Edward. A history of politics. pp.97111. "No political institution is of greater importance, none has been the subject of greater controversy, than the institution of property." [14] Jenks, Edward. A history of politics. pp.112124. "We are so accustomed to look upon the administration of justice as an inevitable duty of the State..." [15] Jenks, Edward. A history of politics. pp.124139. "As we have before stated (p. 41), the notion that law could be made was unknown to primitive society." [16] Jenks, Edward. A history of politics. pp.140150. "We come now to the last, and by far the most difficult department of State activity." [17] Jenks, Edward (1900). A history of politics (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=Z3gCAAAAYAAJ& pg=PA1& dq=politics+ history#v=onepage& q=). J. M. Dent & Co.. pp.1164. . [18] Safire, William (2008). Safire's Political Dictionary (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=jK-0NPoMiYoC& pg=PA566& dq=power+ corrupts+ and+ absolute+ power+ corrupts+ absolutely#v=onepage& q=power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely). Oxford University Press US. p.566. ISBN0195343342. . "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." [19] Farr, James; Seidelman, Raymond (1993). Discipline and history (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=e9_jbbroRHsC& pg=PA70& dq=Discipline+ and+ history+ Francis+ Lieber+ Karl+ Marx& q=). University of Michigan Press. ISBN0472065127. . "...a chair at Columbia in 1857 as professor of history and political science, the very first of its kind in America." [20] Andrew Knapp and Vincent Wright (2006). The Government and Politics of France. Routledge. [21] Bobbio, Norberto, "Left and Right: The Significance of a Political Distinction" (translated by Allan Cameron), 1997, University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226062465 [22] Roberts and Hogwood, European Politics Today, Manchester University Press, 1997 [23] Markus Kemmelmeier et al. (2003). "Individualism, Collectivism, and Authoritarianism in Seven Societies". Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 34 (3): 304322. doi:10.1177/0022022103034003005. [24] Ian Adams, Political Ideology Today (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001), 20. [25] What Is Libertarian? (http:/ / www. theihs. org/ about/ id. 1084/ default. asp), Institute for Humane Studies [26] Rabinowitch, Eugene (June 1973). Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=-QsAAAAAMBAJ& pg=PA13& dq=World+ politics+ final+ nuclear+ holocaust& q=World politics final nuclear holocaust). Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc.. p.13. . "...the rationale of traditional patterns of world politics." [27] Dulles, Allen (2006). The Craft of Intelligence (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=mH3qdHK6_EsC& pg=PA224& dq=the+ craft+ of+ intelligence+ April+ 1963#v=onepage& q=). Globe Pequot. p.224. ISBN1592282975. . "...using "nuclear blackmail" as a threat to intimidate other countries." [28] Safire's political dictionary, by William Safire, 2008, Oxford University Press US, pg 566

Politics[29] African corruption 'on the wane' (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 1/ hi/ business/ 6288400. stm), 10 July 2007, BBC News

10

Political sciencePolitical science is a social science concerned with the theory and practice of politics and the analysis of political systems and political behavior. Political scientists "see themselves engaged in revealing the relationships underlying political events and conditions. And from these revelations they attempt to construct general principles about the way the world of politics work."[1] Political science intersects with other fields; including public policy, national politics, economics, international relations, comparative politics, psychology, sociology, history, law, and political theory. Political science is commonly divided into three distinct sub-disciplines which together constitute the field: Political Philosophy, Comparative Politics and International Relations. Political Philosophy is the reasoning for an absolute normative government, laws and similar questions and their distinctive characteristics. Comparative Politics is the science of comparison and teaching of different types of constitutions, political actors, legislature and associated fields, all of them from an intrastate perspective. International Relations deals with the interaction between nationstates as well as intergovernmental and transnational organizations. Political science is methodologically diverse and appropriates many methods originating in social research. Approaches include positivism, interpretivism, rational choice theory, behavioral, structuralism, post-structuralism, realism, institutionalism, and pluralism. Political science, as one of the social sciences, uses methods and techniques that relate to the kinds of inquiries sought: primary sources such as historical documents and official records, secondary sources such as scholarly journal articles, survey research, statistical analysis, case studies, and model building. "As a discipline" political science, possibly like the social sciences as a whole, "lives on the fault line between the 'two cultures' in the academy, the sciences and the humanities."[2] Thus, in some American colleges where there is no separate School or College of Arts and Sciences per se, political science may be a separate department housed as part of a division or school of Humanities or Liberal Arts.[3] Whereas classical political philosophy is primarily defined by a concern for Hellenic and Enlightenment thought, political scientists are broadly marked by a greater concern for "modernity" and the contemporary nation state, and as such share a greater deal of terminology with sociologists (e.g. structure and agency).

OverviewPolitical scientists study matters concerning the allocation and transfer of power in decision making, the roles and systems of governance including governments and international organizations, political behavior and public policies. They measure the success of governance and specific policies by examining many factors, including stability, justice, material wealth, and peace. Some political scientists seek to advance positive (attempt to describe how things are, as opposed to how they should be) theses by analyzing politics. Others advance normative theses, by making specific policy recommendations. Political scientists provide the frameworks from which journalists, special interest groups, politicians, and the electorate analyze issues. According to Chaturvedy, "...Political scientists may serve as advisers to specific politicians, or even run for office as politicians themselves. Political scientists can be found working in governments, in political parties or as civil servants. They may be involved with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or political movements. In a variety of capacities, people educated and trained in political science can add value and expertise to corporations.[4] Private enterprises such as think tanks, research institutes, polling and public relations firms often employ political scientists."[5] In the United States, political scientists known as "Americanists" look at a variety of data including elections, public opinion and public policy such as Social Security reform,..... foreign policy, US Congressional committees, and the US Supreme Court to name only a few issues.

Political science Most United States colleges and universities offer B.A. programs in political science. M.A. or M.A.T. and Ph.D or Ed.D. programs are common at larger universities. The term political science is more popular in North America than elsewhere; other institutions, especially those outside the United States, see political science as part of a broader discipline of political studies, politics, or government. While political science implies use of the scientific method, political studies implies a broader approach, although the naming of degree courses does not necessarily reflect their content.[6] Separate degree granting programs in international relations and public policy are not uncommon at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Master's level programs in political science are common while political scientists engage in public administration.[7] The national honour society for college and university students of government and politics in the United States is Pi Sigma Alpha.

11

HistoryPolitical science as a separate field is a relatively late arrival in terms of social sciences. However, the term "political science" was not always distinguished from political philosophy, and the modern discipline has a clear set of antecedents including also moral philosophy, political economy, political theology, history, and other fields concerned with normative determinations of what ought to be and with deducing the characteristics and functions of the ideal state. The antecedents of Western politics can be traced back to the Socratic political philosophers, Plato (427347 BC), Xenophon (c. 430354 BC), and Aristotle ("The Father of Political Science") (384322 BC). These authors, in such works as The Republic and Laws by Plato, and The Politics and Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle, analyzed political systems philosophically, going beyond earlier Greek poetic and historical reflections which can be found in the works of epic poets like Homer and Hesiod, historians like Herodotus and Thucydides, and dramatists such as Sophocles, Aristophanes, and Euripides.

Niccol Machiavelli, one of many influential political theorists

The rise and fall of the Roman Empire During the height of the Roman Empire, famous historians such as Polybius, Livy and Plutarch documented the rise of the Roman Republic, and the organization and histories of other nations, while statesmen like Julius Caesar, Cicero and others provided us with examples of the politics of the republic and Rome's empire and wars. The study of politics during this age was oriented toward understanding history, understanding methods of governing, and describing the operation of governments. Nearly a thousand years elapsed, from the foundation of the city of Rome in 753 BC to the fall of the Roman Empire or the beginning of the Middle Ages. In the interim, there is a manifest translation of Hellenic culture into the Roman sphere. The Greek gods become Romans and Greek philosophy in one way or another turns into Roman law e.g. Stoicism. The Stoic was committed to preserving proper hierarchical roles and duties in the state so that the state as a whole would remain stable. Among the best known Roman Stoics were philosopher Seneca and the emperor Marcus Aurelius. Seneca, a wealthy Roman patrician, is often criticized by some modern commentators for failing to adequately live by his own precepts. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, on the other hand, can be best thought of as the philosophical reflections of an emperor divided between his philosophical aspirations and the duty he felt to defend the Roman Empire from its external enemies through his various military campaigns. According to Polybius, Roman institutions were the backbone of the empire but Roman law is the medulla.[8]

Political science The Middle Ages With the fall of the Western Roman Empire, there arose a more diffuse arena for political studies. The rise of monotheism and, particularly for the Western tradition, Christianity, brought to light a new space for politics and political action. Works such as Augustine of Hippo's The City of God synthesized current philosophies and political traditions with those of Christianity, redefining the borders between what was religious and what was political. During the Middle Ages, the study of politics was widespread in the churches and courts. Most of the political questions surrounding the relationship between church and state were clarified and contested in this period. The Arabs lost sight of Aristotle's political science but continued to study Plato's Republic which became the basic text of Judeo-Islamic political philosophy as in the works of Alfarabi and Averroes; this did not happen in the Christian world, where Aristotle's Politics was translated in the 13th century and became the basic text as in the works of Saint Thomas Aquinas.[9] Indian Sub-Continent In ancient India, the antecedents of politics can be traced back to the Rig-Veda, Samhitas, Brahmanas, the Mahabharata and Buddhist Pali Canon. Chanakya (c. 350275 BC) was a political thinker in Takshashila. Chanakya wrote the Arthashastra, a treatise on political thought, economics and social order. It discusses monetary and fiscal policies, welfare, international relations, and war strategies in detail, among other topics. The Manusmriti, dated to about two centuries after the time of Chanakya is another important Indian political treatise. East Asia Ancient China was home to several competing schools of political thought, most of which arose in the Spring and Autumn Period. These included Mohism (a utilitarian philosophy), Taoism, Legalism (a school of thought based on the supremacy of the state), and Confucianism. Eventually, a modified form of Confucianism (heavily infused with elements of Legalism) became the dominant political philosophy in China during the Imperial Period. This form of Confucianism also deeply influenced and were expounded upon by scholars in Korea and Japan. West Asia In Persia, works such as the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and Epic of Kings by Ferdowsi provided evidence of political analysis, while the Middle Eastern Aristotelians such as Avicenna and later Maimonides and Averroes, continued Aristotle's tradition of analysis and empiricism, writing commentaries on Aristotle's works. Averroe did not have at hand a text of Aristotle's Politics, so he wrote a commentary on Plato's Republic instead. The Renaissance During the Italian Renaissance, Niccol Machiavelli established the emphasis of modern political science on direct empirical observation of political institutions and actors. Machiavelli was also a realist, arguing that even evil means should be considered if they help to create and preserve a glorious regime. Machiavelli therefore also argues against the use of idealistic models in politics, and has been described as the father of the "politics model" of political science.[10] Later, the expansion of the scientific paradigm during the Enlightenment further pushed the study of politics beyond normative determinations. Like Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, well-known for his theory of the social contract, believed that a strong central power, such as a monarchy, was necessary to rule the innate selfishness of the individual but neither of them believed in the divine right of kings. John Locke, on the other hand, who gave us Two Treatises of Government and who did not believe in the divine right of kings either, sided with Aquinas and stood against both Machiavelli and Hobbes by accepting Aristotle's dictum that man seeks to be happy in a state of social harmony as a social animal. Unlike Aquinas' preponderant view on the salvation of the soul from original sin, Locke believed man comes into this world with a mind that is basically tabula rasa. According to Locke, an absolute ruler as proposed by Hobbes is unnecessary, for natural law is based on reason and equality, seeking peace and survival for man.

12

Political science The Enlightenment Religion would no longer play a dominant role in politics. There would be separation of church and state. Principles similar to those that dominated the material sciences could be applied to society as a whole, originating the social sciences. Politics could be studied in a laboratory as it were, the social milieu. In 1787, Alexander Hamilton wrote: "...The science of politics like most other sciences has received great improvement." (The Federalist Papers Number 9 and 51). Both the marquis d'Argenson and the abb de Saint-Pierre described politics as a science; d'Argenson was a philosopher and de Saint-Pierre an allied reformer of the enlightenment.[11] Other important figures in American politics who participated in the Enlightenment were Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.

13

Modern political scienceBecause Political Science is essentially a study of human behavior, in all aspects of politics, observations in controlled environments are often challenging to reproduce or duplicate, though experimental methods are increasingly common.[12] Citing this difficulty, former American Political Science Association President Lawrence Lowell once said "We are limited by the impossibility of experiment. Politics is an observational, not an experimental science."[13] Because of this, political scientists have historically observed political elites, institutions, and individual or group behavior in order to identify patterns, draw generalizations, and build theories of politics. Like all social sciences, political sciences faces the difficulty of observing human actors that can only be partially observed and who have the capacity for making conscious choices unlike other subjects such as non-human organisms in biology or inanimate objects as in physics. Despite the complexities, contemporary political science has progressed by adopting a variety of methods and theoretical approaches to understanding politics and methodological pluralism is a defining feature of contemporary political science. The advent of political science as a university discipline was marked by the creation of university departments and chairs with the title of political science arising in the late 19th century. In fact, the designation "political scientist" is typically reserved for those with a doctorate in the field. Integrating political studies of the past into a unified discipline is ongoing, and the history of political science has provided a rich field for the growth of both normative and positive political science, with each part of the discipline sharing some historical predecessors. The American Political Science Association was founded in 1903 and the American Political Science Review was founded in 1906 in an effort to distinguish the study of politics from economics and other social phenomena. Behavioral Revolution and New Institutionalism In the 1950s and the 1960s, a behavioral revolution stressing the systematic and rigorously scientific study of individual and group behavior swept the discipline. A focus on studying political behavior, rather than institutions or interpretation of legal texts, characterized early behavioral political science, including work by Robert Dahl, Philip Converse, and in the collaboration between sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld and public opinion scholar Bernard Berelson. The late 1960s and early 1970s witnessed a take off in the use of deductive, game theoretic formal modeling techniques aimed at generating a more analytical corpus of knowledge in the discipline. This period saw a surge of research that borrowed theory and methods from economics to study political institutions, such as the United States Congress, as well as political behavior, such as voting. William H. Riker and his colleagues and students at the University of Rochester were the main proponents of this shift. Criticisms of the use of this rational choice theorizing has been widespread, even among political scientists who adopt quantitative methods.[14] This trend toward formalization has continued and accelerated, even as the behavioralist revolution has subsided. At the same time, because of the interdependence of all social life, political science also moved towards a closer working relationship with other disciplines, especially sociology, economics, history, anthropology, psychology, public administration, law, and statistics without losing its own identity.[15]

Political science Increasingly, political scientists have used the scientific method to create an intellectual discipline involving quantitative research methods, as well as the generation of formal economics-style models of politics to derive testable hypotheses followed by empirical verification. Over the past generations, the discipline placed an increasing emphasis on relevance and the use of new approaches to increase scientific knowledge in the field and provide explanations for empirical outcomes. Kenneth R. Mladenka, a political scientist at Texas A&M University, was among the academics who proceeded to bring acceptance of the newer urban studies component of the discipline. In the 1970s and 1980s, he found that urban scholars were not as prominent on the editorial boards of the major political science journals, and that traditional scholars, called empiricists, regard most urban research, dependent on case studies, paradigms, qualitative analysis, and theoretical perspectives, as less reliable than the traditional emphasis of the discipline. The urban scholars such as Mladenka stress "local settings where global, national, and voting behavior outcomes happen at street level and where day-to-day lives are affected."[16] [17] Recent Developments In 2000, the so-called Perestroika Movement in political science was introduced as a reaction against what supporters of the movement called the mathematicization of political science. Those who identified with the movement argued for a plurality of methodologies and approaches in political science and for more relevance of the discipline to those outside of it. [18]

14

SubfieldsIn the United States, most political scientists work broadly in one or more of the following five areas: Comparative Politics, including Area Studies International Relations Political Philosophy Methodology American Politics, generally limited to scholars and departments in the United States

In contrast to this traditional distinction, some academic departments organize scholarship into thematic categories, including political philosophy, Political behavior (including public opinion, collective action, and identity), and political institutions (including legislatures and International organizations. Political science conferences and journals often emphasize scholarship in more specific categories. The America Political Science Association, for example, has 42 organized sections that address various methods and topics of political inquiry.[19]

References[1] Political Science (http:/ / www. unc. edu/ depts/ wcweb/ handouts/ polisci. html). Unc.edu (1999-02-22). Retrieved on 2010-11-13. [2] Stoner, J. R. (2008-02-22). "Political Science and Political Education" (http:/ / www. allacademic. com/ meta/ p_mla_apa_research_citation/ 2/ 4/ 5/ 5/ 8/ p245585_index. html). Paper presented at the annual meeting of the APSA Teaching and Learning Conference (APSA), San Jos Marriott, San Jos, California. . Retrieved 2009-02-04. " although one might allege the same for social science as a whole, political scientists receive funding from and play an active role in both the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities [in the United States]." . [3] See, e.g., the department of Political Science (http:/ / www. marist. edu/ liberalarts/ polsci/ ) at Marist College, part of a Division of Humanities before that division became the School of Liberal Arts (c. 2000). [4] Chaturvedy, J. C. (2005). Political Governance (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=kzV4V59udu8C& pg=PA4& dq=people+ trained+ in+ political+ science+ can+ add+ value+ and+ expertise+ to+ corporations#v=onepage& q=people trained in politcal science can add value and expertise to corporations& f=false). Gyan Publishing House. p.4. ISBN8182053175. . [5] Chaturvedy, J. C. (2005). Political Governance. Gyan Publishing House. p.4. ISBN8182053175. [6] Politics is the term used to describe this field by Brandeis University; Cornell College; University of California, Santa Cruz; Hendrix College; Lake Forest College; Monash University; Mount Holyoke College; New York University; Occidental College; Princeton University; Ursinus College; and Washington and Lee University. Government is the term used to describe this field by Bowdoin College; Colby College; Cornell University; Dartmouth College; Georgetown University; Harvard University; Smith College; Wesleyan University; the College of William

Political scienceand Mary; the University of Sydney; the University of Texas at Austin; the University of Ulster; the University of Essex; Victoria University of Wellington, which has both a "School of Government" and a separate "Political Science and International Relations Programme"; and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Politics and government is the term used by the University of Puget Sound. Government and politics is used by the University of Maryland, College Park. [7] Vernardakis, George (1998). Graduate education in government (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=Rd3DDiQm3M8C& pg=PA77& dq=political+ science+ international+ relations+ degree#v=onepage& q=political science international relations degree& f=false). University Press of America. p.77. ISBN0761811718. . "...existing practices at Harvard University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Michigan." [8] Almond, Gabriel Abraham (2002). Ventures in political science (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=VMwpeKhifwcC& pg=PA29& dq=political+ science+ Roman+ Stoics#v=onepage& q=political science Roman Stoics& f=false). Lynne Rienner Publishers. p.29. ISBN1588260802. . "Polybius attributes the remarkable growth and power of Rome to its political institutions." [9] Muhsin, Mahdi (2001). Alfarabi and the foundation of Islamic political philosophy (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=y6BF52Uw9BIC& pg=PA35& dq=Political+ science+ Plato's+ republic& lr=#v=onepage& q=Political science Plato's republic& f=false). p.35. ISBN0226501864. . "...a combination of Plato and Plotinum, could do much more to clarify political life as it then existed..." [10] Lane, Ruth (1996). Political science in theory and practice: the 'politics' model (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=4nB0LuuYYCkC& pg=PA89& dq=Political+ science+ Plato+ the+ republic& lr=#v=onepage& q=Political science Plato the republic& f=false). M. E. Sharpe. p.89. ISBN1563249402. . "Discussion then moves to Machiavelli, for whom the politics model was not an occasional pastime..." [11] Gay, Peter (1996). The enlightenment (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=gQPna6P69i0C& pg=RA2-PA448& dq=political+ science+ the+ enlightenment& lr=#v=onepage& q=political science the enlightenment& f=false). 2. W. W. Norton & Co.. p.448. ISBN0393313666. . "The men of the Enlightenment sensed that they could realize their social ideals only by political means." [12] Druckman, James N., Donald P. Green, James H. Kuklinski, and Arthur Lupia. 2011. Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Political Science. New York: Cambridge University Press. [13] Lowell, A. Lawrence. 1910. "The Physiology of Politics." American Political Science Review 4: 1-15. [14] Cohn, Jonathan. "Irrational Exuberance: When did political science forget about politics?" The New Republic. October 15, 1999. http:/ / www-rohan. sdsu. edu/ ~ckennedy/ nra. htm [15] Farr, James; Seidelman, Raymond (1993). Discipline and history: political science in the United States (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=e9_jbbroRHsC& pg=PA230& dq=political+ science+ other+ discipline& ei=m63DSoY415Ay9dO42AM#v=onepage& q=political science other discipline& f=false). University of Michigan Press. pp.230233. ISBN0472065127. . "...ultimately all social life is interdependent..." [16] "Dr. Theisings Reflection on Scholarship" (http:/ / www. siue. edu/ ~atheisi/ scholarship. htm). siue.edu. . Retrieved October 17, 2010. [17] Kenneth R. Mladenka and Bryan D. Jones, Urban Politics and Political Science," "Political Science: Looking to the Future," Vo. 4. in American Institutions, William Crotty, ed., Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern Illinois University Press, 1994, pp. 287289 [18] Chronicle of Higher Education 2001 (http:/ / www. btinternet. com/ ~pae_news/ Perestroika/ Miller. htm) [19] http:/ / www. apsanet. org/ content_4596. cfm

15

Further reading The Evolution of Political Science (http://www.apsanet.org/section_714.cfm) (Nov. 2006). APSR Centennial Volume of American Political Science Review. Apsanet.org. 4 Feb. 2009. Goodin, R. E.; Klingemann, Hans-Dieter (1996). A New Handbook of Political Science. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-829471-9. Klingemann, Hans-Dieter, ed. (2007) The State of Political Science in Western Europe. Opladen: Barbara Budrich Publishers. ISBN 9783866490453. Schramm, S. F.; Caterino, B., eds. (2006). Making Political Science Matter: Debating Knowledge, Research, and Method. New York and London: New York University Press. Making Political Science Matter (http://books. google.com/books?id=kyJ5GJ7DeMQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=making+political+science+matter& sig=s_bqA18zhy02NKJwsJHJj3vHzKc). Google Books. 4 Feb. 2009. Roskin, M.; Cord, R. L.; Medeiros, J. A.; Jones, W. S. (2007). Political Science: An Introduction. 10th ed. New York: Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-242575-9 (10). ISBN 978-0-13-242575-9 (13). Tausch, A.; Prager, F. (1993). Towards a Socio-Liberal Theory of World Development. Basingstoke: Macmillan; New York: St. Martin's Press. Oxford Handbooks of Political Science

Political science

16

External links International Political Science Association (http://www.ipsa.org/) IPSAPortal : Top 300 websites for Political Science (http://ipsaportal.unina.it/) International Association for Political Science Students (http://www.iapss.org/) American Political Science Association (http://www.apsanet.org/) European Consortium for Political Research (http://www.essex.ac.uk/ecpr/) Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. " Political Science Department which offers MA and PhD programmes (http://www.graduateinstitute.ch/political-science)" Political Studies Association of the UK (http://www.psa.ac.uk/) PROL: Political Science Research Online (prepublished research) (http://www.politicalscience.org/) Truman State University Political Science Research Design Handbook (http://politicalscience.truman.edu/ researchdesignhandbook.pdf) A New Nation Votes: American Elections Returns 17871825 (http://dca.tufts.edu/features/aas) Comparative Politics in Argentina & Latin America (http://www.politicacomparada.com.ar): Site dedicated to the development of comparative politics in Latin America. Paper Works, Articles and links to specialized web sites.

IdeologyAn ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things (compare worldview), as in common sense (see Ideology in everyday society below) and several philosophical tendencies (see Political ideologies), or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to all members of this society (a "received consciousness" or product of socialization). The main purpose behind an ideology is to offer either change in society, or adherence to a set of ideals where conformity already exists, through a normative thought process. Ideologies are systems of abstract thought applied to public matters and thus make this concept central to politics. Implicitly every political tendency entails an ideology whether or not it is propounded as an explicit system of thought. It is how society sees things. (For the Marxist definition of ideology, see Ideology as an instrument of social reproduction below.)

HistoryThe term "ideology" was born in the highly controversial, philosophical and political debates and fights of the French Revolution and acquired several other meanings from the early days of the First French Empire to the present. The word ideology was coined by Destutt de Tracy in 1796[1] [2] assembling the parts idea (near to the Lockean sense) and -logy. He used it to refer to one aspect of his "science of ideas". (To the study itself, not the subject of the study.) He separated three aspects, namely: ideology, general grammar and logic, considering respectively the subject, the means and the reason of this science.[3] He argues that among these aspects ideology is the most generic term, because the science of ideas also contains the study of their expression and deduction. According to Karl Mannheim's historical reconstruction of the meaning-shifts of ideology, the modern meaning of the word ideology was born when Napoleon Bonaparte (as a politician) used it in an abusive way against "the ideologues" (a group which included Cabanis, Condorcet, Constant, Daunou, Say, Madame de Stal and Tracy), to express the pettiness of his (liberal republican) political opponents. Perhaps the most accessible source for the near-original meaning of ideology is Hippolyte Taine's work on the Ancien Regime (first volume of "Origins of Contemporary France"). He describes ideology as rather like teaching philosophy by the Socratic method, but without extending the vocabulary beyond what the general reader already possessed, and without the examples from observation that practical science would require. Taine identifies it not

Ideology just with Destutt De Tracy, but also with his milieu, and includes Condillac as one of its precursors. (Tracy read the works of Locke and Condillac while he was imprisoned during the Reign of Terror.) The word "ideology" was coined long before the Russians coined "intelligentsia", or before the adjective "intellectual" referred to a sort of person (see substantive), i.e. an intellectual. Thus these words were not around when the hard-headed, driven Napoleon Bonaparte took the word "ideologues" to ridicule his intellectual opponents. Gradually, however, the term "ideology" has dropped some of its pejorative sting, and has become a neutral term in the analysis of differing political opinions and views of social groups.[4] While Karl Marx situated the term within class struggle and domination,[5] [6] others believed it was a necessary part of institutional functioning and social integration.[7]

17

AnalysisMeta-ideology is the study of the structure, form, and manifestation of ideologies. Meta-ideology posits that ideology is a coherent system of ideas, relying upon a few basic assumptions about reality that may or may not have any factual basis, but are subjective choices that serve as the seed around which further thought grows. According to this perspective, ideologies are neither right nor wrong, but only a relativistic intellectual strategy for categorizing the world. The pluses and minuses of ideology range from the vigor and fervor of true believers to ideological infallibility. Excessive need for certitude lurks at fundamentalist levels in politics and religions. The works of George Walford and Harold Walsby, done under the heading of systematic ideology, are attempts to explore the relationships between ideology and social systems. David W. Minar describes six different ways in which the word "ideology" has been used: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. As a collection of certain ideas with certain kinds of content, usually normative;a As the form or internal logical structure that ideas have within a set; By the role in which ideas play in human-social interaction; By the role that ideas play in the structure of an organization; As meaning, whose purpose is persuasion; and As the locus of social interaction, possibly.

For Willard A. Mullins, an ideology is composed of four basic characteristics: 1. 2. 3. 4. it must have power over cognition it must be capable of guiding one's evaluations; it must provide guidance towards action; and, as stated above, must be logically coherent.

Mullins emphasizes that an ideology should be contrasted with the related (but different) issues of utopia and historical myth. The German philosopher Christian Duncker [8] called for a "critical reflection of the ideology concept" (2006). In his work, he strove to bring the concept of ideology into the foreground, as well as the closely connected concerns of epistemology and history. In this work, the term ideology is defined in terms of a system of presentations that explicitly or implicitly claim to absolute truth. Though the word "ideology" is most often found in political discourse, there are many different kinds of ideology: political, social, epistemological, ethical, etc.

Ideology

18

Ideology as an instrument of social reproductionIn the Marxist economic base and superstructure model of society, base denotes the relations of production, and superstructure denotes the dominant ideology (religious, legal, political systems). The economic base of production determines the political superstructure of a society. Ruling class-interests determine the superstructure and the nature of the justifying ideologyactions feasible because the ruling class control the means of production. For example, in a feudal mode of production, religious ideology is the most prominent aspect of the superstructure, while in capitalist formations, ideologies such as liberalism and social democracy dominate. Hence the great importance of the ideology justifying a society; it politically confuses the alienated groups of society via false consciousness, such as in the case of commodity fetishismthe belief that value is inherent to a commodity, rather than external, added to it via labor.

Karl Marx posits that a societys dominant ideology is integral to its superstructure.

The ruling class affect their social reproduction by the dominant ideology's representingto every social-economic classthat the economic interests of the ruling class are the economic interests of the entire society. Some explanations, Gyrgy Lukcs proposes ideology as a projection of the class consciousness of the ruling class. Antonio Gramsci uses cultural hegemony to explain why the working-class have a false ideological conception of what are their best interests. Chronologically, the dominant ideologies in Capitalism are: 1. 2. 3. 4. classical liberalism modern liberalism[9] social democracy neo-liberalism

corresponding to these three capitalist stages of development: 1. extensive stage 2. intensive stage 3. contemporary capitalism (late capitalism) The Marxist formulation of "ideology as an instrument of social reproduction" is conceptually important to the sociology of knowledge, viz. Karl Mannheim, Daniel Bell, and Jrgen Habermas et al. Moreover, Mannheim has developed, and progressed, from the "total" but "special" Marxist conception of ideology to a "general" and "total" ideological conception acknowledging that all ideology (including Marxism) resulted from social life, an idea developed by the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu.

Louis Althusser's Ideological State ApparatusesLouis Althusser proposed a materialistic conception of ideology, which made use of a special type of discourse: the lacunar discourse. A number of propositions, which are never untrue, suggest a number of other propositions, which are. In this way, the essence of the lacunar discourse is what is not told (but is suggested). For example, the statement "All are equal before the law", which is a theoretical groundwork of current legal systems, suggests that all people may be of equal worth or have equal "opportunities". This is not true, for the concept of private property over the means of production results in some people being able to own more (much more) than others, and their property brings power and influence (the rich can afford better lawyers, among other things, and this puts in question the principle of equality before the law).

Ideology Althusser also proffered the concept of the Ideological State Apparatus to explain his theory of ideology. His first thesis was "ideology has no history": while individual ideologies have histories, interleaved with the general class struggle of society, the general form of ideology is external to history. His second thesis, "Ideas are material", explains his materialistic attitude, which he illustrates with the "scandalous advice" of Pascal toward unbelievers: "kneel and pray, and then you will believe". For Althusser, beliefs and ideas are the products of social practices, not the reverse. What is ultimately important for Althusser are not the subjective beliefs held in the "minds" of human individuals, but rather the material institutions, rituals and discourses that produce these beliefs.

19

Feminism as critique of ideologyNaturalizing socially constructed patterns of behavior has always been an important mechanism in the production and reproduction of ideologies. Feminist theorists have paid close attention to these mechanisms. Adrienne Rich e.g. has shown how to understand motherhood as a social institution. However, feminism is not a homogeneous whole, and some corners of feminist thought criticize the critique of social constructionism, by advocating that it disregards too much of human nature and natural tendencies. The debate, they say, is about the normative/naturalistic fallacythe idea that just something "being" natural does not necessarily mean it "ought" to be the case.

Political ideologiesMany political parties base their political action and program on an ideology. In social studies, a Political Ideology is a certain ethical set of ideals, principles, doctrines, myths or symbols of a social movement, institution, class, or large group that explains how society should work, and offers some political and cultural blueprint for a certain social order. A political ideology largely concerns itself with how to allocate power and to what ends it should be used. Some parties follow a certain ideology very closely, while others may take broad inspiration from a group of related ideologies without specifically embracing any one of them. Political ideologies have two dimensions: 1. Goals: how society should work (or be arranged). 2. Methods: the most appropriate ways to achieve the ideal arrangement. An ideology is a collection of ideas. Typically, each ideology contains certain ideas on what it considers to be the best form of government (e.g. democracy, theocracy, etc.), and the best economic system (e.g. capitalism, socialism, etc.). Sometimes the same word is used to identify both an ideology and one of its main ideas. For instance, "socialism" may refer to an economic system, or it may refer to an ideology which supports that economic system. Ideologies also identify themselves by their position on the political spectrum (such as the left, the center or the right), though this is very often controversial. Finally, ideologies can be distinguished from political strategies (e.g. populism) and from single issues that a party may be built around (e.g. legalization of marijuana). Philosopher Michael Oakeshott provides a good definition of ideology as "the formalized abridgment of the supposed sub-stratum of the rational truth contained in the tradition." Studies of the concept of ideology itself (rather than specific ideologies) have been carried out under the name of systematic ideology. Political ideologies are concerned with many different aspects of a society, some of which are: the economy, education, health care, labor law, criminal law, the justice system, the provision of social security and social welfare, trade, the environment, minors, immigration, race, use of the military, patriotism and established religion. There are many proposed methods for the classification of political ideologies. See the political spectrum article for a more in-depth discussion of these different methods (each of whom generates a specific political spectrum). Today, many commentators claim that we are living in a post-ideological age,[10] in which redemptive, all-encompassing ideologies have failed, and this is often associated with Francis Fukuyama's writings on "the end of history.".[11]

Ideology

20

Epistemological ideologiesEven when the challenging of existing beliefs is encouraged, as in science, the dominant paradigm or mindset can prevent certain challenges, theories or experiments from being advanced. There are critics who view science as an ideology in itself, or being an effective ideology, called scientism. Some scientists respond that, while the scientific method is itself an ideology, as it is a collection of ideas, there is nothing particularly wrong or bad about it. Other critics point out that while science itself is not a misleading ideology, there are some fields of study within science that are misleading. Two examples discussed here are in the fields of ecology and economics. A special case of science adopted as ideology is that of ecology, which studies the relationships among living things on Earth. Perceptual psychologist James J. Gibson believed that human perception of ecological relationships was the basis of self-awareness and cognition itself. Linguist George Lakoff has proposed a cognitive science of mathematics wherein even the most fundamental ideas of arithmetic would be seen as consequences or products of human perceptionwhich is itself necessarily evolved within an ecology. Deep ecology and the modern ecology movement (and, to a lesser degree, Green parties) appear to have adopted ecological sciences as a positive ideology. Some accuse ecological economics of likewise turning scientific theory into political economy, although theses in that science can often be tested. The modern practice of green economics fuses both approaches and seems to be part science, part ideology. This is far from the only theory of economics to be raised to ideology statussome notable economically-based ideologies include mercantilism, mixed economy, social Darwinism, communism, laissez-faire economics, and free trade. There are also current theories of safe trade and fair trade which can be seen as ideologies.

Psychological researchPsychological research[12] increasingly suggests that ideologies reflect motivational processes, as opposed to the view that political convictions always reflect independent and unbiased thinking. Research in 2008[12] proposed that ideologies may function as prepackaged units of interpretation that spread because of basic human motives to understand the world, avoid existential threat, and maintain valued interpersonal relationships. The authors conclude that such motives may lead disproportionately to the adoption of system-justifying worldviews. Psychologists have generally found that personality traits, individual difference variables, needs, and ideological beliefs seem to have a common thread.

Ideology and semiotic theoryAccording to the semiotician Bob Hodge, ideology "identifies a unitary object that incorporates complex sets of meanings with the social agents and processes that produced them. No other term captures this object as well as 'ideology'. Foucault's 'episteme' is too narrow and abstract, not social enough. His 'discourse', popular because it covers some of 'ideology's' terrain with less baggage, is too confined to verbal systems. 'Worldview' is too metaphysical, 'propaganda' too loaded. Despite or because of its contradictions, 'ideology' still plays a key role in semiotics oriented to social, political life".[13] Authors such as Michael Freeden have also recently incorporated a semantic analysis to the study of ideologies.

Ideology

21

In everyday societyIn public discussions, certain ideas arise more commonly than others. Often people with diverse backgrounds and interests may find themselves thinking alike in ways startling to those from other backgrounds. Social scientists might explain this phenomenon as evidence of ideologies. Dominant ideologies appear as "neutral", holding to assumptions that are largely unchallenged. Meanwhile, all other ideologies that differ from the dominant ideology are seen as radical, no matter what the content of their actual vision may be. The philosopher Michel Foucault wrote about the concept of apparent ideological neutrality. Ideology is not the same thing as philosophy. Philosophy is an analytic method for assessing ideologies and belief systems. Some attribute to ideology positive characteristics like vigor and fervor, or negative features like excessive certitude and fundamentalist rigor. Organizations that strive for power will try to influence the ideology of a society to become closer to what they want it to be. Political organizations (governments included) and other groups (e.g. lobbyists) try to influence people by broadcasting their opinions. When most people in a society think alike about certain matters, or even forget that there are alternatives to the status quo, we arrive at the concept of hegemony, about which the philosopher Antonio Gramsci wrote. Such a state of affairs has been dramatized many times in literature: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell; Brave New World by Aldous Huxley; and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman have argued that social ideological homogeneity can be achieved by restricting and filtering the political, social, and economic information transmitted by mass communication.

Notes[1] Kennedy, Emmet (1979) "Ideology" from Destutt De Tracy to Marx, Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 40, No. 3 (Jul.Sep., 1979), pp. 353-368 (article consists of 16 pages) http:/ / www. jstor. org/ pss/ 2709242 [2] Hart, David M. (2002) Destutt De Tracy: Annotated Bibliography http:/ / www. econlib. org/ library/ Tracy/ DestuttdeTracyBio. html [3] De Tracy, Destutt (1801) Les lments d'idologie, 3rd ed. (1817), p. 4, cited by: Mannheim, Karl (1929) Ideologie und Utopie, 2nd footnote in the chapter The problem of "false consciousness" [4] Eagleton, Terry (1991) Ideology. An introduction, Verso, pg. 2 [5] Tucker, Robert C (1978). The Marx-Engels Reader, W. W. Norton & Company, pg. 3. [6] Marx, MER, pg. 154 [7] Susan Silbey, "Ideology" (http:/ / www. credoreference. com/ entry/ cupsoc/ ideology) at Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. [8] http:/ / www. ideologieforschung. de/ en [9] Clark, B. (1998). Political economy: A comparative approach. Westport, CT: Preager. [10] Bell, D. The End of Ideology: On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties (2000) (2nd ed.). Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, pg. 393 [11] Fukuyama, F. (1992)The End of History and the Last Man. USA: The Free Press, xi [12] Jost, John T., Ledgerwood, Alison, & Hardin, Curtis D. (2008). Shared reality, system justification, and the relational basis of ideological beliefs. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2,171-186 [13] Bob Hodge, "Ideology" (http:/ / www. semioticon. com/ seo/ I/ ideology. html#), at Semiotics Encyclopedia Online.

Ideology

22

References Christian Duncker (Hg.): Ideologiekritik Aktuell Ideologies Today. Bd. 1. London 2008, (http:// ideologieforschung.de/web/Welcome.html). ISBN 978-1-84790-015-9 Christian Duncker (http://www.philosophieportal.net/Ideologiekritik.htm): Kritische Reflexionen Des Ideologiebegriffes, 2006, ISBN 1-903343-88-7 Minar, David M. (1961) "Ideology and Political Behavior", Midwest Journal of Political Science. Midwest Political Science Association. Mullins, Willard A. (1972) "On the Concept of Ideology in Political Science." The American Political Science Review. American Political Science Association. Pinker, Steven. (2002) "The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature." New York: Penguin Group, Inc. ISBN 0-670-03151-8

Further reading Marx, Karl ([1845-46] 1932) The German Ideology (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/ german-ideology/index.htm) Lukcs, Georg (191923) History and Class Consciousness (http://www.marxists.org/archive/lukacs/works/ history/index.htm) Mannheim, Karl (1936) Ideology and Utopia Routledge Althusser, Louis (1971) 'Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses' Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays Monthly Review Press ISBN 1583670394 Minogue, Kenneth (1985) Alien Powers: The Pure Theory of Ideology, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 0-312-01860-6 Zizek, Slavoj (1989) The Sublime Object of Ideology Verso ISBN 0-86091-97-14 (http://www.amazon.com/ Sublime-Object-Ideology-Phronesis/dp/0860919714) Eagleton, Terry (1991) Ideology. An introduction, Verso, ISBN 0-86091-319-8 Freeden, Michael. 1996. Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0198294146 (http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Politics/PoliticalTheory/ ContemporaryPoliticalThought/?view=usa&ci=9780198294146) Hawkes, David (2003) Ideology (2nd ed.), Routledge, ISBN 0-415-29012-0 Sorce Keller, Marcello. Why is Music so Ideological, Why Do Totalitarian States Take It So Seriously: A Personal View from History, and the Social Sciences, Journal of Musicological Research, XXVI(2007), no. 2-3, pp.91122. Malesevic, Sinisa and Iain Mackenzie (ed). Ideology after Poststructuralism. London: Pluto Press.

External links Ideology Study Guide (http://www.autodidactproject.org/guidideo.html) Louis Althusser's "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses" (http://www.marx2mao.com/Other/LPOE70ii. html#s5) Ideology and Symbolic Power: Between Althusser and Bourdieu (http://dostoevskiansmiles.blogspot.com/ 2009/06/ideology-and-symbolic-power-between.html)

Comparative politics

23

Comparative politicsComparative politics is a subfield of political science, characterized by an empirical approach based on the comparative method. Arend Lijphart argues that comparative politics does not have a substantive focus in itself, but rather a methodological one: it focuses on "the how but does not specify the what of the analysis."[1] In other words, comparative politics is not defined by the object of its study, but rather by the method it applies to study political phenomena. Peter Mair and Richard Rose advance a slightly different definition, arguing that comparative politics is defined by a combination of a substantive focus on the study of countries' political systems and a method of identifying and explaining similarities and differences between these countries using common concepts.[2] [] Rose states that, on his definition: "The focus is explicitly or implicitly upon more than one country, thus following familiar political science usage in excluding within-nation comparison. Methodologically, comparison is distinguished by its use of concepts that are applicable in more than one country."[] When applied to specific fields of study, comparative politics may be referred to by other names, such as for example comparative government (the comparative study of forms of government) or comparative foreign policy (comparing the foreign policies of different States in order to establish general empirical connections between the characteristics of the State and the characteristics of its foreign policy). Sometimes, especially in the Uni