CLASS 1:FOUNDATIONS OF POLITICAL SCIENCEPS 201: Great Issues of
Politics
Basic Concepts in the Study of Politics1.) Order and Authority
(Should we have a state?)
2.) Justice (What should that state look like?)
3.) Politics (What is it, how do we study it?)
Order and AuthorityShould we have a government? How do we
justify it?
Social Contract Theory:Society as organized as if a contract had
been formed between the citizen and the sovereign power, [which]
grounds the nature of the obligations of each to the other. (Oxford
Dictionary of Philosophy)
Why would we want to enter into social contract?Thomas Hobbes:
state of nature, securityJohn Locke: to protect our rights and
libertyJohn Rawls: to promote fairness and equality
Three means to order: force, influence, and authority
JusticeDefinition: Quality of being just, impartial fair;
establishment or determination of rights according to rules of law
and equity; confirming to principle or ideal of righteousness.
Political justice: What do we owe to each other?Sense of word: you
get what you deserve or are rightly due, impartiality.Obvious
problems: WHAT do you deserve, is it based on need or merit; is
impartiality even possible? For example, freedom vs. equality,
freedom vs. security
Approaches to JusticeIn general, two approaches to justice:1.)
Transcendental Institutionalism theory-driven, how can institutions
of government ensure justice in society?Examples: Hobbes, Locke,
Rousseau, and Kant: logical arguments for ideal states which
achieve their versions of justice.2.) Realization-Focused
Comparison results-driven, look at society as it is (not how we
wish it to be), and work backwards to achieve justice. Examples:
Marx (economic, class-based), Mary Wollstonecraft (feminist
perspective).*Note* not mutually exclusive: Marx uses a great deal
of theory, Hobbes examines the realist state of nature. However,
Marx is looking at societies that already exist and critiquing
their lack of justice, while Hobbes is imagining a theoretically
perfectly just state.
Order and Justice as Practical ConceptsJustice and Order
inexorably tied: a state cannot actualize justice without order
(just a theory); and a state loses order if it is perceived as
unjust.Why? Because legitimacy, defined as an exercise of political
power in a way that is voluntarily accepted by a community, is
crucial to order, and flow from the perception of order.Especially
true in a constitutional democracy/republic, where the people
retain sovereignty (independence) over their government
(authoritarian regimes are the opposite: the government retains
sovereignty over their people.)
Politics: What is it?Chapter One: an essentially contested
concept that means many things to many people:1.) Politics as
deliberation and compromise.2.) Politics as the will to power.
Power is undoubtedly a major part of politics, and the view is of
politics as a perpetual struggle. Both are addressed by the classic
definition of politics by Harold Laswell: who gets what, when, and
how.3.) Politics as a negative concept: goes to legitimacy and how
citizens perceive their government and their role in it.4.)
Politics as a means to a greater end: total equality in society, a
classless society, etc.
Politics: Why study it?Why study politics?Self-improvement
(Aristotle: man is a political animal)Self-knowledge (moral
development of citizens crucial to democracy)Self-interest (better
understanding of dealing with the system and politics crucial to
21st century)Studying it: Two approaches: Departments of Political
Science vs. Departments of Government exampleDifferent theories
that help us view the complex political world. Some examples: elite
theory, pluralist theory, Marxism, realism, etc.
