Study theme 1:Politics Notes

politics as public affairs

 politics involves the public life and public affairs which is associated with the views of
aristotle.....(state)(collective organistion,public funding)

 the non-political is private (civil society) funded by individuaks and pursuing particular interest
that are of concern to memebers that started it eg. book club

 public *Political*....institutions operating in public, public access, politics,

commerce,work,art,culture

 private *Personal*.....homelife,domestic affairs

positive image of politics

 Aristotle-poliyics as nobel

 Hannah Arendt- politics give meaning to life and affirms individuals

 Jean-Jacques Rousseau-

 John-Stuart Mill-

Negative image of poltics

 liberal view:

i. civil society/private life=realm of choice, vfreedom, respommnsibility

ii. narrowing the scope pf poltics keeps it out of private activities

politics as the compromise and consensus

 politics as trying to find peaceful resolutions

 focuses on how decisions are made and not necessarily where they are made

 politics is seen as means of resolving conflict.....compromise,concilliation and negotiation

 contrasted to naked power and force

 is seen as the realm of possibility

Main proponents

aristocratic- good/stable form of governance for the benefit of society

i. Aristotle
idea of an 'ideal system of governement'
policy-combines aristocratic and democratic features

ii. Bernanard Crick

Advantages

 preferably way to manage and live with differences in society

 civilizing force

 generates respect for politics as activity

 peple should be encourage to participate in politics

Disadvantage

 bias ro democracy......(misconceptions and implies)

 politics seen as frustrating and difficult......it takes too long to make decisions and to makec
people word together

 entails trade pffs which can leave people unsatisfied... and try to pursue POWER

 having to listen to others is frustrating- makes people dislike democracy

Politics as POWER

 politics is everywhere in all social relations

 what makes politics different the from other form of social behaviour?

 power is the ability to achieve desired outcomes, through whatever means

 politics= production, distribution and use of resources.

 struggles in society........scarcity of resources leads to struggle

  politics is the struggle over scarce resources,conducted through power

Feminists

 they argue that the society is patriarchsl

 need to expand the arena of politics

Marxist

 politics = apparatus of state (narrower view)

i. The state is used by one clas to oppress another

ii. the world consists of an economic base and suoerstructure (politics, law, culture)

iii. The siperstructure reflects the base

iv. The economic base in capitalist systems is characterized be exploitation

 politics is rooted in class struggle (broader view)

i. the economic is the political

ii. class struggle in civil society is the heart of politics

critiique: politics as power ( Argument between Feminists and Marxist)


Approaches to the study of politics
1. The philosophical tradition

2. The empirical tradition

3. Behaviouralism

4. Rational-Choice theory

5. New institutionalism

6. Critical Approaches

(Politics as an academic discipline)

1. The philosophical tradition

 Involves the preoccupation with essentially ethical, prescriptive or normative questions,

reflecting a concern with what ‘should’ ‘ought’ or ‘must’ be brought about, rather than
what ‘is’.

 Can be very critical and meticulous, but not objective (deal with ‘should’)

 Great thinkers in history- Plato, JS Mill, Marx, Foucault, Fanon, Oruka etc

Empirical Approach

 More descriptive approach(very early)

 Focuses on ‘What is..’

Behaviouralism

 Reflecting the impact of Positivism

 (1950s-1960s)- it came to dominate political analysis

 Behaviouralism- social theories must be constructed based on

Rational choice theory

  Tries to explain how people make choices

 Draws heavily on economic theories related to the rationally self-interested behaviour

of individuals

 Game theory- used to understand problems of cooperation and conflict and how one
person’s choices impact those of others

New Institutions

 In the empirical tradition there has always been a great focus on institutions

 Institutions refer to established structures, systems, and organization that play a

fundamental roe in shaping and governing aspects of human society.

 New Institutionalism- focus not on institution as physical entities, but rather on

institutions as sets of rules which guide or constrain behavior of people

 Institutions are essential for

Critical Approach

 Critical approaches emerged in the 1980s

 Before the emergence, marxism has constituted the principal alternative to mainstream
political science (using .materialist conception of history)

 These approaches are critical due to the status quo in that they align themselves with
marginalized and oppressed groups

Class Test:20th March

 What is politics? (pages 1-12)

 10 Questions, 10 marks

Semester Test: 5th April

 Short questions, long questions ( shorts paragraphs and long paragraphs)

  Study theme 1

 Study theme 2

Study theme 2: Political ideas and ideologies

What is political ideologies?

 We use ideas and concepts whenever we speak or think about politics.

Freedom,equality, nation,justice etc and we combine these ideas into sytems of related
ideas

 Ideology is a coherent set f ideas which proved a basis fpr organized political action.

The structures of ideology (central features):

The History of the concept

 De Tracy (1790s)……’(science of ideas’

 Marx (1840)….. the ideas of the ruling class, to perpetuate exploitation. Ideology thus
false ‘false consciousness’ constructed with ‘science’