CHAPTER ONE: POLITICAL CONCEPTS

1.1 Politics as the activity by which groups reach binding collective decisions through attempting to reconcile differences among their members. Politics as the pursuit of the interests of the community or of groups within it (pp. 3-5).

1.2 Governments as (a) institutions for making and enforcing collective decisions (‘the authoritative allocation of values’) (b) the top political tier within such institutions (pp. 5-6).

1.3 Governance as the activity, process or quality of governing, a task in which government may not play a leading role, as with regulation of the internet. More broadly, we can speak of ‘international governance’ but not ‘international government’ (pp. 6-7).

1.4 Hobbes’s case for government: it offers security against each other as well from external attack (p. 6).

1.5 Classifying governments as liberal democracies, illiberal democracies or authoritarian states (pp. 7-10).

1.6 Power as the capacity to produce intended effects. Power to: the capacity of a community to shape its own destiny. Power over: the ability of an individual or group to get its way against opposition. Power as a relationship (A affects B) and as a forceful means of realizing such influence (pp. 10-11).

1.7 Authority as the right to rule, existing when subordinates acknowledge the right of superiors to give orders. Exerted through tradition, charisma or a set of rules (pp. 11-13).

1.8 A legitimate system of government as one based on authority; those subject to the state recognize its right to make collective decisions. Legitimacy as the concept of authority applied to the system of government as a whole (pp. 13-14).

1.9 The state as a political community formed by a territorially-defined population which is subject to one government. The capacity of the state to regulate the legitimate use of force within its boundaries (pp. 14-15).

1.10 Sovereignty as the highest form of authority within the state, combining internal sovereignty (law-making power) and external sovereignty (international recognition of the sovereign's jurisdiction) (pp. 14-15).

1.11 The nation as a people inhabiting a defined territory seeking political expression of its shared identity, usually through a claim to statehood. Nations as ancient, primordial entities vs. nations as modern, state-dependent loyalties (pp. 15-19).

1.12 Nationalism as the doctrine that nations are entitled to self-determination (pp. 15-19).

1.13 Nations and states can be linked in a nation-state (a state with its own nation), a multinational state (a state with more than one nation), a stateless nation (a nation without a state) and a diaspora (a nation dispersed beyond its home state) (pp. 13-19).

1.14 Ideology as a system of ideas offering and propagating an explicit account of human nature, the state and society, and the position of the individual (pp. 19-20).

1.15 Left and right as opposed positions on an ideological dimension. The left favours equality, human rights and reform. The right supports tradition, authority and the nation (pp. 20-22)

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