INTRODUC TION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE By Tawiez POLITICS AND THE DISCIPLINE OF POLITICAL SCIENCE – Political science involves the study of the theory of politics, political analysis and political behaviour – It is the study of political relationships thus it is the science of politics or the use of scientific methods to study politics – Overlaps with other disciplines especially public administration-, public policy, law, history and sociology – A person who studies politics is a political scientist and should not be confused with a politician – A political scientist seeks to acquire knowledge of politics through enquiry mainly through systematic inquiry , like any other social science political science seeks to study human behaviour through the use of scientific methods which prompt objections and debate – The discipline of political science is divided into 3 sub disciplines ie political philosophy (normative issues gvt,law), comparative politics (different systems ie constitution, political actors, legislature)and international relations – It is rooted in ancient political philosophers i.e. the work of Greek authors Plato and Aristotle Cont`d – Many scholars regard Aristotle as the first political scientist – He designed Political science as the struggle of the state – Wrote about the nature of politics and defined different political systems and designed a scheme for classifying them – For him political science was synonymous with political investigation WHAT IS POLITICS? – It is the process through which people interact with one another – This interaction maybe in the context of a school, church, business, trade union, political party, civic association etc – It involves the actions of governments and states – Whilst it might be very challenging to give an exact meaning of politics, it is believed that this subject is linked to the phenomena of conflict and co-operation. – By conflict it implies competition between opposing forces, reflecting a diversity of opinions, preferences, needs or interests. On the other hand co-operation entails working together, achieving goals through collective action. Cont`d – It is a social process which involves four major dimensions : 1. two or more people interacting 2. in doing so they take into consideration how others may react 3.sometimes they act together in pursuit of common goals 4.at other times their interests clash and they get into conflict ARISTOTLE’S VIEWS ON POLITICS – Aristotle’s definition as Master’s Science Politics is the process of accommodating diverse interests in a community – In his book titled “Politics” Aristotle defined different forms of authority – He argued that every political association is characterised by the existence of authority or rule – He distinguished between the authority of a political leader in a political association or what he termed “polis” and the other forms of authority such as that of a master over his slave, husband/wife, parent/child – Since the time of Aristotle, political science students have shared the view that a political relationship is characterised by authority power and influence – Aristotle defines it as “Master’s Science.” Distilled from these definition is that politics involves any human interaction that is characterised by the use of power, authority, influence, control, rule, love, mutual beliefs and mutual respect. As Aristotle argues, it is through politics that the totality of social existence is orchestrated. Views of Modern Political Figures Max Weber – He regards a relationship as political “if and in so far as the enforcement of its order is carried out continually within a given territorial area by the threat on the part of administrative staff – Regards territorial aspect as essential to a political relationship but emphasises the importance of authority, rule and political association Harold Lasswell – He defines politics as who gets what, when and how – Defines political science as an empirical discipline – The study of the shaping and sharing of power David Easton – Defines politics as the authoritative allocation of values Robert Dahl – Defines a political system as a persistent pattern of human relationships that involves to a significant extent control, influence, power or authority – He further reiterates that political analysis deals with power, rule and authority Cont`d – Dahl’s definition of politics overlooks the motives of the people eg leaders may possess a desire to rule others, exercise authority to rule over them or engage in struggles for power but people may exercise power on others even of they don’t pursue power – People who seek power may not acquire it – At the highest level of society politicians shape the destiny of mankind as they make rulings that are binding on people – The most basic idea is that politics involves decision making among people in a large group and these decisions involve influence and power – Politics then is the process of making collective decisions in a community, society or group through the application of power and influence The Ubiquity of Politics – Human involvement in politics is inevitable and the same applies to the consequences of politics which is that every polis has a political aspect eg a government being referred to as corrupt, democratic or authoritarian – In addition we speak of politics or politicking as giving in to these political associations – This leads to the observation that politics is ubiquitous – Ubiquity is the state of being everywhere, especially at the same time, omnipresence Cont`d – The term politics refers to a specific category of human activities – These activities take place within an organised grouping of individuals i.e the state as well as its local original sub divisions, state institutions, executive state agencies, political parties, economic enterprises, religious organisations, labour unions, university faculties, youth associations etc. this makes the case of ubiquity of politics – Thomas Mann (1875-1955)- a German scholar, further cements that every intellectual attitude is latently political. At the nerve-centre of politics is to regulate human behaviour in a way to preserve order in a society given that man is naturally selfish. Precisely, politics is the ultimate controller of the entire universe Cont`d – The interaction of people is necessitated by two major desires operating at extreme strands. – These are (i) the need for co-operation (ii) as a result of conflicting interests. It is out of these forces that man indulges in politics voluntarily or non-voluntarily. Thus the use of power, control, influence, authority etc is witnessed in these circumstances as an instrument of regulating human behaviour. – when two or more people interact, it automatically becomes politics. It must be noted that politics is at the highest level of human interaction thereby shaping the destiny of human population – the ubiquity of politics is epitomised through critical appraisal of human interactions in a bid to appreciate the extent to which the key aspects of politics are utilised towards moulding human behaviour to work towards achieving a common goal. In this regard, admitting that decision making is at the apex level of humankind, the ubiquity of politics must not be questioned as long as two or more people are interdependent to each other Cont`d – Human activities are designed to pursue certain objectives and to obtain certain values/ resources – Those engaging in certain activities seek to attain their goals by using tactics calculated to shape policies by maximising their influence and power potential Why Study Politics – The main purpose of studying politics is the construction of general principles about the way the world of politics works – Scholars analyse politics either out of curiosity that is to analyse events in order to know or to enable decision making from the options available – The reasons why scholars study politics are as follows 1. Self interest – The manner in which the government works or fails to and meets or fails to meet citizen’s demands is of considerable individual interest. University students therefore take a keen interest in matters that are of considerable political significance to them eg grant policies, subsidies with public education, court decisions that protect or fail to protect students rights etc Cont’d – The study of politics therefore enables an individual to understand his or her dependants in the political system – Study also exposes the limits of politics and people’s ability to achieve change through politics 2. Self Improvement – The study of politics is meant bring about moral growth that is self improvement of the individual – Politics is about decisions and those who make them thus they should be subjected to critical examination, this accounts for the rigorous nature of the discipline of political science – Students are trained to be sceptical of what they read and hear because people who make political views and those who report are not always objective – The political system is overwhelmed with the flow of information which makes it necessary to distinguish between the real and the ideal Cont`d 3. Self Knowledge – It is essential for the people to know who they are in terms of moral character and conduct and individuals moral disposition is informed by and reflected by the everyday decisions or choices he or she makes – Politics which can be defined as the manner in which human beings govern and are governed can be a decisive factor in the moral development of all citizens. THE SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF POLITICS – Scholars have debated endlessly about how politics would be studied for a long time was considered to fall within the same field as philosophy, history and law – This view shifted in the late 19th century when an attempt was initiated to make the study of politics scientific – There was a shift in emphasis of political laws to political behaviour this shift is known as behavioural evolution (behaviouralism) however of late emphasis of values has been dominant in the study of politics – This has been caused by the realisation that the scientific approach is useful to the study of politics What is Science? – Science has different types and meanings in history, the original meaning of the term science is knowledge or more precisely knowledge gained by study – It is the method of learning based on systematic observation using the scientific method Cont`d – Science can be used to name reality by means of a scientific method, it is a set of procedures for gathering information premised on epistemological assumptions therefore science is premised on understanding the truth – To understand how science reveals the truth we can use the 1971 Zimbardo experiment whereby Professor Zimbardo he wanted to ascertain the truth that authority has influence over actions towards others. University students embarked on the 2 weeks experiment where they were in a prison setup and other were tasked as prisoners and others guards, as the experiment progressed the guards began using their authority for inhumane treatment – At the end science revealed uncomfortable truths about human psychology, truths relevant to both citizens and political leaders struggling to understand the nature of politics – According to Zimbardo science can provide reliable info about the case with which power can be abused by otherwise good people THE FACT-VALUE DICHOTOMY – Our knowledge of this world we live is in two categories that is facts and values – Values can be reduced to emotional responses conditioned by the individual’s total life experiences, values are norms that is what ought to be – Facts refer to a part of reality hence it can be tested by reference to facts and can be used to check its truth, a fact is part of reality ie what is not what ought to be Cont`d – Social scientists talk of fact social value dualism and according to David Easton facts are derived from reality and he regards values as emotional responses caused by life’s experiences – Values portray individual moral interpretation of whether real or false, people combine values in statements to convoy the essence of values – Values are based on morality and the actions of human beings are motivated by self interest but also pursue common good – The importance of acts of good will is valued more qualitative than quantitative because they cant be empirically verified or measured Cont`d – The scientists are concerned with the study of how, what and how things work as they do rather than why they should work like that (ought to or ought not to). It is politics makes sense when is factual (full of proof). e.g 85% of the Zimbabweans are not in favour of the issue of gay rights to be included in the constitution – The fact seeks to answer observable political phenomena in scientific sense. – On the other hand, the Value addresses bigger questions that are difficult to measure but critical to the understanding of politics. Cont`d – The value is about understanding human interaction based on norms, values which are respected by a society as a whole (Varma 1975, Roskin 1991). – only focused on immeasurable political phenomena (values, norms, culture whose understanding is within human cognition (addressing bigger question in politics [why, how] which require commentaries Facts – focuses is on factual data which describe the existential world. it is data supported by evidence. The knowledge can be tested for consistence and truth.eg Zanu PF will win elections resoundingly next year. Evidence must be produced to make this claim authentic.{through surveys etc}. Thus it separates facts from value – it presupposes that human behaviour is predictive, and therefore one can project his behaviour of tomorrow. [Those who voted for MDC in 2008 will still vote for that party in the next elections scheduled for 2018] NORMATIVE THEORY vs EMPIRICAL THEORY – The appropriate method to be used in enquiry is determined by the nature of the subject in question e.g why people vote the way they do, which form of government is the best, how rulers can be made accountable for their actions etc – Science can help us resolve all these problems but the problems depend on the subject nature, the questions asked and the answers fall into two categories that is the normative approach and the empirical approach EMPIRICAL THEORYReal, fact – Its of reality that is the world we touch, taste, feel, hear and smell – Concerned with the behaviour of individuals as they participate in the political process and institutions in society – Seeks to provide an explanation and understanding of political behaviour – Provides us with knowledge and gives us the power to change our environment – However the theory does not provide us with objectives or wisdom, it cant provide answers to questions about objectives nomatter how advanced Cont’d – Involves the allocation, interpretation and explanation of facts about the political world as well as the prediction of political processes – Starts with what we know from experience to what we do not know, it is on this basis that theories are postulated – Scholars continuously verify theories that is they seek to falsify or validate theories in doing so they use different tools and techniques depending on the nature of the subject in question – Acquires information by investigation NORMATIVE THEORYvalues, norms – Oriented to keep people’s hope, thoughts, aspirations dreams and values – Deals with the moral reasons however man’s dreams and aspirations are not the subject matter of normative theory – Instead it examines what hopes, aspirations, dreams and values man ought to have – What ought to be defines normativism – Acquires knowledge by reflection – Concerned with the objectives, governments ought to serve the obligations of the citizens Cont’d – Deals with issues of morality eg is it justifiable to violate the law by crossing a red robot, should a citizen refuse to do national duties – Most objections on moral grounds are based on normative theory eg someone might be objected by a law because it violates the constitution – Some scholars reject normative theory and claim that one cannot accept what that you ought or ought not to have done that – They claim that ought not is a meaningless term Cont`d – Others believe that normative questions are not the proper concern of political science and consider such questions as inappropriate for reasoning – Hypothesis deduction, observation, experiment do not address normative problems – Normative theory in P.S is a branch of ethical theory Cont`d NORMATIVE THEORY – – – – Value-laden- believes in norms, values, aspirations and ethical considerations in a given polity Prescriptive- [ought to and ought not to] conclusions about politic were based on propositions, not exact Qualitative- only focused on immeasurable political phenomena (values, norms, culture whose understanding is within human cognition (addressing bigger question in politics [why, how] Subjective- the study was purely based on one’s line of thinking EMPIRICAL THEORY – Factuality- focuses is on factual data which describe the existential world. it is data supported by evidence – Quantitative- treats only numerical data that is easy to analyse and generalised, seeks to answer the what, which, who questions of politics which are factual in nature. Uses scientific protocols – Objectivity- knowledge about politics should be neutral, free form human bias. The methods followed should be standardised to arrive at an objective conclusion pertaining to reality. – Descriptive -rejects prescriptive statements as serving no purpose at all. Ought to and ought not to is based on proposition hence failing to address the exact meaning of reality – Predictive- it presupposes that human behaviour is predictive, and therefore one can project his behaviour of tomorrow – ) KEYS CONCEPTS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE Power, Influence, Authority, Control – The study of P.S requires that we define politics in terms of political power, influence and authority – Many P.S consider power as underpining the phenomenon of politics What is Power – The ability or capacity to make someone act in your own wish, assuming this is different from his or her initial intention with the use of threat and/or sanction (Shively 1997). – Power is the ability to shape and control the political behaviour of others and to lead and guide their behaviour in the direction desired by the person, group, or institution wielding the political power. – Political power is the capacity to influence, condition, mould, and control human behaviour for the accomplishment of political objectives. – That is to say, political power is the ability of one political actor--e.g., an individual citizen, a family, an interest group, a political action committee, a political party, or the government--to effect a desired change in the behaviour of other political actors, persuading or forcing the latter to act in a manner they would not act in the absence of the former's impact on the situation. Cont’d – Why do leaders need power? To maintain law and order in a society which is a crucial component for a society to run smoothly – How do leaders acquire power? Pol power is derived from military control underlying the leader – Who exercises power? Power is held by a person or group in society – There are many ways to hold such power eg officially political power is held by the state or political leader eg president, PM Cont`d – Power uses coercion, an actor can use coercion to gain compliance – Power relations occur in all political processes irrespective of how democratic they maybe – No ruler can survive without significant support from the masses thus rulers resort to use of power to gain support Cont`d – The exercise of power involves a lot of manoeuvring, it involves the use of persuasion rather than the issuing of orders – For a leader to have power his decision making should support popular demand – Lord Acton in 1887 argued that power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely, great men are almost always bad men Classification of power – Power can be classified into 3 analytical categories that is condign power, compensatory power and conditional power Condign Power – It uses force and is coercive – Exercises the threat of application of sanctions or use of physical or coercive force e.g. when a teacher uses a stick to get a student to pay attention – In more backward societies this kind of power is common – Wins submission by the ability to impose an alternative to the preferences of the individual or group that is unpleasant or painful so that the preferences will be abandoned – Involves the use of threats and punishment Compensatory Power – It is utilitarian or artificial in nature as it involves the allocation of material resources such as goods and services – Characterised by the promise of rewards in order to get people to comply to certain orders – Wins submission by giving something of value – Wealth has been a source of power throughout history – Inequality is a major drive of power in politics, big man small boy syndrome – This is the relationship between the developing countries and the developed world, eg Malawi adopted gay rights and in return was promised foreign aid this is compensatory power which is mostly used by the super powers to influence policies in less developed countries – Involves patronage and patriotism – Can be in the form of land, work eg Norton By elections where people were promised stands Conditional power – Exercised by changing belief – Persuasion, education or the social commitment to what seems natural, proper or right causes the individual to submit to the will of another – It is central to the functioning of the modern economy and polity – Can be in the form of culture, religion the submission is considered to be standard – Causes individuals to submit eg 2013 elections Mugabe went to the apostolic sect to gain submission through changing beliefs Political Authority – Political authority is governmental power, the formal-legal authority of the public officeholders and institutions comprising the government to make and carry out decisions on public policy--to adopt and implement the authoritative decisions that have the force of law and are binding on all members of the society. – Political authority is the legally established power of the government to make rules and issue commands and to compel obedience to them, making use of physical force and coercion when deemed necessary. – Political authority, in short, is the legal right--the legally established power--to govern society. The political authority exercised by a government may be legitimate or illegitimate Legitimate Authority – When an individual or community is said to have authority, the reason that justifies this authority is known as legitimacy ie recognition of right of an individual or group to rule – The most common legitimate procedure in modern world is the holding of free and fair elections – If the political authority exercised by a government is willingly and widely accepted by the population comprising the society the government endeavours to control, that government will not have to rely entirely or almost entirely on naked force to maintain order and obtain compliance with its decisions. – Under these conditions, the authority exercised by the government is legitimate, and the government itself is legitimate. Cont`d – Legitimate political authority, in short, is governmental power based on political legitimacy. – Political legitimacy exists in a political community, or society, when most citizens (1) perceive the government as having the moral as well as legal right to make and enforce decisions binding on the whole community, (2) see the decisions themselves as being legitimate, and (3) consider it the duty of all citizens to voluntarily comply with these decisions, thereby substantially reducing the government's need to employ armed force or expend other resources to compel or induce compliance. Types of Authority by Max Weber – Traditional Authority: This is hereditary form of authority. The use of authority is empowered through genes, biological, family hood e.g. monarchy and traditional chiefs in rural areas. – Rational-Legal Authority: Authority is derived from clearly agreed laid down rules and regulation. e.g leadership based on elections. – Charismatic Authority: the ability to give orders and getting respect and obedience is based on outstanding personal leadership qualities such as weight, height, stature; bravery etc examples include Hitler, Mussolini, Mother Theresa, Margret Thatcher, and Mandela Cont`d – Is it possible to possess power without authority? Yes there are org that have power but not authority eg the mafia which exercises power by sanctions using violence or force, status, education – Although it is possible to exercise power without authority such situations are unsuitable because rulers without authority are obliged to rely on the use of coersion – Is it possible to possess authority without power? Yes in cases where rulers are overthrown by coup de tat Cont`d – When the leaders of a political interest group, a private organization, successfully persuade particular members of Congress to vote a certain way on a pending legislative bill, when the MCs were not inclined to vote that way in the absence of interest-group pressure, the leaders of the interest group are exercising political influence. Political influence – Robert Dahl defines influence as a relationship among actors in which one actor convinces others to not act in a way they otherwise not – It is the ability of private individuals or groups to condition shape or control those who have power and authority – Such individuals ensure that the government takes into consideration their need and demands when making policy BEHAVIOURALISM – Behavioralism is an approach in political science, which emerged in the 1930s in the United States. – - It represents a sharp break from previous political science. This is because it emphasized an objective, quantified approach to explain and predict political behavior. – - It is associated with the rise of the behavioral sciences, modeled after the natural sciences. This means that behavioralism claims it can explain political behavior from an unbiased, neutral point of view. – -Behavioralism seeks to examine the behavior, actions, and acts of individuals – rather than the characteristics of institutions such as legislatures, executives, and judiciaries – and groups in different social settings and explain this behavior as it relates to the political system. – -in the 1920s and 1930s, emphasis was put on the importance of examining political behavior of individuals and groups rather than only considering how they abide by legal or formal rules. Cont`d – Prior to the "behavioralist revolution", political science being a science at all was disputed. Critics saw the study of politics as being primarily qualitative and normative, and claimed that it lacked a scientific method necessary to be deemed a science. – Behavioralists used strict methodology and empirical research to validate their study as a social science. – The behavioralist approach was innovative because it changed the attitude of the purpose of inquiry. – It moved toward research that was supported by verifiable facts. During its rise in popularity in the 1960s and 70s, behavioralism challenged the realist and liberal approaches, which the behavioralists called "traditionalism", and other studies of political behavior that was not based on fact. – Traditionalists tried to understand politics by examining laws, governmental offices, constitutions, and other official institutions associated with politics; they tried to describe how institutions operated by formal rules and publicly sanctioned procedures. Cont`d – Traditionalists often tended to focus on what was going on inside government as opposed to looking at social and economic processes in the country. – Traditionalist approaches were often both historical and normative: historical in outlining the processes by which the formal rules of politics were modified over time through court decisions, laws, executive orders, and the like, and normative in the sense of hoping to provide information for improving these rules. – Although traditionalist approaches are still present in political science research, additional approaches have supplemented traditionalism. Cont`d – To understand political behavior, behavioralism uses the following methods: sampling, interviewing, scoring and scaling and statistical analysis. – Behavioralism studies how individuals behave in group positions realistically rather than how they should behave. Cont`d – The term behaviouralism describes a wide variety of people and it refers to different assumptions, methods and techniques that are associated with political behaviour – it seeks to examine the behaviour, actions and acts of individuals rather than the characteristics of institutions such as legislature, executive and judiciary Cont`d – The salient characteristics of the political behaviour movement where: – It rejected institutions as a basic unit of analysis – It emphasised unit of the social sciences and applied behavioural sciences to describe this unit – Advocated for greater procession in the observation, statistical classification and measurement of data – Urged the use of quantitative techniques and statistics – Dismissed the normative approach as being irrelevant to PS Cont`d – Defined the objective of PS as the construction of a systematic empirical theory – Preoccupied with the systematic observation of the actual behaviour of man in the political system – This approach had been used by previous political thinkers such as St Augustine, Hobbes, Rosseau to study human actions what was new was the application of statistical methods to sample large populations Major tenets of Behaviouralism – Studies human behaviour scientifically – Deals with observation in human behaviour – Focuses on actions and consequences of those actions rather than studying the whole process – Deals with causes and effects – Dismiss normative approach and use empirical approach – Uses sampling, interviewing, scaling and statistical analysis – Came as a reaction to the traditional approach of enquiry – Value free, pure science – Behaviourism presupposes the actions of an individual occur as responses to stimuli. – Thus behaviourism is a movement in political science which insists on analysing the observable behaviour of political actors. – Behind this movement was a great emphasis on – Focus of study (human behaviour – placing man at the root of politics and hence to be studied/ observed directly as he/she behaves- hence behavioralism. – Methodology- scientific methods are more sophisticated to provide precise data. – The eight key intellectual foundation stones of behaviourism by Easton – Regularities and uniformities – Quantification – Fact-value dichotomy – Techniques – Commitment to Verification in political enquiry – High sense of Professionalism in the study of politics – Systemization of the political enquiry – Greater precision in the measurement, analysis and generalisation of data in political science. – The key blocks of behaviourism explained – David Easton defined/identified eight “intellectual foundation stones” of behaviourism – REGULARITIES and UNIFORMITIES (the generalisations and explanation of regularities) – The behaviourists believe that there are certain discernible uniformities in political behaviour which can be expressed in generalisations or theories which are capable of explaining and predicting political behaviour – Commitment to VERIFICATION (The ability to verify theories – Behaviourists believe that for knowledge to be valid, it should consists of propositions that have been subjected to empirical tests and that all evidence must be based on observation. This is hypothesis testing Cont`d – QUANTIFICATION- (Express results in numbers where possible or meaningful) – Emphasis is on measurement and quantification. FACTUALITY (Fact- Value Dichotomy) keeping ethical assessment and empirical explanations distinct – This relates to a controversy over value -neutrality between the traditionalists and the behaviouralists. According to the behaviourists values and facts are two separate things and should be kept analytically distinct. They must be studied separately or even in combination but should not be mixed with the other.. For scientific inquiry to be objective it should be value free. The researcher must keep his values aloof from his study. – Systemization of the political inquiry close relationship between theory and research – TECHNIQUES. Means for acquiring and interpreting data – High level/ sense of professionalism in the study of politics - firmly founded on the strong conviction among traditional scholars that political science could and should be a scholarly enterprise characterised by skills, commitment, methods and findings that are falsifiable – Greater precision in the observation, classification and measurement of quantifiable data. Criticism – According to Easton- Behaviourism sought to be analytical not substantive, general not particular, explanatory not ethical. – It seeks to evaluate political behaviour without ethical evaluations, their insistence on distinguishing between facts and values has made the discipline shallow and limited in scope. – -The approach has come under fire for the purported value neutrality (the distinction between values and facts which was viewed as a way of undermining the possibility of political philosophy. Precisely the approach dismisses the task of ethical recommendation since it believes in truth or falsity of values (equality, democracy and freedom etc.) cannot be established scientifically and are beyond the scope of the legitimate enquiry Cont`d – Christian Bay believed behaviourism was a pseudo political science and that it did not represent “genuine” political science. Bay objected to empirical consideration taking precedence over normative and moral examination of politics – -Moreover radical critics point out that the separation of fact from value makes the empirical study of politics impossible thereby making the discipline of political science narrow in scope. It is widely rejected by social scientists who note that it oversimplifies human behaviour and takes no account of the mental processes involved in the perception of and response to a stimulus. – -It neglects all the aspects of human behaviour which cannot be easily observed POST BEHAVIOURALISM – It is a critic of behaviouralism – During the 1960s there was considerable dissatisfaction with research teaching that turned politics into a vigorously scientific discipline – Postbehavioralism is an alternative to both traditionalism and behavioralism. In – 1969, David Easton announced that a postbehavioral orientation had arrived in political science. – What had inspired it? Easton was very explicit in his answer: Postbehavioralism emerged as a reaction against the empirical orientation of behavioralism by political scientists who found such an orientation excessive and irresponsible. – Empiricism, if taken to the extremes of denying the importance of values and ethics and encouraging a narrowing of research questions to only those matters selfevidently observable, could undermine political science. Cont`d – In such cases, postbehavioralists warned, political science would produce data that were scientifi cally reliable (empirically observed) but irrelevant. – Moreover, postbehavioralists asserted that behavioralism is not truly value free because it implicitly affi rms that understanding comes from observation, not ethical assessments. – behavioralism values the observable and devalues the unobservable. Thus, if the postbehavioralists are correct, behavioralism is as normative as traditionalism Cont`d – Post behavioralists argue that political science should be relevant as well as empirically reliable, and that the information produced by political science has ethical implications. – Easton tried to remind political scientists that political phenomena were often matters of life and death—matters pertaining to war, population growth, environmental degradation, and racial and ethnic conflict. – Political scientists have a responsibility to acknowledge that what they choose to investigate through the empirical methods of political science and what they discover by means of these methods affect the lives of women and men. COMPARATIVE POLITICS – It is the study of how governments, political groups, political figures and citizenship vary across countries or time periods – Refers to the study of a broad range of political activities including governments, their institutions and other groups that are not directly related to national governments eg ethnic groups, communities, associations – It studies political systems and institutions by comparing them with others Cont`d – It seeks to identify similarities and differences between different countries, learn about trends and processes of political systems and create a hypothesis to explain these – There are many different approaches to comparative politics and four are most commonly used and these are: political systems, structure, function and structural functional – In other words comparative politics is the study of the domestic politics, political institutions, and conflicts of countries. – It often involves comparisons among countries and through time within single countries, emphasizing key patterns of similarity and difference – 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). – i.e. to establish relationships among two or more empirical variables or concepts while all other variables are held constant. Cont`d – The term comparative approach is a term to denote the process of comparing political system in terms of their similarities and dissimilarities between two or more formal and informal institutions. – The primary aim of comparative politics is to solve pressing societal problems such as corruption, over population, rapid urbanisation, starvation and natural disasters. – The political systems compared may include electoral process, bureaucratic system, presidential and parliamentary systems and judiciary systems. Some major works in comparative politics 1. Nature of Regime Aristotelian Rule classification: Number of RulersSocial Group in the General Interest Rule in Self Interest Number of Rulers One Monarchy Tyranny King Few Aristocracy Oligarchy Wealthy/Nobles Many Democracy (polity) Ochlocracy (Mob rule) The Poor (All) More Contemporary Classification: Democracy/Authoritarian/Totalitarian – Democracies: Public has a role in decision-making. Rights and freedoms are protected. [This is our first, basic definition. We will expand later.] – Authoritarian: Public's right to participate in government limited. Rights and freedoms likewise limited. – Another term: Totalitarian: State pervades all aspects of society. Often a transformational ideology asserted by the regime and force used (Communists/Nazis). No opposition allowed 2. Political Culture – According to scholar Michael Curtis: "Community-held beliefs, feelings, and values that influence political behavior" transmitted through socialization (family, media, literature). – US v. Singapore political culture (groups/individuals, elites/hierarchy and equality, democracy/paternalism, desire for participation/desire to be cared for) 3. Development: POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT: – Modern: Complex governmental structure, legitimacy of the system based on a secular and rational view of the right to govern, widening of political participation, government able to manage tensions, implement policy, stable system. – Charismatic: Often seen as countries transition from more traditional to modern arrangements. Charisma mobilizes, enthuses. But, rarely can a charismatic regime outlast founder. – Traditional: Clan, elders, lineage, tribal chiefs 4. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: – Developed: high incomes and education levels, high literacy, long life spans, industrialized, importance of services in the economy/decline of agriculture. – Developing (Less Developed/Third World): lower incomes, lower literacy levels, importance of agriculture in the economy. – Special case of the Oil-rich: High incomes and perhaps good health indicators, but many indicators like developing countries (low levels of literacy, particularly for women). 5. Economic System (varies by state role and relative importance of equality). – Capitalism: Means of production privately owned and operated for profit, not state owned. Varying adherence to equality among predominantly capitalist nations. We'll study France, different from US in this regard, more state ownership, regulation. – Socialism: Large shares of collective or state ownership, relatively equal economic outcomes. – Prevalence of mixed economies (predominantly capitalist but with a large state role): France, China today. – US system capitalist but not as free-market as we believe. Significant share of the economy directed by state (in the 20s%) especially after government take-overs of banks, other industries with contemporary financial crisis (likely to rise to more than 25%). European economies typically 40-50%. – Why study comparative politics – studying Comparative Politics will help a person overcome ethnocentrism. All peoples and countries are ethnocentric, but Americans seem to be particularly afflicted. – it enables us to understand how nations change and the patterns that exist. – it is intellectually stimulating. Consider these questions: Why do some countries modernize and others not? Why are some countries democratic and others not? – Comparative Politics has a rigorous and effective methodology. The comparative method is sophisticated tool of analysis and one that is always open to new approaches. Questions that CP seeks to answer – Why are some countries poor and others wealthier? – What enables some countries to "make it" in the modern world while others remain locked in poverty? – Why are the poorer countries more inclined to be governed autocratically while the richer countries are democratic? – What accounts for the regional, cultural, and geographic differences that exist? – What are the politics of the transition from underdevelopment to development and what helps stimulate and sustain that process? – What are the internal social and political conditions as well as the international situations of these various countries that explain the similarities as well as the differences? – What are the patterns that help account for the emergence of democratic THE SYSTEMS THOERY – Society is often viewed as the most inclusive act within which systems may be ovulated – Systems are abstracts of the real society any phenomenon of society may be viewed as a system or a sub system – Scholars abstract from society some elements that seem to cohere more than others and view them as main elements of a system – Elements that are insulated from a change and exist as constant rather than variables are termed parameters – Variables of any system include structures, sanctions, actors, values, norms, goals, inputs outputs, responses and feedback – The obsession with the systems theory among social scientists has arisen from their need to predict events correctly and to be able to change things for the better – A system is a set of elements standing in interaction, a set of objects together with relationships between objects and between their attributes, a whole which is composed of many parts and ensemble of attributes – All 3 definitions embody the idea of a group of objects or elements standing in some characteristic of structural relationship with one another and interacting on the basis of certain characteristics processes – Systems are integrated circuits which means they cohere with their consistent parts using their individuality – Systems theory is applied on two paradigms, the 1st is termed the systems model or the input output analysis which was developed by David Easton, the 2nd paradigm analyses the functions of a system and is refered to as the structural functional approach – Thus in explaining sources of political order in a society, Easton acknowledges the mutual exclusivity of sub-parts of a political system which are mutually reinforcing for an orderly society. Political system and subsystem – A system applies to a collection of a set of elements that interact with one another eg a political party, pressure group – Like any other system a political system possesses 4 important attributes 1. A system is perceived in abstract terms ie for the purpose of analysis while its elements are concrete 2. A system possesses specific boundaries in order to differentiate what lies inside it from what lies outside 3. A system can be an element or a subsystem of analysis 4. It can be a subsystem of 2 or more different systems that are interrelated eg SADC is a system on its own but it’s a subsystem of the UN or AU. – According to David Easton, a systems analysis of political life, citizens demands of inputs are delt with by government decision makers who process them into decision outputs – The outputs make an impact on social, political or economic which citizens may like or dislike – Citizens react by making them in the form of feedback which may result in the government modifying its decisions. – In simple terms, Easton's behavioral approach to politics, proposed that a political system could be seen as a delimited (i.e. all political systems have precise boundaries) and fluid (changing) system of steps in decision making. Greatly simplifying his model: – Step 1. changes in the social or physical environment surrounding a political system produce "demands" and "supports" for action or the status quo directed as "inputs" towards the political system, through political behavior. – Step 2, these demands and supporting groups stimulate competition in a political system, leading to decisions or "outputs" directed at some aspect of the surrounding social or physical environment. – Step 3, after a decision or output is made (e.g., a specific policy), it interacts with its environment, and if it produces change in the environment, there are "outcomes." – Step 4, when a new policy interacts with its environment, outcomes may generate new demands or supports and groups in support or against the policy ("feedback") or a new policy on some related matter. – Step 5, feedback leads back to Step 1, it's a never ending story – The political system operates within an environment. – The environment generates demands from different sections of the society such as demand for reservation in the matter of employment for certain groups, demand for better working conditions or minimum wages, demand for better transportation facilities, demand for better health facilities, etc.. – Different demands have different levels of support. – Both ‘demands’ and ‘supports’ constitute what Easton calls ‘inputs.’ The political system receives theses inputs from the environment. – After taking various factors into consideration, the government decides to take action on some of theses demands while others are not acted upon. – Through the conversion process, the inputs are converted into ‘outputs’ by the decision makers in the form of policies, decisions, rules, regulations and laws. – The ‘outputs’ flow back into the environment through a ‘feedback’ mechanism, giving rise to fresh ‘demands.’ Accordingly, it is a cyclical process. Critique of the systems model – Its exaggerated/ oversimplified. In practice the society is not consulted. If consulted usually that is for formality, the opinion of the civil society does not matter – Black box / Political system full of corruption, politics of patronage – it is not transparent it’s a closed area – Supports and demands are filtered, the inputs backed by political ambitions for their survival. Demands that re deemed inappropriate are disqualified – Specialisation- Break down/ malfunctioning of one system will affect the whole process – It is also skeletal to explain the practicality of politics (does not really espouse how the system operates in terms of structures of that particular society) STRUCTURALFUNCTIONALISM – The structural functional model was developed by Gabriel Almond – Almond expanded from Easton’s analysis of political system model by looking at the functions that can be included among inputs and outputs among political systems – Easton viewed all political systems as similar and subject to the same laws of stimulus response – Easton paid little attention to the perculiar characteristics of different political systems – According to Almond and Powell in order for one to understand political systems, one should understand both its institutions ie structures and respective functions – The structural functional model is based on the view that a political system consists of several key components of which political parties, interest groups and branches of government are the most important – Political systems consists of units or structures that have certain functions in essence the model is concerned with the structures that constitute a political system ie interest groups, political parties, executive legislature and judiciary – Political systems are compared on the basis of functions that are performed by the units – One of the functions of all political systems is interest aggregation that is the way demands are combined in the form of alternative forms and actions – Almond claimed that certain political functions existed in all political systems. On the input side he listed these functions as: political socialization, political interest articulation, political interest aggregation, and political communication. Listed as outputs were rule-making, rule implementation, and rule adjudication. – Other basic functions of all political systems included the conversion process, basic pattern maintenance, and various capabilities (distributive, symbolic, etc.). – Structural functionalists argued that all political systems, including Third World systems, could most fruitfully be studied and compared on the basis of how differing structures performed these functions in the various political systems. – For analytical purposes the political system is considered to be the nation-state, and the environment is composed of the interactions of economic, social, and political variables and events, both domestic and external. – The idea is that there are a number of actors in the national political system (political parties, bureaucracies, the military, etc.) and that the actions of all these actors affect each other as well as the system. – The political analyst must determine the importance of these actors in a particular political system. This is done by analyzing the functions performed by the various actors. Any changes in the system also affect all the actors. The feedback mechanisms allow for constantly changing inputs, as actors react to outputs The Seven (7) Functions Political Systems Need to Perform Function Definition political recruitment and socialization getting people to fulfill all the political roles associated with the political system from voters to leaders; forming positive attitudes, values, beliefs and opinions which maintain or sustain the political media system political communication transmitting citizens interest articulation expressing/making demands upon the political system parties/ pressure groups interest aggregation selecting demands and combining them into a manageable number of alternatives bureaucracy rule-making taking demands and converting them into the Legislature authoritative decisions of the political system politically-relevant information to families/schools/ parties/ parties/ interest groups/ media rule administering or putting the decisions into effect; Executive policy implementation rule making authoritative decisions about whether or not a Judiciary rule has been transgressed in given cases application adjudication actors involved parties/ Criticism – Structural functionalists, like systems analysts, have a bias toward systemic equilibrium, (ie toward stability). – Such a bias tends to make this approach conservative, as stability, or evolutionary change, is preferred [and more easily analyzed], to radical, or revolutionary change. – A problem which arises with this system-based model is that the nation-state's boundaries are often permeable in the real world, rather than being the neatly bounded nation-state conceptualized by structural functionalists. – In other words, in the real world it is usually difficult to state exactly what the boundaries are, leading to some conceptual difficulties POLITICAL CULTURE – According to Joseph Ranney the term political culture means a broadly shared set of ways of thinking about politics and government, a pattern of orientation and political objects – It refers to beliefs, values, feelings, information and skill shared by members – PC is reflected on national ideology, attitudes towards political leader, duties of citizens, nature of political activity and what is termed political and what is not – It defines the relationship between citizens of the country with their government therefore it derives from the institution of the state and evolves around the world of politics – Every political system has its own unique political culture – Political culture signalled a departure from the study of formal institutions to the study of informal behaviour of individual TYPES OF PC – In the early 1960s, two Americans, Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba, outlined three pure types of political culture in Great Britain that can combine to create civic culture. – These three key features expressed by both men were composed to establish a link between the public and the government. The first of these features is "deference", which considers the concepts of respect, acknowledgment of "inferiority" or "superiority", and authority in society. – The second key feature is "consensus", which represents the key link between government and public agreement and appeasement. Support for appeasement may not always be shared by the whole nation, but as a whole people agree to sustain it, meaning it is a common agreement – According to political scientist William S. Stewart, all political behavior can be explained as participating in one or more of eight political cultures: anarchism, oligarchy, Tory corporatism, fascism, classical liberalism, radical liberalism, democratic socialism, and Leninist socialism – Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba in The Civic Culture outlined three pure types of political culture based on level and type of political participation and the nature of people's attitudes toward politics: 1. Parochial- Where citizens are only remotely aware of the presence of central government, and live their lives near enough regardless of the decisions taken by the state, distant and unaware of political phenomena. – They have neither knowledge nor interest in politics. This type of political culture is in general congruent with a traditional political structure. – This type of PC has 2 features a) lack of specialised political roles usually occurs when the leader of a group plays religious, economic, legal, political and administrative roles hence there is no difference between socio or eco or religious system on the one hand and legal and political systems on the other – b) where there is little expectations among members, parochial citizens expect not anything from the political system 2. Subject PC- Where citizens are aware of central government, and are heavily subjected to its decisions with little scope for dissent. – The individual is aware of politics, its actors and institutions. It is affectively oriented towards politics, yet he is on the "downward flow" side of the politics. – In general congruent with a centralized authoritarian structure. – Passive orientation towards politics – A citizen may not make any input into the government decision making politics altho he might be aware of government output – Such a citizen may not participate in politics because he feels he might not make any impact in doing so 3. Participant PC- Citizens are able to influence the government in various ways and they are affected by it. – The individual is oriented toward the system as a whole, to both the political and administrative structures and processes (to both the input and output aspects). – In general congruent with a democratic political structure – This culture is demonstrated through political activism whether in support of or against the government – Almond and Verba wrote that these types of political culture can combine to create the civic culture, which mixes the best elements of each – Arend Lijphart wrote that there are different classifications of political culture: – First classification: – Mass political culture – Elite political culture – Second classification (of elite political culture): – coalitional – contradictive – Lijphart also classified the structure of society: – homogeneous – heterogeneous POLITICAL SOCIALISATION – Ranney defines PS as the developmental process by which people acquire the political orientations and patterns of behaviour – It’s a way in which society transmits its political culture from one generation to the next through the process of teaching or learning about all aspects of the political system hence changes in the process of PS results in changes in political culture and vice versa – Every society teaches its members how to interact with each other and how to survive, through PS people absorbs values, attitudes, beliefs, info and judgements regarding politics, in other words they absorb the society PC – A child brought up in a certain community develops into an adult who appreciates certain values of a community – From an early age a child is taught to manifest his or her national loyalty by identifying political symbols such as national pledge, labels of pol parties; ideologies etc – The political behaviour of an individual that is his beliefs and attitudes depends largely on his early childhood experience – Political socialization is the process by which political culture is transmitted in a given society. – Political socialization is a life long process and a variety of individuals and institutions contribute to its shaping effect. – For example, individuals are politically socialized by such groups as their family, peers, and social class. Furthermore, they are socialized by existing laws, media, religion, education, their own gender, and more. Basically, the process is never ending and the factors which shape it are all encompassing. – Those groups and institutions which contribute to the process of political socialization are known as the agents of socialization. – The primary agents of socialization are those that directly develop specific political orientations such as the family. Whereas, the secondary agents of socialization tend to be less personal and involved in the process of socialization in a more indirect manner such as the media. Forms of PS – Two major forms that is direct and indirect socialisation Direct/ manifest – Takes place when a person is explicitly taught about politics – It is known as deliberate indoctrination, it maybe through political history – Involves teachings of political institutions, political behaviour expected of citizens, respect for political leaders and the proper methods of political participation – Lessons are either taught through example, formal education, private study, direct political experience Indirect/ Latent PS – Applies to the communication of non political attitudes towards corresponding roles and objects in the political system – Non political lessons and experiences can have political effects – Includes statements by public officials in support of their policies, criticism of political opponents, newspapers, television programs, political events, rituals and celebrations, discussions with friends and family members – This indirect PS is not acquired through deliberate design/ conscious purpose Elements of PS 1. Political Identity – The 3 basic aspects of a political individual are a) Political attachments, children form an attachment with the symbols of a pol system from an early age eg flag, national anthem and past and present pol heroes – Many children idealise the pol system in which they are brought up in, this childhood attachment is a necessary precondition for loyalty to the pol system as children become adults – Whether a child identifies himself as shona, ndebele rather than a zimbabwean is of concern to political leaders because it shapes his or her PC – People find it hard to surrender their birthright ie identity acquired during childhood b) Political attitudes and beliefs – People may react differently to political policies, programs, personalities and events – Basic political attitudes and values tend to be formed early in childhood and tend to be relatively consistent throughout life. – Thus, the family is a very important agent of political socialization. However, the degree to which these basic political orientations are retained by the individual varies as a result of the discontinuities one experiences in their political socialization Agents of Socialisation 1. Media – Television, radio, newspapers, books, magazines, films, the internet are methods of mass communication that play a pivotal socialisation role – Pol info forms a basis of circulations in the political system – Pol communication can also reinforce or undermine forms of socialisation – Media is crucial towards dissemination of information in complex heterogeneous and technologically advanced communities – The media impacts upon political socialisation in three ways; – Politicians must present a favourable media image, otherwise they will fail to win votes. – The media can often determine an agenda that politicians tend to follow. – Newspapers can reinforce their readers to vote for a particular party. However, it is debateable as to how much impact the press really has upon voting behaviour. 3. Education – All forms of education whether it is working in schools or learning in a classroom involves PS – Schooling develops the individual politically in 2 important respects (i) by providing experience that shapes the political influence of students (ii) a persons level of education largely determines his interest in politics – At school a student undergoes various forms of direct or indirect forms of socialisation – A student develops attitudes of submission or participation as a result of influence given to him by the teacher or school authorities – Schools are vital agencies of government control of students attitudes, values and beliefs 3. Peer Groups – Children play or operate as street gangs in associations formed on the basis of direct or indirect PS – Members in a group develop skills in human interaction and in group decision making which are vital for the transmition of political info – Usually info from mass media acquired by certain individuals who pass it to their peers through a network of friends – Value of such association depends on the way it is interpreted by members of the group – In modern industrialised societies street gangs reject parental values and further undermine the formal socialisation process – In such societies adolescents associate more with their peers than members of their own families – Young people thus develop values of their own and these are often different from those of their parents