Poli Sci 2- 1125

Terms	Definitions
Chapter 3	Political Actions
Political participation	is political action by individuals or groups with the objective being to influence the actions or selection of political rulers.
political activists	those who seem to "live politics"; includes: foot soldiers, extremist activists, and political leaders.
Foot soldiers	are the link between government and the masses; those who do the basic work of politics.
Extremist Activists	are those who engage in extensive, unconventional political action in pursuit of their goal.
political leaders	...
political participation studies	1)voting as participation 2)activists who engage in political action, leadership, protest, partisan political work. these "political gladiators" consist of approximately five percent of the general population
Political Interest Groups	is an aggregation of individuals who interact in order to pursue a common interest; they have political objectives and interest in a particular policy or action that might be taken
Political Interest Groups	can transform into a political party when it seeks to place its members in actual roles of government
Political Interest Groups	common goal is to influence public policy; the allocation of public values
Activities of Political Interest Groups	a) Political Action b)provision of material resources c)exchange of information d)cooperation
Activities of Political Interest Groups	Political Action includes: voting, campaign activities, protests, rallies, letters, petitions, political violence
Activities of Political Interest Groups	Provision of Material Resources: are the rules about the methods and amounts of money or goods that can be given legitimately which can be scrutinized.
direct contributions as a Provision of Material Resources	direct contributions can be made to candidates
independent expenditures as a Provision of Material Resources	independent expenditures are the monies spent on behalf of political candidates; -contributions are called "soft money" -PAC's are organizations that raise and distribute campaign contributions -"Bundling" combines numerous Individual contributions. an example is fund raising
Activities of Political Interest Groups	Exchange of Information: provides Data and Information to those within the government. Interest groups may have specialized information.
Activities of Political Interest Groups	Cooperation: where major interest groups can exert influence through their compliance or non-compliance with the government policy process.
Cooperation: Corporatism:	Corporatism : the close cooperation between government agencies and specific interest groups such as major economic organizations like business, labour, and agriculture.
Determinants of interest group influence	1)numbers; there is power in numbers 2)cohesion; solidarity, unity 3)organizational skills 4)leadership; can mobilize concerned individuals to make an impact 5)the nature of the issue and the relevance to the public
Types of political interest groups	four types as per Gabriel Almond: 1)associational 2)institutional 3)non-associational 4)Anomic
Associational	fully organized, formed specifically to represent interests, political or otherwise of their numbers. examples include Trade unions, business federations, professional associations, and PAC's
Institutional	are closely associated with the government that act out to influence policy decisions. examples include military, health, universities
Non-Associational	makes occasional representations to government on behalf of unorganized groups or loosely formed associations. examples include womens rights, civil rights, indigenous groups
Anomic	are spontaneous groups formed by citizens concerned about a specific issue; unorganized, unconventional, often violent.
Political Parties	are organizations which have a central role in the competition for political power in legislative bodies and in governance. An interest group can be transformed into a political party when it seeks to place its members in government.
Activities of Political Parties	a.serve as brokers of ideas b.facilitate political socialization c.links between individuals and the system d.mobilization and recruitment of political activists e.organized sources of opposition f.coordination of government operations
Activities of Political Parties	a. serve as brokers of ideas as to aggregate and simplify demands regarding the policies of government into a few packages of clear policy alternatives.
Activities of Political Parties	b. facilitate political socialization is the socialization of people into the given political culture
Activities of Political Parties	c. links between individuals and the system where most individuals rely on political groups to represent their interests within a political system.
Activities of Political Parties	d. mobilization and recruitment of political activists where political parties offer a well organized and obvious structure within which a person can direct his political interests.
Activities of Political Parties	e. organized sources of opposition where the political system has more than one party, the parties not participating in the governing group can serve as the opposition
Activities of Political Parties	f. coordination of government operations is the coordination of the actions of government.
Chapter 4	Influences on Beliefs and Actions
Influences of Political Behaviour	1.the environment 2.agents of political socialization 3.personal characteristics 4.political personality and human nature
1)the environment	is all the conditions and circumstances affecting peoples lives, that is everything that is external to an individual factors such as political, social,cultural, economic, physical
2)agents of political socialization	is the process in which individuals acquire their orientations towards the political world. a.the family b.schools c.peer groups d.media and culture e.events
2)agents of political socialization	a. the family: the orientations of most individuals are deeply influenced by the behaviours and beliefs they experience in the family environment
2)agents of political socialization	b. schools offer the opportunity for sustained and controlled contact with youth when many political beliefs can be moulded
2)agents of political socialization	c. peer groups is a general term including friends, neighbours, work and social colleagues
2)agents of political socialization	d. media and culture TV, radio, the press, internet are major sources of political information
2)agents of political socialization	e. events such as dramatic or extraordinary events
3)personal characteristics	can be thought of as the "filters" that influence how the environment and the agents of political socialization affect an individuals political behaviour. Visible Characteristics include: age, gender, and ethnicity Less visible characteristics include: education, income, social class, and occupation
4)political personality	are the deeper psychological dynamics inside the individual that affect her response to political stimuli.
human nature	is the innate motivations and invariant drives shared by all people.
Chapter 5	States and Nations
The State	The State is a territorially bound sovereign entity
sovereignty	is the premise that each state has complete authority and is the ultimate source of law within its own boundaries
territorial integrity	holds that a state has a right to resist and reject any aggression, invasion, or intervention within its territorial boundaries.
A structural-functional definition of The State	The State might be defined as the organized institutional machinery for making and carrying out political decisions and for enforcing the laws and rules of the government
Almond's eight requisite functions that must be performed in every state	1. Political Socialization 2. Political Recruitment 3. Political Communication 4. Interest Articulation 5. Interest Aggregation 6. Policymaking 7. Policy Implementation 8. Policy Adjudication
1. Political Socialization	is the process through which individuals acquire their cognitive, affective, and evaluative orientations toward the political world.
2. Political Recruitment	is the process through which people are drawn into roles as political activists.
3. Political Communication	is the mechanisms by which political information flows through society.
4. Interest Articulation	is the low-level communication, by individuals and groups, of what they need or want from the state.
5. Interest Aggregation	is the transformation of all these political needs and wants into a smaller number of coherent alternatives
6. Policymaking	is the process by which the state establishes laws, policy decisions, and value allocations.
7. Policy Implementation	is the actual application of such laws and policy decisions.
8. Policy Adjudication	is the interpretation and resolution of disagreements regarding what the policies mean and how they should be implemented.
Basic goals of the state	a. Security b. Stability c. Prosperity
a. Security	Survival Autonomy Influence Prestige Dominance
b. Stability	-Order Maintenance, ensures social peace -Political Development, makes and enforces effective policies -Democratization, allows free elections as well as civil and political rights
c. Prosperity	Economic Growth Economic Development Welfare Distribution
The Nation	a set of people with a deeply shared fundamental identification
Nationalism	is a powerful commitment to the advancement of the interests and welfare of an individual's own nation.
Nation-State	is an area that has both the territorial boundaries of a single state and a citizenry who all share the same primary national identity.
Multinational States	include significant groups whose fundamental identities are associated with different nations.
The Political System	is the authoritative allocation of values for a society.
Political Values	can be defined in terms of the idealized abstractions that inspire or justify much political action.
Allocation	the process by which decisions and actions are taken to grant values to some and deny values to others.
Authoritative	Value allocations are Authoritative when the decisions are accepted as binding by those people affected by the decisions.
res publica	"things of the people"
Environment of the political system	is the name given to all those activities that are not included within the state's activity domain of res publica.