Lecture 1
Politics and Ideology
What is politics?
Overheid and debating the future of the country. Protesters seeking to change the course of the
country.
Not sure if politics: War (Russia and ukrain)/ solving political conflict by violence/ war could be a sign
politics has failed, court/ law enforcement / don’t have a political agenda/ important role in political
agenda
where do we draw the line of what is and isn’t considered politics
Ancient Greece: politics has to do with the state and how its governed: Aristotle: to be human means
to be political
Harold D. Lasswell: Politics: who gets what when and how
we can think of politics in different dimensions: as a arena or as a process or output
Politics:
- part of human nature to have disagreements resulting in conflict -> core of politics
- people have different values and beliefs and need resulting in different politics and believes how
society should be organised
- scarcity/ anything we need for our lives : food, transpprt etc. -> scarcity leads to conflict in who gets
the recourse -> the scarcer the more conflict
politics is about the resolution of this conflict
defining different rules for society so no open conflict but director into political institutions who
define what is and isn’t allowed and they try to discourage bad behaviour and finding a soliton that
works best for society
the power is improtant to descide about the rules and to implement and enforce them in nesecarry -
> people wont respect the rules if there are no consequences.
politics is also about values -> the widly accepted values and are followed by most people in a society
-> as the values change so will the politics and will become law even for those who don’t share the
values ( gay marriage)
politics involves competition because of different ideas and interests
every political procedss will greate winners and losers.
to overcome conflict we need cooperation and we have to make compromises
distinction between public and private:
Idea of the greek
Public:
is always political, about the state and government
Private:
is not political, civil societies, families
Broad more common understanding:
public:
everything that is in the public interest, all matters that relate to society, work art culture
Private:
personal realm: family and domestic live.
Politics is about conflict but not every conflict is about politics
personal live is private until it concerns society and starts to effect more people
,what we consider political changes over time -> we can apply different aspect of politics -> more
broad saying everything can be political
What is political science?
philosophical tradition -> normative questions : what is a good society? What is the best political
system? You can disagree without being right or wrong. Trying to convince others. About how the
world should look like and not about how the world is
empirical tradition -> descriptive -> learning about the nature and function of the natural world.
Argument onderbouwd met evidence. Let the date decide whether our ideas are right or if we need
to find better ideas
comparative politics vs international relations: 1e -> studies differences and similatities from
different countries -> domestic politics
2e about between countries -> competition diplomacy question about war and how the relations are
organised
local -> regional -> national -> international politics
levels are not completely separate but influence each other
What is political ideology?
most cases: right wing associated with conservative believes and left with more progressive
ideology is the ideas that we have about politics that drive us to certain political actions
each idology offers an account of existing order -> how does the world look like and how does it
function, desired future -> where we want to go -> the ideal, roadmap -> connects the 2 -> outlines
the plan of how to go from present to future to the desired direction
we need ideas to make sence of the world and to see which ideals politics should strive for
The big 3
1. Liberalism -> often linked with the left and center
2. Conservatism -> leave it as it is -> traditional world view
3. Socialism -> are tipicaly on the political left
Labels are used very differently around the world
liberalism:
individualism: always start with the individual citizen, more important that the collective nation, born
in contrast to the monarchy, individuals should have fundamental rights, freedom protected
freedom: each is born equal and should be allowed to enjoy the max possible freedom, state not
intervein to much in our lives
reason: we can do critical thinking, no spiritual religious leader, we can decide for ourselves what is
best for us
tolerancde: we come to different conclusions about what is good for us and society and should
respect each believe
consent: power needs the consent of the citizens in form of a constitution, provide laws that
guarantee that the freedom is protected and that power does not get corrupted and misused, not
one person with too much power
Conservatism:
tradition: desire to conserve, church, traditional family, anti-revolution, seek to cherish the past and
preserve established practices, should not try to make an utopia but keep what is there
human imperfection: we get easily corrupted, we need a strong hand of the state and call for law and
order, less emphasis on freedom and more on order
hierarchy: natural, should respect traditional authority, have compassion with the less fortunate but
don’t strive for aquality, Protection of ownership, independent from covernment
,Socialism:
community: build on the individual, cares about the collective, solidarity with the weaker ones
Resources should not be based on competition but on needs. Everyone should have their need
fulfilled
there are hierarchies and classes but want to overcome them. Are opposed to a capitalist economic
system cause workers are being exploited. Want a socialist economic system of distribution.
Redistribution from the rich to the poor. Pay taxes for the common good.
Beyond ideology
ideology has a bad reputation. Politicians will say they don’t have an ideology
we cannot escape ideology. We all have political ideas, political ideologys can be overcome. There
will only be one main ideology (right now being liberalism and capitalism)
instead of redistribution of wealth through the state more focused on education
Dimensions of the political conflict
how much should the state intervene in the economy from the right but the left wants to redistribute
wealth. Political landscape has transformed. Conflicts have a new dimension cause of globalization
cosmopolitan: everyone is equal
Parochial: seek to restrict the political community
ideologies evolve over time with new conflicts and issues
Populism:
poor vs corrupt elite
politics should be an expression of the general will of the people
there is one general will of the people that is against the elite who don’t represent the will of the
people
often linked with one of the main ideologies for a more right and left wing for more nationalism and
socialism respectively
are against elitism and pluralism -> idea that there are different values and views
, Lecture 2
The state the nation and the nation state
What is a state?
states are social constructions and not physical
states evolve over time and state borders can shift -> new states can arrive because for example
claiming independence
states are the dominant form of political organization -> give the political world order and structure
key features of the state
- sovereign -> no higher power above the state -> rules over the inside and outside of the state ->
may still be dependant in practical matters -> decide about their own fate
- public institutions -> everything that is public is political -> finance themselves via taxes
- legitimation -> rules and decisions are binding and for the common good -> the rightful exercise of
power -> rests on social contract so citizens trust the state
- domination -> claims legal monopoly of violence -> only state can use violence via police or military
to ensure safety for the people
- territorial -> all the laws and power exercise across a specific geographical area
what is a state?
idealist:
- state build on community of people that are friendly to each other and based on elkaar helpen
- can’t draw clear boundaries on what institutions are part of the state
functionalist:
- looks at the role the state has in society
- main function to maintain the social order and to preserve this order
- neo-Marxist thinkers
- which institution is part of the state
organizational:
- the state as an organization or institution
- publicly founded via taxes
- we can properly separate the state from the rest of society
- can be to narrow
international:
- looks into the international relations
- role of states in international system
- state is recognizes as a state by other states
- views as state as a country basically
- dominant perspective
statehood depends on formal recognition from other states or something like the UN
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia -> recognized by many European countries but not by
Serbia -> disagreement if it is its own state
creates problems for international politics -> international law rules against each other -> territorial
integrity -territory of a state should be respected- vs right to self-determination -people should have
the right of self-government-
the peace of Westphalia -> peace agreement that ended the 30 year war in Europe -> created a new
political order -> before were empires and dynasties and after the state has Sovern power and should
be recognized by others -> power of church lost influence
Politics and Ideology
What is politics?
Overheid and debating the future of the country. Protesters seeking to change the course of the
country.
Not sure if politics: War (Russia and ukrain)/ solving political conflict by violence/ war could be a sign
politics has failed, court/ law enforcement / don’t have a political agenda/ important role in political
agenda
where do we draw the line of what is and isn’t considered politics
Ancient Greece: politics has to do with the state and how its governed: Aristotle: to be human means
to be political
Harold D. Lasswell: Politics: who gets what when and how
we can think of politics in different dimensions: as a arena or as a process or output
Politics:
- part of human nature to have disagreements resulting in conflict -> core of politics
- people have different values and beliefs and need resulting in different politics and believes how
society should be organised
- scarcity/ anything we need for our lives : food, transpprt etc. -> scarcity leads to conflict in who gets
the recourse -> the scarcer the more conflict
politics is about the resolution of this conflict
defining different rules for society so no open conflict but director into political institutions who
define what is and isn’t allowed and they try to discourage bad behaviour and finding a soliton that
works best for society
the power is improtant to descide about the rules and to implement and enforce them in nesecarry -
> people wont respect the rules if there are no consequences.
politics is also about values -> the widly accepted values and are followed by most people in a society
-> as the values change so will the politics and will become law even for those who don’t share the
values ( gay marriage)
politics involves competition because of different ideas and interests
every political procedss will greate winners and losers.
to overcome conflict we need cooperation and we have to make compromises
distinction between public and private:
Idea of the greek
Public:
is always political, about the state and government
Private:
is not political, civil societies, families
Broad more common understanding:
public:
everything that is in the public interest, all matters that relate to society, work art culture
Private:
personal realm: family and domestic live.
Politics is about conflict but not every conflict is about politics
personal live is private until it concerns society and starts to effect more people
,what we consider political changes over time -> we can apply different aspect of politics -> more
broad saying everything can be political
What is political science?
philosophical tradition -> normative questions : what is a good society? What is the best political
system? You can disagree without being right or wrong. Trying to convince others. About how the
world should look like and not about how the world is
empirical tradition -> descriptive -> learning about the nature and function of the natural world.
Argument onderbouwd met evidence. Let the date decide whether our ideas are right or if we need
to find better ideas
comparative politics vs international relations: 1e -> studies differences and similatities from
different countries -> domestic politics
2e about between countries -> competition diplomacy question about war and how the relations are
organised
local -> regional -> national -> international politics
levels are not completely separate but influence each other
What is political ideology?
most cases: right wing associated with conservative believes and left with more progressive
ideology is the ideas that we have about politics that drive us to certain political actions
each idology offers an account of existing order -> how does the world look like and how does it
function, desired future -> where we want to go -> the ideal, roadmap -> connects the 2 -> outlines
the plan of how to go from present to future to the desired direction
we need ideas to make sence of the world and to see which ideals politics should strive for
The big 3
1. Liberalism -> often linked with the left and center
2. Conservatism -> leave it as it is -> traditional world view
3. Socialism -> are tipicaly on the political left
Labels are used very differently around the world
liberalism:
individualism: always start with the individual citizen, more important that the collective nation, born
in contrast to the monarchy, individuals should have fundamental rights, freedom protected
freedom: each is born equal and should be allowed to enjoy the max possible freedom, state not
intervein to much in our lives
reason: we can do critical thinking, no spiritual religious leader, we can decide for ourselves what is
best for us
tolerancde: we come to different conclusions about what is good for us and society and should
respect each believe
consent: power needs the consent of the citizens in form of a constitution, provide laws that
guarantee that the freedom is protected and that power does not get corrupted and misused, not
one person with too much power
Conservatism:
tradition: desire to conserve, church, traditional family, anti-revolution, seek to cherish the past and
preserve established practices, should not try to make an utopia but keep what is there
human imperfection: we get easily corrupted, we need a strong hand of the state and call for law and
order, less emphasis on freedom and more on order
hierarchy: natural, should respect traditional authority, have compassion with the less fortunate but
don’t strive for aquality, Protection of ownership, independent from covernment
,Socialism:
community: build on the individual, cares about the collective, solidarity with the weaker ones
Resources should not be based on competition but on needs. Everyone should have their need
fulfilled
there are hierarchies and classes but want to overcome them. Are opposed to a capitalist economic
system cause workers are being exploited. Want a socialist economic system of distribution.
Redistribution from the rich to the poor. Pay taxes for the common good.
Beyond ideology
ideology has a bad reputation. Politicians will say they don’t have an ideology
we cannot escape ideology. We all have political ideas, political ideologys can be overcome. There
will only be one main ideology (right now being liberalism and capitalism)
instead of redistribution of wealth through the state more focused on education
Dimensions of the political conflict
how much should the state intervene in the economy from the right but the left wants to redistribute
wealth. Political landscape has transformed. Conflicts have a new dimension cause of globalization
cosmopolitan: everyone is equal
Parochial: seek to restrict the political community
ideologies evolve over time with new conflicts and issues
Populism:
poor vs corrupt elite
politics should be an expression of the general will of the people
there is one general will of the people that is against the elite who don’t represent the will of the
people
often linked with one of the main ideologies for a more right and left wing for more nationalism and
socialism respectively
are against elitism and pluralism -> idea that there are different values and views
, Lecture 2
The state the nation and the nation state
What is a state?
states are social constructions and not physical
states evolve over time and state borders can shift -> new states can arrive because for example
claiming independence
states are the dominant form of political organization -> give the political world order and structure
key features of the state
- sovereign -> no higher power above the state -> rules over the inside and outside of the state ->
may still be dependant in practical matters -> decide about their own fate
- public institutions -> everything that is public is political -> finance themselves via taxes
- legitimation -> rules and decisions are binding and for the common good -> the rightful exercise of
power -> rests on social contract so citizens trust the state
- domination -> claims legal monopoly of violence -> only state can use violence via police or military
to ensure safety for the people
- territorial -> all the laws and power exercise across a specific geographical area
what is a state?
idealist:
- state build on community of people that are friendly to each other and based on elkaar helpen
- can’t draw clear boundaries on what institutions are part of the state
functionalist:
- looks at the role the state has in society
- main function to maintain the social order and to preserve this order
- neo-Marxist thinkers
- which institution is part of the state
organizational:
- the state as an organization or institution
- publicly founded via taxes
- we can properly separate the state from the rest of society
- can be to narrow
international:
- looks into the international relations
- role of states in international system
- state is recognizes as a state by other states
- views as state as a country basically
- dominant perspective
statehood depends on formal recognition from other states or something like the UN
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia -> recognized by many European countries but not by
Serbia -> disagreement if it is its own state
creates problems for international politics -> international law rules against each other -> territorial
integrity -territory of a state should be respected- vs right to self-determination -people should have
the right of self-government-
the peace of Westphalia -> peace agreement that ended the 30 year war in Europe -> created a new
political order -> before were empires and dynasties and after the state has Sovern power and should
be recognized by others -> power of church lost influence
