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Lecture notes - World Politics
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Lecture notes with additional material from the readings and the seminars
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PO131: World politics – term 1PROGRAMME
TERM 1:
Week 1: Introduction
Week: 2: Politics, power knowledge
Week 3-4: Mainstream theories
- Realism
- Liberalism
Week 5-10: Reflective and critical theories:
- Marxism
- Constructivism
- Feminism
- Post-colonialism
- Post-structuralism
TERM 2:
Week 11: You and the other
Week 12: Terror and terrorism
Week 13: Migration and borders
Week 14: The state and theory
Week 15: Geopolitics
Week 17: Environment
Week 18: Religion
Week 19: Care
Week 20: Globalisation
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,PO131: World politics – term 1
Lecture 1: Politics, power, knowledge
The plan
1. Politics
2. Power
3. Culture, ideology and knowledge
4.
1. Politics
Etymology of “politics”
From Greek politikos “of, for or relating to citizens”, derived from the word polis
polis: a particular place, a “city state” and a social community: relationship between people in a particular
place.
The establishment of the polis is often regarded to be the single greatest political innovation of the ancient
Competing visions of governance (policies) for the polis:
- Cleisthenes (570BC - ?): father of Athenian democracy
- Plato (428BC - 347BC): most famously in the Republic
- Aristotle (384BC – 322BC): “a man is the best of the animals when perfected, so he is the worst of
all when he is divided away from the law and justice… Human justice can only be found in the polis,
because man is by nature an animal of the polis, and a man who is without a polis by nature is
above or below the category of man” Politics
Man is different from animal because of his or her ability to live together in the polis
Because of the organization, in the polis the good/virtuous life is possible
If man is placed outside the polis he becomes whether an animal (barbarism) or he transcends
the human nature and is above it.
What is global politics?
- Global as worldwide: politics that is conducted at a global rather than a regional or national level
- Global as comprehensive: refers to all elements within a system and not just the system as a whole
- The notion of international relations was first coined by Jeremy Bentham in 1789
The influence of the Peace of Westphalia, 1648:
- Introduces the notion of sovereignty as the distinguish feature of the state
- States become the political units during the 19th century: the conventional approach to world
politics is defined as state-centric and the international system described as a state-system
- Definition of state in IR: Montevideo convention on the rights and duties of states in 1933
Defined territory
Permanent population
Effective government
Capacity to enter in relations with other states
2
,PO131: World politics – term 1
2. Power
‘A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something that he would otherwise not do’.
Robert A. Dhal The concept of Power, 1957
‘In general, we understand by “power” the chance of a man or of a number of men to realize their own will
on a communal action even against the resistance of others who are participating in the same action’. Max
Weber Economy and Society, 1968
Power in world politics
#1 Power by force:
“Fear is the state’s psychological weapon of choice to frighten citizens into sacrificing their basic
freedoms and rule-of-law protections in exchange for the security promised by their all-powerful
government” Philip Zimbardo
- arguably, least democratic yet highly common even in the 21st century
e.g. Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe or Kim Jong-Un in North Korea
- common as it is easy to exercise
- gaining power from fear
e.g. terrorism
#2 power through resources
“Money is power, and in that the government which pays all the public officers of the states will all
political power be substantially concentrated” Andrew Jackson
e.g. the USA and their political system, China and the state-led economic expansion, possession of
nuclear weapons
#3 Power through charisma
“Courage is what takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen”
Winston Churchill
- re-establish social norms through power of charisma
- enchant a nation and strengthen national unity during the darkest of times
What does power do?
- It creates hierarchy, not only internationally but also intranationally
- It can cause tensions if misunderstood
- It provides us with political stability as “the human being is a political animal” Aristotle
#1 Who governs?
Inclusion and exclusion: who do we exclude from the polis (you cannot have an outside without an inside)
#1 In ancient Greek, voting rights granted to only 10 to 20 percent of the total population of the polis (no
right to vote for woman, slaves and strangers even if the laws concerned them): it was men who enjoyed
the authority/ mandate to govern
#2 UK: Do we include the 3.3 million continental Europeans living in Britain in the Brexit vote? The Brexit
vote concern them BUT they are not real citizens?
3
, PO131: World politics – term 1
Voting rights in the UK in 1788 was restricted to a very small number of citizens.
#3 Right to vote for woman: exclusion of the women of the polis even if the laws were concerning them
- New Zealand: 1983
- Australia: 1902
- Finland: 1906
Authority refers to the legitimacy they were granted to govern.
#2 Where does this legitimacy to govern come from? What is the basis of legitimacy?
Types of legitimacy (much blurrier in real life) by Marx Weber (German sociologist)
Traditional: “Legitimacy is claimed for and believed in by virtue of the sanctity of age-old rules”
Eigenwurde “The leader is virtuous; the subordinate is personal and loyal”
e.g. Charlemagne who was granted the right to govern by the Pope in 800
Emperor Kangxi in China: one of the first emperor
In the family: parents have the authority
Lecturer in a classroom
Charismatic: (often) he is considered with special skills: idealisation of people
→ influence of race, gender and class?
e.g. Trump video: what should Trump do to lose your vote? What if Trump was a black female
Legal-rational:
Max Weber “In a modern state the actual ruler is necessarily and unavoidably the bureaucracy, since
power is exercised neither through parliamentary speeches nor mechanical enunciations but through the
routine of administration”
Thomas Hobbes: authority comes from below and inside the world: not only imposed upon society from
above but also needs acceptance from below: it is not the individual that matters but the collectivity.
The Leviathan is all the power that every single man gets gathered: quantitative view of power
Legitimacy and justification
- Legitimacy: conformity to the law or rules: Why the top of a country has power? (Paletta, 2011)
- Justification: channel through which power is projected: Why exercising military power for “killing”
is allowed?
HOW? Propaganda and political manoeuvre to inflate the perception of threats (Welch & Fox, 2012)
BUT is such a legitimacy or justification, always right? NO
Torture “unmakes the world” Elaine Scarry
Ticking bomb scenario: is torture sometimes legitimate even if the Convention Against Torture says that
there are no exceptional circumstances?
e.g. Torture after 9/11: the US tortured some suspects in Iraq particularly in Guantanamo
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