• political science
Politics: is the study of power
Power: “potere” (Latin world)
– “to be able”
-Power is being able physically or
intellectually to achieve what one wants.
• Power----> “the ability to influence the behavior of others” with or without
resistance.
• Michael Foucault “power is everywhere… because it comes from everywhere”
– without resistance power is absent
– Power- knowledge
Politics > power > issues related with society
Politics > “how we will live together?”
Politics involves:
– making common decisions for a group or groups of people and,
– authoritative allocation of resources in society, about who gets what, when
and how.
• Political power officially it is held by the political leader of a state
(President, prime minister, monarch…)
but it is every where!
• Characteristics of power
• 1-Power manifests itself in a relational manner.
– If a particular social actor has power, there must be other party of the
relation.
• Parents-children
• Employer- employee
• Instructor- student
– 2- Power relationships are always reciprocal, but not equally reciprocal
• Parents-children
• Employer- employee
• Instructor- student
– 3- Power can be expressed/exercised in different forms.
– implicit or explicit (apparent/ manifest):
influence…………………………..……………..coercion
• influence………………….…………..coercion
• influence: the ability to persuade/convince others to accept certain objectives or
behave in a certain way.
– Rational arguments
– Emotional appeals
– Political parties /Candidates
– Citizens
• Advertisements > power?
• coercion:
– opposite extreme of influence.
– control by force.
– Compliance is achieved through punishment or threats.
• bully
1
• mafia
• Governments control the major coercive agents in society
V
Police forces, prisons, courts, armed forces
V
governments need to have the widespread respect which comes with authority and
legitimacy
• authority
• authority: socially constructed and accepted right to exercise power
– LEGİTİMATE POWER
legitimacy: a general belief that the state’s power to make and enforce rules are
justified and proper.
-consent of the people
-Habermas > Legitimacy means a political order’s worthiness to be
recognized.
• authority > legitimate power
• Government’s authority > power perceived by citizens as rightful and acceptable
therefore it is obeyed.
• Types of Authority
Max Weber defines 3 sources of authority (legitimate power):
-tradition
-charisma
-law
1-Traditional Authority: Power legitimized through respect for long established patterns.
– custom and history.
– “it has always been so” (collective memory)
• Royal dynasties or modern monarchies.
• Religious authorities (church, sheik)
• Well-established upper-class families (Kennedy, Menderes, İnönü)
– Sources: sharing most of the same values, beliefs, attitudes.
– industrialization (specialization& cultural diversity).
• 2- Charismatic Authority: Power legitimized through extraordinary personal abilities
that inspire devotion and obedience (less related with social organization)
– Vladimir Lenin
– Mahatma Gandhi
– Adolf Hitler
– Martin Luther King
– Fidel Castro
– John Kennedy
• 3- Legal-Rational Authority: Power legitimized by legally enacted rules and
regulations.
– Authority is based on obedience to the “rule of law”
– Rule of law: a constitutional principle holding that those in public authority
derive, maintain and exercise their powers on the basis of specific laws, and
not on the basis of their personal power.
– Formally enacted rules limiting the exercise of power
– By defining exact amount of power for each role
2
– Legal-Rational Authority > complex heterogeneous societies.
• constitutional systems
• Legitimacy should not be confused with legality.
– Habermas: Legitimacy means a political order’s worthiness to be recognized.
– Worthiness… for whom?
• Government: to govern to administer / supervise
– An institution and organization which has power to enact laws and public
programs within an organization or group
– It is the acting (decision-making) arm of the state
– It is the executive body of the state
• Separation of power: 3 departments of the state:
– Legislation (the power to make laws) > assembly
– Execution (the power to implement laws) > government as a group
– Judiciary (the power to judge and apply punishment when laws are broken) >
courts
Government is the executive body of the state
• The most important function of government
– implementing the political control.
– maintaining order, settling disputes, coordinating the activities in societies
protecting citizens
• The State: The abstract embodiment/symbol of the political institution.
• The state is an organized political community occupying a definite territory, having an
organized government, and possessing internal and external sovereignty
• Sovereignty: right to exercise supreme authority over a geographic region.
– Sovereign state is capable of maintaining order within its territorial
boundaries
– p:57-58 > key features of state
– sovereign
– public
– legitimation
– domination
– territorial
• Autocratic states: Autocracy is a form of state where unlimited power is held by a
single individual.
• Authoritarian state
– autocracy > p:270
•
• Totalitarian state: state attempts to control nearly every aspect of personal,
economic, and political life.
• Democratic states: all individuals have the right of political participation
– Democracy: political equality
– it is not the tyranny of majority
• democracy > 267
• Citizen: a person having membership in a political community and carries with it
rights to political participation.
3
• Citizenship: political membership placing individuals under the rule of state
• The role of the state >
• What should states do? > role or responsibilities of the state.
– minimal states
– developmental states
– social-democratic states
– totalitarian states
– religious states (heywood, 67-71)
– p:70
• nation?
• nation-state?
• The end…
