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
1
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
mafia
Governments control the major coercive agents in society
Police forces, prisons, courts, armed forces
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
2
-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.
3
Formally enacted rules limiting the exercise of power
By defining exact amount of power for each role
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
p:262-263 > three views of the nature of government
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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.
Citizenship: political membership placing individuals under the rule of state
nation?
nation-state?
Nation: is a politically conscious and mobilized collectivity of people often with a clear sense of territory
which possesses or may aspire to self government or independent statehood.
Nation-state:
nation-state: a unitary state > with a single system of law and government.
nation-state : modern state which exist to provide a sovereign territory for a particular nation (common
identity/citizens).
Nationalism: It is an ideology sopporting the idea that a nation is the fundamental unit for human social
life, and takes precedence over any other social and political principles.
It accepts nation as the only legitimate basis for the state.
Types of nationalism:
civic nationalism: form of nationalism in which political legitimacy derived from active participation of its
citizenry
Patriotism: love of country (civil loyalty).
Constitutional patriotism (habermas)
ethnic nationalism: defines nation with ethnic references
religious nationalism…
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Cosmopolitanism: one’s primary moral obligations are directed to all human beings (regardless of
geographical or cultural distance)
citizen of the world
The end…
