Politics Etymology: Polis (City/State)

Politics is the study of the City

Plato and Aristotle

Viewed politics in terms of moral purposes that decision makers ought to
pursue
Plato: What is justice?
Aristotle: What us the highest good?
o Father of Political Science

Many political scientists agree that

The core of politics is about the nature of the good life
Politics is the art if living and working together

Oxford dictionary:
Politics is the science dealing with the form, Organization and
administration of a state, or part of one, and with the regulation of its
relations with other states.

Easton (1953):
Political acts are those that authoritatively allocate values in a society

Dahl (1989):
Politics is any persistent pattern of human relationship that involves, to a
significant extent, power, rule or authority.

The concept of authority is related to the concept of legitimacy

Laswell (1935):
Politics is about who gets what, when, and how?
The economic is also political.

Redekop:
Politics, then refers to all activity whose main purpose is one of more of
the following:
To reshape or influence governmental structures or processes
To influence or replace government officeholders
To influence the formation of public policies
To influence the implementation of public policies
To generate public awareness of, and, responses to, governmental
processes, personnel and policies
To gain a place of influence or power within government

So, whats missing?

The idea that the personal is political.
Read the personal is politics;/1969 by carol Hanisch (member of the
feminist group New York Radical Women)

Heywood: Politics as
Art of government
o Politics in an art because the possibilities are endless
 The public
Consensus/Compromise
Power

Transmission of Politics
Politics is transmitted through the process called political socialization
which is the establishment and development of attitudes and beliefs
toward a political decision

Agencies of Political Socialization

Family
Educational institutions
Employment
Religious institutions
Clubs
Political Party
Mass media
Legislature
Social media (added by M Melay)

The problem Hanish was talking about:

Productive Work (Males)
Production of goods and services
Paid with money

Reproductive Work (Female)

People (assisting the society)
Paid with love

Nation and State

A nation is a population with a certain sense of itself, a cohesiveness, a
shared history and culture and often (but not always) a common language.
A state is a government (political) structure, usually sovereign and
prepared enough to go to war

Nation
What binds a nation?
Blood relationships, a common language and literature, and a common
tradition and history
A sense of belonging (identity; nationalism)

Which came First? Nation or State

Logically, the people (nations) came first
But history tells us that states formed nation

Elements of a state
Territory
o All states have (defined) territories
o All Territories have states
o Except Antarctica
 o Except the Jews and the Palestinians
People/Population
o People within territorial borders
o People: citizen and aliens
o Citizenship:
Law of the soil: birthplace
Law of the blood: inheritance
o Aliens: rights are not defined by the state
o A family does not make a state
o But population does not really matter
Independence/Sovereignty
o Self-governing
o The state is the supreme decision-making power within a
geographically delineated frontier and subject to external authority
only by its consent
o Power to make and enforce laws
o Jurisdiction over a territory (accountable)
o Diplomatic recognition/ equality of states
Government
o A nation must have some organizing hold over its population
o Otherwise, there will be anarchy
o No government, no nation
State and Government
Anthony Giddens: the state is a political organization whose rule is
territorially ordered and which is able to mobilize the means of violence to
sustain that rule.
Max Weber: the state has a monopoly of the legitimate use of physical
force within a given territory
Is the state/government necessary?
What kind of state/government do we want?

3 inherent powers of the state

Police power
o Power to regulate behaviour and enforce order
o Make and implement laws
o Use physical/coercive force to compel citizens to obey laws in a
legitimate manner (i.e. legal sanctions)
o Often for the purposes of public welfare, health, security, safety
o Principles: Welfare of the people is the supreme law; Act in a
manner that will not injure anothers rights
Limitations on Police Power
o Congress determines laws (and thereby scope of police power)
o Due process
o Equal Protection Clause
Taxation power
o Power to impose and collect taxes and charges
o On individuals, firms, goods, services
o A political necessity
o For the purpose of supporting government operations
Limitations on Taxation Power
o Congress sets taxation policy
 o Local governments have some mandate under the local government
code of 1991
o Limitations/ Requisites
Has to serve a public purpose
Territoriality
Uniformity
Due process and equal protection clause
Should be done by government and not private entities
Legal exemptions: e.g. Church
Power of Eminent Domain
o Power to acquire or confiscate private property for the common
good
Limitations on Power of Eminent Domain
o Who can exercise this power?
Congress
President
LGUs
Public or Quasi-public corporations (e.g. Land authority,
MWSS, PLDT
o The property taken must be private property;
o The taking must be within constitutional sense
o The taking must be for public use
o Just compensation must be paid
o There must be due process of law

State in the West and East

West
Treaty of Westphalia in 1648
French Revolution in 1789

East
Marxist-Leninism: the state will wither away

Crises of Nation/State-building
Identity
Legitimacy
Penetration
Participation
Distribution

September 1, 2015

Democracy
Etymology:
Greek word demos meaning people
kratia meaning rule

Definition
Rule of the people
A democratic government is based on the consent of the governed
 Or government by the majority with the consent of the minority

Abraham Lincon:
Government OF the people, BY the people, FOR the people

Who are the people?

Single body Sovereign will, collective will, general will
Heterogeneous body the majority
Everyone unanimous decisions are acceptable

How should the people rule?

People should govern themselves:
o Direct democracy
o Representative democracy
o Totalitarian democracy

How far should popular rule extend?

What is the proper realm of democracy?

Joseph Schumpeter (1942):

Democracy is a method. The democratic method is that institutional
arrangement for arriving at political decisions which individuals acquire
the power to decide by means of a competitive struggle for the peoples
vote

Samuel Huntington (1991)

Democracy is a political system where the most powerful decision makers
are selected through fair, honest, and periodic elections in which
candidates freely compete for votes and in which virtually all in the adult
population are eligible to vote.