Understanding the Political World : A Comparative Introduction to Political Science

by Danziger, James N.

• ISBN13: 9780801332968
• ISBN10: 0801332966
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-06-01
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley

Summary

Understanding the Political World is a dynamic and accessible introduction to the fascinating world of politics and the ways in which political scientists attempt to describe and explain it. Using a strong comparative framework, the text links the central analytical concepts of political science that have emerged over decades of research to the realities of the political world of the early 21st century. With a highly-praised art program and lively boxed features, Understanding the Political World engages students as it encourages them to think like political scientists. The Fifth Edition has been thoroughly updated so that students have the information and tools they need to think about the challenges and opportunities facing our world today.

Table of Contents

Boxed Features	xiii
Preface	xv
To the Reader	xix
About the Author	xxi
PART ONE On Knowing the Political World	1	(22)
Politics and Knowledge	3	(20)
On Politics	3	(2)
Types of Political Knowledge	5	(3)
Description	6	(1)
Explanation	7	(1)
Prescription	8	(1)
Sources of Political Knowledge	8	(5)
Authority	8	(4)
Personal Thought	12	(1)
Science	13	(1)
Political Science	13	(4)
Political ``Science''?	17	(3)
Criticisms of Political Science as a ``Science''	17	(2)
Political Science as a Means of Understanding the Political World	19	(1)
Where Is This Book Going?	20	(1)
For Further Consideration	21	(1)
For Further Reading	21	(2)
PART TWO Political Behavior	23	(76)
Political Beliefs	25	(22)
Individual Political Beliefs	25	(2)
Belief Systems	27	(4)
Belief Systems among Mass Publics	28	(2)
Belief Systems among Elites	30	(1)
Political Culture	31	(2)
National Character Studies	31	(1)
Survey Research	32	(1)
Political Ideology	33	(11)
Key Issues	35	(1)
Conservatism	36	(1)
Classical Liberalism	37	(2)
Socialism	39	(2)
Some Further Points about ``Isms''	41	(3)
Looking Ahead	44	(1)
For Further Consideration	44	(1)
For Further Reading	44	(3)
Political Actions	47	(24)
Individual Political Actions	48	(6)
Modes of Political Activity	48	(1)
Political Activists	49	(2)
Political Participation Studies	51	(3)
Group Political Actions	54	(1)
Political Interest Groups	55	(6)
Activities of Political Interest Groups	55	(3)
Constraints on a Group's Behavior	58	(1)
Types of Interest Groups	59	(2)
Political Parties	61	(4)
Activities of Political Parties	61	(4)
Doing Politics	65	(1)
For Further Consideration	65	(4)
For Further Reading	69	(2)
Influences on Beliefs and Actions	71	(28)
The Environment	72	(3)
Agents of Political Socialization	75	(10)
The Family	75	(1)
The Schools	76	(2)
Peer Groups	78	(1)
The Media and Culture	78	(6)
Events	84	(1)
Personal Traits	85	(2)
Political ``Personality''	87	(8)
Personality	89	(5)
Human Nature	94	(1)
Concluding Observations	95	(2)
For Further Consideration	97	(1)
For Further Reading	98	(1)
PART THREE Political Systems	99	(110)
States and Nations	101	(26)
The State	101	(6)
A Legal Definition	102	(1)
A Structural-Functional Definition	103	(3)
The Domain of State Action	106	(1)
The Nation	107	(5)
The Political System	112	(11)
Systems in General	112	(1)
The Political System Defined	112	(4)
Conceptualization of the Political System	116	(3)
System Persistence	119	(1)
The Utility of the Political Systems Approach	120	(3)
Three Major Concepts: A Reprise	123	(1)
For Further Consideration	124	(1)
For Further Reading	124	(3)
Political Institutions I: Structures	127	(24)
The Legislature	128	(8)
Roles of the Legislature	128	(3)
Structural Arrangements	131	(1)
The Decline of Legislatures	132	(4)
Executives	136	(4)
Roles of Executives	136	(2)
Structural Arrangements	138	(2)
The Age of the Executive?	140	(1)
The Administration	140	(4)
Bureaucracy as One Form of Administration	140	(1)
Administrative Functions and Power	141	(3)
The Judiciary	144	(3)
Aspects of Adjudication	144	(1)
Judicial Structures	145	(2)
Concluding Observations	147	(1)
For Further Consideration	147	(1)
For Further Reading	148	(3)
Political Institutions II: Institutional Arrangements	151	(34)
Broad Taxonomies	152	(1)
Democracies and Nondemocracies	152	(11)
Defining Democracy	153	(3)
Defining Nondemocracies	156	(4)
A Democracy-Nondemocracy Continuum	160	(3)
Constitutional and Nonconstitutional Regimes	163	(3)
Constitutions	163	(2)
Constitutional Regimes	165	(1)
Nonconstitutional Regimes	166	(1)
A Real Distribution of Power	166	(2)
Unitary State	166	(1)
Federation	167	(1)
Confederation	168	(1)
Forms of Executive-Legislative Relations	168	(7)
Presidential Government	169	(1)
Parliamentary (Cabinet) Government	170	(2)
Hybrid Systems	172	(1)
Council Systems	173	(1)
Assembly Systems	174	(1)
Which Form Is Optimal?	175	(1)
Political Party Systems	175	(7)
Two-Party Systems	175	(3)
Multiparty Systems	178	(1)
Dominant-Party Systems	179	(1)
One-Party Systems	180	(1)
No-Party Systems	180	(1)
Classification and Clarity	181	(1)
For Further Consideration	182	(1)
For Further Reading	182	(3)
Political Economy	185	(24)
Politics and Economics	185	(1)
A Political-Economic Framework	186	(5)
Factors, Firms, and Households/Consumers	186	(3)
Getting and Spending	189	(1)
The State (and the World) Join In	190	(1)
Two Ideal-Type Political Economies	191	(6)
The Market Economy: Total Private Control	194	(2)
The Command Economy: Total State Control	196	(1)
Key Problems for Each Ideal-Type Political Economy	197	(3)
Market Economy	197	(2)
Command Economy	199	(1)
The Mixed Economy	200	(1)
Politics Plus Political Economy: The Other ``Isms''	201	(5)
The Three ``Isms''	201	(1)
The Real World	202	(4)
Concluding Observations	206	(1)
For Further Consideration	207	(1)
For Further Reading	207	(2)
PART FOUR Political Processes	209	(70)
Politics as a Value Allocation Process	211	(20)
The Elite Approach	212	(3)
Key Concepts	212	(1)
Major Theorists	213	(1)
The Value Allocation Process	213	(1)
The Prevalence of Elite-based Political Systems	214	(1)
The Class Approach	215	(4)
The Group Approach	219	(6)
The Three Approaches Compared	225	(3)
Which Approach Is Correct?	225	(2)
Essential Similarities and Differences	227	(1)
For Further Consideration	228	(1)
For Further Reading	228	(3)
Change and Political Development	231	(26)
Change	232	(1)
Development	233	(11)
Characteristics of ``More Developed'' Social Systems	233	(2)
The Process of Development	235	(5)
The Dynamics of Economic Development	240	(4)
Political Development	244	(9)
Characteristics of Political Development	244	(1)
The Process of Political Development	245	(2)
Political Development as Democratization	247	(3)
Political Institutionalization and Political Decay	250	(3)
Achieving Political Development	253	(1)
For Further Consideration	254	(1)
For Further Reading	255	(2)
Political Violence	257	(22)
Violence	258	(1)
Political Society	259	(1)
Types of Political Violence	259	(16)
State Violence against Individuals or Groups	260	(1)
Individual Violence against an Individual	261	(1)
Group Violence against an Individual	262	(3)
Group Violence against a Group	265	(2)
Individual or Group Violence against the State	267	(8)
Evaluating Political Violence: Means and Ends	275	(1)
For Further Consideration	276	(1)
For Further Reading	277	(2)
PART FIVE Politics Among States	279	(160)
Politics between States	281	(30)
The Goals of States	282	(3)
Realist and Idealist Perspectives on the State's ``Motives''	282	(1)
Major Goals	283	(2)
Mechanisms of Cooperation between States	285	(7)
Diplomacy and Interstate Agreements	285	(1)
International Law	286	(3)
International Organizations	289	(3)
Competition among States	292	(7)
Balance of Power	292	(1)
Balance of Terror	293	(1)
Domination and Dependence	294	(4)
Competition in the Post-Cold War World	298	(1)
Violence between States	299	(8)
Threat of Force	301	(1)
Display of Force	301	(1)
Use of Force	301	(1)
War	302	(3)
What Causes War?	305	(1)
Is War Justifiable?	306	(1)
For Further Consideration	307	(1)
For Further Reading	308	(3)
The Developed Countries	311	(32)
An Introduction to the Next Three Chapters: Grouping the States in the Contemporary World	311	(5)
The Developed Countries	312	(1)
The Developing Countries	313	(1)
The Transitional Developed Countries	313	(3)
Images of the Developed Countries	316	(1)
Political Culture	317	(2)
Goal: Prosperity	319	(9)
Mixed Economy	319	(3)
Performance	322	(1)
Challenges	323	(5)
Goal: Stability	328	(7)
Political Institutionalization	329	(2)
Order Maintenance	331	(1)
Challenges to Stability	332	(3)
Goal: Security	335	(3)
The Era of Colonialism	335	(1)
The Cold War Period	335	(2)
Challenges to Security in the Post-Cold War Period	337	(1)
The Developed Countries Overall	338	(1)
For Further Consideration	339	(1)
For Further Reading	340	(3)
The Developing Countries	343	(44)
Third World Images	343	(5)
Developmental Classification	343	(1)
Regional Classification	344	(4)
Goal: Prosperity	348	(17)
Obstacles to Prosperity	349	(4)
Strategies for Prosperity	353	(4)
Overall Performance	357	(7)
Prognosis	364	(1)
Goal: Security	365	(4)
Interstate Violence	365	(3)
Economic Security	368	(1)
Goal: Stability	369	(14)
Challenges to Political System Effectiveness	369	(2)
The Decline of Political Order	371	(3)
Democratization	374	(2)
Political Approaches	376	(7)
Concluding Observations: It's Got to Get Better(?)	383	(1)
For Further Consideration	384	(1)
For Further Reading	384	(3)
The Transitional Developed Countries	387	(38)
The Post-Communist Developed Countries	387	(2)
Political Culture	389	(2)
Under Communism	389	(1)
Post-Communism	390	(1)
Goal: Prosperity	391	(7)
Under Communism	391	(1)
Post-Communism	391	(7)
Goal: Stability	398	(9)
Under Communism	398	(3)
Post-Communism	401	(6)
Goal: Security	407	(2)
Under Communism	407	(1)
Post-Communism	408	(1)
The Newly Industrializing Countries	409	(1)
Political Culture	409	(2)
Goal: Prosperity	411	(3)
Goal: Stability	414	(6)
Goal: Security	420	(1)
The Future of the Transitional Developed Countries	421	(1)
For Further Consideration	422	(1)
For Further Reading	423	(2)
The Last Chapter: Looking Backward, Looking Forward	425	(14)
Political Outputs	425	(2)
Political Structures	427	(1)
Political Processes	427	(1)
Political Change	428	(1)
Direction	428	(1)
Rate	428	(1)
Controllability	429	(1)
Into the Twenty-first Century: Understanding and Action	429	(7)
Challenge 1: The Quest for Harmony with Our Technology	429	(1)
Challenge 2: The Quest for Harmony with Planet Earth	430	(1)
Challenge 3: The Quest for Harmony with One Another	431	(5)
Choosing a Future	436	(3)
Appendix: Political Analysis	439	(13)
Glossary	452	(12)
References	464	(15)
Selected Internet Sites	479	(3)
Credits	482	(1)
Index	483