Understanding the Political World A Comparative Introduction to Political Science

by Danziger, James N.

• ISBN13: 9780205854929
• ISBN10: 0205854923
• Edition: 11th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-02-14
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

Updated in its 11thedition, Understanding the Political Worldoffers a comparative perspective on how politics works at the global, national, group, and individual level. Focusing on how fundamental concepts in political science relate to real political events, this bestselling text surveys political behavior, systems, and processes throughout the world and asks students to evaluate and apply this knowledge. Through an engaging writing style, numerous examples, and the instructive use of visuals, Understanding the Political Worldencourages readers to think like political scientists and to critically examine new and enduring political realities and challenges.

Author Biography

James N. Danziger is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine, where he also has served as Chair of the Department of Political Science, campus-wide Dean of Undergraduate Education, Chair of the Academic Senate, and Associate Director of the Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations. He is recipient of many honors and awards, including a Marshall Scholarship (to Great Britain), a Foreign Area Fellowship, Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, Phi Beta Kappa, and an IBM Faculty Award. He received the first UC Irvine Distinguished Faculty Lectureship Award for Teaching in 1987 and the UC Irvine Distinguished Service Award in 1997. His Ph.D. is from Stanford University, and he has held visiting appointments at the universities of Aarhus (Denmark), Pittsburgh, and Virginia. His research has received awards from the American Political Science Association and the American Society for Public Administration. He has published extensively, particularly on information technology and politics, and he is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Electronic Government Research. He has also been an active participant in local politics.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xiii
To the Reader	p. xix
Maps	p. xxi
On Knowing the Political World
Politics and Knowledge	p. 1
Towards a Definition of Politics	p. 3
On Political Knowledge	p. 5
Types of Political Knowledge	p. 5
Description	p. 5
Explanation	p. 6
Prescription	p. 7
The Acid Test I	p. 8
Sources of Political Knowledge	p. 10
Authority	p. 10
Personal Thought	p. 13
Science	p. 14
Political Science	p. 15
Doing Comparative Analysis	p. 16
Political Science and Political Knowledge	p. 16
The Debate In 1 Is Political Science Possible?	p. 17
The Subfields of Political Science ?	p. 18
Where is This Book Going?	p. 19
The Political Knowledge of Different Age Groups in the United States	p. 21
Political Behavior
Political Theory and Political Beliefs	p. 26
Normative Political Theory	p. 29
Great Britain as a Context for Some Great Political Theorists	p. 30
Political Ideology	p. 31
Conservatism	p. 33
Classical Liberalism	p. 34
Socialism	p. 36
Some Further Points About "Isms"	p. 39
Individual Political Beliefs	p. 42
Types of Political Orientations	p. 42
Identifying Specific Beliefs	p. 43
Belief Systems	p. 45
Political Culture	p. 48
National Character Studies	p. 48
Is There a "Clash of Civilizations"?	p. 49
Survey Research Analyses	p. 50
Value Differences Across Countries	p. 51
Looking Ahead	p. 53
Political Actions	p. 57
Individual Political Actions	p. 60
Modes of Political Activity	p. 60
Political Activists	p. 61
Political Participation Studies	p. 63
Extent of Political Actions in Mexico and Poland	p. 66
Group Political Actions	p. 68
Political Interest Groups	p. 69
Activities of Political Interest Groups	p. 69
Constraints on a Group's Behavior	p. 71
Types of Interest Groups	p. 72
How Interested Are Interest Groups in Democracy?	p. 73
Political Parties	p. 76
Activities of Political Parties	p. 76
Let's Party! The Rise of the Green Party in Germany	p. 77
Doing Politics	p. 79
Influences on Beliefs and Actions	p. 84
The Environment	p. 87
Agents of Political Socialization	p. 89
The Family	p. 89
Political Socialization in China	p. 90
Schools	p. 92
Peer Groups	p. 92
The Media	p. 93
Do the New ICTs Substantially Change Our Political Beliefs and Actions?	p. 94
Religion	p. 96
Culture	p. 96
Events	p. 97
Personal Characteristics	p. 97
You Go Your Way, I'll Go Mine	p. 100
Political Personality	p. 102
Personality	p. 103
Biology and Human Nature	p. 105
Concluding Observations	p. 106
Political Systems
Political Systems, States, and Nations	p. 111
The State	p. 113
A Legal Definition of the State	p. 113
A Structural-Functional Definition of the State	p. 115
Does Humanitarian Intervention Violate State Sovereignty?	p. 116
Major Goals	p. 118
The Nation	p. 121
Nation and State	p. 122
State and Nations: The Indian Subcontinent	p. 123
The Political System	p. 124
Power and Authority	p. 126
Conceptualization of the Political System	p. 128
Three Major Concepts: A Reprise	p. 131
Political Institutions I: Institutional Structures	p. 135
Executives	p. 137
Roles of Executives	p. 138
Structural Arrangements	p. 139
The Age of the Executive?	p. 142
Legislatures	p. 142
Roles of the Legislature	p. 142
Electoral Systems and Legislative Representation: South Africa	p. 144
Legislative Structures	p. 147
The Decline of Legislatures	p. 149
Administrative Systems	p. 150
Administrative Functions and Power	p. 150
Bureaucracy as One Form of Administration	p. 151
Five Styles of Administration	p. 152
Judiciaries	p. 153
Aspects of Adjudication	p. 154
Judicial Structures	p. 155
Is Judicial Review Democratic?	p. 156
Styles of Adjudication	p. 158
Concluding Observations	p. 159
Political Institutions II: Institutional Arrangements	p. 163
Constitutions and Constitutional Regimes	p. 166
Constitutions	p. 166
Constitutional Regimes	p. 167
Nonconstitutional Regimes	p. 167
Democracies and Nondemocracies	p. 168
Defining Democracy	p. 170
Defining Nondemocracies	p. 172
A Democracy-Nondemocracy Measure	p. 174
Areal Distribution of Power	p. 175
Unitary State	p. 175
Federation	p. 177
Confederation	p. 178
Forms of Executive-Legislative Relations	p. 179
Presidential Government	p. 179
Parliamentary Government	p. 180
Hybrid Systems	p. 182
Council Systems	p. 183
A Hybrid System in Action: France	p. 183
Assembly Systems	p. 184
Which Form Is Optimal?	p. 185
Which Form of Government Is Preferable: Parliamentary, Presidential, or Hybrid?	p. 185
Political Party Systems	p. 187
Two-Party Systems	p. 189
Multiparty Systems	p. 189
Dominant-Party Systems	p. 190
One-Party Systems	p. 191
Party Systems in Four Countries	p. 191
No-Party Systems	p. 192
Classification and Clarity	p. 193
Political Economy	p. 197
Politics and Economics	p. 199
A Political-Economic Framework	p. 200
Factors, Firms, and Households/Consumers	p. 200
Getting and Spending	p. 202
The State Joins In	p. 204
The World Joins In	p. 205
The Economy Strikes Back	p. 206
Measuring Economic Prosperity	p. 207
Wealth Inequality	p. 210
Two Ideal-Type Political Economies	p. 211
The Market Economy: Total Private Contro	p. 212
The Command Economy: Total State Control	p. 214
Key Problems of Each Ideal-Type Political Economy	p. 215
Market Economy	p. 215
Command Economy	p. 216
The Mixed Economy	p. 216
Mexico's Political Economy	p. 219
Politics Plus Political Economy: The Other "ISMS"	p. 220
The Three "Isms"	p. 220
The Real World	p. 221
Is Communism Dead?	p. 222
Concluding Observations	p. 226
Political Processes
Public Policy, Power, and Decision	p. 230
Public Policy	p. 233
Types of Public Policies	p. 233
Selected Public Policies in Seven Countries	p. 235
Analysis of the Stages of the Policy Process	p. 236
Policy Impact Analysis	p. 238
Policy Prescription	p. 239
Explaining Public Policy Decision! Making	p. 239
The Elite Approach	p. 240
Key Concepts	p. 240
Major Theorists	p. 240
The Public Policy Process	p. 241
The Prevalence of Elite-Based Political Systems	p. 244
Elite Politics in Swaziland	p. 242
The Class Approach	p. 244
The Public Policy Process	p. 245
The Pluralist Approach	p. 246
The Policymaking Process	p. 247
The Debate In 9	p. 250
The Three Approaches Compared	p. 251
Which Approach Is Correct?	p. 251
Essential Similarities and Differences	p. 252
Change and Political Development	p. 257
Change	p. 259
Development	p. 260?
Characteristics of "'More Developed" Human Systems	p. 260
The Process of Development	p. 262
The Dynamics of Economic Development	p. 264
Political Development	p. 268
Characteristics of Political Development	p. 268
The Process of Political Development	p. 269
Political Development and Modernization in Turkey	p. 270
Political Development as Democratization	p. 272
Is Economic Development a Necessary Prerequisite for Democracy?	p. 273
World of Changes	p. 275
Compare In 10	p. 276
Concluding Observations	p. 279
Politics Across Borders	p. 283
Perspectives on States' Behavior	p. 286
Realist and Idealist Perspectives on the States' "Motives"	p. 286
A Geopolitical Perspective	p. 287
Compare In 11 Geopolitics in Two Countries	p. 288
Mechanisms of Political Cooperation Across Borders	p. 289
Diplomacy and Interstate Agreements	p. 290
International Law	p. 293
International Organizations	p. 295
Political Competition Across Borders	p. 300
Transnational Systems of Power	p. 301
Domination and Dependence	p. 303
The Faces of Colonialism: Congo	p. 305
Globalization?	p. 306
The Debate In 11	p. 308
Competition in the Globalizing World	p. 309
Political Violence	p. 315
Violence	p. 317
Political Society	p. 318
Types of Political Violence	p. 319
State Violence Against Individuals or Groups	p. 319
Individual Violence Against an Individual	p. 321
Group Violence Against an Individual	p. 322
Group Violence Against a Group	p. 325
The Debate In 12 Is Terrorism Ever a Justifiable Form of Political Violence?	p. 326
Individual or Group Violence Against the State	p. 330
Use of Force Between States	p. 334
War	p. 335
What Causes War?	p. 336
Focus In 12	p. 337
Compare In 12	p. 339
Evaluating Political Violence: Means and Ends	p. 342
Politics Among States
The Developed Countries of the Global North	p. 349
Grouping the States in the Contemporary World	p. 351
The Developed Countries of the Global North	p. 352
The Developing Countries of the Global South	p. 353
The Transitional Developed Countries	p. 354
Goal: Prosperity	p. 355
Mixed Economy	p. 355
Sweden and Switzerland	p. 357
Performance	p. 358
Challenges to Prosperity	p. 360
Are the Social Democracies Dying?	p. 362
Goal: Stability	p. 363
Liberal Democracies	p. 363
Political Institutionalization	p. 364
Order Maintenance	p. 365
Welcome to the Brave New World: Singapore	p. 365
Challenges to Stability	p. 367
Goal: Security	p. 369
The Era of Colonialism	p. 369
The Cold War Period	p. 370
The Post-Cold War Period	p. 370
Challenges to Security	p. 371
The Developed Countries Overall	p. 372
The Developing Countries of the Global South	p. 376
Grouping Countries in the Developing World	p. 379
Developmental Classification	p. 379
Regional Classification	p. 380
Achieving Development in the Global South: Some Obstacles	p. 382
Obstacles to Development: Nigeria and the Philippines	p. 384
Goal: Prosperity	p. 386
The Quest for Prosperity: Strategic Choices	p. 386
Poor Women and Development: Microcredit in Bangladesh	p. 391
Current Outcomes	p. 392
Goal: Security	p. 395
Interstate Violence	p. 395
Economic Security	p. 397
Goal: Stability	p. 398
Inadequate Political Development	p. 398
The Decline of Order	p. 399
Democratization	p. 400
Political Approaches	p. 402
Is it Getting Better all the Time?	p. 405
The Debate In 14 Will There Always Be a Third World?	p. 407
The Transitional Developed Countries	p. 412
The Postcommunist Developed Countries	p. 415
Acid Test II	p. 416
Goal: Prosperity	p. 418
Strategy	p. 418
Performance	p. 418
Challenges	p. 419
Goal: Stability	p. 420
Strategies p420
Challenges	p. 422
Social Disorder	p. 422
Nationality Conflicts	p. 423
Entry into Europe and Global Society	p. 423
Goal: Security	p. 424
The Newly Industrializing Countries	p. 425
Goal: Prosperity	p. 426
Approach	p. 426
Performance	p. 427
FocusIn 15	p. 431
Goal: Stability	p. 433
Asian NICs	p. 433
Latin American NICs	p. 433
Democratization?	p. 433
Goal: Security	p. 434
Asian NICs	p. 434
Latin American NICs	p. 435
The Future of the Transitional Developed Countries	p. 435
The Postcommunist Developed Countries	p. 436
The NICs	p. 436
Next?	p. 437
So…	p. 437
The Final Debate What Time Is It?	p. 438
Appendix: Political Analysis	p. 443
Glossary	p. 457
References	p. 469
Photo Credits	p. 485
Index	p. 486
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