POLITICS, THE STATE, & NATION

 What is politics 1.Who gets what, when, and how 2.The authoritative allocation of values 3.The process by which the community makes decision and establishes values that are binding upon its members  Reasons for practicing politics 1.Collective character of human life 2.Essential human activity 3.A process involving negotiation, bargaining, and compromise 4.Reconciling special interests in the pursuit of the common good

 What is a “state”?  State is a legal and physical entity that has: 1.A fixed territory 2.Sovereignty (internal and external) 3.Legal and Political Independence 4.Legitimacy (capacity and right to use force)  Three Types of Legitimacy 1.Traditional legitimacy Built by habit and custom over time, stressing history; strongly institutionalized (e.g., monarch) 2.Charismatic legitimacy  Built on the force of ideas and the presence of the leader; weakly institutionalized (e.g., revolutionary hero) 3.Rational-legal legitimacy  Built on rules and procedures and the offices that create and enforce those rules; strongly institutionalized (e.g., elected executive)

 Centralization or Decentralization 1.Federalism (power devolved to regional bodies) 2.Unitary states (power concentrated at the national level) 3.State Autonomy and Capacity  high-autonomy, high-capacity (highly centralized power, strong state),  high-capacity, low-autonomy (public plays an important role in limiting state power),  high-autonomy, low-capacity (able to function with minimum public interference, but limited capacity),  low- autonomy, low-capacity (power highly decentralized, weak state),  State as image and practice 1.Image: coherent, unified, above society 2.Practice: make up of diverse people & agencies; linked to society in various ways  Branches of Government: (1). Executive, (2). Legislature, (3). Judiciary

 states; increased by 117 by 1999  1999 – 185 member states in the U.N.  1990s - 20 new states  Taiwan, Switzerland, Vatican not members of the U.N.  First, Second and Third World: ◦ Advanced industrial democracies, Communist bloc, underdeveloped/developing nations ◦ Still useful as a categorization?

 Big and Small States:  Russia – 17 million square kms  Vatican City > ½ sq km and >1,000 residents  China – 1.2 billion population  Does size determine politics?  Does area and population determine economic development, foreign policy and defense issues?  Does size determine politics?  Population growth rates and implications for economic development  Economies need to keep pace with population growth

 Nation  Imagined community  A right to self-determination  A shared descent, history, culture, language, and customs (primordial view) or self-determination and national identity (modernist view)  Nations do not necessarily have government or state  Some nations have close correspondence with state e.g.; Japan, France, Sweden  Nationhood as culture?  State ◦ political system with sovereignty  Nation-state ◦ The scope of legal authority and national identification coincide ◦ Multinational states (U.S.S.R, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia)

TypeDefinitionExample Nation- state StateA state with its own nation Iceland Multinatio nal State StateA state with more than one nation UK (Scottish, Welsh, England, N. Ireland) Stateless nation NationA nation which lacks its own state and whose people are spread across several countries Kurds, Palestinians DiasporaNationA nation dispersed beyond its homeland Jews