POLITICS AND KNOWLEDGE James DANZİGER CHAPTER ONE POLITICS AND KNOWLEDGE

Definitions of Politics. Politics is the exercise of power. Politics is the public allocation of things that are valued Politics is the resolution of conflicts. Politics is the competition among individuals and groups pursuing their own interests. Politics is the determination of who gets what, how, and when.

Politics is a human activity through which power and influence are used in the promotion of certain values and interests. - [Explain the distinction between private and public aspects of life] Politics is associated with those aspects of life which have public significance. Other aspects of life are private and thus are beyond the domain of politics. Some examples of issues which have public signiificance: - how much of your income you must give to government as income tax. - how much social and economic benefits the government must distribute and to whom.

Political knowledge: Individual understanding of politics. - differs from person to person, determines our understanding about politics and shapes our decisions, may be limited, may be familiar to most people, - may be obtained by various ways.

A political statement: “Political participation of men is greater than women.” When you read or hear such statements you might……….. a- ignore them b- accept them c- reject them d- try to evaluate them Political Analysis is an attempt to describe and explain politics and political facts.

Political science: A set of techniques, concepts, and approaches whose objective is to increase the clarity and accuracy of an understanding about the political world“. Three general types of political knowledge. 1- Descriptions of political facts 2- Explanations of how and why politics occurs as it does. 3- Prescriptions of what should happen in any area of political activity.

1) Description: Political knowledge includes descriptive response to "what" question. (descriptions may or may not reflect a reality) -Italy is not a member of the EU. -Turkey is a unitary state. -The country in Africa with the highest per capita income is Nigeria. -Soviet union collapsed in 1991. -

2) Explanation: Explanatory political knowledge is about "why something happens”. - Why did the USA want to change the political regime in Iraq? - What causes a country to have inflation of more than 100 percent in a single year? 3) Prescription: Political knowledge that reflect specific preferences in the political life. --"Statements about politics often include claims or assumptions that certain choices and actions are more desirable than others".

"a prescription is a value judgment that indicates what should occur and should be done. So prescription deals with "normative" political knowledge. -- Everyone should have the right to vote. -- An underdeveloped state should be included as a permanent member in the UN Security Council. -- Citizens of foreign states should not be allowed to invest in property market. Normative political knowledge combines three levels of understanding (descriptive, explanatory and presciptive)

Sources of Political Knowledge 1)authority 2)personal thought 3)science 1- Authority a) Specific authority sources: political knowledge derives from a parent, teacher, friend, or famous person. (Direct or face-to-face communication between person and the specific authority) b) General authority sources: Constitution, leaders (leaders who are respected by people), media, books, religious teachings. (There is no direct link between person and the general authority) c) Everyone as authority: "If virtually everyone seems to agree on a fact about politics, there is little reason for you to disagree or challenge that fact".

2. Personal Thought Some facts are correct for us because they are so obvious for us. Here you don't rely on an outside authority. The individual can use his powers of though to determine what he knows about the political world. Such knowledge can be based on rationality, intuition, and personal experience. a- rationality: When you think that a certain fact is true because it is logical for you, you do not need for further justification. For example, you may believe that human beings are equal or unequal.

b- intuitions: is the second form of personal though b- intuitions: is the second form of personal though. Here, your knowledge is based on feelings, on a sense of understanding rather than on reason. c- personal experience: You can be convinced that something is true, because of your own experience. 3. Science Unlike authority and personal thought as source of political knowledge "science uses explicit methods that attempt to enable different people to agree about what they know"

Characteristics of scientific method: -Search for regularities -Science is empirical -Science is cumulative -Science is testable. *Applying scientific method in Political Science. Knowledge clause: “In a democracy men are more likely to vote than women.”    This issue requires an analysis of gender and voting. Is it true that men are more likely than women to vote? How can we analyze this claim through Scientific method?

In order to apply scientific method to analyse political knowledge we can follow the following steps:   1- To examine the existing evidence. We find what have been done about “voting” by Political Scientists. Shortly, we read relevant studies (books, journal articles and research reports) 2- Making hypothesis: You identify or describe what you are going to do in precise manner. “men are more likely to vote than women.” 3- Operationalizing key concepts: This means that you specify exactly what each concept means and how they might be measured. (what is meant by “voting” and “democracy”) 4- Gathering appropriate data: You need a strategy for colleting evidence that is valid and reliable. You must collect data about specific elections in one or more democracies. The relevant data can be gathered from secondary sources (articles, books or reports) or you may conduct a field study to measure the phenomena through a survey.

5- Analyzing the evidence: You compare the results obtained from different elections. (US presidential elections) 1976 1996 man women man women voted (%)  77 67 53 56 not voted (%)  23 33 47 44 6- Making inferences by using a statistical technique. This technique helps you to decide whether the difference in the data for women and men is greater than might expected by chance.   - Is the evidence sufficient? (men are more likely to vote than women) - Is it possible to make generalization about gender and voting in the US based on only two elections? - What is our inference about gender and voting in the US?

Our answer will probably be based on the idea that men are more likely to vote than women, but if you get data for other presidential elections you would discover that women have voted at a higher rate than man in every USA presidential elections since 1980, and at a lower rate in every election prior to 1980. ------ Our first inference is incorrect. ------ Things can change. For this reason generalizations must be made with care. ------ All important variables should be considered. For example education level or social status, profession, ethnicity etc. may affect voting behavior. 7- Conclusion: It requires extensive data, careful analysis, and consideration of several alternative explanations.

Sub fields of Political Science 1- Comparative Politics: Focuses on similarities and differences in Political processes and structures. 2- International Relations   3- Political theory or Political Philosophy focuses on the ideas and debates dealing with important Political questions. (what is political justice? Equality?democracy? Human rights?) 4- Boundary-Spanning Sub fields Political science link with other fields of inquiry that borrows and adapts ideas from other disciplines such as political economy, political psychology, political sociology, political history.

Scientific quality of Political Science: First criticism: Political Science is not a real science in comparison to "natural" and applied sciences (e.g. chemistry, physics) A fully developed Science includes four elements: - Central concepts, which identify and name key phenomena. - Theories, which are sets of systematically related generalizations that provide explanations and predictions about the lineages between certain concepts. - Rules of interpretation, which indicate the methods that are used to understand whether the explanations and predictions provided by the theory are appropriate or inappropriate. - A list of questions (issues) Second criticism: Its subject matter defies (disregard) generalizations: it is argued that political world is too complex and contradictable for systematic generalization.

Third criticism: Political Scientists can not be objective: It is argued that the issues chosen for study are influenced by the researches and his/her social realty such as culture, ideas, life experiences and so on. Fourth criticism: Its practice diverts attention from normative questions.