INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE: political philosophy

Session 1

“Of what is great one must either be silent or speak with greatness – that means cynically
and with innocence” F. Nietzsche

Positive and Negative Freedom

• Freedom from (negative freedom) 10 commandments: thou shall not kill, you will
NOT -> freedom from fear of violent death, repression form individual freedom to
create freedoms that are possible
“I am free because I do not obey people, I obey laws”
• Freedom for (positive freedom), ability to do something

Negative freedom focuses on the absence of external constraints and interference in an

individual’s actions, while positive freedom emphasizes the presence of enabling conditions
and opportunities that empower individuals to pursue their goals and aspirations.

Fascism creation of false conscience, creating belief

Decadence of religious systems, people need new set of beliefs: new god eg nationalism,
symbol of identity

Ideologies: blinding and binding – create community

Schismogenesis
False consciousness
Individual

Session 2

Universal Rationality is impossible

Does democracy exist with so many as a population?

Aristotle
Disciple of Plato, actively participated in politics, goal to create “a political environment in
which human virtue can flourish”
1st to try to think scientifically vs normative
Typology of political regimes: who has the power?
Rule by one (autocracy, tyranny) rule by few (aristocracy, oligarchy) , rule by many
(democracy)

Machiavelli
Empirical approach to politics, “design political systems that can withstand all sorts of
potential threats to their survival”
As a leader you need to be feared, fear is more permanent emotion
Cannot have enough power because you never know what the threats are going to be
Hobbes
Goal “the state is the institutional pillar upon which all political systems are built and that
protects individuals from the ‘state of nature”
State is political contract between rulers and the ruled
State of nature: humans are wolves -> government necessary to escape state of nature
(chaos)
Religion (moral feelings) is a powerful driver of cooperation

Montesquieu
In commercial nations “The passion for profit replaces the passion for war among governing
elites”
Goal “Commerce not only brings well-being to citizens but also peace”
Proposes organizing the state rationally by separating “executive” “legislative” and “judicial”
powers
England: commercial nation France: political interest
Invisible hand maximizes the common good -> equilibrium
Trade = mutual benefit so conflict less likely, interdependent

Kant
Goal “to improve the world by changing it: dare to be wise”
Reform and reason as a way of improving political life and overcoming war and conflict
Too big to fail goes against liberal principles

All countries should become republics, people have certain degree of participation in politics,
so war is less likely
Collective security

Politics: who gets what, when how?

Conflict between equality & liberty (and security)
Authority: legitimate power, the ruled recognize the right of rulers to exercise power
Globalization: increased interdependence, loss of sovereignty
Session 5 & 6

Adam Smith
Tutor to aristocratic families
Develop concept of “invisible hand”
Goal of politics: “Let the market – economics – change human natura, not the state”
Proposed “capitalism” as the complement to democracy in liberal tought

VS Keynesian economics
John Stuart Mill: utilitarianism

RADICALS
Rousseau
First bohemian, alternative thinker
Revolution is the solution, there is always an alternative to the existing political order
Tries to turn both “empiricists” and “liberals” on their head
Older, becomes a moderator

2nd discourse by Rousseau

Two visions of humanity’s place in nature: Hobbes vs Rousseau

Game theory: assume human beings are nasty, rational egoists

Economic Dimension
• Agriculture and industry are the great corruptors
• Private property as an effect of agriculture
• Politics (power) as the effect of protecting private property

Socio-Political Dimension
• The state as protector of social privilege
• Justice: legal system as the protection of the powerful
• Political violence because of the social inequality generated

è Agriculture and property are the origin of all political, economic, social and even
environmental problems

IDEALISTS
Marx
Second “bohemian” alternative political thinker
Tries to turn the idea of “liberalism” on its head
Goal of politics: “change the world, not understand it”
Radical politics: div of labour, class struggle, false consciousness and
Cultural hegemony: domination or rule maintained through ideological or cultural means
Commodity fetichism: a commodity appears as if by magic to the consumer. This miraculous
appearance, crucially, is divorced from the labour which produced it, seen in exhnage value
not use value
 è “the ruling class or elite exercises power, not because ofitsown agency, but because economic
structures automatically benefit itand disadvantage others”

Commodification: the dark side of capitalist ideology Carmen Hermosillo and the
Commodification of human experience and information
False consciousness: radical Islamism

Social media: capitalism was able to turn ideas and feelings into a product and make money
from it
Enhances the idea of false consciousness, more you use it, the more oppressed you are
spiritually and monetarily
Apps to control everything
Surveillance capitalism (electricity) to monitor behaviour, how could we make money off
this?
The internet of things
Original Marxist claim: technology will liberate us from labour HOWEVER contemporary
cultural critique of capitalism: anarchist turn, anti-technology
Right: what is so bad about false consciousness when human nature is so limited?

Political power, authority and the state

Power: coercion
Authority: consent, legitimate power, ruled recognize right of rulers to exercise power
è Can be a product of manipulation
Democratic and totalitarian regimes have a mix of both, never just one or the other

“Fom a liberal perspective, however, power is always undesirable because ‘every exercise of
power involves the imposition of someone’s values upon another”

“Because power is ubiquitous (found everywhere), there is no possibility of liberation from it,
although we can, as Foucault shows, change its focus and implementation”

“First, how far do elite groups share a common set of values and beliefs which is distinct from
the rest of society? Second, how far do the aims of elite groups prevail?”

Session 7

“All watched by machines of loving grace” MOVIE

Commodification turning something into an item that can be bought or sold

è Cyberspace, commodifies human interaction

RADICALS RIGHT

De Maistre Key ideas: critique,

Took Hobbes to an extreme

Counter Enlightenment, need for absolute rule and Christian supremacy

Human beings are violent

Reaction to violence of French revolution

Science is good for the elite that can live with the fact that god doesn’t exists, lower class
need meaning and community: why religion is more prominent within poorer societies ->
revival of Christianism: Your role as an elite is to know that not everyone can know as much
truth as you can “Ignorance is bliss” “Create myths”

Nietzsche

Judo Christianity is Platonism for the masses Key ideas: nihilism, radical critique of Judeo-
Christian, Master Slave morality, the will to power
Politics as meaning in absence of religious
belief?

Master should give masses what they want. What do they want? Religion and nationalism

Elite has to reinforce those values whenever they are questioned

Democracy

Mostly regarded in a negative light, turning point was American and French revolution

Elitist theory of democracy: decisions left to a political elite, democratic because competition
between these, popular in post 1945 period

Classical theory of democracy: mass participation but unrealistic

Democracy is a form of political obligation: make the laws in which we live, likely to be in our
interests

Other sources of political obligation

o We ought to obey the state because it provides us with security: Hobbes

o We ought to obey the state because it protects our natural rights: John Locke (crucial
rights)
o We ought to obey the state when it pursues the general will: unanimously
represented as representing the will of all Rousseau
 Problems with majority rule

- Most govs are not elected with majority of votes, plurality rule (merely more votes
than any other candidate), although a lot of countries also use proportional
representation
- Gov can be elected with majority vote but then ignore principle of majoritism in the
future
- Some people in every decision made will always find themselves in a minority
(Rousseau: laws in general will so everyone will unanimously accept them: moral
thing to do)
- We cannot expect people to obey a law they do not support. Those in minority are
not obliged to accept the law so no gov can ever be legitimate: consociational
democracy

è Worse for people who are permanently in minority

New directions in democratic thought

1. Associative democracy: reduced role of state by advocating the democratic role of

voluntary, self-serving organizations: 3rd way between free market capitalism and
state socialism emphasizes political participation and decision making beyond reaches
of formal state
2. Cosmopolitan democracy: nation states are affected by forces beyond their
boundaries so ensure global forces are controlled by democratic means: international
level of. International inclusion responsibility of individual not only state, transition to
international global order. Democratic theorists should focus on ensuring that
international institutions control globald developments and they themselves are
under democratic control
3. Deliberative democracy: coletive decisions only legimitate after reasoned discussion;
maximise inclusivity will all points of view and equal chance of participation to all
those represented; during deliberation, self-interest out aside instead mutual respect
of and empathy for arguments of others
4. Ecological democracy:

Session 8

Elites must perpetuate laws

Justice is the law of the strongest: Plato

We live in a world of nihilism: no higher purpose, what is the higher standard?

Radical Left: happiness for the greatest number (positive freedom)

Radical Right: happiness is a useful myth (negative freedom)

Trump is a populist who claims to fight against: Washington, wall street and Silicon Valley:
liberate white working classes, white superiority --- Multiculturalism would be false
consciousness in this view

INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE: political science

Subfields of political science

• International relations: study of relations between nations, billiard ball model
• Political theory or philosophy: What is freedom? What is power?
• Political systems: expert in a nation’s political system
• Comparative politics: in absence of political experimentation, you can compare
different political systems
Culturalists and Rationalists (money is everyone’s motivation)
“Politics is a strong and slow boring of hard boards”

Dimensions of political studies

• Analytical concepts: theories (a set of integrated assumptions, hypotheses and facts)
• Methods: qualitative & quantitative
• Normative Approaches: ideologies
• Politics as the exercise of power and the institutions, groups and individuals that wield
it
• Political science and its main theoretical approaches

Politics as the study of institutions

Institutions organizations or activities that are self-perpetuating and valued for their own
sake. Institutions lay out the rules, norms and structures in which we live
“Individuals die, institutions live on”

Power the ability to influence others or impose one’s will on them

1. Structural power: dependent on one’s position in society
2. Instrumental power: A over B
3. Agenda setting: ability to influence the importance placed on the topics of the public
agenda, controlling what you think

Writing Workshop: Controversy of Amsterdam’s red-light district

• Why are many countries going in a way to legalize prostitution?

• Changing the location: accepted?
• Why do we regard it as bad?
• Moral implications

What are the societal and moral implications for the movement of Amsterdam’s red-light
district to a new erotic center in a residential neighborhood?
The relocation of Amsterdam’s Red-light district or the establishment of a new erotic center
in a residential neighborhood would have significant societal and moral implications as well
as ethical and legal considerations. In this paper, we will analyze the ethical concerns of such
a change, such as the exploitation of sex workers and stigmatization. Additionally, we will
consider the economic and political causes for such a change and its impact on tourism and
local business. From an urban planning perspective, we will consider the safety and public
health concerns, and the impact on the credibility of the city on the eyes of the rest on the
world, especially from a business perspective. Furthermore, we will consider the argument of
prostitution from a more moral view and research the rise of ethical concerns around the
argument and compare the view other countries have around prostitution and how different
legal systems are addressing this issue, and how this is influenced by cultural and religious
biases.

The relocation of Amsterdam’s Red-light district or the establishment of a new erotic center
in a residential neighborhood transition challenges the boundaries between personal liberty,
urban planning, and ethical norms. This paper will analyze such a relocation from a societal
perspective, as the introduction of an erotic center may affect property values, business
dynamics, and the overall quality of life for residents, as well as the city’s credibility in world
views, thus impacting tourism. Considering the political and economic causes for such a
change, this paper aims to come to a conclusion on the externalities of such a change and it’s
long-lasting impact on the city. Morally, the shift brings into focus the question of how a
society defines and manages its moral compass. This paper will consider the message this
sends about societal values and the objectification of individuals. Additionally, this transition
raises questions about the broader context of sexual tourism and commodification of the
human body. Finally, we will also consider the argument of prostitution from a more moral
view and research the rise of ethical concerns around the argument and compare the view
other countries have around prostitution and how different legal systems are addressing this
issue, which is influenced by cultural and religious biases.

Session 9

Politics the struggle in any group for power that will give one or more persons the ability to
make decisions for the larger group

Sources of legitimacy: normative or empirical?

• Charismatic
• Legal-rational: laws and laws that make sense
• Traditional (socialists often ignore)

Methods

• Inductive reasoning: research that works from case studies to generate hypothesis
• Deductive reasoning: research that works from a hypothesis that is then tested
against data
 • Quantitative methods (statistics): Correlations, an apparent relationship between two
or more variables
• Quantitative methods: Causations, a claim is influencing a DV
• Formal models (game theory)
• Systems theory and computer simulation (Agent Based Models)

Problems for applying the scientific method in political research

• Controlling for large amounts of variables (can’t experiment in real political situations)
• Controlling for interaction between multiple variables or multicausality
• Limits to data gathering (only 200+ countries in the world)
• Limits to access of political data
• Area studies
• Selection bias (can’t randomly select)
• Variables may either be “cause” or “effect”
• Comparative approach
• Systems theory

Present: towards a unified theory of politics?

RATIONALISTS Game theory or rational choice
Assumptions: studies the rules and games by which politics is played and how human beings
act on their rational preferences
Method: formal models based on simple agent preferences and complex interactions
between actors
Shortcomings: irrotationality in human behaviour (bounded rationality, psychological/cultural
factors, behavioral economics) poor predictions and descriptions of complexity

CULTURALISTS
Assumptions: human beings work within political, economic, social, and cultural structures
that condition their behaviour
Method: thick descriptions of once cases or some particularly relevant cases obtained with
qualitative or quantitative mixed methods
Shortcomings: theoretical irrelevance or ungeneralizable insights. No prediction, rather
explanation or understanding

Systems Theory
Humans have two systems of operations
Fast thinking: unconscious, automatic, everyday decisions, error prone
Slow thinking: conscious, effortful, complex decisions, reliable

Rational egoism people should pursue the maximization of their own pleasure, people will
always act in a way that maximizes their self-interest

Prospect theory value gains and losses differently, placing more weight on perceived gains vs
losses
 • Structure / Pattern – the arrangement of and relations between the parts or elements
of something complex
• Function / Process – an activity that is natural to or the purpose of a person or thing
• Change / Disturbance

Disturbance: changes in structure and function (eg WW2, financial crisis) SHOCK
Quantifiable?
• Intensity
• Seasonality
• Frequency
• Size

è Guaranteed that after an economic crisis, something will happen to the political
system

Political System The set of formal legal institutions that constitute a government or state. This
is the definition adopted by many studies of the legal or constitutional arrangements of
advanced political orders. Political behaviour, not only the legal organization of the state but
also reality of how the state functions. Set of “processes of interaction” or as a subsystem of
the social system interacting with other nonpolitical subsystems, such as the economic
system

Cultural System can be defined as a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic

forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about
and attitudes toward life.
è Structure, functions and changes

Economic System a system of production and exchange of goods and services as well as
allocation of resources in a society. Includes combination of various instructions, agencies,
entities and consumers that compromise the economic structure of a given community. A
related concept is the mode of production.
è Mode of production, processes changing in time (pre-industrial, industrial, post
industrial) (pre-capitalistic, capitalistic, socialistic)

Social System the patterned series of interrelationships existing between individuals, groups
and individuals and forming a coherent whole

Correlation does not equal causation

Positive Feedback Loop: those in which secondary effect tend to reinforce the basic trend
Negative Feedback Loop

In a systems analysis, causal relations are relative to the emergent properties “operating
rules” in a system in a given point in time
Arrows represent causal relations that can change direction

Systems theory: rules are results of interactions between emerging systems

Netrlogo
Cellular automaton

Political Culture

What is political culture? Is it a cause or an effect (feedbacks)? Can it be measured?

“The sum of fundamental values, sentiments, knowledge and experience of a given society
that give form and substance to political process”

Nation building complete: how can we keep this system and avoid threats
Nation building incomplete:

Variants of political culture

1. Different societies are characterized to very different degrees by a specific syndrome
of political cultural attitudes
2. Cultural differences are relatively enduring but not immutable
3. Political culture has major political consequences
4. In democracies, they are closely linked with the visibility of democratic institutions

Inglehart’s indicators
1. Life satisfaction and economic performance
2. Interpersonal trust and political performance
3. Materialist VS post materialist

Sessions 20 & 21

Empirical definitions of democracy

Empirical
The institutional arrangement by which individuals (elites) acquire the right to decide by
means of a competitive struggle for the people’s vote
A form of government in which power is invested in multiple groups or individuals (polyarchy)

Elite democracy but what would be the alternative?

Lots of groups competing with each other: Oligarchy

Normative
A political system in which political power is exercises either directly or indirectly by the
people
A political system that promotes participation, competition and liberty and emphasizes
individual freedom and civil rights (liberal democracy)
A political system that places an emphasis on collective welfare rather than on individual
rights, curtailing individual freedoms in favor of greater equality (social democracy)

Direct democracy: citizens participate directly in governance and decision-making

Indirect democracy: citizens participate indirectly through its elected representatives
Should voting be a duty?

Factors conditioning the functioning of democratic states

1. Elite democracy: characterized by vested interests

Democratic transitions
Stages: liberalization, democratization, consolidation
3 waves of democratization: 19th century, post WI, 1980s and 1990s
Consolidation and “path dependence”: civil, political and socio-economic rights

Spanish approach: condemnation of

Imitated in Latin America and eastern Europe

If you want to reform a system rather than destroy it, you change everything without giving
the appearance that you are changing everything
Everything must change so that nothing changes

Political democracy
ETA/ELN

Assumptions of “transitions” theory

1. Countries that have abandoned “nondemocracy” are transitioning towards
democracy
2. Democratization unfolds in a sequence
3. Beliefs that elections = democracy
4. Structural features (level of economic development, political culture, history, etc) not
determinant in transitioning to democracy
5. Democratic transitions are built on functioning states

è Democracies have only been built on previously functioning state (how can you have
a democracy in a state that doesn’t provide security)

Democracy = development resulting in middle class

Economic development resulting in middle class = best achieved with modernizing
dictatorship
Modernizing dictatorship favoring economic development and emergence of middle class =
eventually leads to democracy

Session 22 & 23
Capitalism can turn suicidal ideation into a business: antidepressants & opioids
Opioid pandemic is a market solution for the discontent that naturally emerge in any
social/political system
Europeans believe in state channeling (through negative freedom) behaviours towards social
goals VS Americans – variants of same western dreams
Non-Democratic regimes
“A political regime controlled by a small group of individuals who exercise power over the
state without being constitutionally responsible to the people”

Do we trust the elite?

The success of competitive authoritarianism

- Democratic mechanism are used to capture and exert political power

Characteristics of Competitive Authoritarianism

- Corrupted democracy = fraud
- Corrupted economy = bribery, oligopolies
- Successful in delivering stable government

Pluralist system of interest representation