Margins Study Assistant

Chapter 1

What Is Politics and What Is Political Science?

Summary

Public policy—all the actions that governments take that are designed to influence individual, group, institutional, or national behavior—is one of the main products of politics. Politics involves the activities of individuals who are cooperating or competing with others to resolve disagreements over scarce resources or different preferences. To understand political activity and outcomes, it is useful to focus on the rules that determine what the actors can and cannot do, the reality of the political environment, and the choices that the political actors make Politics is the means by which societies decide who gets what, when, and how.

Key terms

politics: “who gets what, where, when, and how”—the process for resolving disputes and allocating scarce resources
political science: the systematic study of political phenomena using empirical or philosophical methods
rules: instructions regarding what behaviors are required, forbidden, or allowed
reality: the world as it is, as verified by observations and measurements
government: the set of institutions that make and implement decisions for a political collective, most often for a specific geographic area
public policy: any decision by a government, such as a law, regulation, or ruling, that attempts to guide human behavior

Chapter 2

Political Behavior Is Human Behavior

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Summary

Rawls’s theory of social justice is based on the concept of the choices rational beings would make behind the “veil of ignorance.” Non-Western thinkers, feminist scholars, and Black philosopher/activists have developed… Real people engaging in political action—not philosophical conceptions of human rights, social justice, the purpose of government, and just rule—determine how these concepts play out in practice. None of the answers are universally accepted, in part because any answers are based at least in part on the context in which they are offered

Key terms

answers: universally accepted, in part because any answers are based at least in part on the context in which they are offered
rational: behavior that strategically seeks to maximize an individual’s own well-being, however the individual defines it
social justice: the equitable distribution of opportunities, resources, and rights within a community
human rights: the fundamental, inalienable rights individuals have by virtue of being persons
capitalism: an economic system in which the means of producing and distributing goods are privately owned and individuals are assumed to be motivated by acquisitiveness
Marxism: the term that is used to label the political philosophy of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, which holds that a society is just when both economic and labor contributions and…
public goods: resources that benefit everyone because they cannot be withheld from anyone and are not used up when individuals benefit from them
direct democracy: a system of government in which all decisions are made, usually by voting, through the participation of all citizens

Chapter 3

Political Ideology

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Summary

Rousseau added to the social contract tradition the idea of government based on the general will Ancient Greek political ideologies emphasized the importance of consolidating political power in the hands of a virtuous ruler or group of rulers while also looking to design second-best models of government, usually… Hobbes and Locke developed the idea of the state of nature, wherein individuals are thought of as interacting in the absence of a ruling government. Hobbes and Locke both argued that governments should be judged according to what individuals in a state of nature would have freely consented for government to be.

Key terms

political ideologies: consciously held ideas about both how political life is structured and how it should be structured
social contract: according to Hobbes, an agreement among the people to give power to an authority that can ensure that everyone follows the laws of nature and can punish those who do not
state of nature: a term used by thinkers such as Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau to describe what they suppose life would be like if there were no government ruling over the people
natural rights: according to Locke and other thinkers, rights that individuals have as a consequence of the natural law
general will: Rousseau’s term for laws that advance the true good of every person in society
critical race and gender theory: a contemporary movement to expand rights and equity by compensating past victims of injustice through law and public policy in order to achieve a current condition that is judged…
multiculturalism: an ideology arguing that all or almost all of the cultures in the world are valid and should be respected, that many individuals derive a great sense of their identity and…
structural racism: a form of racism thought to be manifest when actions are taken within a legal, political, and cultural context that has been shaped by the past racist decisions of others…

Chapter 4

Civil Liberties

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Summary

Community responsibilities are an individual’s duties or obligations to the community—those things that are expected of individuals if they wish to remain members of that community Individualist systems emphasize the importance of individuals over the importance of the community, while communitarian systems emphasize community cohesiveness while also recognizing the importance of individual… A constitution may be expressed in terms of negative rights, when it is written in a way that emphasizes limitations on the government, or positive rights, when it is written to emphasize the government’s obligation to… Civil liberties are guarantees of freedom from government interference that prevent the government from placing restrictions on many individual actions and choices.

Key terms

civil liberties: guarantees of freedom from government interference
communitarian: describes a worldview that emphasizes the need for community and its values and the positive role that government plays in the lives of citizens; the idea that government exists…
community responsibilities: an individual’s duties or obligations as a part of a community, including cooperation, respect, and participation; goes beyond thinking and acting as individuals to common…
negative rights: statements of individual rights that emphasize limitations on the government’s ability to infringe on those rights
community: a group of people with shared interests and values, e.g., a family, a religion, or a political group
positive rights: statements of individual rights that emphasize the government’s obligation to guarantee those rights
individualist: describes a minimalist government system wherein individuals take precedence

Chapter 5

Political Participation and Public Opinion

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Summary

Political participation is defined as action that expresses an individual’s political will, and self-government is when the people of a given country are the ones who grant the power to govern that country, through… Voting is considered one of the most important forms of political participation because it is the primary mechanism by which the people ensure that their government represents them. Compared to other countries, the United States does not have high voter turnout. At roughly 66 percent, voter turnout in the 2020 election was high relative to other years, but compared to countries such as Sweden, South Korea, and Turkey, which have rates close to 80 percent, US elections have…

Key terms

public opinion: views that individuals are willing to express openly at a specific point in time
political participation: activities that express opinions on public officials and public policy; the ways in which people can influence political outcomes
self-government: when the people of a given country are the ones who grant the power to govern that country, through either direct or indirect representation
voter turnout: the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election
people of a given country: the ones who grant the power to govern that country, through…
conservative: politically speaking, an individual who generally does not believe in government intervention and tends to maintain that governmental control means fewer individual freedoms
voter fatigue: feelings of apathy that the electorate can experience under certain circumstances—for example, when they are required to vote too often or are exposed to too much political…
selection bias: when the method by which a sample is chosen causes the sample to be unrepresentative of the population being studied

Chapter 6

The Fundamentals of Group Political Activity

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Summary

Political socialization is the process by which individuals develop their political personalities from their youth through their adult years. Those who are most important in a person’s life, like their families and friends, play important roles in their political socialization. Socialization affects whether people are even interested in politics and government in the first place The process is not deterministic; you cannot look at all the influences on your development and predict precisely who you will become.

Key terms

socialization: the gradual process through which a person develops the values and beliefs that determine who they will be as an adult
political culture: the set of shared political attitudes, values, goals, and practices within a country
political socialization: the gradual development, from youth through adulthood, of a political personality
coordination problems: the challenges groups face when there is general agreement on goals but disagreement on the specific ways in which to achieve them
supermajority: a voting rule in which more than a majority is needed for a measure to pass
collective action problems: the broad category of activities in which participating individuals have incentives to maximize their own self-interest in ways that harm the group interest
elite culture: those in a country who, by virtue of their wealth, education, and position, have the dominant influence over politics and policy

Chapter 7

Civil Rights

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Summary

Whenever a basic right is denied to a group based on a shared characteristic, a civil rights issue exists Rights may be expressed as positive rights or negative rights. Civil rights are government guarantees of equal protection under the law, regardless of membership in a group based on a shared characteristic such as race, national origin, ethnicity, sex, gender, age, or ability. In the United States, voting is an example of a civil rights issue because certain groups, like women and Black people, have historically been denied the right to vote.

Key terms

civil rights: government guarantees of equal protection under the law, regardless of membership in a group based on a shared characteristic, such as race, national origin, ethnicity, sex…
suffrage: the right to vote, which is a civil right in the United States
constitutionalism: the set of political values and norms derived from a country’s constitution that serve as the basis for a government’s authority
basic right: denied to a group based on a shared characteristic, a civil rights issue exists
negative rights: rights stated as freedoms the government cannot infringe upon
positive rights: rights stated as freedoms the government must protect
civil liberties: limits on the government’s ability to restrict individual freedoms; in the United States, these are mentioned in the Bill of Rights
institutional racism: the idea that, because government institutions are built and run by those in power, whose worldviews and goals aim to perpetuate the status quo from which they benefit…

Chapter 8

Interest Groups, Political Parties, and Elections

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Summary

Noneconomic groups include public interest groups, single-issue groups, civil rights groups, and ideological groups. Disturbance theory, on the other hand, asserts that interest groups change in response to complex issues in society and calls on the government to react to these changes. An interest group is an organized collection of individuals who work to influence government and policy. There are several different types of interest groups.

Key terms

elections: formal group decision-making processes that elect individuals to public office or, in certain states and countries, allow citizens to select among policy preferences
political parties: groups that organize around a shared political ideology, with the primary goal of electing party members to positions in government
interest group: a group of people who organize in order to seek to influence a political outcome
transaction theory: a political theory, espoused by Robert H. Salisbury, that argues that political actors are not influenced by groups that have mobilized to enact change so much as they are…
disturbance theory: a political theory that suggests that interest groups form in response to the changing complexity of government and society
economic groups: interest groups that focus on economic issues such as wages, industry protections, job creation, and profit maximization
public interest group: a group that benefits a narrow constituency or policy issue (such as the American Association of Retired People) and works to achieve benefits for the larger population, not just…
single-issue groups: groups that focus their work on a single issue in order to acquire or maintain benefits for their members (for example, the National Rifle Association)

Chapter 9

Legislatures

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Summary

Legislatures do a lot of different things, but their primary jobs are to make laws, represent constituents, and oversee other parts of government. These jobs exemplify the fundamental reasons a political system needs a legislature. When the people empower a branch of the political system to make the rules governing their relationship with their government, the political system is equipped to resist the ways that power can corrupt. Legislative institutions must require cooperation and consensus to ensure the health of the political system

Key terms

legislature: a deliberative body that is granted the authority to create laws that govern a society
parliamentary system: a political system in which the executive, often a prime minister, is also a part of the legislature
political system: equipped to resist the ways that power can corrupt
constituents: the people whom a legislator represents
executive dominance: a phenomenon in which leaders expand their powers beyond their prior limits and are able to justify those expanded powers so that they are seen by many as legitimate and acceptable
professional legislatures: legislatures that meet year-round, have professional staff, and pay legislators a professional wage so that legislating is their primary job
proportional representation: an electoral system in which the relative support that political parties receive from the population is reflected in the makeup of the legislature
supermajority: a given proportion of a voting body greater than 50 percent that is required to agree in order to come to a decision; typically reserved for especially important or consequential…

Chapter 10

Executives, Cabinets, and Bureaucracies

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Summary

In parliamentary and semi-presidential regimes, the head of government and head of state are separate individuals, and the legislature selects the head of government. Democratic systems are classified into three categories: presidential regimes, parliamentary regimes, and semi-presidential regimes. In presidential regimes, the head of government is directly elected by the citizens and also serves as the head of state. Within each regime, there is a head of government as well as a head of state.

Key terms

cabinets: formal groups of advisors to the chief executive
parliamentary regimes: democratic government systems in which the chief executive is selected by the legislative body and is a member of that legislature
presidential regimes: democratic governments in which the chief executive is selected separately from the legislative body and there exists a separation of powers between the presidency and the…
semi-presidential regimes: democratic government systems in which executive power is split between a prime minister (selected by the legislature) and a president (directly elected by the citizenry)
populism: political approach that uses emotional appeals to promise the masses a political voice in a system that has been perceived to be run by elites
head of state: performed by country’s leader, a ceremonial role in which the individual symbolically represents the country
head of government: performed by a country’s leader, a political role in which the individual leads the country’s government

Chapter 11

Courts and Law

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Summary

The judicial system or judiciary is the court system for a particular area. Sometimes countries change from rule of law to rule by law due to a strengthening of one person’s or one party’s political power In rule-of-law systems, the judicial branch depends on the other branches and the population’s respect for the rule of law to carry out its decisions. Rules of procedure limit what the judicial branch can do.

Key terms

rule of law: the principle that the government is one of law, not of any individual or group
judicial branch: the system of courts that interprets, defends, and applies the law in the name of the government; also called judicial system
rule by law: describes political systems in which the judicial branch and the judiciary help impose the government’s approved viewpoint on the citizens; the judiciary has little independence…
judiciary: the people who work in the judicial branch of a government; also used as a synonym for judicial branch
judicial system or judiciary: the court system for a particular area
arraignment: the initial court hearing in which an arrested individual is informed of the specific criminal charges against them, bail is set, and the individual is appointed an attorney if…
civil law system: a legal system that relies heavily on codes of statutes, in which the judicial process is mainly investigatory rather than adversarial
judicial independence: the concept that the judicial branch is independent of undue influence or pressure from other branches of government, partisanship, or other interests and that it is free to…

Chapter 12

The Media

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Summary

Another common way of defining the media’s role is to say that it acts as the fourth estate, or the unofficial fourth branch of government that checks the others. The mass media serve as powerful guardians of political norms because the free press should keep the public informed about the wrongdoings of government. In order for the press to fulfill this important role, however, countries must protect the freedom of the press—and some countries do a better job than others.

Key terms

watchdog: the role of the press to act as a check on the government to make sure that it is appropriately serving its purpose
fourth estate: a term for the media that casts it as an unofficial fourth branch of government that checks the other branches of government
press: also important because it serves as an information conduit between the government and the people
mediated information: information that is not received directly from the source, such as the government, but comes via a third party, such as the media
echo chambers: online environments in which the same opinions are repeatedly voiced and promoted to the exclusion of opposing views
gatekeeping: the process by which information and topics are filtered and selected by the media
misinformation: incorrect information that is spread regardless of intent to mislead

Chapter 13

Governing Regimes

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Summary

A government can be defined as a set of organizations, with their associated rules and procedures, that has the authority to exercise the widest scope of power—the ability to impose its will on others to secure desired… If either a government’s clearly authorized exercises of power or its exercise of vaguely defined emergency powers comes to be seen as illegitimate, the government can be exposed to civil disobedience or revolution Governments have an incentive to structure their exercises of power in the form of clearly authorized rules found in statutes, constitutions, or both, and most governments seek to legitimate their rule—that is, they… Following Weber, many political scientists distinguish between broad legitimacy, or the fact of a state being seen as legitimate by a wide percentage of the population, and judgments about a government’s legitimacy…

Key terms

governing regime: a set of organizations, and their associated rules and procedures, that has the authority to exercise the widest scope of power—including the power to have the final say over…
propaganda: misleading statements and depictions meant to persuade by means other than rational engagement
broad legitimacy: the trait a government has of being seen by the broad population subject to its authority as rightfully exercising its power
civil disobedience: the nonviolent refusal to follow authorized exercises of governmental power with the purpose of demanding political change
authority: the permission, conferred by the laws of a governing regime, to exercise power
power: the ability to impose one’s will on others to secure desired outcomes
judgments about legitimacy: the perspective of individual citizens or groups of citizens who make determinations about whether their government is or is not legitimate
Supreme Leader: in Iran, an office vested with ultimate political authority that must be held by a Shi‘a cleric of the Twelver school who is respected among the leading clerics of Iran; in North…

Chapter 14

International Relations

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Summary

In international relations, sovereignty is the ability of a state to chart its own path through the international system. States and other institutions use their military, economic, and political power to try to influence the structure of the international environment so that it aligns with their preferences. More powerful states tend to wield greater influence in international organizations. Political actors may use each of these levers of power in an aggressive fashion, as when one state sends troops to invade another state or when one state interferes in another state’s elections, or they can employ soft…

Key terms

international relations: a subfield of political science that focuses on the ways different states interact with one another
nation: a shared group identity gleaned from a common culture or ethnicity
sovereignty: the ability of a state to run its institutions without fear of interference from other states or entities and to respond to threats as they emerge
state: one of the foundational institutions in the international system; an institutional infrastructure that allows a society to function
power: the ability of a state to prompt its preferred outcome in a given situation
bipolar system: an international environment where two states of comparable power create a situation in which neither is willing to attack the other
constructivism: in international relations, the theory that expected patterns of behavior among states are the glue that holds the international system together
dependency theory: a theory of international relations that argues that the stratification of countries in the international system is based on core countries and periphery countries, where core…

Chapter 15

International Law and International Organizations

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Summary

The need to cooperate to address common problems and attain collective goods has led to the development of a robust if imperfect system of global governance. Issues such as climate change, terrorism, international crime, religious movements, trade, and human migration impact every state. Global governance helps manage the anarchy of the international system by setting rules and boundaries for state behavior and providing forums for collective action International law, created by multilateral treaties, establishes boundaries on state behavior.

Key terms

international law: the rules, drawn from treaties and customs, that govern the way states interact with each other
global governance: the bringing together of state and non-state actors to coordinate collective action for the purpose of providing global public goods such as peace and security, economic…
terrorism: the use of violence by non-state actors against civilians in order to achieve a political goal
collective goods: goods available to all, regardless of individual contribution
responsibility to protect (R2P): a principle that states have a responsibility to protect all people, whether they are citizens of their own state or of other states, from genocide and crimes against humanity
tragedy of the commons: the depletion of common resources when the incentives for states to act selfishly are greater than the incentives to cooperate to achieve a collective good
nongovernmental organization (NGO): a transnational group or entity whose members are private citizens working together on a common interest
intergovernmental organizations (IGOs): organizations whose members are state governments

Chapter 16

International Political Economy

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Summary

International political economy examines the ways in which political factors shape public policies and define who the winners and losers of these policies are. Within a mercantilist system, monarchical governments engaged in protectionist policies to safeguard their riches During the absolutist era, the amount of wealth in the world was considered finite—determined by a fixed supply of precious metals—and powerful monarchs amassed wealth in gold and silver. The Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution marked the introduction of the concept of civilization as opposed to savagery, transforming European societies and the world.

Key terms

protectionist policies: restrictions on imports by means of tariff and non-tariff barriers
political factors: domestic and international components of politics and the policy-making process that result in specific public policies
absolute poverty: living conditions under which basic human necessities like food, clean drinking water, sanitation, and shelter are not met
environmental, social, and governance (ESG): standards investors use to screen potential investments; environmental criteria describe a company’s performance as a steward of nature, social criteria report the company’s…
fixed (pegged) exchange rate: situation in which the value of a currency is fixed against the value of another currency, basket of currencies, or gold
scientism: the view that inductive methods of the natural sciences are the only source of genuine knowledge
gold standard: the monetary system in which the standard unit of account is a fixed quantity of gold
rationalism: the belief that reason rather than experience is the foundation of knowledge