Deals with collective decisions that extend beyond the individual and typically involve government action

-Boundaries are not always clear between this and the other sphere. (ex; Banking Crisis)

Have the power to make binding decisions on people

Have authoritative and coercive powers

-Hobbes: Conflict of all against all called for the need of Leviathan

-Rousseau: Man was free before government and slowly became corrupted as he was taken out of nature

-Locke: Limited government to protect rights

-Community and Nation Building

-Security and Order

-Protect Rights

-Promote economic efficiency and growth

-Provide public goods and services (roads,hospitals, schools, etc..)

-Externalities- (protect against damaging private actions such as pollution)

-Social Justice

-Protect the weak and underpriveleged

• Destruction of Communities 
• State as a source of violence and disorder
• Violation of Rights
• Social Injustice
• Economic Inefficiency
• Government for Private Gain 
• Vested interests and inertia

2 properties

1. A set of interdependent parts

2. Boundaries toward the environment

2a.Make authoritative public decisions

2b. Elements include institutions of government such as legislatures, executives, bureaucracies, courts

A particular type of political system that has sovereignty; independent legal authority

-Has constraints on sovereignty from within and abroad

• Geographic location can have strategic implications;(ex, Britain v. Poland)
• The absence of common identity can have severe political consequences 
• Battle over national, ethnic, or religious identities
• Vast majority of organized violence is intrastate (within) not interstate (with other states)
• Integration easier for some states; mostly dependent on diversity; ex; Japan v. Nigeria

• Refers to a gorup of people with a common identity (many possible bases)
• For example some may say there are different "nations" within the Middle East. Palestinian nation is dominate in the ME yet has no set boundaries; it is in muliple states; Gaza Strip and West Bank
• Multinational states which consist of several "nations" are common
• "Nation" usually identified along similar customs, cultures, religions, etc..

• Physical differences
• Language
• Norms against marriage
• Religion
• Negative historical memories

1. Economic Development

2. Political Democratization 

"Globalization, Democratization, and marketization"

Shift of Structure of Labor Force

Agriculture-->Manufacturing-->Services

Urbanization

Education Levels, Health, Communications, Transportation

• Unequal distribution of resources are among the most serious causes of political conflict
• Large GDP may conceal significant differences in distribution of these resources

Lack defining features of democracy: contestation and participation

**favoring or enforcing strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom**

oligarchy-->dictatorship--->Totalitarianism

1st half of 20th century: Western States

2nd: 1940s-1960s: Defeated authoritarian powers and newly independent states

3. 1974-present: South Europe, East Asia, Latin America and a number of African States

*Democracy has become a common goal of the global community*

Aristotle: Economic and social comparisons of Greek city states

Contemporary Political Scientists:  Explain differences between INPUTS, PROCESSES, and performances of POLITICAL SYSTEMS

• Description: 1st stage in the study of politics
• Conceptual Framework: Terminology is critical
• Intersubjective: Should be understood in same way by different subjects; the easier a set of concepts is to understand and the more generally it can be applied, the more helpful it is for the study of politics

Experiments: (Experimental Group,Control Group, Random Assignment) often difficult because it is hard to manipulate control and experimental groups in a large human population

One or only a few subjects tested; subjects not put into groups but individually tested

Maximize difference on variable of interest

Statements about the relationship between independent and dependent variables; like bricks.

Prediction

Hypotheses and theoriees are tested against DATA

Set of institutions concerned with formulating and implementing collective goals; governments: policymaking parts of political systems

• Exists in International and Domestic environments
• International: exchanges among countries, interdependence, IMF, UN, etc..
• Domestic: economic and social systems, political culture

Parliaments, bureaucracies, administrative agencies, courts

•  perform functions which enable government to formulate, implement, and enforce policies
• 6 types of Political Structures
• Political Parties, Interest Groups, Legislatures, Executives, Bureaucrats, Courts

• Activities necessary for policy to be made and implemented in any political system

1. Political system: pride in nation; national identity; legitimacy of government

2. Political and Policymaking Process: role of citizens; perceptions of political rights

3. Policy outputs and Outcomes: role of government; government policy priorities

• Exists in every political system, but the ways in which it is channeled varies greatly
• As societies have become more complex, the extent and type of interest articulation has evolved

One dimension of interest articulation

• Voting is the most common activity
• working with others in a community
• direct contact with government
• Protests or other contentious action

1. Associational Groups

2 .Nonassociational Groups

3. Institutional Groups

4. Anomic Groups

• Common interests, but not formal groups; Religion and ethnicity

• Very large; government bureaucracy, big business, labor unions, etc.

• Spontaneous formation and action, sometimes violent; examples inlude Arab Spring, protest rallies

• A society in which people are involved in social and political interactions free of state control or regulation
• requires free access to communication and information
• A vigorous civil society is said to be an important underpinning of Democracy

3 major types

1. Pluralist

2. Democratic Corporatist

3. Controlled

Multiple groups, each representing single interest, group membership is voluntary and limited. Example small neighborhood groups, abortion groups, etc...

• Clear separation between interest groups and the government 
• Cleavages are cross cutting; not cumulative; meaning someone may be in an pro choice group but favor republican ideals...not determinate of their specific views

• A single peak association represents each interest
• Membership is often compulsory; groups are centrally organized and direct the actions of their members
• Systematically invovled in making, implementing policy
• Example: (wage bargaining between business, labor and government in smaller European countries)

Groups are controlled by the government to mobilize support for its policies

Ex: Get out and vote push by Obama to get minorities in order to choose him for president