Chapter 1- Lecture

Question 1

What is hard power?

Answer 1

military power (for example)

Question 2

What is soft power?

Answer 2

brute force is limited, prohibited.

Question 3

“A has power to the extent that A makes B do something that B would not otherwise do”

What are the resources that A uses to make B do it (for example)?

Answer 3

• money
• threat of punishment
• authority
• respect

Question 4

What does Hans Morganthau believe hard power is? (you don’t need to know the whole quote word for word).

Answer 4

“Power may compromise anything that establishes and maintains the power of man overman…from physical violence to the most subtle psychological ties by which our mind controls another”

-Power is domination. Brute force (made B do it). Power is akin to control–power, force, coercion

Question 5

What reins in hard power?

Answer 5

the law

Question 6

What does Joseph Nye Jr. believe soft power to be? (once again, do not force yourself to recite the whole quote).

Answer 6

“Soft power is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments. It arises from the attractiveness of a country’s culture, political ideals, and policies.”

-force is limited

Question 7

According to Nye, what can one achieve when using soft power?

Answer 7

Receive benefits with fewer costs

Question 8

Which is more instrumental in society, hard or soft power? Why?

Answer 8

Soft power because hard power is less visible because they are limited by laws.

Question 9

What is authority acc. to Mintz?

Answer 9

The right to exercise power that is accepted by those being governed as legitimate.

Question 10

What is traditional authority? Examples?

Answer 10

Authority is based on customs that establish the right of certain persons to rule.

• custom and history
• Ex. monarchy, the pope, parents, PM

Question 11

What is charismatic authority?

Answer 11

Authority that is based on the personal qualities of that leader. Might include exhibiting extraordinary or supernatural qualities through such means as performing miracles, issuing prophecies, or leading a military victory.
-popular admiration/heroic qualities

Question 12

What is rational-legal authority?

Answer 12

The right to rule “based on legal rules and procedures rather than the personal qualities and characteristics of the leaders.”

• vested in the offices held by individuals and the mechanisms that placed them there.
• not the individual but their office. The election is what makes them legitimate.

Question 13

What are the three ways that power can become socially approved?

Answer 13

• traditional authority
• charismatic authority
• rational-legal authority

Question 14

Is authority a mix of all three powers?

Answer 14

yes

Question 15

What is legitimacy acc. to Mintz?

Answer 15

Acceptance by the members of a political community that those in positions of power have the right to govern.

Question 16

What is legitimacy closely related to the concept of in democracies?

Answer 16

consent

Question 17

Why are elections important in regards to legitimacy?

Answer 17

• they lead to the process of being legitimate

- the process leads to acceptance

Question 18

What are some of the major political issues in your local, provincial, and national communities?

Answer 18

local: public transit workers contract
provincial: drinking and driving
national: murdered and missing indigenous women

Question 19

Where do you come into play in the context of local, provincial, and national issues?

Answer 19

A lot of issues are filtered throughout own subjective experience. What matters to you today is a part of your race, gender, wealth, etc. Different things matter to different people.

Question 20

Democratic governments, when deciding what issues to deal with, how are they made aware of them? Is it top down? Or do community groups make them aware of certain issues?

Answer 20

• Both
• Think of the agents of socialization that we are exposed to. How does the media play a role in public opinion, whether or not it leads to action?
• Why are some issues ignored and others not? It all comes back to power.

Question 21

Explain some questions of common good that arise from this quote: “Ideally politics is about pursuing the common good of a political community.”

Answer 21

• Is the common good tied to the majority, not the few? Is it something static, or does it change?
• In the context of a democratic system, does the common good change with the interests of the collective?
• Are governments always in tune with the discussion of the common good?