Description
Book SynopsisTable of ContentsIntroduction 1
About This Book 1
Conventions Used in This Book 2
Icons Used in This Book 2
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go from Here 3
Part 1: Understanding Political Science 5
Chapter 1: Discovering the Discipline of Political Science 7
Looking at Politics and Political Science 8
Going back to the history of political science 8
Being a part of the social sciences 9
Being fragmented 10
Studying Political Power 11
Exercising political power 12
Different thoughts on political power 12
Views on who holds the power 12
Checking on sources of political power 14
Searching for Sources of Legitimacy 15
Political structures 15
Results 15
History 16
Habit 16
International recognition 16
Religion 16
Nationalism 17
Chapter 2: Shaping Research in Political Science: Looking at Major Approaches 19
Starting with Traditionalism 20
Switching to Behavioralism 21
Being a behavioralist 22
Turning the social sciences into a real science 25
Moving Leftward with Post-Behavioralism 25
Agreeing with behavioralism 26
Differing from behavioralism 26
Comparing Political Science Theories 27
Creating theories 28
Grand theory 28
Medium-range theory 29
Narrow-range theory 29
Looking at Historical Sociology 29
Seeking Benefits: Rational Choice Theory 30
Chapter 3: Dealing with Political Culture 31
Analyzing Political Culture 31
The importance of political culture 32
Changing political cultures 33
Sustaining Democracy: The Civic Culture 34
Being behavioral in nature 35
Asking questions 36
Finding three political cultures 37
Needing three political cultures to sustain democracy 38
Working on Political Socialization 39
Goals of political socialization 40
Agents of political socialization 41
Moving from Materialist to Postmaterialist 44
Part 2: Comparing Governments 47
Chapter 4: Discussing Different Forms of Government 49
Identifying Types of Governments 49
Diving in to democracy 50
Testing totalitarianism 52
Answering to authoritarianism 55
Dividing Powers 56
Centering on a unitary system 56
Focusing on federalism 57
Dissecting federalism versus a unitary system 57
Checking on confederations 59
Classifying the three systems of governments 61
Chapter 5: Setting the Rules: Constitutions 63
Looking at Constitution Basics 64
Discovering the purpose of constitutions 65
Checking out constitution components 65
Creating a New Country: The U.S Constitution of 1789 66
Framing the U.S Constitution 67
Facing problems 67
Writing a constitution 68
Using checks and balances 69
Forming an electoral college 69
Getting stronger 70
Using three principles 71
Protecting citizens’ rights 72
Making changes 74
Checking on a New Document: The Russian Constitution 75
Looking at similarities 75
Noting the differences 76
Structuring government 76
Guaranteeing civil rights and liberties 77
Changing the Russian Constitution 78
Chapter 6: Comparing Political Institutions: Systems of Government 79
Comparing Democratic Political Systems 80
Parliamentary democracies versus presidential democracies 80
Unicameralism versus bicameralism 82
Studying the U.S Congress 82
Looking at Great Britain 85
Analyzing Executives 86
The U.S presidency 86
Evolution of the U.S presidency 87
Great Britain’s prime ministry 88
Going Bureaucratic 89
The French bureaucracy 90
The U.S bureaucracy 90
Settling Disputes 91
Classifying law 91
Being supreme: The U.S Supreme Court 92
Comparing two higher courts 93
Chapter 7: Elections, Political Parties, and Interest Groups 95
Studying Elections 96
Explaining voting behavior 96
Determining the vote 97
Political Parties — Necessary for Democracy 99
Defining a political party 99
Dealing with party systems 101
Causing different party systems 102
Classifying political parties 103
Functioning in a democracy 103
Realigning with another party 106
Interest Groups: Influencing the Government 107
Going pluralist 107
Being elitist 108
Differing from political parties 108
Classifying types of interest groups 109
Joining interest groups 109
Being powerful 110
Checking out interest group functions 111
Part 3: Going Global: International Relations 113
Chapter 8: Thinking Globally: The Study of International Relations 115
Understanding the Origins of International Relations 116
Creating states 116
Getting familiar with international relations terms 117
Getting into the Theories of International Relations 117
Individual: The first level of analysis 118
State: The second level of analysis 118
Systemic: The third level of analysis 119
Getting Real: The Power of Realism 119
Balancing power: The balance of power theory 120
Avoiding conflict: The power transition model 122
Noting neorealism 123
Moving into hegemonic decline 125
Doing Good: Idealism 127
Being Equal through Global Humanism 129
Striving for Change with Constructivism 130
Chapter 9: Creating Some Order: International Law and Diplomacy 131
Defining International Law 132
Studying Sources of International Law 133
Reviewing the great writers of international law 133
Examining international treaties 137
Connecting with Diplomacy 141
Being a successful diplomat 142
Regulating diplomacy: The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 142
Chapter 10: Creating Order through International Organizations 145
Getting Together in Europe — The Concert of Europe 146
Calling for a League of Nations 146
Coming up with 14 points 147
Starting weak as an international organization 148
Needing a United Nations 149
Sharing similarities with the League of Nations 150
Setting up a Charter for the United Nations 151
Looking at the six structures of the United Nations 152
Budgeting for an international organization 156
Keeping the peace 157
Guaranteeing human rights 158
Setting up the International Bill of Human Rights 160
Chapter 11: Not Going to War: The Cold War 1946–1991 163
Explaining the Cold War 164
Using systemic explanations 164
Applying history 164
Misinterpreting actions 165
Trying to protect itself 165
Being aggressive 166
Highlighting the Cold War 166
Containing the Soviet Union 166
Coming together 167
Saving Greece and Turkey: The Truman Doctrine 168
Restoring Europe: The Marshall Plan 168
Feeding millions: The Berlin Airlift 169
Going to war in Korea 169
Just talking: The Doctrine of Rollback 170
Building the Berlin Wall 171
The Cuban missile crisis 172
Staying Communist: The Brezhnev Doctrine 172
Getting stuck in Vietnam 172
Invading Afghanistan 175
Destroying an empire 175
Analyzing Strategic Doctrines and the Arms Race 176
Becoming superior one more time 177
Getting creative in the 1970s 178
Chapter 12: Dealing with Political Violence: War and Terrorism 181
Examining Warfare 182
Discovering the types of war 182
Changing warfare 183
Looking at the Causes of War 184
Economic 184
Sociological 184
Psychological 185
Ideological 186
Systemic 187
Dealing with Terrorism 187
Studying characteristics of terrorism 188
Taking in types of terrorism 189
Going to War with Evil 191
How a terrorist group begins: Al Qaeda 192
Evolution of a terrorist leader 193
Exploring the Costs of War 193
Chapter 13: Mixing Disciplines: International Political Economy 195
Fusing Economics and Politics 196
Creating a New Economic Order 196
Designing a World Bank 197
Establishing the International Monetary Fund 198
Developing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 199
Discovering Economic Theories 199
Economic liberalism 200
Mercantilism 201
State capitalism 202
State socialism 203
Examining Population and the Division of Wealth 204
Defining terms 204
Looking at global inequality 205
Causing Economic Decline in the Third World 205
Colonialism 206
Dependency theory 206
Third-World elites 207
Domestic factors 207
International organizations 208
The international debt crisis 208
Multinational corporations 209
Seeking Globalization: An Integration of Countries 210
Measuring globalization 211
Comparing countries: The KOF Index of Globalization 211
Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel 213
Part 4: Going from Classical to Modern Political Ideologies 215
Chapter 14: Starting in Greece: The Roots of Political Science 217
Studying Ancient Greece and the Start of Political Science 218
Questioning Everything: Socrates 219
Introducing inductive reasoning 219
Taking a critical look at politics 220
Putting Political Philosophy into Play: Plato 220
Advocating for ethics 222
Believing in just behavior 222
Dividing into classes 223
Creating an elite 224
Seeking a Scientific Approach: Aristotle 224
Creating communities 225
Being human: A look at humanity and politics 226
Classifying forms of governments 226
Putting Ethics to Use 227
Serving the public first 227
Designing the U.S government 228
Chapter 15: Going Modern: Middle Ages to the Present 229
Taking a Lesson on Catholic Theory 229
Saint Augustine (354–430) 230
Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) 231
Revolting against religion 232
Understanding Power 232
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) 232
Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) 236
John Locke (1632–1704) 239
Montesquieu (1689–1755) 241
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) 243
Moving to Classical Conservatism 245
Saving traditional beliefs and institutions 245
Defining conservative views 246
Advocating for Classical Liberalism 247
Leaving the economy alone 248
Believing in people 249
Putting the Government Back in Charge: Modern Liberalism 250
Chapter 16: Moving to the Right: Fascism, Neofascism, and Right-Wing Populism 251
Getting a Sense of Fascism 252
Starting Out: The Beginnings of Fascism 253
Coming first: Benito Mussolini 253
Causing Fascism 254
The story behind Fascism 255
Fascist core beliefs 256
Rising of Neofascism 259
Challenging the Elite: Populism 260
Making a path for populism 261
Causing populism 262
Swinging Right: Right-Wing Populism in Europe 262
Building of a right-wing populist party in France: The French National Front 263
Wanting change: The Alternative for Germany (AfD) 267
Chapter 17: Going Left: Communism, Socialism, and Social Democracy 271
Causing Socialism 271
Starting with Karl Marx 273
Marx’s political theories 274
Marx’s economic theories 277
Realities of Marx’s theories 279
Updating Marxism: Lenin 279
Lenin’s contributions to Marxism 280
Dissecting Lenin’s pivotal work 281
Traveling to Asia: Maoism 283
Going Democratic: Social Democracy 285
Part 5: The Part of Tens 287
Chapter 18: Ten Political Science Books Everyone Should Read 289
Politics (335–323 BCE) 290
The Prince (1513) 290
Leviathan (1651) 291
Two Treatises of Government (1690) 291
The Wealth of Nations (1776) 292
The Communist Manifesto (1848) 292
The American Voter (1960) 293
Man, the State, and War (1959) 293
Who Governs? (1961) 294
Who’s Running America? (8th Edition, 2017) 295
Chapter 19: Ten Modern Political Scientists 297
David Easton 298
Gabriel Almond 298
Hans Morgenthau 299
Kenneth Waltz 299
Vladimir Orlando Key 300
Samuel P. Huntington 300
John Rawls 301
Francis Fukuyama 301
Robert Gilpin 302
Robert O. Keohane 302
Index 303
