Power, Politics Concepts Systems Theories

Concepts: power The ability of groups or individuals to have their way, even if resisted

Concepts: authority Legitimate power

4 Traditional Authority –Custom, culture; often inherited Rational-Legal Authority –Written rules; often bureaucratic Charismatic Authority –Based on personal qualities, attraction –Often transitional, crisis Types of authority (Weber)

Relationship between power and authority: Power can be coercive—based on the threat or use of force Authority rests in the receiver—e.g., “consent of the governed” Ever gotten “pulled over?” Ever had a gun to your head?

Concepts: government Process whereby officials form policies, make decisions, and exercise state power

Concepts: politics Use of power; usually to affect the scope and content of government

Concepts: state Definition (Giddens & Duneier: 2000): “a political apparatus of government…ruling over a given territory, whose authority is backed by a legal system and by the capacity to use military force to implement its policies.” Weber: monopoly over the legitimate means of violence

Concepts: nationalism A set of symbols and beliefs providing the sense of being part of a single political community (nationality) Arose with the modern nation-state

Concepts: citizenship Rights of a person based on birth and/or residence within a nation-state

Concepts: nation-state Characteristics: –Sovereignty (specific territories) –Formal codes of law, including citizenship Citizens identify: nationalism Citizenship rights

Forms of state Power masses centralized Participatory (direct) democracy Representative (liberal) democracy Constitutional monarchy Autocracy (dictatorship) Democratic centralism (communism)

Theories of democracy Democratic elitism Pluralism Power elite Fiscal crisis Legitimation crisis The Third Way

Pluralism (functionalist) Individuals have little direct influence over government Interest groups give us indirect influence Government is a compromise

Power elite Mills: a concentration of power among socially allied members of three key sectors: Directors & officers of large corporations Key positions in the federal government Top officers in the military Power elite dominates; interest groups and masses below have lost power Domhoff updates: corporate, social, policy

Legitimation crisis Jurgen Habermas, 1975 Fiscal crisis (see O’Connor) can be managed by the state, as long as people have – illusion of participation, –or distracting issues If public becomes disillusioned, state loses its legitimacy (authority)