Politics: the Basics, 4Th Edition
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POLITICS THE BASICS 4TH EDITION This highly successful introduction to the world of politics has been fully revised and updated in collaboration with a new co-author, Nigel Jackson of the University of Plymouth. The new edition builds on the reputation for clarity and comprehensive coverage of the previous editions. It explores the varieties of political systems, the main political movements and key issues at the beginning of the twenty-first century. New to the fourth edition: • comparison of quantitative and qualitative methods • more international examples • greater discussion of non-Western concepts of politics • the problem of voter apathy and lack of trust in politicians • more discussion of the ‘war on terrorism’ • extended analysis of the role of the Internet in politics including blogs, search engine censorship and e-democracy • analysis of further key concepts such as genocide and policy networks • more links to web pages including case studies, further questions to explore and additional learning activities. Accessible in style and topical in content, this book assumes no prior know- ledge of politics. These features make it ideal reading for general readers as well as for those who are just beginning to study politics at undergraduate level. Stephen D. Tansey has taught Politics at the universities of Ife (Nigeria), Exeter and Bournemouth, for the Open University and the WEA. He is the author of Business, Information Technology and Society (also published by Routledge). Nigel Jackson has worked as a parliamentary agent for a UK political party, for an MP and as a parliamentary lobbyist. Teaching at the University of Plymouth, his research interests are in political communication and political marketing, especially online. Also available from Routledge THE ROUTLEDGE DICTIONARY OF POLITICS DAVID ROBERTSON FIFTY MAJOR POLITICAL THINKERS (SECOND EDITION) IAN ADAMS AND R.W. DYSON FIFTY KEY FIGURES IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY BRITISH POLITICS KEITH LAYBOURN FIFTY KEY THINKERS IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS MARTIN GRIFFITHS INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: THE KEY CONCEPTS MARTIN GRIFFITHS AND TERRY O’CALLAGHAN THE ROUTLEDGE COMPANION TO FASCISM AND THE FAR RIGHT PETER DAVIES AND DEREK LYNCH INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: THE BASICS PETER SUTCH AND JUANITA ELIAS POLITICS THE BASICS 4TH EDITION stephen d. tansey and nigel jackson First edition published 1995 Second edition published 2000 Third edition published 2004 Fourth edition, 2008 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa © 1995, 2000, 2004 Stephen D. Tansey; 2008 Stephen D. Tansey and Nigel Jackson We, Stephen Douglas Tansey and Nigel Jackson, hereby assert and give notice to our right under section 77 of the Copyright Design and Patents Act 1988, to be identified as the authors of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Tansey, Stephen D., 1942– Politics : the basics / Stephen D. Tansey and Nigel Jackson. — 4th ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Political science. I. Jackson, Nigel A. II. Title. JA66.T35 2008 320—dc22 2007038803 ISBN 0-203-92919-5 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 10: 0–415–42243–4 (hbk) ISBN 10: 0–415–42244–2 (pbk) ISBN 10: 0–203–92919–5 (ebk) ISBN 13: 978–0–415–42243–7 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978–0–415–42244–4 (pbk) ISBN 13: 978–0–203–92919–3 (ebk) TO THE NEXT GENERATION – ESPECIALLY ELIOT, TOBY, FREYA AND JAKE CONTENTS List of illustrations xi Preface xiii Acknowledgements xix 1 Politics 1 This chapter . 1 Politics in everyday life 1 What is politics? 3 Approaches to the study of politics 7 Traditional scholarship 9 Social science and politics 12 Schools of political science 15 Theories, models, paradigms 18 Radical and postmodernist criticism 19 Conclusion 23 Recommended reading 23 Websites 24 2 Systems 26 This chapter . 26 States and societies 26 Politics without the state: tribal societies 27 Feudalism 31 States without nations: kingdoms 33 States without nations: empires 36 Nations and states 38 The nation state and sovereignty 39 viii CONTENTS Politics between states 40 Politics beyond the state: international institutions 41 Multinational enterprises and ‘globalisation’ 42 Politics as a universal activity 47 Recommended reading 48 Websites 48 3 Concepts 50 This chapter . 50 Human nature and politics 50 Is the state necessary? 52 Why should i obey the state? 54 The nature of authority 56 What is justice? 57 Individualism versus collectivism 60 Rights: natural, human, legal 61 Equality 62 Positive and negative freedom 64 Analysing political concepts 65 Recommended reading 67 Websites 68 4 Ideologies 69 This chapter . 69 Ideology 69 ‘Right’ versus ‘left’ 71 The old right: monarchism 72 The radical right: Nazism and fascism 74 Marxism 76 Leninism and Stalinism 77 Other Marxisms 79 Radicalism 81 Radical theism – Catholic, Protestant and Islamic 81 Ecology as political radicalism 84 Feminism as political radicalism 86 Liberalism 89 Conservatism 92 Thatcherism and neo-conservatism 94 Christian democracy 95 Socialism and social democracy 97 Communitarianism and the ‘third way’ 99 Recommended reading 101 Websites 102 CONTENTS ix 5 Processes 103 This chapter . 103 Political identity 103 Political socialisation and political culture 104 Localism, nationalism, religion and ethnicity 107 Racial and ethnic conflict 110 Dominance, assimilation and social pluralism 112 Elites, classes and political pluralism 114 Political change 117 Coups d’état and revolutions 120 Terror and terrorism 121 Class conflict in the twenty-first century 123 Post-industrial politics: the information polity? 125 ‘North’ versus ‘South’? 129 Conclusion 133 Recommended reading 134 Websites 134 6 States 136 This chapter . 136 Types of state 136 Democracy, the welfare state and the market 139 Forms of representative democracy 142 Military autocracy 146 Civil autocracy 148 Totalitarian governments 150 Nazi government 151 Soviet government 152 Islamic government – breaking the mould? 153 Multi-level government 155 European political institutions 159 Local government 164 Conclusion 168 Recommended reading 168 Websites 169 7 Democracy 170 This chapter . 170 How can government be ‘democratic’? 170 Participation and direct democracy 171 Choosing rulers 173 Electoral systems 173 The executive 175 x CONTENTS The legislature 177 The judiciary 179 Constitutions and constitutionalism 181 Rights and constitutions 182 Pluralist policy making 185 Corporatism 186 Centralisation 187 Political communication 189 Political parties 191 ‘Spin’ and political marketing 193 The permanent campaign 194 Interest groups 195 The mass media 197 The Internet 202 Democracy and communication 204 Recommended reading 204 Websites 206 8 Policies 209 This chapter . 209 Public policy problems and solutions 209 The choice of social decision-making mechanisms 210 The case for the market 212 Problems of market decision making 213 Voluntary organisation 215 Rational policy making: bureaucracy 217 Problems with ‘rational’ policy making 220 Incremental decision making 222 The policy process 224 Implementing public policy 225 Managing local public policy 228 Multi-level governance 229 Evaluating public policy 231 Monitoring performance in public policy 232 Evaluating policy outcomes: the distribution of wealth and income 234 The political policy-making process 236 A crisis in democratic politics? 237 Taking political action 238 Recommended reading 239 Websites 240 Appendix: sources on politics 241 References 249 Index 267 ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURES 4.1 Classifying ideologies 73 8.1 Levels of inter-organisational bargaining 227 8.2 Managing local public service provision 229 BOXES 1.1 Definitions of ‘politics’ and ‘power’ 4 1.2 Assessing the use of methodology in politics 23 2.1 Definition of ‘state’ 27 2.2 Definitions of globalisation 46 2.3 Globalisation – challenges to the nation state 46 3.1 Definitions of anarchism 52 3.2 Justice 59 3.3 Concepts of equality: summary 63 3.4 Definitions of freedom 64 4.1 Ideology as a political concept 71 5.1 Definitions of political socialisation 105 5.2 Political culture 105 5.3 Propositions from pluralist, elite and Marxist models of power 116 5.4 North v South: a major fault line in international relations? 132 5.5 Major political divisions 133 6.1 Republican, autocratic and totalitarian states 137 6.2 Capitalism 140 6.3 The welfare state 141 6.4 Forms of representative democracy 142 xii ILLUSTRATIONS 6.5 The principle of subsidiarity 157 6.6 Relations between levels of government 158 7.1 Political parties 191 7.2 Pressure or interest groups 195 8.1 Choice of social decision-making mechanism 211 8.2 Weber’s characteristics of bureaucracy 218 8.3 A rational–comprehensive model of decision making 219 8.4 Why organisations are not always rational 220 8.5 Hogwood and Gunn’s