Unit 1: Fundementals of Political Thought

How To Approach Polıtıcal Thoughts

Throughout the history, human beings have focused on three main issues regarding political practices:

1. power and authority,
2. the way rulers should act/decide,
3. and how the system of ruling should be formed, revised or challenged.

It is important to examine both western and eastern civilization to understand the political thoughts that have prevailed throughout history. The most important civilization in this sense was Ancient Greece.

There are three main approaches to explain political thoughts:

1. Contextual approach: the historical context (the conditions, problems and the people involved) where political ideologies emerge is very important for a logical discussion of ideologies and political thinking. It is criticized for having too much emphasis on historical development and context but ignoring human’s nature. The most important problem with the approach is finding a good method to analyze the historical context.
2. The Straussian approach: In this approach, human nature is important and should be dealt with free from time and place. The ideas of great philosophers are important in this approach. The wisdom is basic. It gives importance to commonalities in human experience By way of doing so, political thought can qnswer many questions about human nature.
3. The postmodern approach: It criticizes both approaches mentioned above. Social life can be understood with reference to the discourses and the discursive frameworks produced by individuals. Social progress is criticized and individual progress is more important. The ideal politics change from person to person. Universal definitions of good / bad are not true according to this approach. Also past experiences affect today’s practices. We reshape them according to our mentalities.

Fundamental Concepts I: Power And Authorıty

Power has always been important concept throughout history which can have different forms according to many variables such as economy, values, culture etc. Power means how people use their force in certain situations and it is observed in every part of life. The term “power” comes from the word “potestas”, which can be translated today as “power over”. When people refer to the “capacity” to do something, it is a specific form of power and based on “potential”. Authority means using power in a legitimate way. The word authority comes from “auctoritas”, which means legitimate power. A political figure who has authority is someone whose ideas and political approaches are accepted by her followers. Authority is not limited to politics as. It can be observed in different parts of daily life such as religion and even mafia, There are three types of authority according to Weber:

1. Charismatic authority. The authority has exceptional superior characteristics. The disadvantage is that is it is temporary.
2. Traditional authority: it is related to customs and traditions and based on conservatism. Stability and social order should be preserved.
3. Legal-rational authority: it is formal and not related to individual characteristics. Authority is based on legality and bureaucracy. It is observed in modern states.

Fundamental Concepts Ii: Ruling, Legitimacy And Government

Legitimacy means being right, and in political context it means people’s approval and positive perception of the government as rightful body to govern, especially after the elections. Here, positive perception is important because winning in the elections does not always guarantee legitimacy. In the past, it was a power given by the God or religions. It is related to governing a state, and different states have different governing structures. Government is a group of people who has the authority to run a state. the term government comes from the Latin gubernare and Greek kubernan. It means steering a ship and implies that the path taken by the society and the state is determined by those who govern. Governance is about the interaction between civil society organizations and state institutions.

There are different state structures according to different points of view. For intuitionalist observers, the state is defined in relation to the claim of monopoly of force within a given territory. This monopoly may be demanded by either by institutions or a human community, or even a political leader. From a critical and materialist point of view, the state is the result of class struggle and the relations of production.

Capitalist states are different from patrimonial or feudal states in many ways.

In modern democracies, powers are separated, which means that the judiciary, executive, and legislature are held by different groups. It allows different institutions to check the practices of the government Also according to the rule of law, governments should obey certain rules, so their power is limited. This judicial power became more important in the late 20th century.

In democracies, groups learn from the process and try to find solutions to the problems by discussing.

Fundamental Concepts Iıı: Polıtıcs And Ideology

Ideology is about creating meanings, symbols, and ideas while representing different dimensions of social reality. Ideology can also be defined our imaginary relation with the actual life conditions. It serves a kind of legitimatization for the power of governments and their practices. Its main function is to create ideas to influence social groups. Ideology is often criticized for being against science and scientific ways of thinking. Some of the modern ideologies are liberalism, socialism, and conservatism and they were born during the Enlightenment period or Industrial Revolution.

The terms “left” and right” started during French Revolution. Traditionally, “left” is about social change and progress, and “right” is about order and preservation of the existing social values. However, today, both sides can act against their traditional roles depending on the prevailing conditions. For example, left wing ideologies may prefer to protect national values, and right wing ideologies may talk about some radical steps towards modern life.

Fundamental Concepts Iv: Publıc Polıcy And Cıvıl Socıety

Political parties focuses on making interests and particular preferences for the good of their societies. Policy making is about designing practices focusing on social issues. Similarly, policy is the results of these attempts to solve social problems and reach the goals of the government.

In today’s modern democracies, policy making is highly influenced by the social pressure and demands of nongovernmental organizations. It is also based on common good, which means the practices and ideas that will be useful for the whole society. It should be defined in a concrete way so that it is easier to take action.

In a civil society, self-interest seeking individuals interact and establish relationships. Republican and liberal views are different from each other in many aspects. The role of the governments is to ensure security for its citizens and guarantee ownership. It also organizes the relationship between individuals and market agents. In other words the role of the state in individuals’ lives is limited in liberal societies.

However, the republican states intervenes individual freedom to ensure common good, so they are sometimes criticized for the possibility of evolving into dictatorship and limited freedom.

In case of inequality, to avoid complaints about it and avoid serious inequality, the governments should take some regulatory actions. Unfortunately, such interventions may require limitation on some actions taken by the state or political authorities.

Fundamental Concepts V: The Ideals Of Polıtıcal Thought

The concept of liberalism is also observable in economic activities. According to this view, the state does not intervene economic activities. Free trade is necessary for a more prosperous country. In contrast, protectionist policies aim to protect the national economy from the bad effects of competition with foreign markets.

In today’s world, both perspectives are still being discussed because they both have pros and cons. Even very liberal economies like the USA apply protective measures to protect their economies from the effects of international competition. This discussion has also its effects on social equality. Here the discussions centers around whether to intervene or not as well as how to protect social equality.

Although liberty means being frfee from limitations in daily life and other realms of social life, the individuals should be aware about other peoples’ freedom and respect them. Also people should be equal in legal terms.

Justice is an important term to avoid inequality. This concept is related to

• Deserve: deserving or wanting something too much, either good or bad. The justice may not be something they wanted. You deserve what you get
• Just: People should be equal no matter what the conditions are. No one should suffer from hunger and poverty

In order to solve hunger and poverty problems, UN calls for the nation states to respond the problem of poverty and hunger, this may mean limiting people’s autonomous choices and actions for world’s problems.