Political%20Participation

1
Political Participation

• Post-materialism, new social movements, political
  change

2
Midterm exam Friday, Oct. 19th

• Part I Identify and give the significance of
  five (5) of the following
• sovereignty
• political culture
• Gladiators
• Value 20, 4 points each
• Choice probably 5 out of 7

3
Part II

• Short Essays Briefly comment on the validity of
  four (4) of the following statements, for
  example
• In order to be democratic, a country must be rich
  in social capital
• In order to sustain liberal democracy, a country
  must have a democratic political culture

4
Hints

• Brief means brief 1-2 paragraphs, 3 short
  paragraphs at most
• Use examples to illustrate your argument where
  you can
• If you think a statement is not valid, you may
  want indicate how it should be rephrased to make
  it valid
• If you think a statement is valid, explain why

5
What to study

• Readings for weeks 1-5, including both the Hague
  and Harrop text and articles from Annual
  Editions, Comparative Politics
• Use power point presentations to guide your study
• Pay attention to the points for discussion on the
  reading list

6
Where does social capital come from?

• Wealth?
• Education?
• Organizations and situations which stimulate
  trust?

7
Some questions

• Are social capital and civil society
  prerequisites of liberal democracy?
• What kinds of participation generate social
  capital?
• Direct face-to-face participation?
• Participation in credit card organizations?
• Is social capital declining? (Robert Putnams
  argument in Bowling Alone)

8
What difference does clientelism make?

• Impact of clientelism on political culture?
• How well does clientelism mesh with
• Ideological politics?
• Post-materialism?
• Are patron-client relationships compatible with a
  civil society?
• Does clientelism develop or destroy social
  capital?

9
Social movements

• What is a social movement?
• collective challenges by people with common
  purposes and solidarity in sustained interaction
  with élites, opponents, and authorities.
  (Tarrow, 1998)
• Contrast to parties and interest groups
• Does not seek state power
• Does not attempt detailed engagement with
  government

10
New social movements (NSMs)

• Examples
• Civil rights movement (US)
• Peace movement
• Environmental movement
• Anti-globalization movement
• Anti-abortion movement

11
Explaining new social movements

• Red-diaper babies?
• Post-materialism as a source?
• Framing and opportunity structure
• (Sidney Tarrow, Doug
  Imig)
• NSMs as a product of circumstances, available
  opportunities
• Impact of national rituals, scripts

12
Who gets what, when, and how?--Harold Lasswell

• Do the phenomena of post-materialism and the
  more the more hypothesis mean that the demands
  of the poor and the working classes are always
  neglected?

13
Problem

• Do post-materialism and the more the more
  hypothesis address the same question?
• Does one tell you more about who participates and
  the other more about the values of those who
  participate?
• What difference does post-materialism make?
• Or can the power of numbers counter the
  advantages of access and skill?

14
When do revolutions occur?

• The J-curve hypothesis revolutions do not
  occur in abjectly poor societies, but rather in
  those in which there has been some improvement.

15
Political Science Department Student
Information Session Post-Secondary Recruitment
into the Foreign Service Leslie Toope (Former
studentcurrently employed with Citizenship and
Immigration) Thursday, October 18, 2007 1200
p.m. - 200 p.m. Room SN2033
16
Political Science Department Seminar How
Humanitarianism Affected the Conduct and Outcome
of the War in South Sudan Matthew LeRiche Ph.D.
Candidate Kings College, University of
London Friday, October 19, 2007 400 p.m. Room
SN2033