1. Introducing the Ancient Debate: The Ideal versus the Real

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1. Introducing the Ancient Debate The Ideal
versus the Real
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The Ideal versus the Real

• The clash between the ideal and the real drives
  many fictional plots.
• Batman
• The Untouchables
• Star Wars

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The Ideal versus the Real
The Ideal Versus the Real

• REALISM
• What we can and must do
• Han Solo
• Holding political office

• IDEALISM
• What we would like to do
• Luke Skywalker
• Campaigning for political office

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The Ideal versus the Real

• Politics must balance the tension between the
  real and the ideal, between the dreams of what
  could be and real-world limitations.
• What kinds of compromises might legislators,
  revolutionaries, or peace negotiators have to
  make as they try to achieve their larger goals?

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The Ideal Versus the Real in Platos Republic

• Thrasymachus is a realist
• Concerned with tangible personal gains with
  little regard for ethics or the good of society.
• Socrates is an idealist
• The purpose of politics is the happiness of the
  citizenry.
• Who has the stronger point?
• If we ignore reality, we may be manipulated.
• If we fail to challenge reality, we fail to make
  the world a better place.

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The Dollhouse

• Conceptual frameworks are what we use to make
  sense of the world. Our conceptual frameworks
  include
• Personal experiences
• Preferences
• Expectations
• These frameworks are particularly important when
  we interpret political phenomena.
• Everyone uses a unique conceptual framework we
  all have different experiences that result in
  differing preferences and expectations.
• Fiction can help transcend these frameworks.

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Fiction as a Tool for Exploring Politics

• Why might fiction be useful for examining
  politics?
• It allows us to transcend our own individual
  perspectives.
• It can give us a taste for political situations
  that we will likely never experience firsthand.
• It exaggerates political phenomena, highlighting
  forces we might not otherwise identify.
• It is engaging and interesting.
• It encourages an active exploration of the
  material.

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Utopias in Fiction and Politics

• Utopias are subjective interpretations of the
  perfect world.
• In politics, utopias are useful for examining the
  flaws of political ideas when taken to their
  extremes and for envisioning a path toward a
  better future.
• Marx extended capitalist ideas to their logical
  extreme to point out inherent fundamental flaws
  and consequently provided an alternative vision
  of utopian communism.

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Utopias in Practical Use

• Utopian theorizing reached a pinnacle during the
  idealist period following the unbelievable
  carnage of World War I.
• President Wilson proposed the League of Nations
• The proposal was built on the hope of spreading
  liberal democracy across the globe.
• The idea was not supported, even in the United
  States.

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Political Theories and Ideologies

• Political theories are aimed at developing
  knowledge.
• Complex and logically robust
• Written for a select audience
• Political ideologies are about organizing and
  directing action.
• Simple and dramatic calls to action
• Written for the masses

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Classical Liberalism

• Based on the theories of Thomas Hobbes and John
  Locke.
• Based on the idea that individuals should be
  largely free from governmental constraints.
• Very influential for the American insurrection
  from Great Britain.
• Thomas Jefferson said, The government that
  governs best, governs least.
• Adam Smith added economic freedom as a key
  variable.

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Classical Conservatism

• Associated with eighteenth-century
  parliamentarian Edmund Burke.
• Reaction to excesses of the French Revolution.
• Based on the idea that social institutions embody
  a wealth of knowledge that has evolved and
  endured over centuries.
• Objects to the idea that individual human reason
  could know better.

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Classical Conservatism

• Asserts that it is dangerous to change or
  eliminate treasured institutions carelessly.
• Such change may unleash unintended consequences,
  such as the havoc following the French Revolution.

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Communism

• Based on the ideas of Karl Marx.
• Key problem is class divisions.
• The bourgeois class controls the machinery of the
  state and exploits the labor of the proletariat.
• The proletarian class is paid only a fraction of
  the worth of the goods it creates.

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Communism

• Capitalism may bring industrialization and
  modernization, but it will be prone to
  overproduction and economic depressions.
• Eventually the workers will become aware of their
  exploitation, cast off the rule of the
  capitalists, and institute a communist society.

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Communism

• Intended to apply to industrial capitalist
  societies.
• Lenin applied to semifeudal agrarian Russia.
• Lenin shifted focus from exploitation of the
  proletariat within capitalist societies to the
  exploitation and colonization of poor countries
  by advanced capitalist countries.

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Democratic Socialism

• Shares communist vision of social, political, and
  economic equality, but believes this can be
  achieved by democratic means.
• Advocated by Eduard Bernstein (18501932).
• Social Democrats, by contrast, merely seek to
  modify capitalism with the infusion of some
  elements of socialism.

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Reform Liberalism

• Like classical liberalism, believes government
  should remove obstacles to individual
  competition
• Negative freedom
• Unlike classical liberalism, believes government
  should also provide basic necessities (education,
  health care, safety net) to ensure all can
  compete equally
• Positive freedom

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Fascism

• Twentieth-century ideology.
• Emphasis on the superiority of a particular group
  (rather than the individual, class, or society).
• Charismatic leader comes to power during economic
  hard times with promises for recovery.
• Democracy discouraged, as it could weaken the
  dominance of the superior group.

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Fascism

• Ruling party controls all aspects of social and
  cultural life.
• Public spectacles reinforce traditions and
  motivate support.
• Nationalism is important, along with a strong
  military rule and vigilance against enemies at
  home and abroad.

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Other Ideologies

• There are many other ideologies out there.
• Virtually any vision of utopia can become an
  ideology by offering a simplified version of how
  and why people should work toward that utopia.

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What Is Politics?

• Applies to so many situations and contexts that
  it defies a precise and complete description.
• Defined here as goal-directed actions with public
  consequences.
• Political tools, actors, tactics, and goals are
  always changing.
• Even not participating can be political.

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What Is Political Science?

• Similarly difficult to define.
• Difficult or impossible to isolate and manipulate
  relevant variables.
• Political scientists rely heavily on statistics.
• This overlooks important conceptsbeliefs,
  expectations, and so onthat cant be counted.

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What Is Political Science?

• There are a variety of reasonable and effective
  methods for pursuing an understanding of
  politics.

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What Is Political Science?

• All science depends on fully documented and
  published research that is done openly and
  transparently so that it can be replicated,
  critiqued, and possibly even falsified.
• Creates an agreement reality (Babbie) in which we
  can accept the validity of findings without
  experiencing them directly (experiential reality).