Who Own’s the World?

Noam ChomskyProfessor at MITBiography - http://www.biography.com/people/noam-chomsky-37616

Who Own’s the World - link to videohttp://youtu.be/_9CHtm2qK2g

What is Comparative Politics?

Definition of Politics

Politics:The activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power.

Comparative Politics

Comparative Politics:Comparative politics is a field and a method used in political science, characterized by an empirical approach based on the comparative method. In other words comparative politics is the study of the domestic politics, political institutions, and conflicts of countries. ...

Roots

Aristotle - The city-state is comprised of a particular population in a given territory guided by a constitution. The constitution itself is fashioned by the lawgiver and is governed by politicians, who are like craftsmen, and the constitution defines the aim of the city-state.

Middle Ages and Beyond

Renaissance - Cultural flowering occurs within Europe, specifically Italy.

Machiavelli - “The Prince.”

Enlightenment - realization of the desires of the individual or the self. Marks beginning of the modern era. Rousseau - “The Rights of Man”

Modern

Modern:(1436 - 1789 on thru 1970’s)Post-Medieval, post- traditional period in man’s history.

-Move toward capitalism, industrialization and urbanization.

-Goethe’s Faust - a man’s selling of his soul to the devil in return for wealth and knowledge.

Modern America - Post WWII

•There were undercurrents of fear, apprehension, and discontent:o Fear of nuclear war, which many thought was

inevitable.o A sense of impending doom.o A sense that there is no longer any order or

logic to life.o Tremendous pressures to conform, for men,

women, minorities, children and young people.

Modern America - continued

o The rise of the white-collar middle-class and the suburbs: The era immediately following the war was incredibly

positive and optimistic, at least on the surface.affluent, educated culture--as much as 50% of the population is college educated; workers are protected by strong unions.

A more mobile culture—the average family moves once every five years.

The shift in focus from the extended family to the nuclear family.

Redefinitions of family, community, work, wealth, success.

Modern America - continued

The emphasis on appearances (which often masked unpleasant realities).

The establishment of a “teen culture.” The further establishment and extensive

growth of popular, consumer culture.

America: 1960’s and 1970’s

This pressure-cooker of conformity explodes in the 1960s and 1970s:

• Conflicts between conformity and individuality; tradition and innovation; stability and disruption.

• Recognition of the diversity of America.

• Questions of personal identity and experience, of how the personal and the social interact to form the individual.

America: 1960’s and 1970’s

• A tendency to critique and question anything or anyone that sets themselves up as “right”, or as “the truth.”

• Recognition of the subjectivity of all “truths” including political truth and moral truth.

• Recognition of the extent to which rhetoric forms our concepts of “reality.”

Post-Modernism (late 20th Century)

• A decentering of authority.

• An eradication of traditional boundaries between high and low, art and entertainment.

• A struggle against the anonymity that contemporary society accorded most people.

Post-Modernism (late 20th Century)continued...

• A focus on pointing out the rhetoric of society, the half-truths and untruths that people are convinced to believe.

• A focus on the experience of the individual, of how the personal and the social come together to form identity.

• A focus on the concept of “voice”—how, in this vast culture, does one establish any sense of individuality? How does one find a meaningful way to express and explain oneself? How do people achieve viable existence?

Timeline of Political Science

19th century until 1950’s much of it was highly theorized in the form of what society should be “like.”

- Thomas More (1516) - Utopia. An imagined place or state where things are perfect.

-George Orwell (1949) - 1984. A dystopia where terror and oppression run rampant.

Late 1950’s - 1960’s

Karl Marx and Frederich Engels - “The Communist Manifesto” (1848)- Economic equality through state regulation

Max Weber - “The City” (1921)- Theory that urbanization is a debasing social environment

Walter Benjamin - “The Arcades” (1927)- Commodification and modern consumerism is part of Parisian urbanization.

1970 and Beyond

By the 1970’s the adoption of more quantitative methods of testing theory were incorporated.

- Quantitative vs Qualitative Data- Why is data important for Political Science?- Post World War II current events.- State building- economic growth- growing democratization

What is a Comparativist?

Someone who wishes to understand the events of the day.

- no level of analysis is irrelevant.- no time period is beyond their reach.