Political Science for Dummies

Expand your political science knowledge with a book that explains concepts in a way anyone can understand!

The global political climate is dynamic, at times even volatile. To understand this evolving landscape, it’s important to learn more about how countries are governed. Political Science For Dummies explores the questions that political scientists examine, such as how our leaders make decisions, who shapes political policy, and why countries go to war. The book is the perfect course supplement for students taking college-level, introductory political science courses. Political Science For Dummies is a guide that makes political science concepts easier to grasp.

• Get a better understanding of political ideologies, institutions, policies, processes, and behavior
• Explore topics such as class, government, diplomacy, law, strategy, and war
• Learn the specialized vocabulary within the field of political science
• Help prepare for a range of careers, from policy analyst to legislative assistant

Political science crosses into many other areas of study, such as sociology, economics, history, anthropology, international relations, law, statistics, and public policy. Those who want to understand the implications of changing political economies or how governing bodies work can look to Political Science For Dummies. It’s the book thatcuts through the jargon as it focuses on issues that interest readers.

Marcus A. Stadelmann, PhD, is a professor of political science and chair of the Department of Political Science and History at the University of Texas at Tyler. Along with teaching at universities in California, Utah, and Texas, Dr. Stadelmann has published and given presentations in the fields of American politics and international relations.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Conventions Used in This Book 2

Icons Used in This Book 2

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 3

Part 1: Understanding Political Science 5

Chapter 1: Discovering the Discipline of Political Science 7

Looking at Politics and Political Science 8

Going back to the history of political science 8

Being a part of the social sciences 9

Being fragmented 10

Studying Political Power 11

Exercising political power 12

Different thoughts on political power 12

Views on who holds the power 12

Checking on sources of political power 14

Searching for Sources of Legitimacy 15

Political structures 15

Results 15

History 16

Habit 16

International recognition 16

Religion 16

Nationalism 17

Chapter 2: Shaping Research in Political Science: Looking at Major Approaches 19

Starting with Traditionalism 20

Switching to Behavioralism 21

Being a behavioralist 22

Turning the social sciences into a real science 25

Moving Leftward with Post-Behavioralism 25

Agreeing with behavioralism 26

Differing from behavioralism 26

Comparing Political Science Theories 27

Creating theories 28

Grand theory 28

Medium-range theory 29

Narrow-range theory 29

Looking at Historical Sociology 29

Seeking Benefits: Rational Choice Theory 30

Chapter 3: Dealing with Political Culture 31

Analyzing Political Culture 31

The importance of political culture 32

Changing political cultures 33

Sustaining Democracy: The Civic Culture 34

Being behavioral in nature 35

Asking questions 36

Finding three political cultures 37

Needing three political cultures to sustain democracy 38

Working on Political Socialization 39

Goals of political socialization 40

Agents of political socialization 41

Moving from Materialist to Postmaterialist 44

Part 2: Comparing Governments 47

Chapter 4: Discussing Different Forms of Government 49

Identifying Types of Governments 49

Diving in to democracy 50

Testing totalitarianism 52

Answering to authoritarianism 55

Dividing Powers 56

Centering on a unitary system 56

Focusing on federalism 57

Dissecting federalism versus a unitary system 57

Checking on confederations 59

Classifying the three systems of governments 61

Chapter 5: Setting the Rules: Constitutions 63

Looking at Constitution Basics 64

Discovering the purpose of constitutions 65

Checking out constitution components 65

Creating a New Country: The U.S Constitution of 1789 66

Framing the U.S Constitution 67

Facing problems 67

Writing a constitution 68

Using checks and balances 69

Forming an electoral college 69

Getting stronger 70

Using three principles 71

Protecting citizens’ rights 72

Making changes 74

Checking on a New Document: The Russian Constitution 75

Looking at similarities 75

Noting the differences 76

Structuring government 76

Guaranteeing civil rights and liberties 77

Changing the Russian Constitution 78

Chapter 6: Comparing Political Institutions: Systems of Government 79

Comparing Democratic Political Systems 80

Parliamentary democracies versus presidential democracies 80

Unicameralism versus bicameralism 82

Studying the U.S Congress 82

Looking at Great Britain 85

Analyzing Executives 86

The U.S presidency 86

Evolution of the U.S presidency 87

Great Britain’s prime ministry 88

Going Bureaucratic 89

The French bureaucracy 90

The U.S bureaucracy 90

Settling Disputes 91

Classifying law 91

Being supreme: The U.S Supreme Court 92

Comparing two higher courts 93

Chapter 7: Elections, Political Parties, and Interest Groups 95

Studying Elections 96

Explaining voting behavior 96

Determining the vote 97

Political Parties — Necessary for Democracy 99

Defining a political party 99

Dealing with party systems 101

Causing different party systems 102

Classifying political parties 103

Functioning in a democracy 103

Realigning with another party 106

Interest Groups: Influencing the Government 107

Going pluralist 107

Being elitist 108

Differing from political parties 108

Classifying types of interest groups 109

Joining interest groups 109

Being powerful 110

Checking out interest group functions 111

Part 3: Going Global: International Relations 113

Chapter 8: Thinking Globally: The Study of International Relations 115

Understanding the Origins of International Relations 116

Creating states 116

Getting familiar with international relations terms 117

Getting into the Theories of International Relations 117

Individual: The first level of analysis 118

State: The second level of analysis 118

Systemic: The third level of analysis 119

Getting Real: The Power of Realism 119

Balancing power: The balance of power theory 120

Avoiding conflict: The power transition model 122

Noting neorealism 123

Moving into hegemonic decline 125

Doing Good: Idealism 127

Being Equal through Global Humanism 129

Striving for Change with Constructivism 130

Chapter 9: Creating Some Order: International Law and Diplomacy 131

Defining International Law 132

Studying Sources of International Law 133

Reviewing the great writers of international law 133

Examining international treaties 137

Connecting with Diplomacy 141

Being a successful diplomat 142

Regulating diplomacy: The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 142

Chapter 10: Creating Order through International Organizations 145

Getting Together in Europe — The Concert of Europe 146

Calling for a League of Nations 146

Coming up with 14 points 147

Starting weak as an international organization 148

Needing a United Nations 149

Sharing similarities with the League of Nations 150

Setting up a Charter for the United Nations 151

Looking at the six structures of the United Nations 152

Budgeting for an international organization 156

Keeping the peace 157

Guaranteeing human rights 158

Setting up the International Bill of Human Rights 160

Chapter 11: Not Going to War: The Cold War 1946–1991 163

Explaining the Cold War 164

Using systemic explanations 164

Applying history 164

Misinterpreting actions 165

Trying to protect itself 165

Being aggressive 166

Highlighting the Cold War 166

Containing the Soviet Union 166

Coming together 167

Saving Greece and Turkey: The Truman Doctrine 168

Restoring Europe: The Marshall Plan 168

Feeding millions: The Berlin Airlift 169

Going to war in Korea 169

Just talking: The Doctrine of Rollback 170

Building the Berlin Wall 171

The Cuban missile crisis 172

Staying Communist: The Brezhnev Doctrine 172

Getting stuck in Vietnam 172

Invading Afghanistan 175

Destroying an empire 175

Analyzing Strategic Doctrines and the Arms Race 176

Becoming superior one more time 177

Getting creative in the 1970s 178

Chapter 12: Dealing with Political Violence: War and Terrorism 181

Examining Warfare 182

Discovering the types of war 182

Changing warfare 183

Looking at the Causes of War 184

Economic 184

Sociological 184

Psychological 185

Ideological 186

Systemic 187

Dealing with Terrorism 187

Studying characteristics of terrorism 188

Taking in types of terrorism 189

Going to War with Evil 191

How a terrorist group begins: Al Qaeda 192

Evolution of a terrorist leader 193

Exploring the Costs of War 193

Chapter 13: Mixing Disciplines: International Political Economy 195

Fusing Economics and Politics 196

Creating a New Economic Order 196

Designing a World Bank 197

Establishing the International Monetary Fund 198

Developing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 199

Discovering Economic Theories 199

Economic liberalism 200

Mercantilism 201

State capitalism 202

State socialism 203

Examining Population and the Division of Wealth 204

Defining terms 204

Looking at global inequality 205

Causing Economic Decline in the Third World 205

Colonialism 206

Dependency theory 206

Third-World elites 207

Domestic factors 207

International organizations 208

The international debt crisis 208

Multinational corporations 209

Seeking Globalization: An Integration of Countries 210

Measuring globalization 211

Comparing countries: The KOF Index of Globalization 211

Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel 213

Part 4: Going from Classical to Modern Political Ideologies 215

Chapter 14: Starting in Greece: The Roots of Political Science 217

Studying Ancient Greece and the Start of Political Science 218

Questioning Everything: Socrates 219

Introducing inductive reasoning 219

Taking a critical look at politics 220

Putting Political Philosophy into Play: Plato 220

Advocating for ethics 222

Believing in just behavior 222

Dividing into classes 223

Creating an elite 224

Seeking a Scientific Approach: Aristotle 224

Creating communities 225

Being human: A look at humanity and politics 226

Classifying forms of governments 226

Putting Ethics to Use 227

Serving the public first 227

Designing the U.S government 228

Chapter 15: Going Modern: Middle Ages to the Present 229

Taking a Lesson on Catholic Theory 229

Saint Augustine (354–430) 230

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) 231

Revolting against religion 232

Understanding Power 232

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) 232

Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) 236

John Locke (1632–1704) 239

Montesquieu (1689–1755) 241

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) 243

Moving to Classical Conservatism 245

Saving traditional beliefs and institutions 245

Defining conservative views 246

Advocating for Classical Liberalism 247

Leaving the economy alone 248

Believing in people 249

Putting the Government Back in Charge: Modern Liberalism 250

Chapter 16: Moving to the Right: Fascism, Neofascism, and Right-Wing Populism 251

Getting a Sense of Fascism 252

Starting Out: The Beginnings of Fascism 253

Coming first: Benito Mussolini 253

Causing Fascism 254

The story behind Fascism 255

Fascist core beliefs 256

Rising of Neofascism 259

Challenging the Elite: Populism 260

Making a path for populism 261

Causing populism 262

Swinging Right: Right-Wing Populism in Europe 262

Building of a right-wing populist party in France: The French National Front 263

Wanting change: The Alternative for Germany (AfD) 267

Chapter 17: Going Left: Communism, Socialism, and Social Democracy 271

Causing Socialism 271

Starting with Karl Marx 273

Marx’s political theories 274

Marx’s economic theories 277

Realities of Marx’s theories 279

Updating Marxism: Lenin 279

Lenin’s contributions to Marxism 280

Dissecting Lenin’s pivotal work 281

Traveling to Asia: Maoism 283

Going Democratic: Social Democracy 285

Part 5: The Part of Tens 287

Chapter 18: Ten Political Science Books Everyone Should Read 289

Politics (335–323 BCE) 290

The Prince (1513) 290

Leviathan (1651) 291

Two Treatises of Government (1690) 291

The Wealth of Nations (1776) 292

The Communist Manifesto (1848) 292

The American Voter (1960) 293

Man, the State, and War (1959) 293

Who Governs? (1961) 294

Who’s Running America? (8th Edition, 2017) 295

Chapter 19: Ten Modern Political Scientists 297

David Easton 298

Gabriel Almond 298

Hans Morgenthau 299

Kenneth Waltz 299

Vladimir Orlando Key 300

Samuel P. Huntington 300

John Rawls 301

Francis Fukuyama 301

Robert Gilpin 302

Robert O. Keohane 302

Index 303

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