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3212SPR08JAN23Class outline for Thursday January 23, 2008PS 3212 British Politics, Spring 2008 (Dr. Howard)AdminStudying British PoliticsDefining politicsModels of British politicsWhat’s important in the study of British politics?Multilevel governanceBritain today: society and politicsGeographyComparisonsPopulationMigration: United Kingdom 2.17 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) United States 3.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)Infant mortalitySee also UNDP Human Development ReportPolitical geographyAllegiance and identityEthnicityReligion (from CIA Factbook; numbers differ slightly from text)Religious establishment but church much less importantEconomy, inequality, class structure, etc: NEXT CLASS3212SPR08JAN23Class outline for Thursday January 23, 2008 PS 3212 British Politics, Spring 2008 (Dr. Howard)alistair [a] temple.eduhttp://astro.temple.edu/~alistair/3212SPR08MAIN This class Next classTopicIntroducing the study of British politics Economy, inequality, class structure, etc overview (continuing from today)The meaning of BritainReadingLCR 1, 3 LCR 3 cont’dGamble 1Additional readingBritish Politics Today: Towards a New Political Science of British Politics” by Colinand “Pluralism and the study of British Politics” by David Marsh from British Politics Today, ed Colin Hay, Polity Press, 2002OECD Factbook, available online.Key conceptsPoliticsStatePluralismElitismMarxist state theoryPower EmpireSocialismFree tradeLibertyReformDiscussion questions None What does it mean to speak of England as a ‘world island’?What does the word ‘decline’ refer toin relation to the last 100 years of British history?How does identity relate to political economy?MemoAdmin- New students?- Questions, problems?- News items?Studying British PoliticsDefining politics- Various conceptualizations of ‘politics’o Authoritative allocation of value (Easton…not useful)o What government/state does (eg: lawmaking)- It’s about more than merely what the government ‘does’- Political science used to focus on the formal institutions—constitutional law, workings of Parliament, etc- Since mid-20th C political scientists focus more on policies and even outcomes—on “who gets what, when and how” (Lasswell)- It’s about collective decision-making within the polity, with the state as the organization which is sovereign over a particular geographic territory, including monopolization of legitimate use of force- Many draw contrast with the state with ‘civil society’ which is the private realm ofo Familyo Businesso Marketo Associations and groupso Media- But note there are overlaps- Many distinguish the political realm from the market realm, often preferring the latterModels of British politics- Simplified representations of the real world, including main components, how they work together, etc- What use are models? Theories?- Dominant model in US politics?- See Table 1.1 on page 10 for radically simplified overview of five models of British politicso Representative democracy/Westminster modelo Market modelo Pluralist modelo Elitist modelo Marxist (Marxist state theories)- Why is the market model here?o Some argue that politics works like an economic market—with voters as self-seeking consumers, politicians as self-seeking producers (to deliver goods to the customer)- Most common perhaps is some combination of the pluralist and representative democracy model- Need to understand major features of each and the ways they guide our inquiries into British politicso eg: how do they point us to different questions, different kinds of evidence?- Pluralist model has come in for strong criticismo Underestimates the concentration of powero More importantly, it neglects the structural situations within which decisions are takeno So power isn’t directly observed—they’re looking at the wrong thing Eg: outcomes of decisions themselves, whereas ‘non-decisions’ (things that are never discussed or decided) are important too- It’s useful to think about Stephen Luke’s ‘three faces of power’o First face is decision making powero Second face of power is agenda setting powero Third face of power is structural power—the ability to shape preferences themselves- We can go further and point out that power is even more deeply structuralo Changing things today limits the choices and conditions the desires and beliefs of peoplein the futureo Preferences are not distinct from the situation in which we find ourselves, and this has been shaped by power in the pasto So context is the result of power, as is choice and outcomeWhat’s important in the study of British politics?- Text mentions ideas and ideologies- And interests (economic and political)- We might put more stress on institutions—the organizational features of political life- These shape interests and ideas…Multilevel governance- Many British scholars talk about ‘multi-level governance’- This is an antidote to past emphasis on Westminster—the geographic and political heart of the British state- Now decisions are taken in many different places—above, below and beyond the stateo Especially the EU…but also the national governments in Scotland and Wales- And markets are more important, perhaps, than in past- So we talk about multilevel governance…Britain today: society and politicsGeography(We can build a profile of the country from CIA World Factbook, Hammond New Comparative World Atlas, Office of National Statistics, OECD Factbook 2006, and UNDP Human Development Report)- In size, is slightly smaller than Oregon, but with many more people: 60.8M in 2007- An island NW of Europe, surrounded by North Atlantic, the English Channel, and the Irish Sea- Extensive coastline: nowhere more than 90 miles or so from coast- Well placed in terms of sea lanes and trade routes- Highest point is only 1,300 metres- Mostly rugged hills, low mountains, rolling countryside, moors etc- Temperate climate; average January temps are between 30 and 50 degrees; average July temp between 50 and 68 degrees; cloudy more than half the time- Natural vegetation is broadleaf forest and moorland- Natural hazards are few; some wind and flooding- Rich in coal, petroleum products, historically mined iron, lead, other metals- Now very little mass agriculture; some high end agricultural production; essentially food importer for over a hundred yearsComparisonsPopulationPopulation 24th in world at 60.8M in 2007United Kingdom Population growth


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