PO102 Lecture 8: Week 2 Th - Jan 12
The Common Good: what we can achieve as a society that benefits everyone
● What is good for the political community as a whole
● E.g. maintaining order, security, economic development
Critics of the Concept of Common Good
● Can be tricky to achieve given diversity in community - clashing values and priorities
● “Individualists” resist the goal, see it as unrealistic
Individualists Perspective
● A view that sees human beings as acting primarily in accordance with their own interests
(page 14 of text)
Critics of the Individualist Perspective
● Argue that people engage in politics for many reasons, not just to advance their own
interests
● For example, people often promote values they think are important (despite that they
may not be in own interest)
*Still, common good is hard to achieve because costs and benefits distributed unevenly*
Today’s lecture
● The state
● The nation and nationalism
● Globalization and the state
The State
*govt and state are different*
● State: a form of political organization
● An independent, self-governing political community
● Whose governing institutions have the ability to make rules
● Rules are binding on population that resides in the territory
● Another classic definition for the state: the institution that claims the legitimate use of
force in enforcing its order within a given territorial area (Max Weber) → state is an idea
The Emergence of Sovereign States - 3 Historical Markers
1. The Peace of Westphalia (1648)
● Sovereign states emerge in 15th and 16th century Europe
● When a war was won, it affected how people would practice religion
● Replace feudalism: authority shared by Church and Monarch
● Treaty of Westphalia: end of 30 year religious war
● Established norm of nonintervention in internal affairs of other states
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
