PO360 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Democracy, Robert A. Dahl, Wiht
PO360
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
PO360-Sept.12: What is Citizen Politics?
●What Is Citizen Politics?
○ It applies some form of political engagement
■ With others, elites, elected officials
○ Assumes universal suffrage
○ Attributes of Citizen Politics
■ It is open to the public
■ There are key representatives that represent parties or
communities
● Political parties as a problem of being units that represents
community
○ After election they do not engage the citizens enough
in the political process
● Special interest groups
■ Officials
● They interact to a variety of different groups
● Why Study Citizen politics?
○ We see extremism
○ Instability
■ Voters swinging back and forth between one party or another and
unsure of which to support
○ Citizen unrest
■ People becoming uneasy with the status quo
■ Want to get a closer look as to why democracy has been looking ill
● Challenges
○ There are competition between interest
■ There are many interest that align ourselves into various political
groups
○ System complexity
■ Political systems are complicated that require plenty of knowledge
to be able to convince certain political views
○ Ideological Divide
■ We all have our own views and values as to how our lives should
work as well as our political system
○ Globalization
■ Economic and technological change
○ Democratic Responses
1
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
PO360-Sept.17: Democratic Theory
Agenda:
● Conceptualizing of Citizen Politics
○ Report on in-class exercise
○ Synthetic definition
● Democratic theory
○ Typology of models (Aristotle)
○ Perspectives
○ Dahl
● Internal Efficacy
● Next Topic: Modes Participation
● Political psychology
○ The idea is to use psychology in politics
○ Psychology comes from the public opinion
○ Most focus on the individual and how it leads to making decision
○ Knowledge
● Political behaviour
○ It is what you do/physical action
○ Voting, protesting, campaigning
● Policy
○ Applies government, decision, regulations and programs
○ Institutions
● Democratic theory
○ Subfield of political theory
○ What is democracy
1
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
It applies some form of political engagement. There are key representatives that represent parties or communities. Political parties as a problem of being units that represents community. After election they do not engage the citizens enough in the political process. They interact to a variety of different groups. Voters swinging back and forth between one party or another and unsure of which to support. People becoming uneasy with the status quo. Want to get a closer look as to why democracy has been looking ill. There are many interest that align ourselves into various political groups. Political systems are complicated that require plenty of knowledge to be able to convince certain political views. We all have our own views and values as to how our lives should work as well as our political system. The idea is to use psychology in politics. Most focus on the individual and how it leads to making decision.
