[POLI 12] - Midterm Exam Guide - Comprehensive Notes for the exam (40 pages long!)
Document Summary
Interests: what actors want to achieve through political actions. Preferences of actors over the possible outcomes that might result from their political choices. Fundamental building blocks of any political analysis. Determines how actors rank the desirability of different outcomes, from most to least preferred. Interests can be many and varied depending on the specific policy or event under examination. Often group interests into 3 categories: power or security, economic or material warfare, and ideological goals. Presume to desire a higher standard of living or quality of life, defined largely in terms of greater income, more consumable goods, and services, or more leisure time. Not compatible with the first if economic welfare is thought of as a the long-term goal and security or power as a means to this end. The three sets of general interests roughly the three schools of realism, liberalism, and constructivism.
