Power & Choice: An Introduction to Political Science

by W. Phillips Shively

Overview

This general, comparative introduction to the major concepts and themes of political science engages students with concrete analytical examples without overwhelming them with excessive detail. In this extensively revised eleventh edition, W. Phillips Shively surpasses the high standards he set in prior editions, bringing political science conceptually alive as never before.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780073379036
Publisher:	McGraw-Hill Companies,Inc.
Publication date:	12/07/2009
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

W. Phillips Shively is professor of political science at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of The Craft of Political Research, 10th edition (2017), as well as numerous articles on elections and methods of analysis.

Table of Contents

Examples and Boxed Features     xiii
Preface     xiv
The Idea of Politics     1
Politics: Setting the Stage     1
Politics     2
Politics as the Making of Common Decisions     3
Politics as the Exercise of Power     4
Power and Choice     10
Politics of the State     13
Political Science     14
The Pleasures of Politics     17
Modern Ideologies and Political Philosophy     20
American Ideologies     22
Liberalism     25
The Conservative Reaction     27
The Socialist Alternative     31
Communism and Socialism     34
Fascism     35
Ideologies in the Twenty-First Century     36
Religion, Politics, and Political Philosophy     38
Political Philosophy in Other Historical Eras     40
The State and Public Policy     47
The Modern State     47
The Development of the Modern State     49
The Origin of States: Power, or Choice?     51
The State as a Device to Provide Public Goods     53
"State," "Nation," and the "Nation-State"     55
State-Building     61
Government and the State     62
Challenges to the State     64
Some Possible Alternatives     67
Example: State-Building in Nigeria     68
Example: State-Building in the European Union     70
Policies of the State     75
The Role of Government in the Third World     78
Constraints and Conditions for Policy     80
Defense Policy     82
Education     83
Research and Development     84
Health and Social Welfare     88
The Place of Power in Policy Analysis     90
Example: The Demographic Challenge     90
Example: Economic Development Compared with "Human Development"     91
Example: Uganda, An African AIDS Success Story     93
Economic Policy of the State     96
Economic Performance I: Growth     97
Economic Performance II: Controlling Inflation and Unemployment     105
Unemployment     106
Managing Distribution to Address Inequality     108
Independent Central Banks     111
Corruption     114
Other Measures Available to Government     118
Globalization: Are States Losing Their Ability to Make Economic Policy?     118
Political Economy     120
Example: Economic Policy in Germany     122
Example: Economic Policy in Indonesia     126
What Lies Behind Policy: Questions of Justice and Effectiveness     131
The Problem of Justice     132
Other Aspects of Justice: Procedural Justice     134
Effectiveness     138
A Basic Question of Effectiveness: Authority versus the Market     140
Power and Choice     145
The Need to Act, Even under Uncertainty     145
Example: Political Choice     146
The Citizen and the Regime     149
Democracy and Autocracy     149
Democracy     149
The Coming and Going of Democracy     151
Possible Explanations     152
What Did We Learn from the Third Wave?     154
Why Are Prosperous Countries Likely to Be Democracies?     157
Democracy and Freedom     159
Democracy and Capitalism     160
Autocracy     161
Military Government     163
Why Aren't There More Military Governments?     166
One-Party States     168
Monarchies and Theocracies     169
Democracy versus Autocracy: Material Considerations     170
"Power and Choice" Again     172
Example: Democratization in Spain     172
Example: Fragile Democracy in Peru     174
Example: Theocracy in Iran     177
How Individuals Relate to the State, and the State to the Individual     181
Legitimacy and Authority     183
Sources of Legitimacy     184
The "Democratic Citizen"     186
How Well Are These Requirements Met?     188
Social Capital     192
Political Culture     193
An Application of Political Culture: Robert Kagan's Of Paradise and Power     194
Religion and Political Culture     195
Political Socialization     198
Example: Building Authority and Legitimacy in West Germany after World War II     201
Example: Declining Democratic Legitimacy in the United States     203
The Apparatus of Governance     209
Constitutions and the Design of Government     209
Variations in Formality     210
The Virtue of Vagueness     211
Other Principles of Constitutional Design     212
Constitution-Writing     215
The Geographic Concentration of Power      217
"Federal" and "Unitary" States     218
The Distinction between "Unitary" and "Centralized" States     220
How Much Centralization Is Good?     221
Constitutions and Guarantees of Rights     222
"Constitutionalism" and the Rule of Law     223
Example: Constitutional Government in Great Britain     224
Example: Constitutional Government in Russia     227
Elections     230
Elections as a Means of Building Support     230
Elections as a Means of Selecting Leaders and Policies     235
Electoral Systems     235
Referendums     240
Electoral Participation     241
Effects of Choice and Information on Turnout     244
The Paradox of Voting     245
The Bases of Individuals' Electoral Choices     246
Example: Proportional Representation Elections in Israel     250
Example: Elections in Nigeria     251
Parties: A Linking and Leading Mechanism in Politics     255
The Political Party     255
Origins of the Modern Party     256
Political Parties and the Mobilization of the Masses     258
Political Parties and the Recruitment and Socialization of Leaders     259
Political Parties as a Source of Political Identity     260
Political Parties as a Channel of Control     263
Party Organization     263
Party Finance     265
Political Party Systems     266
Power and Choice     271
Example: The Communist Party of China     272
Example: Canada's Political Parties     273
Structured Conflict: Interest Groups and Politics     278
Interest Groups and Representation     280
Types of Interest Groups     286
Tactics of Interest Groups     288
Patterns of Organized Interest-Group Activity     292
Pluralism     293
Neocorporatism     294
Pluralism and Neocorporatism: Power and Choice     296
Example: Interest Groups in France     297
Example: Interest Groups in Japan: Attenuated Neocorporatism     298
Social Movements and Contentious Politics     303
Why Now?     305
Social Movements as a Public Goods Problem     307
Advantages (and Disadvantages) of Informal Organization     307
Example: The Rubber Tappers of Acre     311
Example: The "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine     315
National Decision-Making Institutions: Parliamentary Government     318
Head of State     320
The Cabinet     321
Cabinet Control     322
What Does a Parliament Do?     322
Parliamentary Committees     326
Advantages and Disadvantages of Parliamentary Government     327
Let's Make Sure I Haven't Made This Sound Too Simple     329
"Consensus" Parliamentarism     329
Parliaments in Autocratic Systems     331
Example: Parliamentary Government in India     333
Example: Parliamentary Government in Germany     336
National Decision-Making Institutions: Presidential Government     341
Presidential and Parliamentary Systems Compared     344
Responsibility for Policy     345
Presidential Systems and Comprehensive Policy     346
Recruitment of Executive Leaders     346
Review and Control of the Executive     347
Flexibility of the Political Process     349
The Split Executive of Parliamentary Systems     349
Why Aren't All Democracies Parliamentary Systems?     351
Constitutional Review and the Fragmentation of Power     353
A Note on Constitutions and Power     356
Example: Presidential Hybrid in France      357
Example: Presidential Government in Mexico     359
Bureaucracy and the Public Sector     363
Public Administration as a Political Problem     364
Characteristics of Good Public Administration     366
"Bureaucracy": A Reform of the Nineteenth Century     367
Bureaucracy versus Flexibility     368
The Problem of Protected Incompetence     369
Adjustments to Bureaucracy     370
Social Representativeness of Public Administration     371
Example: The French Bureaucracy     374
Example: Bureaucratic Cultures in Europe and Africa     375
Law and the Courts     379
Anglo-Saxon Case Law     380
Continental European Code Law     381
The Blending of Case Law and Code Law     383
Religious Law: The Sharia     384
Courts     386
Example: The Law in China     388
Example: The European Court of Justice     391
International Politics     395
Global Politics: Politics among States (and Others)     395
The Evolution of the International System since World War II     395
The World since the Cold War     398
International Politics      403
The Absence of Central Authority     404
Fiduciary Political Roles and International Morality     406
Impediments to International Communication     407
Power and International Politics     408
The Process of International Politics     411
Power and Choice in International Politics     417
Example: An International Failure: Rwanda     418
Example: The United Nations     421
A Personal Note     423
Principles of Political Analysis     427
Falsifiability     427
What Makes a Statement Interesting?     428
Causation and Explanation     429
Historical Explanation     431
A Few Common Pitfalls in Analysis     432
Glossary     G-1
Index     I

Editorial Reviews

Simply the best undergraduate textbook on politics.

Wonik Kim

A lively exploration of politics that appreciates the incredible complexity, while at the same time constructs a conceptual apparatus that allows students to explore the simplicity and beauty of politics.

Eric Boyer

Power & Choice is the gold standard of the introductory texts available in political science.

Noel A.D. Thompson