1. Grigsby 3
Key Concepts in Political Science

2. Power
• Distinguishing
feature of political
science
• Ability of one
person to get
another to do
something

3. Types of Power
• Force
• Persuasion
• Manipulation
• Exchange

4. Force
• The exercise of
power by physical
means
• Restraining
• Assaulting
• Assassinating
• Impeding access
• Other

5. Persuasion
• Nonphysical power
in which the
person using
power makes its
use of power clear
and known to the
person over whom
power is exercised.

6. Manipulation
• Nonphysical
power in which
the person using
power conceals
the use of
power.

7. Exchange
• The use of power
through
incentives.

8. Robert Dahl’s
“Influence Terms”
• Rational persuasion
• Tell the truth and explain why
something should be done.
• Doctor tells you to quit smoking.
• Manipulative persuasion
• Lying to get someone to do something
• Politicians during elections
• Inducement
• Rewards/Punishments to get someone to do
something.
• Bribery

9. Robert Dahl’s
“Influence Terms”
• Power
• Threaten severe punishment.
• Jail or loss of job
• Coercion
• Power with no way out.
• You have to do it.
• Physical Force
• Backing up coercion with use or threat of bodily
harm.
Best governments influence on
the higher end of scale.

10. Key Power Concepts
• Legitimacy
• Sovereignty
• Authority

11. Legitimacy
• The legal right to govern
• The psychological right to
govern
• An attitude in people’s mind
• The government’s rule is rightful
• Legitimacy established by
• Time
• Governing well
• The structure of government
• National symbols

12. Sovereignty
• To rule over
• The power to
provide security
and rules
• Closely linked with legitimacy

13. Authority
• The psychological ability of leaders to
get others to obey them.
Max Weber’s three types
of authority:
• Traditional Authority
• Charismatic Authority
• Legal-Rational Authority

14. Political
Politicians
Scientists
• Skeptical of power • Love power
• Seek accuracy • Seek popularity
• Abstract thinking • Practical thinking
• Reach tentative • Hold firm views
conclusions
• Offer many causes • Offer single causes
• See long-term • See short-term payoff
consequences
• Plan for next publication • Plan for next election
• Seek good of whole • Respond to groups
• Seek professional • Seek name recognition
prestige

15. Centralization of
Political Power

16. Confederal
System
• Highly
decentralized
• League of mutual
support or
common action

17. Rivals to State Power
• Multinational Corporations (MNCs)
• Have transactions in different states
• Wal-Mart, Sears
• Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)
• Nonstate, voluntary groups that pursue political
objectives
• Red Cross, Doctors without Borders
• Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)
• Membership exclusively by states
• United Nations, NATO

18. Nation or State?
• A nation is a population with a certain sense
of itself, a cohesiveness, a commonality of
attitudes and ideals, and often a common
language.
• A state is a government structure, usually
sovereign and powerful enough to enforce its
writ.

19. Who is a Nation?
• Gay nationalism
• African-American nationalism
• The Southern Nation
• Should nation be applied only to groups
identifying with or striving for the
creation of their own state?
• Multinational states

20. Territory is but the body of
a nation. The people who
inhabit its hills and
valleys are its soul, its
spirit, its life.
-- James A. Garfield

21. One Nation, Underprivileged
Rank 3: Poverty as a Structural Failing

22. “The trouble with the
profit system has
always been that it
was highly
unprofitable to most
people.”
~ E. B. White
Author of “Charlotte’s Web”
and “Stuart Little”

23. U.S. View
Poverty a
consequence of
individual
failings and
deficiencies.

24. Underlying Dynamic
• U.S. poverty is
largely a result of
structural failings
at the economic,
political, and
social levels

25. Structural
Vulnerability
• Lack of adequately
paying jobs
• Ineffectiveness of the social safety net in
preventing poverty
• U.S. allocates smaller proportion of GDP to
social welfare programs than any other
industrialized country except Japan
• Risk of impoverishment experienced by a
majority of Americans

26. Impact of Social
Class
• While some social mobility occurs, social
class tends to reproduce itself
• Impacts children’s ability to acquire valuable
skills and education
• Differences in human capital

28. Poverty Correlated With:
• Lower levels of
education
• Lack of marketable
skills
• Physical disability

29. American Economy
• Larger numbers of
• Low-paying jobs
• Jobs that are part-
time
• Jobs that lack
benefits

30. Musical
Chairs
• There will never be enough quality “living-
wage” jobs for all
• There will always be losers in the “game”

31. “It is a tragic mix-up when the United States
spends $500,000 for every enemy soldier killed,
and only $53 annually on the victims of
poverty.”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.