Government and Politics

Learning Objectives
Power and Authority
• Define and differentiate between power and authority
• Identify and describe the three types of authority
Forms of Government
• Define common forms of government (monarchy, oligarchy, dictatorship, democracy)
• Compare common forms of government and identify real-life examples of each

Power and Authority
GB: the role of the royal family in the British government
King Henry VIII ≠ Will & Kate
US: former (бывшие) British subjects (подданные) fought for an alternative system of government - no room (нет места) for royalty (королевская власть).
? Governments play the same fundamental role: they control over the people they govern. The nature of that control - power and authority - important part of society.

Sociologists ≠ political scientists (политологи):.
Sociologists:
the influences of governmental power on society;
how social conflicts arise (возникают) from the distribution of power;
how the use of power affects local, state, national, and global agendas (план) ? affect people differently based on status, class, and socioeconomic standing
Political scientists:
how power is distributed in different types of political systems. E.g., the US’ political system is divided into 3 distinct branches;
public opinion (общественное мнение) affects political parties, elections, etc.
Power and Authority

What is Power?
The White House symbolizes the authority of the Kazakhstani presidency.

Pittacus (c. 640-568 B.C.E. (до н.э.): “The measure (мера) of a man is what he does with power”
Lord Acton: “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely” (1887).
Max Weber: Power - ability to exercise (осуществлять) one’s will (воля, желание) over others (Weber 1922).
What is Power?
Power ? more than personal relationships: social groups, professional organizations, and governments.
≈ government’s power is not necessarily (не обязательно) limited (ограничена) to control of its own citizens. A dominant
Nation will often use its clout (влияние) to influence or support other governments or to seize control of other nation states (US in Iraq)

Power - not necessarily lead to violence, exploitation, or abuse (плохое обращение).
E.g.: Martin Luther King Jr., Mohandas Gandhi - commanded powerful movements that affected +change without military force, using nonviolent protests.
Nonviolent protests:
(митинги, сидячие забастовки, марши, петиции, бойкоты)
What is Power?

Modern technology ? nonviolent reform easier to implement (осуществить). Сell phones/internet to disseminate information. In Tunisia in 2011, a nonviolent popular uprising (восстание) ? president’s resignation (отставка), end of one-party rule (однопартийность), efforts at reform. The success of the Tunisian uprising ? the “Arab Spring”).
The users of power were the citizens rather than their governments. They found they had power because they were
able to exercise their will over their own leader. ? government power (гос. власть) ≠ absolute power (абсолютная власть)
John Pollock (2011) in MIT’s Technology Review: two revolutionaries named “Foetus” and “Waterman,” who are leaders in the Tunisian rebel group Takriz. Both men relied heavily on the internet to communicate
What is Power?

Authority - accepted power, power that people agree to follow.
Police officer, deputy, etc.
Not all authority figures elected officials or government authorities. Authority can arise from tradition and personal qualities
Types of Authority

Monarchy - a government in which a single person (a monarch) rules until that individual dies or abdicates (отрекаться) the throne
Forms of Government
Absolute monarchy
Middle East and Africa. E.g.: small, oil-rich nation of Oman. Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said has ruled since the 1970s.
Constitutional Monarchy
recognize monarchs but require them to abide (следовать) the laws of a greater constitution. In most cases, e.g. in GB and Canada -- elect prime ministers whose leadership role is more significant than that of the monarchs.
*Anarchy

Oligarchy – power is held by a small, elite group.
Members of an oligarchy do not necessarily achieve their status based on ties to noble ancestry (unlike monarchs). Rather, they may ascend to positions of power because of military might, economic power, or ≈ circumstances.
Forms of Government
A society rarely (редко) defines (определяет) itself as an oligarchy ? negative connotations (смысл): a corrupt group whose members make unfair (несправедливые) policy decisions (полит. решения) in order to maintain their privileged positions.
Many modern nations that claim to be democracies are really oligarchies. Some prominent journalists have labeled the US an O. ? the influence of large corporations and Wall Street executives
Other political analysts: all democracies are really just “elected oligarchies”: citizens must vote for an individual who is part of a pool of candidates who come from the society’s elite ruling class

Dictatorship – a single person (or a very small group) that wields complete and absolute authority over a government or populace after the dictator rises to power, usually through economic or military might.
Corrupt and seek to limit and even eradicate the liberties of the general population. Many dictators start out as military leaders and are more conditioned to violence if they face opposition than non-military figureheads.
Popular images of the late Kim Jong-Il, as well as his successor, Kim Jong-Un, exemplify this type of charismatic dictatorship.
Forms of Government