Questions tagged [political-theory]
Political theory is the study of the concepts in politics. Use this tag for questions regarding political philosophy or scientific theories.
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3answers
10k views
Why did the World Bank set the global poverty line at $1.90?
In early 2019 Bill Gates tweeted an infographic during the 45 meeting of the World Economic Forum at Davos that showed that the proportion of people living in poverty had decreased from 94% in 1820 to ...
0
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1answer
110 views
Who are the main interests behind a culture that Henry Giroux calls the dictatorship of Ignorance?
Henry Giroux, in an article in Salon.com writes:
The designers of a new breed of fascism increasingly dominate major political formations and other commanding political and economic institutions ...
6
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2answers
246 views
Why is the voter turnout at EU level so low compared to national elections?
The voter turnout in the European elections in Germany in 2019 for instance was only around 62%. Notable this is still much higher than it was in previous EU elections there…
Additionally the voter ...
3
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1answer
180 views
Are there influential theories why the Lib Dems have survived on the UK political landscape?
Generally a first-past the post FPTP electoral system favors a two-party system, aka Duverger's law.
In the UK however, the Lib Dems have managed to survive for (approximately) a century the ...
4
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2answers
151 views
Is the idea of governing for one's constituents at odds with good policy?
In the US legislator, the elected people govern to help their constituents. How does this work with governing for the greater good of everyone. Let’s use climate change as an example and assume it is ...
1
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3answers
254 views
What are some political philosophies/doctrines for deciding when violence is acceptable?
Recently some UK politicians have been getting milkshakes thrown over them. No injuries resulted, but the question of when violence, including relatively minor acts such as this, can be justified or ...
1
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1answer
296 views
Is Chinese Communism with market economy based on any Marxist theory?
Does any Marxist theory allow market economy the way the Chinese have it?
Did any Marxist author write anything on this happening in a socialist state?
Can a plan economy transform after a while, ...
-5
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4answers
271 views
What is the difference between war refugees and deserters?
To give one example, the US government reserves the right to reinstate conscription at any time. If conscription is reinstated, anyone fleeing the US territory to escape the war will become a deserter ...
1
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1answer
80 views
Do snap/early elections usually benefit those triggering them?
I'm looking for an empirical survey (that hopefully covers more than one country) addressing the issue whether snap/early elections typically benefit those calling them, either the sole party in power ...
0
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1answer
64 views
How does the possibility of snap elections provide an electoral benefit to voters?
I live in Canada, which used to have, inspired by the British system, federal elections every 5 years, plus the possibility of snap elections.
It was actually reformed to every 4 years, fixed.
My ...
9
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4answers
2k views
What is the difference between globalisation and imperialism?
It seems obvious to start by looking at the first few lines on Wikipedia:
Wikipedia on globalisation
Globalization or globalisation is the process of interaction and integration among people, ...
0
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2answers
82 views
Comparative Environmental Policy/ Executive Orders
For a paper, I am currently trying to compare Executive Orders by Trump within the first year of his presidency and Bush's first year of his first presidency concerning environmental issues.
My ...
15
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2answers
3k views
Who coined the term “madman theory”?
Madman theory revolves around the idea of appearing more "crazy" than one actually is.
It is actually a signaling game in its simplest form. At least nowadays such games are exemplified with a "...
10
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6answers
781 views
What's the difference between repeating elections every few years and repeating a referendum after a few years?
There's a lot of talk in the UK these days about how holding a second referendum on Brexit would be "undemocratic" and "go against the spirit of referendums". However repeating a vote doesn't seem all ...
9
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3answers
7k views
What exactly is ineptocracy?
I heard about some people arguing about ineptocracy as applying to the country I live in. I searched up the term and found these definitions:
The phenomenon of governance or leadership by the ...
3
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0answers
89 views
Do freedom-of-information laws increase corruption?
That's the general conclusion of a 2007 study:
It has been argued that greater transparency is needed to reduce corruption. One way of
increasing transparency is through the adoption of Freedom ...
1
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1answer
88 views
Scales or real-world ideals of deliberative democracy?
I only had a superficial contact with the literature on deliberative democracy... but it seems to me it's extremely theory-laden.
What I'd like to know if there have been empirical proposals to gauge ...
2
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3answers
323 views
Where would Geoism be placed on a political compass?
Geoism/Georgism is an economic philosophy holding that, while people should own the value they produce themselves, economic value derived from land and other natural resources should belong equally to ...
4
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2answers
124 views
Implication of governmental taxes
Are governmental taxes (federal or state) which an entity pays considered a debt [owed to its government] or is the entity merely giving the government its share? E.g. a person is taxed 30% on his ...
2
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2answers
211 views
Are there political proposals to jail/fine parents of a minor guilty of murder?
I was reading an article about a relatively recent story where a minor was convicted of murdering another minor.
This triggered a train of thought that ended in the question in the title.
To explain ...
-1
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1answer
117 views
What is the neutral way to establish a Democracy? [closed]
It seems to me that there is no neutral way to establish a Democracy.
When there are unavoidable threats to a Dictatorship or a Monarchy , the Dictator or King (whom I will call DK in short) may call ...
2
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2answers
105 views
Ancient Concept of Government and Modern Government
As far as I understand, the ancient concept of government, as stated, for example, by Cicero, revolves around the enforcement of the law, enacting a just law, and obedience to the law. For example, a ...
7
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4answers
440 views
What are the great modern achievements of political science? [closed]
When I think of great achievements of modern sciences, I can point to things like nuclear energy for physicists, the internet for computer scientists, etc. however for political science I am unsure ...
0
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1answer
123 views
What is the difference between a one party state & non-partisan democracy?
A one-party state often in practice appears to consider that all nationals are de-facto members of the ruling party, so how is there really any difference between that & a non-partisan democracy?
...
11
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2answers
911 views
Would the Founding Fathers have supported an inheritance tax?
I recently had someone make the claim that several of the Framers of the U.S. Constitution would have likely agreed with an estate or inheritance tax. This theory was backed up by a few quotes from ...
3
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4answers
310 views
In what ways economy influence slavery and end of it?
Most people think slavery is prohibited because it's "wrong".
If that's true, we would have ended slavery thousands of years ago.
It seems that industrialization makes labor more "precious". Each ...
3
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3answers
212 views
What’s the point of triumvirate, as political regime?
Triumvirate is a very frequent pattern of government, and almost every area or the world, in almost every age, shows examples of it.
I’m Italian, and thus I am particularly familiar with the notion, ...
4
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4answers
318 views
What is a “government by techology” called?
What is the technical term for a "government by technology" called? By "by technology" I mean that, for example, a computer program's decisions form the basis of governance. Is this "technocracy"?
2
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0answers
50 views
Are there substantial consensus results on the political causes and/or consequences of economic inequality in political science?
In economics, there are any number of books and articles that provide a broad survey of theoretical and empirical findings on economic inequality. Much of this material is technical, and most of it is,...
7
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6answers
412 views
Can collectivist economics co-exist with Individual rights?
I have often heard that collectivism and individual rights can't co-exist because they are opposites. On the surface this appears to be accurate, but is there any historical examples of societies ...
0
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1answer
246 views
The ethics on darwinism and social darwinism
Has someone written a monograph on ethics related to social darwinism and darwinism?
6
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5answers
1k views
Does liberal democracy require a significant amount of free-will in order to function?
In one of his articles/books, Yuval-Noah-Harari argues that liberal democracy might be obsolete if human agency is greatly reduced by technology:
Information technology is continuing to leap ...
5
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1answer
598 views
Is there an international consensus about Privacy vs Security (How Much Data Should We Collect?)
On the one hand, privacy gives people leeway for free thought, freedom of expression, and criticism without fear of personal consequences.
On the other hand, security ensures the structural integrity ...
2
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3answers
271 views
What is the relationship between government expenditure and the quality of life?
Can we say, in general, what is the relationship between relative government expenditure (or the total taxation) and the average quality of life?
5
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1answer
293 views
How does Donald Trump define the word conservative?
Ronald Reagan's rise to prominence was built on the conservative intellectual movement and the thinking of figures like Russel Kirk, Frederick Hayek, Frank Meyer, Irving Kristol,and William F. Buckley ...
6
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3answers
690 views
What is the relationship between age and political ideology?
This question asked whether the current distribution of ages within each political party is similar to the past. This leads to a more general question: what is the relationship between age and ...
5
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4answers
2k views
Is the conspiracy theory of “Cultural Marxism” inherently tied to antisemitism?
According to Wikipedia, cultural marxism is a conspiracy theory that says that the Frankfurt School wants to destroy western culture by controlling the media, academia, etc., using as its method the ...
5
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2answers
215 views
Is Hobbes' Leviathan part of classical realism?
I am wondering whether Hobbes as an author and his Leviathan specifically, are part of classical realism.
The purpose of the Leviathan is to accumulate the monopoly on force and hence, overcome the ...
42
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8answers
14k views
Why do politicians refuse to answer hypothetical questions?
Often you hear politicians say this "I don't answer hypothetical questions". Why can't hypothetical questions be answered? What are the grounds for politicians justify saying that? Is there a way to ...
0
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2answers
55 views
Suggesting a book to understand politics theory and the organization of states [closed]
I am a politics and history hobbyist but my engineering life didn't give me enough time to dive more into politics and think about more advanced concepts and improve my formal political knowledge. So, ...
2
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0answers
64 views
Is the extended security framework a useful model for modern security phenomena?
First, I am referring to working paper from Christopher Daase (2010).
Daase, Christopher (2010): Der erweiterte Sicherheitsbegriff. Working
Paper 1. Sicherheitskultur im Wandel
His paper ...
0
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7answers
762 views
Who “owns” a country? [closed]
In corporations, the stockholders "own" the corporation. If you have your own business, you pretty much do whatever you like with the business.
However, if you're a manager working for a business, ...
1
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1answer
789 views
What is the difference between direct and indirect democracy
which is the difference and similarities between this two types of democracy?
Is there any political structural differences or philosophical differences among them ? Which type of political system ...
29
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10answers
13k views
Can the U.S. technically be called an oligarchy and a democracy?
I thought theoretically the U.S. could be a democracy (because people have a say in the daily workings of the government) and an oligarchy ( the president, the Supreme Court, etc... are the only ones ...
5
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2answers
240 views
Difference between the Scientific and Behavioral approach to International Relations
As per my shallow research, IR literature and online content intermix Scientific and Behavioral Approach to International Relations. What exactly is the difference between the Scientific and ...
3
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0answers
144 views
Are there some studies which measure the level of politicization of courts in a trans-Atlantic perspective?
It's easy enough to find a Europe-only comparative perspective on the politicization of the judiciary, e.g. Werkmann (2017):
The authors measured the level of politicization in each
country ...
1
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3answers
138 views
Is first-past-the-post (plurality voting) neither an ordinal nor a cardinal method?
Wikipedia says:
Cardinal methods (based on cardinal utility) and ordinal methods (based on ordinal preferences, also called ranked voting) are two main categories of modern voting systems, along ...
4
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1answer
104 views
How is Approval Voting providing more information than an ordinal method?
Kenneth Arrow says in an interview that Approval Voting provides more information than ordinal methods subject to his theorem:
CES: So it seems like one of the points that you’re stressing within ...
50
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12answers
8k views
Why does partisanship trump concerns about hypocrisy with voters?
Politicians are routinely hypocritical in support of partisan ends.
I'll provide a few examples to demonstrate what I mean:
When their party's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court is facing ...
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4answers
1k views
Do any theories justify majoritarian election outcomes?
At legislative elections, parties can experience different biases in the translation of votes to seats. Grofman, Koetzle, and Brunell published a taxonomy of these biases (Malapportionment, turnout ...
