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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Which political philosophy takes a situational approach as to whether government or private enterprise solves a problem better?
Background
There are several political philosophies that presume that government tends to be the solution to most societal problems as a major aspect of each philosophy.
By contrast, there are also ...
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1answer
158 views
Why Marxists Parties Keeps so Strong in England While Doesn't in USA? [on hold]
As we keep reading about the subject, seems clear that marxist Parties remains very strong in England, while don't in USA, remaining as allies of Democratic Party, which rivals Republican Party, for a ...
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1answer
159 views
Were the SPD social fascists?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Germany
Throughout the Weimar era, the KPD viewed the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) as its main adversary,[8] and the KPD referred to ...
5
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1answer
114 views
+50
Are there standardized ways to quantify political division?
Political division seems to be one of the main issues of our time, with countless articles, op-eds, and studies describing how the US and other countries (the UK comes immediately to mind) are ...
3
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3answers
234 views
Conservatism and Executive Power
The Economist cites the philosopher and political theorist Michael Oakeshott to describe conservatism as "To be conservative... is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the ...
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1answer
122 views
Is it possible for corporations to act as the government? [closed]
Given there are so many companies. Could a corporation simply build roads? Has any corporation ever built a road?
4
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3answers
680 views
Is there any study linking ignorance to political preference?
I was talking with a friend of mine and we got to a realisation that ignorant people (those uneducated) tend to look for the politicians of a specific side of the political spectrum in contrast to the ...
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1answer
110 views
Is the social contract invalid if I change jurisdiction? [closed]
Can I move to a different place and nullify the social contract (just somewhere else)?
Does this destroy the moral justification for taxes?
4
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5answers
556 views
The meaning of “right” in Italian Fascism
In laying out the foundation for fascism, Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini wrote two essays in the 1920s and 30s known as, "La Dottrina del Fascismo".
Gentile authored the first essay titled "...
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2answers
170 views
Is there a standard political process which a government uses to verify claims?
https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/456092-top-aide-names-seven-deadly-sins-china-must-end-to-stop-trade-war
“Stop stealing our intellectual property, stop forcing technology
transfers,...
1
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5answers
465 views
Does a best or most optimized system exist?
People have diverse views about what they think is moral, what economic policy is the best, what legislation is good, etc. But all of these views are opinions. By sharing our opinions, (most) people ...
5
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3answers
277 views
What is the difference between a “nation” and a “country”?
I often see certain territories/ semi-sovereignties alternatively referred to as a "nation" or a "country".
For example, Quebec (the province in Canada) likes to be referred to as a "nation". Native ...
4
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1answer
208 views
Do any countries or states require citizens to pass a knowledge-based test before voting?
In Against Democracy, Georgetown University political philosopher Jason Brennan presents his case for epistocracy.
Do any countries or states require citizens to pass a knowledge-based test before ...
41
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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 ...
-1
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1answer
116 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
276 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
185 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
162 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
257 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
332 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, ...
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4answers
292 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
83 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
78 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 ...
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4answers
3k 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
83 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 "...
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6answers
824 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
92 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
vote
1answer
89 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
403 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
128 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
213 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 ...
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1answer
136 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
109 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
517 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
128 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?
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3answers
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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
340 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
227 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
327 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
51 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,...
6
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6answers
422 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 ...
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1answer
254 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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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
621 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
281 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
314 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 ...
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807 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 ...
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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 ...
