Political Science 171

Questions for Shively, Chapters 1 and 3

Chapter 1:

1. What are the two defining characteristics of politics according to Shively?

2. Define power, coercion, persuasion, and construction of incentives. Distinguish between manifest and implicit power.

3. Describe the reputational approach to power. Describe the decision-making approach to power. What is a nondecision? What is “the third face of power”?

4. How does politics as public choice differ from politics as the use of power? What does Shively mean when he speaks about the state?

5. How do political science traditionalists (interpretivists) differ from the behavioralists? How do post-behavioralists differ from behavioralists?

6. According to Shively what are the eight major subfields of political science? Is this a standard listing?

Chapter 3:

1. What is associated with the development of the modern state and when did it become fully established in Europe?

2. Distinguish between a state and a nation according to Shively. What is nationalism?

3. What is government? What is the theory of the “autonomous state”? How does this

theory help us understand politics according to Shively? Discuss the tension between

the state and society.

4. Discuss the challenges to the state both from above and from below.

5. Discuss why states may be losing their ability to make economic policy.

6. What are some alternatives to the state as discussed in Shively?

7. Briefly discuss the West, the East, and the South.

8. Briefly discuss the problems of state building in Nigeria.

9. Briefly describe the European Union and then compare it to the United States according to Table 3-1.