Introduction *

Politics in general

There are two main obstacles to objectively analyzing political decisions, behavior, and outcomes: The values-laden subjective social milieu in which the observer finds him- or her-self, and the essential self-reinforcing characteristic of most political phenomenan, which gives rise to nonlinear, often-unpredictable outcomes. I would define politics as follows:

The pursuit of power in the public realm, the exercise of such power for particular or general purposes, and attempt to legitimize such power.

Power

Interest

The Common Good

Justice

Basic principle of politics

The things that one must do in order to get power (deal-making, disparaging opponents, etc.) often clash with considerations of the common good, which are supposed to influence public policy decisions.

Reality vs. utopia:

E. H. Carr, The Twenty Years' Crisis, 1919-1939 (1946): "Here, then, is the complexity, the fascination, and the tragedy of all political life. Politics are made up of two elements -- utopia and reality -- belonging to two different planes which can never meet."

Paradox of collective action:

Security - power dilemma:

Diplomatic negotiations and two-stage game theory:

Liberal - Conservative Conundrum:

Following in the tradition of Charles Tilly, Bruce Porter provides considerable empirical and theoretical backing for the argument that war mobilization and the modern interventionist welfare state have been mutually reinforcing phenomena. As he writes,

Liberal and reform-minded political leaders abhor war, but recognize the opportunity it presents for social reform; conservatives revere military institutions and traditions, but are often wary of actual conflict, sensing its potential for revolutionary change. (Bruce Porter, War and the Rise of the State, 1994)

This book deals with "state building," the long process by which fractured regional powers become unified into nation-states as a collateral effect of waging war. In my terms (see Dissertation), the hypothesized affinities between foreign policy and economic policy -- orthodox-compliant (OC) on one hand and defiant-heterodox (HD) on the other hand -- may be regarded as a manifestation of the historical tendency of societies to forge a unified identity and pursue greater social justice when threats from other countries increase: "we're all in this together." This conclusion is likely to be appalling to old-fashioned Marxists who believe that war is essentially a capitalist plot, such as Hannah Arendt. The hypothesized OC affinity is be consistent with the libertarian position expressed by Rummel, suggesting that the roots of peace lie in liberal capitalism -- not necessarily liberal democracy. (from my Dissertation Chapter One: final section)

International politics

National politics

The Presidency

...

The Judiciary

Supreme Court

• John Roberts (Chief Justice, 2005)
• John Paul Stevens (1975)
• Antonin Scalia (1986)
• Anthony Kennedy (1988)
• David Souter (1990)
• Clarence Thomas (1991)
• Ruth Bader Ginsberg (1993)
• Stephen Breyer (1994)
• Samuel Alito (2006)

Congress

Congressional leaders

R. Douglas Arnold's The Logic of Congressonal Action

A rational choice approach to analyzng policy making by Congress.

State & local politics

"All politics is local." -- attributed to Tip O'Neill, former Speaker of the House

Roll over this image to see the Virginia congressional districts, coded according to party. Click on it to see the names or abbreviations of the counties.

Canonical books about politics

Aristotle, Politics introduction by Max Lerner (New York: Random House / The Modern Library, 1943 [orig. circa 340 B.C.]

Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, The Federalist Papers, introduction by Clinton Rossiter (New York: Mentor Books, 1961 [orig. 1788])

Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, introduction by Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985)

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, introduction by John Plamenatz (Cleveland: Meridian Books, 1963)

Hans J. Morgenthau, Scientific Man and Power Politics (Chicago: Phoenix Books, 1967 [1946])

Locke, John. 1980. Second Treatise of Government. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.

Bruce Porter, War and the Rise of the State: The Military Foundations of Modern Politics (New York: The Free Press, 1994).

Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man(New York: Avon Books, 1993)

Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (Chicago: Phoenix Books, 1962)

Reinhold Niebuhr, Moral Man and Immoral Society (New York: Scribners, 1932)

Charles Tilly, Coercion, Capital, and European States, AD 990-1990 (Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell, 1990)

Kenneth N. Waltz, Theory of International Politics (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1979)

John H. Herz, Political Realism and Political Idealism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951)

R. Douglas Arnold, The Logic of Congressional Action (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990)