Julia A. Karaulova, Ekaterina A. Antyukhova

English for Political Studies

Учебник

ebooks@prospekt.org

Информация о книге

УДК 811.111(075.8)

ББК 81.2Англ-923

К21

Авторы:
Караулова Ю. А., кандидат юридических наук, доцент кафедры английского языка № 6, заместитель декана факультета управления и политики МГИМО МИД России;
Антюхова Е. А., доктор политических наук, доцент кафедры мировых политических процессов, заместитель декана факультета управления и политики МГИМО МИД России.

Рецензенты:
Алексеева Т. А., доктор философских наук, профессор, заслуженный деятель науки РФ, заведующая кафедрой политической теории МГИМО МИД России;
Чугунова С. А., доктор филологических наук, профессор кафедры теории английского языка и переводоведения Брянского государственного университета имени академика И. Г. Петровского.

Учебник “English for Political Studies” («Английский язык политической науки») предназначен для студентов бакалавриата, обучающихся по направлению «Политология». Основное внимание в нем уделено вопросам перевода текстов политологической направленности с русского языка на английский, а также умению работать с профессионально ориентированными текстами на английском языке. Учебник рассчитан на продвинутое владение английским языком.

В учебнике использованы фрагменты статей, опубликованных в международных научно-исследовательских изданиях, а также трудов ведущих российских ученых-политологов, работающих на факультете управления и политики МГИМО МИД России. Тематика учебника охватывает разделы актуальной политической мысли, такие как «информационные войны», «санкционная политика», «политика в цифровую эпоху» и т. д.

Соответствует требованиям федерального государственного образовательного стандарта высшего образования.

Текст публикуется в авторской редакции.

УДК 811.111(075.8)

ББК 81.2Англ-923

© Караулова Ю. А., Антюхова Е. А., 2023

© ООО «Проспект», 2023

ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ

Данный учебник предназначен для студентов бакалавриата, обучающихся по направлению «Политология».

В основе учебника лежит компетентностный подход к изучению иностранного языка для уровней профессионального владения С1 — С2. Целью учебника является формирование у обучающихся следующих компетенций:

Знать:

— лексические единицы, грамматические категории и структуры, используемые в устном и письменном общении на английском языке в объеме, необходимом для получения профессиональной информации из зарубежных источников, ведения переписки и переговоров и общения, в том числе на профессиональном уровне;

— базовые методы и приемы различных типов устной и письменной коммуникации на английском языке для общекультурного общения и осуществления профессиональной деятельности;

— общенаучную и политологическую терминологию на русском и английском языках;

Уметь:

— свободно воспринимать, анализировать и критически оценивать устную и письменную профессиональную информацию на английском языке;

— логически верно, аргументированно и ясно строить устную и письменную речь на английском языке;

— вести различные виды диалогов на английском языке; осуществлять общекультурное и профессиональное общение, а также письменную коммуникацию;

Владеть навыками:

— публичной, научной и профессиональной речи, ведения корректной устной и письменной коммуникации на английском языке;

— двустороннего последовательного перевода переговоров средней степени сложности с соблюдением норм грамматики и использованием адекватных лексических единиц;

— перевода профессионально ориентированных текстов с русского языка на английский, а также с английского языка на русский.

В учебнике использованы фрагменты научно-исследовательских статей, опубликованных в международных изданиях, а также статьи, написанные ведущими российскими учеными-политологами и профессорами Факультета управления и политики МГИМО МИД России.

В соответствии со статьей 1274 «Свободное использование произведения в информационных, научных, учебных или культурных целях» Части четвертой Гражданского кодекса Российской Федерации от 2008 года авторы учебника приводят в своей работе в качестве аутентичных материалов правомерно использованные произведения и отрывки из них в объеме, оправданном поставленной целью или методикой, с обязательным указанием имени автора, произведение которого используется, и источника заимствования.

Unit 1.
POLITICS, ITS NATURE AND FUNCTIONS

COMPREHENSION AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Activity 1. Read and translate the interpretations of the concept of politics given below. Compare and summarize each of them in 3 sentences. Define the concept of politics on your own.

A.

What is Politics?

by Christina Boswell

We often refer to something as being ‘political’, or ‘all about politics’, to mean it boils down to a power struggle between people or groups. The idea is that politics is a process of manoeuvring to assert rival interests.

First, what is politics about? One of the classic answers to this question is that politics is about who gets what, when and how. On this view, politics is essentially about settling contestation over the distribution of material goods. This may have been a fair characterisation of politics in the post-World War II era — an era that saw the rolling out of progressive taxation and welfare provision by a relatively centralised state and a party political system based on a traditional left-right ideological cleavage.

Yet the notion that politics is solely, or mainly, about distribution has been challenged over the past three or more decades. The increasing salience of ‘post-ideological’ contestation around values and lifestyles suggests that politics is as much, or arguably more, about identity and culture as it is about material resources. Much of our contemporary political debate revolves around issues that are not neatly categorised as left or right, such as the environment, gender and sexual rights, immigration and security.

Political contestation is as much about cultural identity and recognition, as it is about allocating material resources

Another challenge to this classic view comes from the ‘ideational turn’ (идейный поворот) in studies of politics. Scholars have shown how politics is as much about contestation over ways of framing or narrating policy problems, as it is about struggles over distribution. Of course, the two may not be easily distinguishable: different ways of framing problems may have profound consequences for distribution. But the point is that politics is a battle of ideas, in which participants attempt to control the narrative through tapping deep-rooted values and beliefs, rather than invoking objective self-interest. This recognition of the importance of narratives chimes with debates on ‘fake news’ and the potential for significant divergence in the way rival political groups frame policy issues.

The second question is about the process of politics: how are these rival claims translated into policy? In multi-party democracies, the obvious answer to this is through winning elections, which allows parties to implement their programmes.

But this rather transactional account is misleading. Electoral competition tends to create a ‘bidding war’ (здесь «война обещаний»), in which rival parties promise ever more appealing programmes. Voters often assume that these programmes can be straightforwardly implemented — as if they are consumers choosing a product. But in reality, manifesto claims are often discarded or watered down in the face of limited resources, viability, or political veto. What results in disappointment and disillusionment in democratic politics.

One of the challenges for political science, then, is to chart (здесь «зафиксировать», «наметить», «обозначить») and understand these changes in the nature of politics. We need to understand that political contestation is as much about cultural identity and recognition, as it is about allocating material resources and to make sense of the disappointment in politics generated by the gap between the transactional view and the messier reality. Only by elucidating these trends can we develop institutions that can renew democratic debate and trust in politics. No mean feat in the current political climate, but definitely worth our best effort.

TRANSLATION TIPS

ENGLISH | RUSSIAN
to boil down to | сводиться к
distribution of material goods | распределение материальных благ
salience | отличительная особенность, характерная черта, салиентность, значимость
ideational turn | идейный поворот
to tap deep-rooted values and beliefs | использовать/задействовать глубоко укорененные ценности и воззрения
to invokе | ссылаться на, обращаться к
to chime with | быть созвучным с
divergence | расхождение, дивергенция
viability | зд. целесообразность
to chart | зд. наметить, установить, зафиксировать
the messier reality | зд. суровая реальность
no mean feat | непростая задача

B.

What is “Politics“?

by Giovanni Sartori

The notion of politics applies to everything, and therefore to nothing in particular, as long as the realms of ethics, economics, politics, and society remain united and are not embodied in structural differentiations-that is, in structures and institutions which can be qualified as political in that they are different from those which are declared economic, religious, or social. The most difficult knot to unravel is that between the sphere of politics and the sphere of society.

The idea of politics transcends at every point and in a thousand ways the word itself. The politics of Aristotle was, at one and the same time, an anthropology, a conception of man indissolubly linked to the “space” of the polis. With the collapse of the polis, the meaning of the political is variously diluted or turned into something different. In one respect, politics became juridicized and evolved in the direction indicated by Roman thought. In another respect- the things political became theologized, first conforming to the Christian view of the world, then adapting to the struggle between the Papacy and the Empire, and finally reflecting the schism between Catholicism and Protestantism. In any case, the discourse of, and about, politics develops beginning with Plato and Aristotle-as a discourse which is jointly and indissolubly ethicopolitical. The ethics in question could be naturalistic, theological, or juridical-that is, an ethics that debates the problem of the “good” in terms of what is “just,” appealing to justice and just laws. The doctrine of natural law, in its successive phases and versions, summarizes quite well this amalgam of juridical and moral norms. For these and still other reasons, there can be little doubt that it is not until Machiavelli that politics attains a distinctive identity and “autonomy.”

TRANSLATION TIPS

ENGLISH | RUSSIAN
тo be indissolubly linked to | быть неразрывно связанным с
тo transcend | выходить за рамки
тo becоme juridicized | стать предметом юридического регулирования
schism | раскол (чаще всего — религиозный)
natural law | естественное право
amalgam | зд. смесь

C.

What is Politics: determining the scope of political science

by Peter Nicholson

What is politics? That is, which human activities, ideas and institutions are properly called ‘political ‘, and constitute the scope, or field, or province of the study of politics? Politics has often been identified with the State. Often, the meaning of state ‘ is extended to cover earlier institutions such as the Greek poleis. Yet, some object that the state however defined, is too narrow as a definition of politics. In the first place, it tends to concentrate attention on formal political institutions and processes; whereas many students of politics, both ancient and modern, have preferred to look further afield. This deficiency can be remedied by saying that politics is the state and ‘ everything to do with it ‘, thereby including all the political processes going on around and centring on the state.

Some define politics more widely still, in terms of influence. They try to get away from the institutional loci and concentrate on specifying the Activity itself. De Jouvenel writes that ‘ we should regard as “ political “ every systematic effort, performed at any place in the social field, to move other men in pursuit of some design cherished by the mover and asserts that ‘ there is no difference in nature between social relations and political relations: it is just a matter of relations between men.

Politics has often been viewed in terms of disagreement, dispute and struggle: in short, of conflict. This accords with a major element in the ordinary use of ‘ politics ‘ which associates it with the controversial, the realm of party politics, conflict, compromise, and corruption.

Finally, I want to consider Easton’s view of politics. Easton sets out to define politics primarily in terms of activities not persons or institutions. His view is that ‘ the property of a social act that informs it with a political aspect is the act’s relation to the authoritative allocation of values for a society ‘. Thus political science is concerned with everything to do with that policy-making which allocates valued things authoritatively for the whole society.

NB! De Jouvenel — Бертран де Жувенель; Easton — Дэвид Истон

Bertrand de Jouvenel des Ursins (31 October 1903–1 March 1987) was a French philosopher, political economist, and futurist.

David Easton (June 24, 1917 — July 19, 2014) was a Canadian-born American political scientist. Easton provided the discipline’s most widely used definition of politics as the authoritative allocation of values for the society. He was renowned for his application of systems theory to the study of political science.

Activity 2. Explain the meanings of the following words, expressions, and fragments from the texts. Use the context for this purpose. Translate them into Russian:

Text A: characterisation of politics; ‘post-ideological’ contestation; the ‘ideational turn’ in studies; framing or narrating policy problems; deep-rooted values and beliefs; disillusionment in democratic politics; cultural identity.

Text B: politics became juridicized; the things political became theologized; the schism between Catholicism and Protestantism;

Text C: formal political institutions; the institutional loci; the authoritative allocation of values.

Activity 3. Agree or disagree with the following statements. Give your reasons:

(a) Politics can be defined as the authoritative allocation of values. (David Easton);

(b) Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedy. (Ernest Benn);

(c) Politics is the ‘Activity through which people make, preserve and amend the general rules under which they live’. (Andrew Heywood).

Activity 4. Prepare presentations focusing on the following topics:

(a) Politics as that which concerns the state;

(b) Politics as conflict resolution;

(c) Politics as conflict;

(d) Politics as the exercise of power;

(e) Politics as a social and public activity.

Useful Tips for Making a Presentation

1) Introduce yourself and establish the topic(s) you are going to discuss;

2) Provide an overview of the presentation;

3) Make sure you acknowledge when you are changing topics;

4) Establish early that you will take questions at the end.

Useful Vocabulary

INTRODUCING THE TOPIC: I want to make you a short presentation about; I’d like to give you a brief breakdown of;

EXPLANATION OF GOALS: The purpose of this presentation is; my objective today is;

STRUCTURE: My presentation is divided into “x” parts; I’ll start with; then I will look at; next; and finally;

STARTING POINT: Let me start with some general information on;

INTERIM CONCLUSION: Let’s summarize briefly what we have looked at; I’d like to recap the main points;

TRANSITION: I’d now like to move on to the next part; this leads me to my next point, which is;

EMPHASIS: It should be emphasized that; another significant point is that;

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION: In conclusion, let me sum up my main points; that brings me to the end of my presentation. Thanks for your attention.

TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES

Activity 5. Read, understand and remember the following:

Translation Patterns

(1) Chain of Nouns Pattern

The syntax of the Russian language tends to use combinations of nouns in order to reduce lengthy sentences. To avoid difficulties which might arise in translating such fragments from Russian into English, it is recommended that chains of nouns be replaced with subject + predicate clauses in English, where possible.

In order to apply this pattern:

(1) find a verbal noun in a Russian version;

(2) use it as a predicate in the relevant English clause;

(3) transform a direct object into a subject of the English clause;

(4) use a proper link word to connect the respective clause to the principal clause.

e.g.

Политику можно интерпретировать как способ организации и управления обществом.

(a) “способ организации и управления обществом” = chain of nouns;

(b) организации и управления = verbal nouns to be transformed into predicates in the relevant English clause;

(c) обществом = a direct object to be transformed into a subject in the relevant English clause.

Thus,

Политику можно интерпретировать как способ организации и управления обществом = Politics can be interpreted as a tool by which society can be organized or governed.

(2) Impersonal Pattern (RUS: (Preposition + NOUN in the oblique case +
+ Reflexive Verb/Verb = ENGL: Subject + Predicate)

e.g.

В литературе политика определяется… = Scientific literature defines politics…

OR

В политической науке существует множество определений понятия «политика» = Political science defines politics in different ways;

OR

В качестве общего определения политики можно предложить следующее = Politics can be generally defined as

(3) Impersonal Pattern + Chain of Nouns Pattern

В литературе политика определяется как: осуществление влияния и власти; форма господства; способ разрешения конфликтов; достижение коллективных целей.

(a) В литературе политика определяется = impersonal pattern (Scientific literature defines politics as);

(b) осуществление влияния и власти = chain of nouns (the way influence and power can be exercised);

(c) способ разрешения конфликтов = chain of nouns (conflicts can be settled/resolved);

(d) достижение коллективных целей = chain of nouns (collective goals can be achieved).

SO:

В литературе политика определяется как: осуществление влияния и власти; форма господства; способ разрешения конфликтов; достижение коллективных целей = Scientific literature defines politics as the way influence and power can be exercised, conflicts can be settled, collective goals can be achieved, or a form of dominance.

Activity 5. Translate the following into English using the relevant translation patterns specified below:

Impersonal Pattern

В литературе, посвященной политическим теориям, мы встречаемся с двумя способами подачи материала. (Literature contains/includes/comprises);

В учебниках часто приводят трактовку вопросов политической теории американского мыслителя Алана Гевирта. (Books often interpret the issues of political theory in compliance with/according to);

К государствам, обладающим мягкой силой, приковано внимание международной общественности. (The states… attract the attention of the international community);

В современной политической науке представлены различные подходы и научные школы. (Modern political studies include/have/use…);

В западных университетах особое внимание уделяется вопросам политической теории. (Western universities focus on…);

Под политической культурой можно понимать систему ценностей, присущей социуму. (Political culture can be construed as …);

В современной политической науке существует множество определений понятия «политика» (Political science defines politics …).

Для Н. Макиавелли суть политики заключалась в борьбе за власть (Machiavelli viewed politics as…);

В русском языке слово «политика» употребляется в таких значениях, как (The Russian language uses the term “politics” in such meanings as… // The Russian language attributes such meanings as … to the term “politics”).

Chain of Nouns Pattern

захват, удержание и использование государственной власти (the means by which state power can be______, _______, and _______);

способ регулирования отношений между большими социальными общностями (a specific means by which relations… are __________);

способ организации и управления обществом (государством) (a tool by which society (the State) can be _________ and _________);

орган регулирования жизни людей (a body which ________people’s lives);

Activity 6. Translate the following into English using translation tips in parentheses:

A.

1) Политика — это процесс регулирования отношений между большими социальными общностями, элитами и лидерами.

2) Политика — это отношения по поводу (the activities aimed at) захвата, удержания и использования государственной власти.

3) Политика — это особый способ регулирования отношений между большими социальными общностями (a specific means by which relations… are governed), основанный на писаных законах и опирающийся на политическую власть (based on written law and political power).

4) В современной политической науке существует множество определений понятия «политика» (Political science defines politics in different ways).

5) Для Н. Макиавелли суть политики заключалась в борьбе за власть (Machiavelli viewed politics as…).

6) М. Вебер рассматривал политику как определенные действия, направленные на обретение, удержание и использование власти (According to Max Weber, politics is…).

7) Политику можно интерпретировать как способ организации и управления обществом (государством) с помощью государственной (политической) власти (Politics can be interpreted as a tool by which…).

B.

Представление о политике (What is Politics? // Understanding Politics)

Слово «политика» (от греч. politika — государственные и общественные дела, от polis — государство) пришло из Древней Греции (is derived from a Greek word), где оно обозначало искусство управления государством (полисом).

В истории общественной мысли взгляды на политику постоянно изменялись. Начиная с Древней Греции и до XVII в. включительно доминировало представление о политике как государственной жизни (politics was / had been understood / interpreted as…). Политическая мысль сводила область политики (political thinkers reduced / used to reduce politics to) преимущественно к государству и государственным отношениям. Государство рассматривалось в качестве органа регулирования жизни людей с целью создания оптимальной общественной организации. Так, Аристотель (Aristotle) полагал, что сущность политики состоит в (politics was aimed at / the principal objective of politics was to) объединении людей для достижения высшего блага (the supreme value / the greater good) государства и человека.

C.

Современное понятие политики (The Modern View of Politics)

В английском языке три ключевых слова имеют отношение к термину «политика»:

• «politics» — политическая сфера общества;

• «polity» — политический строй;

• «policy» — политическая стратегия, проводимая различными властными структурами.

Поэтому в современной зарубежной литературе политика часто определяется как: осуществление влияния и власти; форма господства; способ разрешения конфликтов; достижение коллективных целей; социальная активность, связанная с производством и распределением ресурсов.

В русском языке слово «политика» употребляется в таких значениях, как:

• политическая жизнь общества;

• стратегия деятельности в определенной сфере;

• управление общественными делами (public administration);

• борьба за власть;

• форма общественного сознания (a form of public consciousness/awareness)

В качестве наиболее общего определения политики, отражающего ее многогранную социальную природу (multifaceted social nature), можно предложить следующее. Политика — сфера социальной жизни и деятельности, связанная с отношениями власти-подчинения в обществе, с завоеванием, удержанием, пользованием властью.

https://www.grandars.ru/college/

Activity 7. Be ready to speak on the topic “Politics. Its Nature and Functions” on the basis of Unit 1.

Activity 8. Complete the chart below:

KEY CONCEPTS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Concept | Coined or Conceptualized by | Brief Description of Concept
Politics |  |

RELATED VOCABULARY

ENGLISH | RUSSIAN
Politics | Политика
Policy | Курс, стратегия
Polity | Политический строй
Political science | Политология
Politician | Политик
The State//Government | Государство
Power | Власть

REVISION

Translate the following. Use the relevant translation patterns where necessary:

(1) We often refer to something as being ‘political’, or ‘all about politics’, to mean it boils down to a power struggle between people or groups. The idea is that politics is a process of manoeuvring to assert rival interests.

(2) Yet the notion that politics is solely, or mainly, about distribution has been challenged over the past three or more decades. Much of our contemporary political debate revolves around issues that are not neatly categorised as left or right, such as the environment, gender and sexual rights, immigration and security.

(3) The notion of politics applies to everything, and therefore to nothing in particular, as long as the realms of ethics, economics, politics, and society remain united and are not embodied in structural differentiations-that is, in structures and institutions which can be qualified as political.

(4) The idea of politics transcends at every point and in a thousand ways the word itself. The politics of Aristotle was, at one and the same time, an anthropology, a conception of man indissolubly linked to the “space” of the polis.

(5) In one respect, politics became juridicized and evolved in the direction indicated by Roman thought. In another respect- the things political became theologized.

(6) Politics has often been identified with the State. Often, the meaning of “state” is extended to cover earlier institutions such as the Greek poleis.

(7) Politics has often been viewed in terms of disagreement, dispute and struggle: in short, of conflict.

(8) Слово «политика» пришло из Древней Греции, где оно обозначало искусство управления государством (полисом).

(9) В современной политической науке существует множество определений понятия «политика».

(10) Политику можно интерпретировать как способ организации и управления обществом (государством) с помощью государственной (политической) власти.

(11) Для Н. Макиавелли суть политики заключалась в борьбе за власть. М. Вебер рассматривал политику как определенные действия, направленные на обретение, удержание и использование власти.

(12) В современной зарубежной литературе политика часто определяется как: осуществление влияния и власти; форма господства; способ разрешения конфликтов; достижение коллективных целей; социальная активность, связанная с производством и распределением ресурсов.

(13) В качестве наиболее общего определения политики, отражающего ее многогранную социальную природу, можно предложить следующее. Политика — сфера социальной жизни и деятельности, связанная с отношениями власти-подчинения в обществе, с завоеванием, удержанием, пользованием властью.

Unit 2.
POLITICAL POWER AND POLITICAL REGIMES

POLITICAL POWER

COMPREHENSION AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Activity 1. Read and translate the characterizations of political power below. For this purpose use the respective translation tips and translation patterns in parentheses:

1) The concept of power in the political and social world is the exertion of influence (оказание влияния), forced or willing on a society and its subjects either to add value or exploit the territory.

2) Common forms of power in the contemporary world follow a legitimate and willingness approach (основаны на принципах легитимности и добровольности // следуют принципам легитимности и добровольности), while other sections of the world are still under the arrests of coercive power (принудительная власть). All types of power describe three faces of power utility (три лица/лика власти): decision-making role (принятие решений), thought control (контроль над сознанием) and agenda setting (определение политической повестки дня).

3) Political power is the ability held by individuals and groups in a society that allows them to create and enforce policies (формировать/устанавливать и проводить политический курс) for the community and manage public resources. Political power includes four key elements: power (власть), authority (авторитет), legitimacy (легитимность), and sovereignty (суверенитет). Power is the ability to influence and direct the behavior of other people and guide the course and outcome of events. Authority means that an individual or group has the right to use power by making decisions, giving orders, and demanding obedience. Legitimacy refers to citizens’ belief that their leaders have the right to exercise power and authority; it is the acceptance of the government by the governed. Sovereignty is the highest exercise of political power; it is supreme and ultimate authority that cannot be overruled by a higher power (вышестоящий властный орган).

4) В самом широком смысле слова власть (Power can be generally defined as) — это способность и возможность осуществлять свою волю, оказывать определяющее воздействие на деятельность, поведение людей с помощью какого-либо средства — авторитета, права, насилия. Наиболее важным видом власти является политическая власть. Политическая власть (Political power means) — это реальная способность данного класса, группы, индивида проводить свою волю в политике и правовых нормах (laws). Политическая власть характеризуется или социальным господством, или ведущей ролью, или руководством тех или иных групп, а чаще всего различными сочетаниями этих качеств.

5) Власть — это форма социальных отношений, характеризующаяся способностью влиять на характер и направление деятельности и поведения людей, социальных групп и классов, посредством экономических, идеологических, правовых механизмов, также с помощью авторитета, традиции, насилия.

Можно сказать, что власть проявляется в том случае, когда А вынуждает Б делать что-то, чего Б в любом ином случае предпочел бы не делать. При этом А может воздействовать на Б разными способами. Это позволяет говорить о разных видах или «ликах» власти:

Власть как принятие решений. Этот «лик» власти определяется целенаправленными действиями, которые так или иначе определяют существо принимаемых решений. Классическое описание этой формы власти можно найти в работе Роберта Даля «Кто управляет?

Власть как определение политической повестки дня. Второй «лик» власти отражает способность той или иной политической силы воспрепятствовать принятию решений. Здесь речь идет о том, кто контролирует политическую повестку дня.

Власть как контроль над сознанием. Третий «лик» власти — это способность влиять на других людей, воздействуя на их мысли, желания и потребности. В политической жизни эта форма власти проявляется в использовании пропаганды и вообще в методах идеологического воздействия.

Source: https://studopedia.su/

NB! Translate into English and memorize the following:

Установление повестки дня

Теория установления повестки дня (Agenda-setting theory) — позитивистская теория, согласно которой средства массовой информации оказывают значительное влияние на общественность непосредственно самим подбором того, что именно они освещают.

Activity 2. Answer the following questions:

1) What is power in the political world? Is this concept similar to the concept of “political power”?

2) Why is political power based on legitimacy?

3) Explain the meaning of the following terms: “legitimacy”, “authority” and “sovereignty”.

4) What other types of power can be identified in the realm of political science?

5) Be prepared to speak on the following issues:

— Legitimacy as the right to rule;

— Legitimacy as a claim right;

— Legitimacy as a privilege to use coercion;

— Legitimacy as a power.

Activity 3. Based on the descriptions above, tell the difference between “power” and “political power”. Speak on the concept of political power focusing on three faces of power.

Activity 4. Translate into English the titles of the scientific articles given below:

«Политическая власть: концептуальный анализ»; «Политическая власть: опыт аналитики понятия»; «Политическая власть — политическая субстанция»; «Понятие политической власти и ее сущность»; «Политическое лидерство и политическая власть».

NB! Понятие = concept // опыт = experience or practices //
сущность = nature

Activity 5. Below there is an abstract of a scientific paper focusing on the concept of political power. An abstract is a concise summary of a research paper or article. The purpose of the abstract is to summarize the research paper by stating the purpose of the research, the findings, and the conclusions. Translate this abstract into English using the respective translation tips:

RUSSIAN | ENGLISH
В статье рассматриваются … | The article focuses on …
Показано, что | The article/researcher/author states that
Обосновывается положение о том, что | The author substantiates the statement//claim to the effect that
Раскрывается связь политической власти с политическими учреждениями | The paper demonstrates//claims that political power is linked to political institutions
На основе понятия формулируется закон политического развития | The political evolution pattern is based on the concept in question
Общественная власть по своей сущности — это … | The essence//nature of public power is …

Аннотация (abstract): в статье рассматриваются сущность (nature) и виды политической власти, ее соотношение с государственной властью (State power), ее значение для государственного управления (public administration). Показано, что политическая власть и государственная власть составляют (constitute) разные виды общественной власти (public power), каждый из которых имеет свое особое назначение и по-своему осуществляется. При этом они могут быть непосредственно сопряжены между собой, если речь идет о политической власти, сложившейся в системе государства и служащей в этой системе средством воздействия на его исполнительные учреждения (executive bodies/authorities). Обосновывается положение о том, что всякая общественная власть по своей сущности — это институционально оформленная социальная сила (institutionalized social power). Раскрывается связь политической власти с политическими учреждениями; отмечается роль этих учреждений в системе государственного управления. На основе понятия политической власти формулируется обусловленный ею закон политического развития (political evolution pattern).

Ключевые слова: государственное учреждение (governmental authority/body), государственная власть (State power), государственное управление (public administration), государство (The State/government).

Source: Борисенков А. А. — Политическая власть — политическая субстанция // Социодинамика. 2013. № 6. С. 193–217. DOI: 10.7256/2306-0158.2013.6.806 URL: https://nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=806

Activity 6. Translate into Russian the titles of the academic papers given below.

1) Neoliberal taxation regimes and the articulation of sovereign state power;

2) Power and politics in public inquiries;

3) Theories of power and social change. Power contestations and their implications for research on social change and innovation;

4) Power and rational choice;

5) Why we do need a concept of power;

6) Relational, structural and systemic forms of power: the ‘right to justification’ confronting three types of domination

7) Sovereign power, disciplinary power and biopower: resisting what power with what resistance?

Source: Journal of Political Power,
https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rpow21

Activity 7. Translate into Russian the abstracts of academic articles published in the Journal of Political Power. Pay close attention to the italicized fragments. Based on the abstracts provide the respective articles with proper titles on your own.

Abstract 1.

The new edition of Dowding’s book Rational Choice and Political Power includes an original reflection on the task of conceptual analysis, where he argues against the need to provide a formal definition of power. In this article, I investigate the implications of Dowding’s position for the understanding of the concept of power and I discuss the relation between power and power-resources. I conclude by providing reasons in favor of conceptual definition and by arguing, pace Dowding, that we need a concept of power.

Abstract 2.

In the literature, there have been two essentially contrasting views of power: one of power as domination (господство/доминирование), largely characterized as power over (власть над кем-то, чем-то), and the other of power as empowerment (расширение возможностей, предоставление полномочий), frequently theorized as power to (власть для). To date, the four dimensions of power have been considered forms of domination. In this article it is argued that the processes of four-dimensional power also constitute the process of normatively desirable power, as emancipation. The fact that normatively desirable power (нормативно-желательная власть) and domination are constituted through the same processes is not chance: the effectiveness of power as domination is parasitic upon power as emancipation.

Abstract 3.

Two questions about Dahl’s evolving view of power are addressed. It is argued that his classic study Who Governs? was driven by a concept of power on whose narrowness they rightly focused because it excluded important questions about power relations and mechanisms. Secondly, how satisfactory is his final conceptualization of power? This, it is argued, is still too narrow. It conflates power and influence, failing to see the importance of its dispositional character. It advances too narrow a view of its origins and its impact. And it fails to acknowledge the virtues of relating the concept of power to that of ‘interests’.

NB! Remember the language contained the chart below:

ENGLISH | RUSSIAN
The new edition includes an original reflection on | В новом издании содержатся оригинальные размышления на тему
he argues against the need | Он оспаривает необходимость //возражает против необходимости
In this article, I investigate the implications | В данной статье изучаются последствия // я изучаю / анализирую /исследую последствия
I conclude by providing reasons in favor of conceptual definition | В заключение // в качестве вывода приводятся аргументы в пользу концептуального определения
In the literature, there have been two essentially contrasting views of power | В научной литературе содержатся два противоположных по своей сути подхода к определению власти (силы)
In this article it is argued that | Автор статьи утверждает, что
Two questions are addressed | В исследовании рассматриваются две проблемы // статья затрагивает два вопроса
It advances too narrow a view of | Предлагается слишком узкий подход к

Activity 8. Read, translate and analyze the excerpts from the article “Rethinking the four dimensions of power: domination and empowerment” by Mark Haugaard. Summarize each of them. Based thereon speak briefly on the following issues:

— the concept of power by Robert A. Dahl;

— zero-sum power after Parsons;

— a contrast between power over and power to;

— a disciplinary power after Michel Foucault;

— a Weberian type of legally/instrumentally rational power.

1) As set out by Dahl, the first dimension of power constitutes the ability of A to prevail over B, by making B do something which B would not otherwise have done (1957) — a theorization (зд. теоретическое построение) which constitutes the core of the classic Weberian view of power (веберианский подход к концепту/понятию «власть»).

2) This power overview is usually interpreted normatively as domination. However, as has been conceded by Lukes (Лукс), this has to be modified by the observation that actors can prevail over each other in ways that may be beneficial to those who are being prevailed upon in instances where A knows B’s interests better than B.

3) Parsons made a significant contribution to the power debate (1963) when he observed that power, like wealth, is not necessarily zero-sum (концепция власти с нулевой суммой по Парсонсу). However, after Parsons, the divide between nonzero-sum and positive-sum power is usually drawn along the lines of a contrast between power over and power to.

4) Foucault argues that with modernity (в эпоху модерна) there occurs a fundamental transition from one type of power to the other, which is a claim that is found in much of social theory. In Foucault’s account, the change is characterized by a sovereign model of coercive domination (принудительное господство) that is largely replaced by a modern power, which is variously described as a disciplinary power (дисциплинарная власть по Мишелю Фуко).

5) Commenting upon power of his, pre-modern, time (эпоха премодерна, которой принадлежал Макиавелли), Machiavelli famously asked himself: is it better for a prince to be feared or to be loved? His answer was that it is better to be both but if one can be only one then fear is best. If we look to the political power base of a despot, for instance Kim Jong-il, Bashar al-Assad or Muammar Gaddafi, we observe ‘princes’ whose power rests or rested upon these two sources. Love and fear manifest themselves in the sharp contrast between police repression, coupled with fervent display of loyalty at mass rallies or funerals. However, this is not typical of modern power, although it is found in modernity — Hitler would be another example.

6) In contrast, with modernity (в эпоху модерна) there emerge political leaders who are neither feared nor loved and whose power is based upon their exclusion from the exception (власть которых основана на исключении их исключительности). They are in power because they have prevailed over other in democratic contests or have followed other correct structured procedures within a bureaucratic context. They have been empowered through a process that approximates to a Weberian ideal type of legally/instrumentally rational power. Once in power, they must confirm to certain rule of the game.

NB! Вебер — веберианский // Фуко — фуколдианский

NB!

Robert A. Dahl, (born December 17, 1915-died February 5, 2014), American political scientist and educator. A leading theorist of political pluralism, Dahl stressed the role in politics played by associations, groups, and organizations. In “The Concept of Power” (1957), his first major contribution to the field of political science, Dahl developed a formal definition of power that was frequently cited as an important (though incomplete) insight into the phenomenon. According to Dahl, “A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something that B would not otherwise do.”

https://www.britannica.com/

Talcott Parsons, (born Dec. 13, 1902-died May 8, 1979), American sociologist and scholar whose theory of social action influenced the intellectual bases of several disciplines of modern sociology. His work is concerned with a general theoretical system for the analysis of society rather than with narrower empirical studies. He is credited with having introduced the work of Max Weber and Vilfredo Pareto to American sociology.

https://www.britannica.com/

Michel Foucault (born October 15, 1926-died June 25, 1984), French philosopher and historian, one of the most influential and controversial scholars of the post-World War II period.

https://www.britannica.com/

RELATED VOCABULARY

ENGLISH | RUSSIAN
the concept of power | концепт власти
coercive power | принудительная власть
three faces of power | три лица/лика власти
agenda setting | определение политической повестки дня
political power | политическая власть
authority | авторитет
legitimacy | легитимность
power over | власть над
power to | власть для
the four dimensions of power | четыре измерения власти
normatively desirable power | нормативно-желательная власть
domination | доминирование, господство
empowerment | зд. расширение возможностей

Activity 9. Prepare presentations on the following topics:

– The Concept of Power by Robert A. Dahl;

– “Power in the Recent Writings of Talcott Parsons” (see the article by Anthony Giddens);

– The Four Dimensions of Power (to be based on the article written by Mark Haugaard)

TRANSLATION SKILLS

Activity 10. Translate the following into English using translation tips in parentheses:

1) Власть — возможность (ability) оказать воздействие на что-то и на кого-то. Власть тесно связана с господством (domination) и авторитетом (authority).

2) М. Вебер определил (defined/conceptualized “power” as follows) власть следующим образом: «Власть состоит в способности индивида А добиться от индивида Б такого поведения или такого воздержания от действий, которое Б в противном случае не принял бы и которое соответствует воле А».

3) Современный политолог Р. Даль рассматривает власть (construes/interprets power as) как способность заставить других делать нечто, что при отсутствии давления они делать бы не стали

4) Особое место в интеллектуальном творчестве Р. Даля занимает его работа «Кто правит?» (Who Governs?).

5) Власть не является феноменом, независимым от ее носителей; она не заключена в позициях, в социальном статусе, богатстве или каких-либо других социальных отношениях и институтах

6) Постмодернистская модель власти имеет множество вариантов, начиная от М. Фуко и кончая современным феминизмом (Postmodernists ranging from Michel Foucault to contemporary feminist theories interpret power…).

Ни одна из существующих моделей власти не дает о ней целостного представления. Это и делает исследование власти крайне сложным и противоречивым.

POLITICAL REGIMES

COMPREHENSION AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Activity 11. Answer the following questions:

1) Speak on the distinction among “state”, “regime” and “government”.

2) What is a political regime in general?

3) Identify the general features of this concept.

4) What types of political regimes do you know?

Activity 12. Read, translate and compare the definitions of the concept at issue given below. Drawing on the respective wording, define the concept on your own.

1) A political regime is a set of rules which are designed in politics for the development society to regulate institution or government operations.

2) A political regime is a set of rules, procedures, and understandings which govern relations between the state and society in a particular country.

3) A political regime is a set of political structures that make up a state. A political regime may also be known as a form of government, a state system, or a political system. The term political regime may also sometimes refer to a specific ruler or set of rulers within a political system.

4) A political regime is a form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms that regulates the operation of a government or institution and its interaction with society.

5) A political regime is a set of rules that identifies: who has access to power; who is allowed to select the government; and under what conditions and limitations authority is exercised.

6) Политический режим — это комплекс методов и средств, через которые реализуется политическая власть.

7) Понятием «политический режим» обозначают систему приемов, методов, форм, способов осуществления политической (включая государственную) власти и отражающую уровень политической свободы в обществе. Политический режим — это реальное общество в его политическом измерении, характеристика политической системы.

Activity 13. Read, translate and summarize the excerpts from the research paper focusing on political regimes:

A political regime is a set of rules, procedures, and understandings which govern relations between the state and society in a particular country. Three main types of political regime are commonly referred to in the literature: democratic, totalitarian, and authoritarian. In addition, many variations exist on each of these basic regime types, yielding a wide variety of political regime subtypes.

A democratic regime is defined by Robert Dalh as a regime in which the state is highly responsive to the preferences of society because all adult citizens are free to formulate their preferences, to signify their preferences to other citizens and to the state, and to have their preferences weighed without discrimination in the conduct of state policymaking.

Dahl goes on to list eight basic requirements necessary for these conditions to hold, including freedoms of organization and expression, the universal rights to vote, run for public office, and compete for political support, the existence of alternative sources of information and free and fair elections, and the existence of institutions for making state policy responsive to public expressions of preference.

Carl Friedrich defines a totalitarian regime as one in which the state is guided by a “totalist” ideology, is controlled by a single, mass-mobilizational political party backed up by the pervasive secret police, and maintains monopolies on mass communications, the coercive apparatus, and other societal organizations.

Juan Linz defines an authoritarian regime as one in which the state is controlled by one leader (or a small group of leaders), affords very limited political pluralism, is not guided by an elaborate ideology, does not seek or permit extensive political mobilization, and exercises power in ways that are formally ill-defined, though actually quite predictable.

Source: The Political Regimes Project by Mark J. Gasiorowski

Activity 14. Read and translate the statement below. Agree or disagree with the author. Justify your position.

“There are two “strong” ways rulers justify why the people should obey them: by the claim that they have a God-given natural, historical or religious right to rule or that they have a God-given natural, historical or religious purpose to rule; or by procedures that guarantee that the people are able to select and control the rulers themselves. There are only two regime types — communist ideocracy and (traditional) monarchy — in which justification relies on a God-given natural/historical law outside the political regime. This is a very strong legitimation, with a clear plan of how society should be structured. Communist regimes and monarchies therefore establish a fixed ruling class — the communist party elite or the aristocracy — which are united by a strong fear that they would dramatically lose their privileges following a regime change”.

Source: “Classifying political regimes revisited: legitimation and durability” by Steffen Kailitz

Activity 15. Such concepts as “legitimacy” and “legitimation” are often used in the context of political power and political regimes. Though they may seem similar, the concepts should not be confused. Translate the excerpts below and be ready to tell the difference between these two terms. Translate them properly into Russian.

Legitimacy is commonly defined in political science and sociology as the belief that a rule, institution, or leader has the right to govern. It is a judgment by an individual about the rightfulness of a hierarchy between rule or ruler and its subject and about the subordinate’s obligations toward the rule or ruler. When shared by many individuals, legitimacy produces distinctive collective effects in society, including making collective social order more efficient, more consensual, and perhaps more just.

Legitimation is the process by which actors strive to create legitimacy for a rule or ruler. Where legitimacy as a belief is a subjective and an individualistic quality, legitimation is a process that is inherently social and political. Legitimation is often done by justifying the existence of rulers or their rules in terms of important normative principles of the society.(https://pesd.princeton.edu).

Activity 16. Summarize the text below. On the basis of the text be ready to answer the following questions:

(1) If democracy is government by the people, are there any real democracies in the world?

(2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of making decisions by consensus, compared to using majority rule?

What is Democracy?

The word democracy comes from the Greek words “demos”, meaning people, and “kratos” meaning power; so democracy can be thought of as “power of the people”: a way of governing which depends on the will of the people.

There are so many different models of democratic government around the world that it is sometimes easier to understand the idea of democracy in terms of what it definitely is not. Democracy, then, is not autocracy or dictatorship, where one person rules; and it is not oligarchy, where a small segment of society rules. Properly understood, democracy should not even be “rule of the majority”, if that means that minorities’ interests are ignored completely. A democracy, at least in theory, is government on behalf of all the people, according to their “will”.

Why democracy?

The idea of democracy derives its moral strength — and popular appeal — from two key principles:

1. Individual autonomy (личная независимость): The idea that no-one should be subject to rules which have been imposed by others. People should be able to control their own lives (within reason).

2. Equality: The idea that everyone should have the same opportunity to influence the decisions that affect people in society.

These principles are intuitively appealing, and they help to explain why democracy is so popular. Of course we feel it is fair that we should have as much chance as anyone else to decide on common rules!

The problems arise when we consider how the principles can be put into practice, because we need a mechanism for deciding how to address conflicting views. Because it offers a simple mechanism, democracy tends to be “rule of the majority”; but rule of the majority can mean that some people’s interests are never represented. A more genuine way of representing everyone’s interests is to use decision making by consensus, where the aim is to find common points of interest.

Democracy and Human Rights

1. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion (свобода мысли, совести и религии). This is one of the first rights which are essential in a democracy: people need to be able to think freely, to hold whatever beliefs are important to them, without being punished for doing so. Governments throughout history have tried to limit this right because they are afraid that if people think about other forms of government, this will endanger the current system. So they have locked people away simply for thinking the “wrong” thoughts. (Such people are known as prisoners of conscience.) However, a society without a pluralism of views is not just intolerant; it also limits its own possibilities to develop in new and possibly improved directions.

2. Freedom of Expression (Свобода выражения мнения). It is important not just to be able to think what you want, but also to be able to express that opinion out loud, whatever that opinion may be. If people are prevented from discussing their views with other people, or presenting them in the media, how can they “take part” in government? Their opinion has essentially been discounted from the possible alternatives under consideration.

3. Freedom of peaceful assembly and association (Свобода собраний и объединений). This right allows you to discuss ideas with others who want to do so, to form interest groups or lobbying groups, or to gather together for the purposes of protest against decisions you disagree with. Perhaps such an Activity is sometimes inconvenient for governments; however it is essential if different views are to be made known and taken into account. And that is part of what democracy is all about.

These are just three human rights which are intrinsically bound up with the idea of democracy, but any infringement of other human rights will also affect the extent to which different people are able to take part in government. Poverty, poor health, or the lack of a home, can all make it more difficult for someone to have their voice heard, and diminish the impact of their choice, compared with others. Such infringements of rights almost certainly make it impossible for the person concerned to be elected to government office.

Source: https://www.coe.int

Activity 17. Comment on the following statements:

“No one is born a good citizen, no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth”. (Kofi Annan);

Democracy is “of the people, by the people, for the people”
(Abraham Lincoln)

Activity 18. Read, translate, and memorize the following:

Forms of Government (здесь «формы правления»)

1) Government is the means by which state policy is enforced, as well as the mechanism for determining the policy of the state. States are served by a continuous succession of different governments.

2) Governments with Aristarchy (аристократическая форма правления) attributes are traditionally ruled by the “best” people. Examples include aristocracy, technocracy and meritocracy.

3) Governments with autocratic attributes are ruled by one person who has all the power over the people in a country. Examples include authoritarian, totalitarian and fascist governments.

4) Governments with democratic attributes are most common in the Western world and in some countries of the east. In democracies, all of the people in a country can vote during elections for representatives or political parties that they prefer.

5) Governments with monarchic attributes are ruled by a king or a queen who inherits their position from their family, which is often called the royal family.

6) Governments with oligarchic attributes are ruled by a small group of powerful and/or influential people. These people may spread power equally or not equally.

7) Plutocracy defines a society or a system ruled and dominated by the small minority of the wealthiest citizens. Unlike systems such as democracy, capitalism, socialism or anarchism, plutocracy is not rooted in an established political philosophy and has no formal advocates.

Democratic Governments

1) Democracy allows people to participate equally — either directly or through elected representatives — in the proposal, development, and creation of laws. It encompasses social, economic and cultural conditions that enable the free and equal practice of political self-determination.

2) A democratic government (демократическая форма правления) contrasts to forms of government where power is either held by one, as in a monarchy, or where power is held by a small number of individuals, as in an oligarchy or aristocracy.

3) Direct democracy (прямая демократия) is a form of democracy in which people vote on policy initiatives directly. This is different from a representative democracy, in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives.

4) Representative democracy (представительная демократия) is a variety of democracy founded on the principle of elected people representing a group of people. For example, three countries which use representative democracy are the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Poland.

5) The concept of representative democracy arose largely from ideas and institutions that developed during the European Middle Ages, the Age of Enlightenment, and the American and French Revolutions.

Non-Democratic Governments: Authoritarianism, Totalitarianism, and Dictatorship

1) An authoritarian government (авторитаризм) is characterized by highly concentrated and centralized power maintained by political repression and the exclusion of potential challengers. It uses political parties and mass organizations to mobilize people around the goals of the regime.

2) An autocracy is a system of government in which a supreme political power is concentrated in the hands of one person; by contrast, a single-party state is a type of party system government in which no other parties are permitted to run candidates for election.

3) Totalitarianism is an extreme version of authoritarianism — it is a political system where the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life wherever necessary.

4) A dictatorship (government without people’s consent) is a contrast to democracy (government whose power comes from people) and totalitarianism (government controls every aspect of people’s life) opposes pluralism (government allows multiple lifestyles and opinions).

5) A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual: a dictator. In contemporary usage, dictatorship refers to an autocratic form of absolute rule by leadership unrestricted by law, constitutions, or other political factors in the state.

Non-Democratic Governments: Monarchy, Oligarchy, Technocracy, and Theocracy

1) A monarchy is a form of government in a state is ruled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and rules for life or until abdication.

2) Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with a small number of people. These people could be distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, education, corporate, or military control.

3) Aristocracy is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule; this is usually contrasted with democracy, in which all citizens are able to rule.

4) Theocracy is a form of government in which religious leaders acting in the place of God rule the state.

5) Technocracy is a form of government in which experts in technology would be in control of all decision making. Scientists, engineers, and technologists who have knowledge, expertise, or skills, would compose the governing body, instead of politicians, businessmen, and economists.

6) Theocracy is a form of government in which official policy is governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or is pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religion or religious group.

Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com

TRANSLATION SKILLS

Activity 19. Translate the following into English using translation tips and patterns in parentheses:

A.

Политический режим — способ организации политической системы, который отражает отношения власти и общества, уровень политической свободы и характер политической жизни в стране.

TP: способ организации политической системы = the way how a political system is organized (Chain of Nouns Pattern);

В научной литературе выделяют два вида политического режима:

• Демократический (a democracy or democratic regime);

• Антидемократический (non-democratic regime).

TP: в научной литературе выделяют два вида политического режима = academic literature identifies 2 types of political regime (Impersonal Pattern)

Признаки демократического режима (A democracy can be characterized by//the characteristics of democracy include):

• господство закона (rule of law);

• разделение властей (separation of powers);

• наличие реальных политических и социальных прав и свобод граждан (existing political and social rights);

• выборность органов государственной власти (the election of government bodies);

• существование оппозиции и плюрализм (political pluralism).

Признаки антидемократического режима:

господство беззакония и террора (dominating lawlessness or iniquity and terror);

• отсутствие (no) политического плюрализма;

• отсутствие (no) оппозиционных партий;

Антидемократический режим подразделяется на тоталитарный (Totalitarianism / totalitarian government or regime) и авторитарный (authoritarianism/authoritarian government or regime).

Демократический режим основан на (A democracy is based on) принципах равенства и свободы; основным источником власти здесь считается народ.

При авторитарном режиме политическая власть сосредоточивается в руках отдельного человека или группы людей, однако вне сферы политики сохраняется относительная свобода.

TP: при авторитарном режиме политическая власть сосредоточивается в руках = authoritarianism concentrates power in the hands of (Impersonal Pattern)

OR

In authoritarian governments (regimes) power is concentrated in the hands of…

При тоталитарном режиме власть жестко контролирует все сферы жизни общества.

RELATED VOCABULARY

RUSSIAN | ENGLISH
демократический режим | a democracy or democratic regime
антидемократический режим | non-democratic regime
господство закона | rule of law
разделение властей | separation of powers
тоталитарный режим | totalitarianism / totalitarian government or regime
авторитарный режим | authoritarianism/authoritarian government or regime

B.

Политический режим — способ функционирования политической системы общества (represents / constitutes/is the way a political system operates in society), совокупность (combination / set) средств и методов, с помощью которых господствующие группы (dominating groups) осуществляют (exercise) политическую и экономическую власть в стране.

Политический режим определяет характер и способы взаимоотношений власти, общества и личности (power, society and an individual).

Содержание политического режима определяется (can be described as) отношениями между двумя политическими субстанциями (political concepts) — государственной властью (State power) и свободой граждан.

Все политические режимы можно подразделить на демократические и недемократические. Наиболее общей типологией является разделение политических режимов на тоталитарные, авторитарные и демократические (the types of political regimes generally include…).

Source: «Сравнительная политология»
под редакцией О. В. Гаман-Голутвиной

Activity 20. Translate the fragments from the textbook “Comparative Political Science” published by the Department of Comparative Political Science, the School of Governance and Politics, MGIMO University:

1) При тоталитарном режиме создается политическая система особого рода, которая замыкается на личности вождя.

TP: при тоталитарном режиме создается политическая
система = totalitarianism establishes a special political system (Impersonal Pattern+ Inverted Order Pattern)

2) Активно применяются методы политического, экономического и идеологического воздействия.

Inverted Order Pattern (RUS: Predicate + Subject = ENGL: Subject + Predicate)

e.g. применяются методы воздействия = means of influence apply

3) Ведущими исследователями тоталитаризма были политические философы Ханна Арендт (Hannah Arendt) и Карл Поппер (Karl Raimund Popper).

4) Основные признаки тоталитаризма были выделены Карлом Фридрихом (Carl Joachim Friedrich) и Збигневом Бжезинским (Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski).

TP: Основные признаки тоталитаризма были выделены Фридрихом и Бжезинским = Friedrich and Brzezinski (have) identified the general characteristics of totalitarian dictatorship.

Это тоталитарная идеология, однопартийная система (one-party system), монополия на средства массовой информации (the monopoly of the media), система полицейского контроля (the police control), монополия на все виды вооруженной борьбы и организованного насилия (monopoly on military struggle and organized violence), контроль над экономикой (controlled economy).

NB! Below there is an excerpt from the “Totalitarian Dictatorship and Autocracy” by Carl Joachim Friedrich and Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski, which relates directly to the sentence above. Read the fragment and memorize the original lexis used by the scholars to label 6 general characteristics of totalitarian dictatorship. Translate the fragment into Russian.

“The basic features or traits that we suggest as generally recognized to be common to totalitarian dictatorships are six in number. The “syndrome”, or pattern of interrelated traits, of the totalitarian dictatorship consists of an ideology, a single party typically led by one man, a terroristic police, a communications monopoly, a weapons monopoly, and a centrally directed economy”…

5) Классическим примером тоталитарного режима считается правление Гитлера.

Prepare presentations on the topics below:

Political regimes: a general characterization;

The concept of polyarchy coined by R. Dahl.

Activity 21. Complete the chart below:

KEY CONCEPTS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Concept | Coined or Conceptualized by | Brief Description of Concept
Power |  |
Political Power |  |
Political Regime |  |
Totalitarian dictatorship |  |
Democratic regime |  |

REVISION

Translate the following. Use the relevant translation patterns where necessary:

POWER

(1) The concept of power in the political and social world is the exertion of influence, forced or willing on a society and its subjects either to add value or exploit the territory.

(2) All types of power describe three faces of power utility: decision-making role, thought control and agenda setting.

(3) Political power is the ability held by individuals and groups in a society that allows them to create and enforce policies for the community and manage public resources. Political power includes four key elements: power, authority, legitimacy, and sovereignty.

(4) In the literature, there have been two essentially contrasting views of power: one of power as domination, largely characterized as power over, and the other of power as empowerment, frequently theorized as power to.

(5) Foucault argues that with modernity there occurs a fundamental transition from one type of power to the other. In Foucault’s account, the change is characterized by a sovereign model of coercive domination that is largely replaced by a modern power, which is variously described as a disciplinary power.

(6) Власть — это способность и возможность осуществлять свою волю, оказывать определяющее воздействие на деятельность, поведение людей с помощью какого-либо средства — авторитета, права, насилия. Наиболее важным видом власти является политическая власть.

(7) Можно сказать, что власть проявляется в том случае, когда А вынуждает Б делать что-то, чего Б в любом ином случае предпочел бы не делать. При этом А может воздействовать на Б разными способами. Это позволяет говорить о разных видах или «ликах» власти: власть как принятие решений; власть как определение политической повестки дня; власть как контроль над сознанием.

(8) Власть не является феноменом, независимым от ее носителей; она не заключена в позициях, в социальном статусе, богатстве или каких-либо других социальных отношениях и институтах.

(9) Постмодернистская модель власти имеет множество вариантов, начиная от М. Фуко и кончая современным феминизмом.

(10) Ни одна из существующих моделей власти не дает о ней целостного представления. Это и делает исследование власти крайне сложным и противоречивым.

POLITICAL REGIMES

(11) A political regime is a form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms that regulates the operation of a government or institution and its interaction with society.

(12) A democratic regime is defined by Robert Dalh as a regime in which the state is highly responsive to the preferences of society because all adult citizens are free to formulate their preferences. Dahl goes on to list eight basic requirements necessary for these conditions to hold, including freedoms of organization and expression, the universal rights to vote, run for public office, and compete for political support, the existence of alternative sources of information and free and fair elections, and the existence of institutions for making state policy responsive to public expressions of preference.

(13) Carl Friedrich defines a totalitarian regime as one in which the state is guided by a “totalist” ideology, is controlled by a single, mass-mobilizational political party backed up by a pervasive secret police, and maintains monopolies on mass communications, the coercive apparatus, and other societal organizations.

(14) Juan Linz defines an authoritarian regime as one in which the state is controlled by one leader (or a small group of leaders), affords very limited political pluralism, is not guided by an elaborate ideology, does not seek or permit extensive political mobilization, and exercises power in ways that are formally ill-defined, though actually quite predictable.

(15) Политический режим — способ организации политической системы, который отражает отношения власти и общества, уровень политической свободы и характер политической жизни в стране.

(16) Содержание политического режима определяется отношениями между двумя политическими субстанциями — государственной властью и свободой граждан.

(17) В научной литературе выделяют два вида политического режима: демократический и антидемократический. Антидемократический режим подразделяется на тоталитарный и авторитарный.

Unit 3.
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS (POLITICAL PARTIES, MOVEMENTS, AND ELITES)

COMPREHENSION AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Activity 1. Read, translate and summarize the texts below:

A.

Institution, in political science, a set of formal rules (including constitutions), informal norms, or shared understandings that constrain and prescribe political actors’ interactions with one another. Institutions are generated and enforced by both state and nonstate actors, such as professional and accreditation bodies. Within institutional frameworks, political actors may have more or less freedom to pursue and develop their individual preferences and tastes.

Why do political actors adhere to institutions? From a rational choice institutional perspective, people follow norms because they want to avoid sanctions and maximize rewards. For instance, members of a parliament, in a parliamentary regime with closed-list elections, are more likely to adhere to norms of party discipline, in hopes of being remunerated with a future executive position, than are members of the U. S. Congress, who are less dependent on party leaders or the president of the United States for their future political career.

Institutions have been shown to have a major impact on political processes and outcomes. Once again, the different theoretical approaches to institutions differ on the nature of that impact. Rational choice institutionalists emphasize institutions’ role in shaping the degree of stability and change in a political system through the determination of the number of people whose consent is necessary for a change in the status quo. Historical institutionalists highlight institutions’ path-dependent effect, whereby the contingent choice of one institution over another — for example, private over public provision of pensions — results in political actors’ investment in adaptation to the selected institution and therefore in its durability and in stable divergence of countries’ institutional forms. Conversely, normative and sociological institutionalists explain the convergence of governance regimes across countries — for example, privatization and the new public management reforms — as a result of the legitimacy of those institutional forms.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/institution

B.

The Definition and Purpose of Political Institutions

by Alistair Boddy-Evans

Political institutions are the organizations in a government that create, enforce, and apply laws (издавать, осуществлять в принудительном порядке и применять законы). They often mediate conflict (выступать посредником в ходе урегулирования конфликтов), make (governmental) policy (формировать государственную стратегию в области…) on the economy and social systems, and otherwise provide representation for the population.

In general, democratic political regimes are divided into two types: presidential (headed by a president) (президентская форма правления) and parliamentary (headed by a parliament) (парламентская форма правления). Legislatures built to support the regimes are unicameral (only one house) or bicameral (two houses — for example, a senate and a house of representatives or a house of commons and a house of lords) (однопалатные и двухпалатные законодательные органы).

Party systems can be two-party or multiparty and the parties can be strong or weak depending on their level of internal cohesion (внутренняя сплоченность / внутреннее единство). The political institutions are those bodies — parties, legislatures, and heads of state — that make up the whole mechanism of modern governments.

Parties, Trade Unions, and Courts

In addition, political institutions include political party organizations, trade unions, and the courts. The term ‘political Institutions’ may also refer to the recognized structure of rules and principles within which the above organizations operate, including such concepts as the right to vote, a responsible government, and accountability.

Political institutions and systems have a direct impact on the business environment and activities of a country. For example, a political system that is straightforward (простой, однозначный) and evolving when it comes to the political participation of the people and laser-focused on (сфокусирована, сосредоточена на) the well-being of its citizens (благосостояние граждан) contributes to positive economic growth in its region.

Every society must have a type of political system so that it may allocate resources and ongoing procedures (существующие/действующие процедуры) appropriately. A political institution sets the rules (устанавливает нормы) in which an orderly society (упорядоченное / хорошо организованное общество) obeys and ultimately decides and administers the laws for those that do not obey.

Political Stability and Veto Players
(влиятельные игроки с правом вето)

Every government seeks stability, and without institutions, a democratic political system simply cannot work. Systems need rules to be able to select political actors in the nomination process. The leaders must have fundamental skills about how the political institutions work and there must be rules about how authoritative decisions are to be made. The institutions constrain political actors by punishing deviations from institutionally-prescribed behaviors and rewarding appropriate behavior.

Institutions can resolve collection action dilemmas (проблемы коллективных действий) —for example, all governments have a collective interest in reducing carbon emissions (сокращение выбросов углерода), but for individual actors, making a choice for the greater good (выбор для общего блага) makes no good sense from an economic standpoint. So, it must be up to the federal government to establish enforceable sanctions (санкции, осуществляемые в принудительном порядке).

But the main purpose of a political institution is to create and maintain stability. That purpose is made viable (эффективный, действенный, жизнеспособный) by what American political scientist George Tsebelis calls “veto players.” Tsebelis argues that the number of veto players — people who must agree on a change before it can go forward — makes a significant difference in how easily changes are made. Significant departures from the status quo are impossible when there are too many veto players, with specific ideological distances among them. Agenda setters are those veto players who can say “take it or leave it,” but they must make proposals to the other veto players that will be acceptable to them.

Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/

Activity 2. Based on the text above, answer the following questions and comment on the following issues:

1) What are political institutions?

2) Describe the functions of political institutions in society;

3) What is an orderly society?

4) Explain the meanings of “veto player” and “agenda setter”.

5) How do you understand the expression “institutionally-prescribed behaviors”? 6) Construe the meaning of this term and explain the usage of the plural form in this specific context.

7) Why does the State relate to political institutions?

Activity 3. Translate into English:

1) Политические институты — учреждения (organizations) или система учреждений, организующих и обслуживающих процесс осуществления политической власти (the exercise of political power), обеспечивающих ее установление и поддержание, а также передачу политической информации и обмен деятельностью (interactions) между властью и другими сферами политической жизни (political domains). Обеспечение политической стабильности является важнейшей функцией политических институтов.

TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES

(1) In order to translate into English two or more participles in a Russian sentence, transform them into the relevant clauses;

e.g.

Russian: Политические институты — учреждения или система учреждений, организующих и обслуживающих … = English: Political institutions are the organizations or the system of organizations which are responsible for …;

(2) If you come across two or more verbal nouns in a Russian sentence, try to transform them into English verbs which will be used as predicates in the respective clause in English.

e.g.

Russian: обеспечивающих ее установление и поддержание = English: ensure that such power is established and supported.

(3) Apply the Infinitive Pattern (Russian NOUN = English INFINITIVE) to the following sentence:

Russian: Обеспечение политической стабильности является важнейшей функцией политических институтов = English: The key function of political institutions is to provide for …

2) Центральными политическими институтами является государство и связанные с его деятельностью структуры (the related agencies) (органы государственной власти, вспомогательные органы, государственная служба (public service)), а также негосударственные институты (non-governmental institutions), такие, как политические партии, группы давления, политические движения. (The State and its related agencies… constitute the main political institutions = The Inverted Order Pattern)

3) Французский исследователь М. Дюверже (Maurice Duverger) дал следующее определение политическим институтам: «модели человеческих отношений, с которых копируются конкретные связи, приобретая, таким образом, характер стабильных, устойчивых и крепких». (Duverger defined political institutions as…)

4) Государство как политический институт выполняет множество функций (the State is a multifunctional/multifaceted political institution). Условно их можно поделить на внутренние и внешние (They can be divided into / They comprise…). К внутренним функциям относятся экономическая, социальная, правовая и политическая функции.

5) Внешними функциями являются защита интересов государства на международной арене; обеспечение обороны страны; развитие сотрудничества и интеграции с другими странами.

6) В государстве выделяют три важнейших элемента (The State comprises 3 components = The Impersonal Pattern): форму правления, форму государственного устройства, политический режим.

TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES

Apply the Impersonal Pattern (RUS: Preposition + NOUN in the oblique case + (Reflexive) Verb = ENGL: Subject + Predicate) to the sentence

Russian: В государстве выделяют три важнейших элемента = English: The State comprises three important elements/components.

7) Английский философ и социолог Герберт Спенсер, рассматривая институты, говорит о том, что они представляют собой механизм самоорганизации совместной жизни людей, обеспечивающий трансформацию асоциального по природе человека в социальное существо, способное к совместным действиям.

TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES

Apply the Chain of Nouns Pattern to the following fragment:

Russian:…они представляют собой механизм самоорганизации совместной жизни людей = English: They represent a means by which people can arrange their joint activities

8) Под институтом в широком смысле следует понимать (An institution can be generally/broadly interpreted as) совокупность норм и механизмов, регулирующих определенную сферу общественных отношений.

9) В случае с государственными институтами, речь в первую очередь будет идти о совокупности норм и механизмов, регулирующих организацию власти, ее взаимоотношения с обществом и индивидом.

10) Американский политолог С. Хантингтон призывает разграничивать политические институты (political institutions) и социальные силы (social forces), несмотря на то, что на первый взгляд они похожи. Любой человек, имеющий социальную активность (any individual engaged in social activities) уже является частью социальной силы, такой, как, скажем, религиозная, этническая, профессиональная группа. Институты, которые он определяет, как стабильные, обладающие ценностью, повторяющиеся образцы поведения, возникают, как правило, (tend to emerge) в результате конфликта между социальными силами, для достижения консенсуса и поддержания стабильности (to achieve/reach a consensus and ensure political stability).

Сардарян Генри Тигранович, декан факультета управления и политики, МГИМО МИД России, доктор политических наук «Республиканские политические институты христианской цивилизации»

NB!

Maurice Duverger (1917–2014) was a French jurist, sociologist, political scientist and politician. Duverger studied the evolution of political systems and the institutions that operate in diverse countries. He devised a theory which became known as Duverger’s law, which identifies a correlation between a first-past-the-post election system and the formation of a two-party system. He also coined the term semi-presidential system.

POLITICAL PARTIES

Activity 4. Warming up. Discuss the following issues:

1) Define the term “political party”;

2) Identify the principal objectives of a political party;

3) What types of political parties do you know?

4) Describe the main political parties in the Russian Federation and the USA.

Activity 5. Read, translate and review the text below:

SPECIES OF POLITICAL PARTIES: A New Typology

by Richard Gunther and Larry Diamond

1) For nearly a century, political scientists have developed typologies and models of political parties in an effort to capture the essential features of the partisan organizations. The end result is that the literature today is rich with various categories of party types, some of which have acquired the status of ‘classics’ and have been used by scholars for decades.

2) The classic statement of this kind was by Maurice Duverger, who advanced a two-and-one-half category scheme separating ‘cadre’ parties (кадровые партии) (most commonly led by individuals with high socio-economic status) from ‘mass’ parties (массовые партии) (which mobilize broad segments of the electorate through the development of a large and complex organization).

3) Our typology of parties is based upon three criteria. The first of these involves the nature of the formal organization of the party. The second classificatory criterion involves the nature of the party’s programmatic commitments (программные установки). Accordingly, some parties derive programmatic stands from well-articulated ideologies rooted in political philosophies, religious beliefs or nationalistic sentiments; others are either pragmatic or have no well-defined ideological or programmatic commitments; still others are committed to advance the interests of a particular ethnic, religious or socioeconomic group, or geographically defined constituency. The third criterion involves the strategy and behavioural norms of the party (особенности стратегии и поведенческие образцы в деятельности партий): some parties are fully committed to democratic rules-of-the-game, are tolerant and respectful towards their opponents, and are pluralistic in their views of polity and society; others are semi-loyal to democratic norms and institutions, or are explicitly anti-system, favouring the replacement of the existing pluralistic democracy with a regime that would be more uniformly committed to the achievement of their programmatic objectives

4) ‘Elite-based’ parties (партии элит) are those whose principal organizational structures are minimal and based upon established elites and related interpersonal networks within a specific geographic area.

5) The mass-based party (массовые партии) emerged as a manifestation of the political mobilization of the working class in many European polities. Organizationally, it is characterized by a large base of dues-paying members who remain active in party affairs even during periods between elections. In an effort to disseminate the party’s ideology and establish an active membership base, the party seeks to penetrate into a number of spheres of social life.

6) Parties based on ethnicity (этнические партии) typically lack the extensive and elaborate organization of mass-based parties. What most distinguishes them, however, are their political and electoral logics. Unlike most mass-based parties, they do not advance a programme for all of society. Their goals and strategies are narrower: to promote the interests of a particular ethnic group, or coalition of groups.

7) The electoralist party (электоральные партии) is what we call the personalistic party (персоналистская партия), as its only rationale is to provide a vehicle for the leader to win an election and exercise power. It is not derived from the traditional structure of local notable elites, but, rather, is an organization constructed or converted by an incumbent or aspiring national leader exclusively to advance his or her national political ambitions. Its electoral appeal is not based on any programme or ideology, but rather on the personal charisma of the leader/candidate, who is portrayed as indispensable to the resolution of the country’s problems or crisis.

Source: https://olemiss.edu/courses/pol628/guntherdiamond03.pdf

Activity 7. Based on the text above, speak on the issues below:

– What are cadre parties and mass parties by Maurice Duverger?

– Identify 3 criteria on which the political parties typology developed by Richard Gunther and Larry Diamond is based.

– Describe (a) elite-based parties; (b) mass-based parties; (c) ethnic-based parties; (d) electoralist parties;

– Speak on catch-all parties focusing on their structure, ideology, activities and main political goals.

Activity 8. Translate the following into English:

1) На сегодняшний день в мировой литературе описано множество типов партий, некоторые из них стали «классическими», однако существующие модели уже не отражают современной ситуации. (Global scientific literature has classified…)

2) В основе типологии политических партий Гантера и Даймонда лежат три критерия (The typology is based on). Первый критерий — формальная организация партии (formal organization). Здесь учитываются такие факторы, как массовость, инфраструктура и особенности коммуникации.

3) Второй критерий — программные установки (programmatic commitments) учитывает идеологическую, религиозную, этническую и географическую составляющие деятельности партии.

4) Третий критерий включает в себя особенности стратегии и поведенческие образцы (behavioural norms) в деятельности партии, в частности, степень толерантности к демократическим нормам и правилам, другим участникам политического процесса и институтам политической системы.

5) На основе этих трех критериев авторы выделяют 15 типов партий, которые включены в различные виды политических партий: партии элит (elite-based parties), массовые партии (mass-based parties), этнические партии (ethnic-based parties), электоральные партии (electoralist parties) и партии движения (movement parties).

6) Партии элит обладают минимальной организационной структурой и основаны на взаимоотношениях, в том числе межличностных, и связях между элитами на определенной территории. Как правило, программы таких партий не содержат идеологических установок, они не стремятся к гегемонии и сотрудничают между собой в парламентских режимах.

7) Массовые партии стремятся выиграть выборы для реализации заявленных в программе целей, мобилизация электората осуществляется за счет массового членства в партии.

8) Этнические партии отстаивают интересы определенной этнической группы, используя существующие государственные институты и структуры и не имея программы развития для всего общества.

9) К электоральным партиям авторы относят партии «хватай всех» (catch-all parties), которые отличаются неглубокой (shallow) организационной структурой, поверхностной и размытой идеологией и ориентацией исключительно на электорат. Цель таких партий — максимальное привлечение голосов, победа на выборах и получение мандата на правление; партии стремятся сделать представляемые ими социальные интересы максимально широкими.

10) Персоналистские партии (personalistic parties) обеспечивают победу на выборах своему политическому лидеру. Зачастую они создаются по инициативе действующего или потенциального главы государства для победы на выборах и реализации личных амбиций. Предвыборная кампания таких партий строится не на определенной программе или идеологии, а на харизме лидера/кандидата, который позиционируется как политик, способный разрешить сложившуюся в стране кризисную ситуацию.

POLITICAL PARTIES IN RUSSIA

1) Одна из важнейших ролей при формировании и развитии гражданского общества, а также политической системы всех демократических государств мира отводится политическим партиям.

2) Сама возможность существования политических партий, обладающих равными правами, получила конституционное закрепление лишь с принятием Конституции Российской Федерации в 1993 году.

3) Политические партии в современном мире, представляя собой необходимый институт представительной демократии, обеспечивают участие граждан в политической жизни общества и государства, целостность и устойчивость политической системы.

4) Они формируют, представляют, выражают и защищают интересы различных социальных групп, опосредуют участие граждан в формировании государственной власти, ее осуществлении и контроле за деятельностью государства и его агентов.

5) Понятие политических партий содержится в Федеральном законе от 11.07.2001 № 95-ФЗ «О политических партиях», регулирующем основные вопросы создания, деятельности политических партий. Под политической партией понимается: «общественное объединение, созданное в целях участия граждан Российской Федерации в политической жизни общества посредством формирования и выражения их политической воли, участия в общественных и политических акциях, в выборах и референдумах, а также в целях представления интересов граждан в органах государственной власти и органах местного самоуправления».

6) Основные требования к целям политических партии содержатся в п. 4 ст. 3 Федерального закона «О политических партиях», согласно которому основными целями деятельности политических партий являются:

• формирование общественного мнения;

• политическое образование и воспитание граждан;

• выражение мнений граждан по различным вопросам общественной жизни и доведение этих мнений до сведения широкой общественности, а также органов государственной власти;

• выдвижение кандидатов (списка кандидатов) на выборах Президента Российской Федерации, депутатов Государственной Думы Федерального Собрания Российской Федерации, в законодательные (представительные) органы государственной власти субъектов Российской Федерации, выборных должностных лиц местного самоуправления и в представительные органы муниципальных образований, участие в указанных выборах, а также в работе избранных органов.

Source: Н. И. Платонова «Финансирование текущей деятельности
политических партий в России и зарубежных странах.
Сравнительно-правовой анализ». МГИМО, 2017

7) Отличительной чертой партий нового поколения эксперты считают изменение соотношения различных партийных функций. Традиционно партии выполняли такие функции, как социальное представительство, политическая социализация, коммуникация, мобилизация, рекрутирование политической элиты и, конечно, обретение политической власти. Сегодня часть этих функций взяли на себя другие институты.

Source: О. В. Гаман-Голутвина, доктор политических наук, профессор
«Особенности эволюции системы партийно-политического
представительства в России».

Activity 10. Prepare power point presentations on the following topics:

1) Maurice Duverger and his contributions to contemporary political science;

2) Relevant typologies of political parties: a comparative analysis;

3) The concept of political institution: its nature, types and functions.

POLITICAL MOVEMENTS

NB! A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo and are often associated with a certain ideology.

Activity 9. Read, review, and summarize the texts below. Identify the key criteria for comparing the political movements in question:

History of political movements in Europe

Conservatism

Conservatism is a political ideology that emphasizes the importance of tradition, preserves and affirms the dominant political order and protects the given distribution of power and influence. Thus the three major principles of conservatism are the identity, security and continuity. As a political movement, conservatism is the opposite of progressivism. It was born as a movement opposing the ideas of the Renaissance and the principles of reason and criticism. Conservatism is based on the affirmation and the priority of the faith and of the corresponding order (divine or mundane), which reaffirms the hierarchical element (in contradiction to the call for equality expressed by the French Revolution).

Christian democracy

The concept of Christian democracy is a political concept, which encompasses variety of meanings. Christian democracy itself is defined as a political philosophy rooted in Catholic and Evangelical social teaching. Originally, the concept of Christian democracy was born in France. Initially, it was only a program of ecclesiastical reform. That’s why the idea of democratization of the organisational structures was spread. This variation of the Christian democracy found application only at the level of social support, stipulated by Pope Leo XIII. In the context of bourgeois revolutions and social upheavals during the industrialization process, the Christian democracy gave birth to a model of political Catholicism, as the opposite of nationalism, liberalism and socialism at the same time.

The model is based on the subsidiary principle, fundamental to the democratic and Christian philosophy, and on the principle of “private life before public life” as a priority given to the responsibility of the individual before state intervention. Christian democracy created many organizations in the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century. Apart from the creation of democratic and Christian political parties, the movement has generated trade unions, charities and other organizations.

Liberalism

Liberalism (Latin liber: free, liberalis: relating to freedom, liberal) is a philosophical, economic and political ideology, which aims at establishing individual freedom as a basic principle of economic and social order. According to the liberal thinking, the individual freedom is the essential standard and the surface of a human community, which serves as a source to the constitution of the state and its political and economic order. In the Western world liberalism is considered as the source, if not as a synonym of the perception of a modern, pluralistic democracy. Liberalism was fundamentally inspired by the philosophy of the Renaissance from the second half of the seventeenth century. It often goes together with the economic liberalism. The latter approves of capitalism, free market economy and free trade as a basis on which goods and services are produced and traded over.

Social-democracy

Social democracy denotes an international political movement, present in most countries of the world, which is committed to a society characterized by freedom and social peace with democratic means. Until the early 60s of the 20th century, the nationalization of the means of production was one of the goals of social democratic movement. Over the time, originally revolutionary and socialist social democracy, adopted democratic solutions to social problems, contrary to the call for revolution of the working class, proclaimed by the communist movement. In some countries the social democracy is close to the left-wing liberalism, which — unlike the social democracy — does not give the major role to the State when solutions to political problems have to be made. At first, social democracy was more strongly oriented after the structures of a class society, especially after the working class at the time. The social democracy never thought of itself as linked to only one nation, but as an international movement. The Socialist International is a worldwide confederation of all the socialist and social democratic political parties.

Source: http://www.centre-robert-schuman.org

ACADEMIC LANGUAGE FOR REFERENCE

Importance of the topic

________ is an increasingly important area in _______

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in_________

Over the past century there has been a dramatic increase in _______

Recent developments in ________ have heightened the need for _______

Highlighting a problem

However, a major problem with this kind of________ is ________

Questions have been raised about the __________

So far, however, there has been little discussion about ________

This concept has recently been challenged by _______ studies demonstrating ________

Focus

The aim of this paper is to determine \ examine _________

The objectives of this research are to determine whether___________

The purpose of this paper is to review recent research into the ___________

This essay critically examines \ discusses \ traces _________

Outline of structure

The essay has been organised in the following way.

The first section of this paper will examine_______

The main questions \ issues addressed in this paper are —

This paper begins by _______ It will then go on to _______

This paper first gives a brief overview of the recent history of ________

This paper has been divided into four parts. The first part deals with …

Introducing problems

A serious weakness with this argument, however, is that ________

All the studies reviewed so far, however, suffer from the fact that _________

However, such explanations tend to overlook the fact that _________

One major criticism of work is that _______

One major drawback of this approach is that __________

Identifying weaknesses

the main weakness of the study is the failure to address _______

no attempt was made to quantify the association between _____ and ______

Highlighting inadequacies

Half of the studies evaluated failed to specify whether _________

Previous studies of______ have not dealt with ________

Researchers have not treated ________ in much detail.

Statements of result

Further analysis showed that _________

No increase in _________ was detected.

There was a significant difference between the two conditions

There were no significant differences between __________

Summarising the content

In this investigation, the aim was to assess …

It was also shown that…

The most obvious finding to emerge from this study is that _________

The study was designed to determine the effect of ________

The purpose of the current study was to determine ________

Suggesting implications

Taken together, these results suggest that __________

The results of this research support the idea that ________

The results of this study indicate that __________

Significance of the findings

These findings enhance our understanding of ___________

This research will serve as a base for future studies and _________

This work contributes to existing knowledge _______ by providing ________

To indicate more information

• Besides — Making an additional point; anyway

• Furthermore

• In addition

• Moreover

• Likewise

To indicate an example

• For example

• For instance

• In particular

• Particularly — Specifically or especially distinguished from others

• Specifically

• To illustrate

• To demonstrate

To indicate a cause or reason

• Since

• Because

• Because of

• Due to

• For

• For the reason that

• As

• In as much as — Since

• Whereby — As a result of which, By which, “the means whereby we achieved our goal”

To indicate a result or an effect

• Accordingly — because of the reason given

• Consequently

• Hence

• So

• Therefore

• Thus

To conclude

• To sum up the foregoing

• In conclusion

• In closing

• To conclude

To compare or contrast

• Whereas

• In comparison

• In contrast

• However

• Although

• On the other hand

To indicate time

• After

• Before

• Currently

• During

• Eventually

• Finally

• First, Second, etc.

• Formerly

• Immediately

• Initially

• Lastly

• Later

• Meanwhile

• Next

• Once

• Previously

• Simultaneously

• Soon

• Subsequently

To indicate certainty

• Truly

• Surely

• Rightfully

• Absolutely

• Certainly

• Without doubt

• Needless to say

To indicate doubt

• Most likely

• More likely

• Probably

To summarize

• Overall

• To summarize

• In summary

• To sum up

• To put it briefly

Activity 10. Translate the following into English:

1. Предлагаемая вниманию читателя исследовательская работа посвящена;

2. … стало сегодня неотъемлемой частью нашей жизни;

3. Сегодня проблема … является одной из самых актуальных, потому что;

4. Тема является предметом оживленных дискуссий;

5. Сегодня ведутся споры о;

6. Нет единого мнения по данному вопросу;

7. Новизна нашего исследования заключается в;

8. Цель работы — выяснить, почему;

9. Принято считать, что;

10. При этом нельзя не отметить;

11. Необходимо подчеркнуть, что;

12. Согласно распространенному среди политологов мнению;

13. Следует заметить, что;

14. Как полагает автор статьи;

15. В последние годы в американском политическом дискурсе закрепились отсылки;

16. Несмотря на широкое признание идей автора в современной политологии;

17. Основываясь на опыте, предыдущих исследованиях, исторических примерах;

18. Предполагается/подразумевается;

19. Суммируя все вышесказанное;

20. По аналогии с (по сравнению с, ровно таким же образом);

21. К наиболее значимым параметрам развития науки следует отнести;

22. Вышеизложенное определяет важный вывод;

23. Одной из актуальных проблем современности является;

24. Несмотря на противоречия по данному вопросу;

25. Вопрос … в последние годы оказывается в фокусе исследовательского внимания.

POLITICAL ELITES

Activity 11. Read, translate and review the following excerpts from the research papers. Apply specific translation patterns to the underlined fragments:

Political Elites: Recruitment and Careers

S. Rothman

Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com

The question of who rules is always central to political science precisely because power is never evenly distributed. Modern elite theory is derived from Pareto and Mosca. It has undergone many changes since its initial formulation but many of the same arguments continue. The pattern of power distribution and the nature of elites, however, has changed dramatically over time. Societies have become more differentiated and patrimonial orders have given way to authority derived from ‘rational laws,’ in the Weberian sense, agreed to by the people. With few exceptions even authoritarian regimes seek to achieve legitimacy on that basis. The structure of power among elites in a polyarchic political order depends on a variety of factors including whether the regime is presidential or parliamentary and the nature of the party system. In most societies politics is now a profession. Key political elites, today, include high-level bureaucratic officials and, in some countries, the judiciary. In the twenty-first century among the key issues relating to the composition of the political elite (состав политической элиты) will be those of gender and ethnicity. Political elites in advanced industrial societies do exercise more power in the sense of producing desired outcomes than do those in less developed countries. Elites in the poorer countries of Latin America, Africa, and parts of Asia often behave as if they are creating new public policies and yet nothing changes. This occurs because the organizational capacity of the society is limited and thus there is simply not sufficient power to carry through new initiatives. Promising beginnings frequently end in failure, too often frustrating, and eventually corrupting, those elites who begin as sincere reformers. Individuals or political groups may dominate the political orders of poorer societies but frequently they can change very little because the population lacks the capacity to respond effectively to new initiatives. Similarly efforts by richer more powerful nations to assist in or compel change are usually unsuccessful.

In general the role of women in public affairs has been very limited. In western Europe and the United States increasing numbers of women are becoming part of the political elite, though their role remains relatively small except in the Scandinavian countries. In most of the rest of the world their role is still smaller. Indeed the representation of women in official governmental organs dropped when the regimes in Communist states were overthrown. However, the offices they had held in various ineffective legislative bodies did not entail real authority so that the loss is more symbolic than real.

The distribution of power among racial and ethnic groups in increasingly multiethnic societies is very likely to be a major source of conflict in the twenty-first century. How such conflicts are to be handled is an issue which, except in a few cases, has not been dealt with effectively.

TRANSLATION PATTERNS

(1) Clause Pattern: English: A Clause = Russian: Nouns

e.g.

English: because power is never evenly distributed = Russian: по причине неравномерного распределения власти;

(2) Inverted Order Pattern: English: Subject + Predicate = Russian:
Predicate + Subject. (Often this pattern comes together with replacing Passive Voice Model in English with Active Voice Model in Russian).

e.g.

English: Elite theory is derived from Pareto and Mosca = Russian: создателями теории элит считаются Парето и Моска;

(3) Infinitive Pattern: English: Infinitive = Russian: Noun

e.g.

English: authoritarian regimes seek to achieve legitimacy = Russian: целью авторитарных режимов является стремление к легитимности /достижение легитимности

ELITES

Sometimes spelled with an accent, the word has now been anglicized in its sociological usage. The term is often loosely used to refer to any superior or privileged group, but it more properly refers to groups defined by their superior power. An elite is a ruling minority. It was the work of two 19th-century Italians — Gaetano Mosca and Vilfredo Pareto — that turned the observation that for much of recorded human history the few have ruled the many into an important contribution to modern political sociology. For Mosca, whose Elementi di scienza politica of 1896 (translated as The Ruling Class in 1939) was the first statement of the theory, the distinguishing mark of the rulers and therefore the explanation for their political dominance over the ruled lay in the rulers’ superior organization. The dominance so achieved is justified through a set of values (‘the political formula’) that gives it legitimation. The composition of the ruling elite reflects the balance of power among the underlying social forces.

Although he is usually considered to have derived the idea from Mosca, it was Pareto who, by naming the ruling few ‘the elite’, gained much of the credit for the theory’s creation. However, Pareto went on to develop the idea as part of his own sociology. Where Mosca related elite composition and circulation to a changing balance of social forces, Pareto saw this as reflecting an underlying distribution of psychological qualities. He held that social action is determined by one or other of six basic ‘sentiments’ or ‘residues’ (остатки). These are typically rationalized by more intellectual sets of ideas (for example, democracy, nationalism, and liberty) that he terms ‘derivations’ (производные) and which correspond to Mosca’s idea of the ‘political formula’. Amongst the residues two were far more important than the others: the ‘residue of the persistence of aggregates’ (инстинкты постоянства агрегатов), which stimulated courage and strength; and the ‘residue of combinations’ (инстинкты комбинаций), which stimulated cunning and compromise. Borrowing from Machiavelli, Pareto termed those rulers moved by the first of these residues ‘lions’ and those moved by the second ‘foxes’, and then used this distinction to formulate his theory of the ‘circulation of elites’. According to this theory, every society is founded in violence and therefore by lions, but as it settles down the need for their courage and strength declines. Eventually, this need is replaced by an even more compelling one for the subtler skills of the foxes, who then become the rulers. The rule of the foxes remains in place until the society’s identity and sense of direction become so unclear that a need for more leonine qualities once again arises.

The idea of a ruling elite, generally without the psychological assumptions made by Pareto, has been used by those who seek to complement or to avoid the Marxian emphasis on purely economic power. Thus, C. Wright Mills ‘s The Power Elite (1956) looked at the balance among political, economic, and military leaders in the ruling elite, while ‘democratic elitists’ (see P. Bachrach, The Theory of Democratic Elitism, 1967) point to the competition among elite groups as central to pluralist theories.

Source: https://www.oxfordreference.com/

NB! Read, translate, and memorize the following:

Сформулированный итальянским социологом закон опирался на созданную им концепцию «остатков» и «производных». В. Парето выделил около 50 присущих человеку «остатков», которые он сгруппировал в шесть классов. Так, например, «инстинкты комбинаций» это стремление человека к изменениям и приобретению различных качеств, необходимых для его деятельности, а «инстинкты постоянства агрегатов» означают стремление человека к стабильности, закреплению существующих связей.

Activity 12. Speak on the issues specified below:

What does the concept of “political elite” mean?

When did modern elite theory start evolving?

What political and social phenomena are intrinsically related to the elite concept?

How did Mosca construe the concept of elite?

Describe the approach to the concept at issue developed by Pareto.

TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES

Activity 13. Translate the following into English using the relevant translation patterns where possible:

1) К числу авторов классических теорий элит относят итальянских социологов Гаэтано Моска и Вильфредо Парето (Modern elite theory has been developed by).

2) Развивая идеи Платона и Аристотеля, Моска и Парето констатировали (stated that + Clause) природную предопределенность неравенства и обосновали представление о разделении общества на управляющих и управляемых (the governing and the governed // the rulers and the ruled).

3) Парето писал, что под словом «элита» он понимает наиболее сильных, наиболее энергичных и наиболее способных.

4) Моска особо подчеркивал значение высокого интеллектуального уровня, выдающихся волевых качеств и внутренней сплоченности для удержания господства правящим классом.

5) Парето рассматривал процесс смены (циркуляции) элит (elite circulation), в рамках которого он выделял два типа: сменяемость (rotation/circulation) правящих элит и неизбежный упадок (decline) со временем прежних элит.

6) По мнению Парето, циркуляция элит и составляет подлинное содержание исторического процесса.

7) Революции есть не что иное, как смены элит, а борьба элит есть константа развития общества, воплощающаяся в конкретных формах (религиозные формы, буржуазные революции, пролетарские восстания).

Source: «Сравнительная политология»
под редакцией О. В. Гаман-Голутвиной

Activity 14. Translate the abstract below. Identify the key components of an abstract, including (1) relevance, (2) problem and objectives of the research; (3) findings; (4) conclusions.

Abstract

Vilfredo Pareto in his Trattato di sociologia generale divides human actions into two classes, logical and non-logical. The logical unites the action with the end in view, both subjectively and objectively. All other actions are non-logical. Non-logical actions may have no logical end, only a subjectively logical end, only an objectively logical end, or a subjectively and objectively logical end, though the end does not correspond with the purpose. In human societies non-logical actions are more numerous and more important, but students of social phenomena have disregarded them because of the preconceptions in their own minds. Pareto makes a distinction between truth as experimental science conceives it, and social utility. Another distinction is that between residues, a constant, instinctive part of social phenomena, and derivations, a deductive part that aims to explain, justify, and demonstrate the first. The main classes of the residues are: combination-residues, which compel men to innovate; persistence of aggregates, residues which compel men to conserve; those which compel men to express their sentiments by means of outward acts; those which make a man a social being; the residues of the integrity of the individual; and sexual residues. In one’s effort to give logical derivations and demonstrate the universality of his theory he arrives at derivatives. Derivations may appeal to authority, tradition, custom; to sentiments, principles, collective interest, juridical, metaphysical, or supernatural entities; or may be verbal proofs, using metaphorical, dubious, or indefinite terms. There is little or no change in the intensity of a whole class of residues, though there is some in the genera of each class; residues are not equally distributed nor equally strong in the various strata of society. Residues may act upon other residues, and upon derivations; derivations may act upon residues and upon other derivations. In addition to these three elements of social phenomena there are interests, social heterogeneity, and the circulation of classes. The most prosperous society is the one in which the first two residues especially are found in a certain proportion, though this proportion cannot be given in figures.

Source: https://www.semanticscholar.org/

Activity 15. Complete the chart below:

KEY CONCEPTS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Concept | Coined or Conceptualized by | Brief Description of Concept
Political Party |  |
Political Institution |  |
Political Elite |  |

REVISION

Activity 16. Translate the following. Use the relevant translation patterns where necessary:

(1) Political institutions are the organizations in a government that create, enforce, and apply laws. They often mediate conflict, make governmental policy on the economy and social systems, and otherwise provide representation for the population.

(2) Political institutions include political party organizations, trade unions, and the courts. The term ‘political Institutions’ may also refer to the recognized structure of rules and principles within which the above organizations operate.

(3) A political institution sets the rules in which an orderly society obeys and ultimately decides and administers the laws for those that do not obey. But the main purpose of a political institution is to create and maintain stability.

(4) Центральными политическими институтами является государство и связанные с его деятельностью структуры (органы государственной власти, вспомогательные органы, государственная служба), а также негосударственные институты, такие, как политические партии, группы давления, политические движения.

(5) Американский политолог С. Хантингтон призывает разграничивать политические институты и социальные силы, несмотря на то, что на первый взгляд они похожи.

(6) For nearly a century, political scientists have developed typologies and models of political parties in an effort to capture the essential features of the partisan organizations.

(7) The classic statement of this kind was by Maurice Duverger, who advanced a two-and-one-half category scheme separating ‘cadre’ parties (most commonly led by individuals with