eRik_TeDDeR's Xanga

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Thu, 16 Jun 2005 05:17:23 GMT

http://www.myspace.com/erik_tedder

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Tue, 07 Dec 2004 15:30:09 GMT

hi all! this is the one and only april ann riego xanga-ing for erik sean atienza.

sooooo we're in econ class right now and I'm doing this for him on his kick of the side. you know that erik is addicted to this thing?! even when we're not in class he's using it like a mad man. but anyway...

we have to take a quiz in like 15 mins. and we don't know what we're doing hahaha ooops!

sooooo what's erik doing over break? well, my guess is that he's going snowboarding! yup! boooo I can't go till I get back... what a poot

mmmk I think I'm done as of right now. we have to finish our stats hw and then go to class...then... lnls! wooooooo mmmmm chicken katsu!

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Wed, 24 Nov 2004 05:35:48 GMT

damn...it's been awhile huh?

love ya'll anyways

Friday, September 10, 2004

Fri, 10 Sep 2004 04:24:25 GMT

this is for april

GLOSSARY

Adjudication: Every society creates and enforces rules and laws regarding the proper forms of behavior for individuals and groups. The adjudication function attempts to interpret and apply the relevant rules or laws to a given situation. Most political systems have established judicial structures (e.g., criminal courts) whose primary role is adjudication.

Administration: The general term used to describe the machinery and process through which rules and policies of an organization are applied and implemented. It is a core function of political systems and is usually one of the four basic institutional structures (along with executives, legislatures and judiciaries). (See also Bureaucracy).

Assembly system: A form of collective leadership in which a large group, usually constituted as a legislature, is clearly dominant over the executive. Examples: the United Nations; and the European Parliament.

Associated interest group: A type of political interest group organized specifically to further the political objectives of its members. Examples: the British Medical Association; the Common Cause. (See also Interest group)

Authoritarian regime: A political system in which the ruler is not constrained by a limited mandate to rule and has an absolute right to make policy decisions. The political rights of the population are severely restricted. However non-political aspects of life, including occupation, religion, and social life, are not under the extensive control of the political system.

Authoritarianism: A political system generally characterized by little or no commitment to equality or democratic participation, and by a strong emphasis on order and stability. The political behavior of the population is severely constrained. In many countries authoritarian regimes are dominated by a military elite.

Authority: 1. A source of knowledge about the political world. The method of authority involves the appeal to any document, tradition, or person that is believed to possess the controlling explanation regarding a particular issue. 2. The legitimacy attached to the decisions of the political system, in the sense that people willingly accept those decisions as binding, independent of their own self-interest.

Balance of Power: A configuration of power among a set of states in which there is a broad equality in the power resources (political, economic, and especially military) that can be exercised by competing states. Through a system of shifting alliances, no state or group of states is able to achieve a preponderance of power. Thus stability and the status quo are usually sustained, since states will intervene to prevent a serious imbalance that might lead to domination.

Bureaucracy: Although often used as a synonym for administration, bureaucracy has been defined, especially by Max Weber (1956), as a particular structure and style through which administration can operate. Structurally, bureaucracy is characterized by hierarchical organization and a highly specialized division of labor. Members of the bureaucracy behave according to the specific rules of action so that treatment of each case is relatively predictable and non-discriminatory. (See also Administration)

Cabinet government: A political system in which the executive and legislative functions and structures are fused. The people elect the legislature, whose majority empowers a cabinet, which then empowers one of its members to be the chief executive, usually called a prime minister or premier. The cabinet devises, drafts, and implements most policies, although they must be elected by the legislative majority. Examples: Italy; the United Kingdom.

Capitalism: One of the great “isms,” explicitly linking politics to political economy, capitalism is a system which corresponds loosely to a market economy. In this system, private economic actors are generally free from state constraints and the state engages in only limited efforts to shift resources among private actors. Capitalism is founded on the philosophy of laissez-faire economics. There is no assumption that capitalism requires a particular form of political processes to function efficiently.

Causal Analysis: A type of relational analysis, causal analysis goes beyond correlational analysis because it explicitly identifies one phenomena as the effective agent that brings about changes in another phenomena. Causal analysis presents the “if X, then Y” mode of explanation where X is the independent variable that, given a certain value, actually causes Y, the dependent variable, to change in a particular way.

Civil War: A form of political violence that occurs when a significant proportion of the population within a region actively supports a separatist movement and political violence emerges on a large scale. Example: Sudan (the late 1990s); U.S. Civil War (1861-1865).

Class approach: An analytic explanation of the value allocation process (politics) based on a core notion of stratification – structured inequality in the distribution of key values in society. The class approach centers in an examination of the tactics of class domination and the dynamics of class struggle. Class theory is particularly associated with the writings of Karl Marx (1867) and later forms of Marxist theories.

Classical liberalism: One of the major Western political ideologies. In classical liberalism the highest value is placed on each individual’s natural rights to life, liberty, and property and the freedom of the individual to pursue these rights as an independent actor. Government plays a very limited role under classical liberalism, which celebrates a laissez-faire economy and discourages government attempts to create material equality (although equality of opportunity is important). Political thinkers associated with classical liberal thought include John Locke (1632-1704), Adam Smith (1723-1790), and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873).

Colonialism: A situation of dominance and subordination in the relations between two states. One state asserts substantial power and control over the other, based on military, economic and/or political power. The goals of the dominant state might include: to extract resources, to control a market for its products; to use the strategic location; to instill its own values into members of the subordinate state; or for international prestige. Most areas that were colonial holdings became independent in the decades after 1945.

Command economy: A type of political economy in which the state assumes total control of virtually all significant factors of production. The state replaces or eliminates the role of private owners of land, labor, and capital, makes all production decisions, and determines the values of all goods. The state owns, plans, controls and regulates all major economic activity. Compare Market economy.

Communism: One of the major “isms” linking politics and political economy, communism is a system that is closely associated with the command political economy. Based on the theories of Karl Marx (1867) and others, the key to communism is the socialization of resources—the notion that the state must maintain control of a society’s land, labor, and capital. Although it is primarily an economic system, communism also emphasizes an ideological commitment to economic and social equality among all of its citizens. It also posits that until such equality is achieved, government and politics must be guided powerfully by a unified leadership. Examples: Cuba; and the former Soviet Union.

Comparative politics: One of the four major subfields within political science, comparative politics focuses on the similarities and differences in political processes and structures, either cross-nationally or by comparing differences within a single system, such as comparing the welfare policies of the fifty American states. A few of the many subjects for comparison are public policies, legislatures, and political parties.

Confederation: A loose association of states. In a confederation, each state delegates some power to a supernatural central government, but still retains primary power and its compliance is always conditional. Confederations are usually created when states decide that the performance of certain functions is enhanced by structured cooperation with other states. Example: the United Nations.

Conservation: One of the major Western political ideologies, at the core of conservatism is the commitment to sustain traditional values and forms of behavior and to maintain social order. Tradition and religion, rather than reason, are viewed as the most reliable sources for guiding society. There is loyalty to the nation and antipathy to egalitarianism. The writings of Edmund Burke (1790) provide a good example of conservative thought.

Constitution: A set of statements which describes the fundamental rules of a political system, including a characterization of the core activities of major political structures. Most constitutions are a single, written document, such as the United States Constitution, but some are embedded primarily in major statutes, precedents, and legal decisions.

Constitutional regime: A political system that operates in terms of the rules of law, as defined within the constitution, and that ensures effective restraints on the power holders. The defining feature of a constitutional regime is that the state does attempt to fulfill the provisions of its constitution.

Core state: From the perspective of dependency theory, which describes a world system of domination and dependence, a limited number of powerful “core states have the capacity to manipulate and control the other states and actors in the international political economy to their won enormous advantage. At the present, Germany, Japan an the United Sta5es are identified as core states.

Corporatism: A corporatist state is characterized by extensive economic cooperation between an activist state and a set of large organizations which represent actors that control major productive resources. In the hope that there will be cooperation and consultation (rather than conflict) among the state, big capital, big owners and big labor, the leaders of these groups are given great influence in working with the state to make and implement policy on key political economy issues.

Correlational analysis: A form of relational analysis that determines whether there is a statistically probable relationship between two variables. The analysis does not conclude that one variable is actually the agent that causes change to occur in another variable (as in causal analysis) but merely assesses the strength and direction of the association between variables. Correlational analysis is often a key step in any empirical attempt to understand politics.

Council systems: A political system in which a small group shares collective leadership and is responsible for both executive and legislative functions. All members of the council have relatively equal power, so decisions and actions are based on the will of the council majority or council consensus. Example: mayor-council systems and boards of supervisors in many American local governments.

Coup: A coup occurs when the top political leader or leadership group is replaced by violence or the explicit threat of violence. A coup is a common form of leadership turnover in political systems that have no accepted and enforceable procedures for leadership succession. Examples: replacement of Wahid in Pakistan (1999); ouster of Suharto in Indonesia (1998).

Democracy: A political system in which governance is accomplished by leaders whose authority is based on a limited mandate and who are elected by a universal electorate. Such an “electoral” democracy becomes a “liberal” democracy when the population selects among genuine alternatives and also has significant rights to political participation, expression and opposition.

Democratic Socialism: A variation of socialist ideology that threats greater egalitarianism as its primary goal, but also assumes that such goals can and should be implemented by a government that comes to power and rules by democratic means, not by violence and repression. Under democratic socialism the government might own some of the major economic resources and regulate much of the economy, but it does not attempt to plan and control all aspects of the economic system.

Democratization: The effort to institutionalize democratic political regimes more fully and deeply, especially in countries with limited democratic processes. Analyses often try to measure the extent of democratic consolidation and to specify the political, economic and social conditions conducive to further democratization.

Dependency: The dependency approach in political science essentially claims that an economic and political hierarchy exists in which many actors take advantage of those with less power and resources. At the top of the hierarchy are the most developed countries, and the poor people and the villages of the developing countries are at the bottom. Some analysts claim that many of the difficulties facing the less developed countries stem from their vulnerability to, and dependence on, the more highly developed countries.

Dependent variable: The “Y” variable whose value changes as a result of changes in some other specified (independent) variables. Causal analysis presents the “if X, then Y” mode of explanation, where X is the independent variable that, given a certain value, actually causes Y, the dependent variable, to alter in value in a particular way.

Dictatorship: A political system in which political leaders are not subject to a limited mandate, but have absolute power and authority. The citizens have no regular and realistic opportunity to replace such political leadership in a nonviolent manner.

Dual Executive: A political system in which one actor, the head of state, performs the more ceremonial aspects of top leadership and embodies the nation, while another actor , the head of government, is responsible for the more political aspects of the executive role, ( see Executive). Example: the United Kingdome has Queen Elizabeth (head of state) and Prime Minister Blair (head of Government).

Economic development: Economic development occurs as more and more households and firms within a country are engaged in ever-higher levels of production and consumption. Based on greater control of the environment and resources, more (and more complex) goods are produced and exchanged, and the GHNP gets larger relative to the number of people sharing in the market.

Elite approach: An analytic explanation of the value allocation process (politics) in whish the political world is characterized by political stratification, the segmentation of the population into separate groups with greater or less power. In the elite approach, there are only two major strata—those that do more of what there is to don (in the policy process) and that get more of the resources that are available, and those that do less and get less. These two groups are called the political elite and the mass, respectively.

Ethno nationalism: A powerful attitude of identity with and support for others perceived to share a key nation-based trait (e.g., ethnicity, religion, common geography) . There is often animosity between groups with different nationality identities. This animosity has become a particular problem producing conflict and violence, both within and between states, because the nationality identities of many people are not coterminous with the boarders of their state.

Executive: The branch of the political system composed of a leader or group of leaders who are responsible for defining and managing the implementation of public policy. A broad definition of the executive includes not only the chief executive (e.g., Mayor, Governor, Prime Minister, President, Queen), but also the entire administrative system.

Fascism: A political ideology that places fundamental importance on the unity and harmony of government and society and is defined particularly by its opposition to forces that might weaken that collective unity. It further assumes that the top leader is the embodiment of the natural will and that all individuals and groups must obey the will of the leader. It is both antisocialist and antidemocratic. Fascism has had major impact on the 20^th century history and is particularly associated with such regimes as Benito Mussolini in Italy (1922-1943)

Federation: A political system in which there is a constitutional division of power and functions between a central government and a set of regional governments, usually known as states, provinces or canton. Power is shared among the levels of government and no level has legal power to dominate any other level in all policy domains. Examples: Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the U.S.

Formal Analysis: This form of analysis specifies abstract forms that correspond to the reality in which the analyst is interested. The formal analyst attempts to “model “reality. Most formal analyses use symbol systems as abstract representations of the phenomenon under study, such as a subway map, or a schematic drawing of the circuitry in a radio.

Functional analysis: This form of analysis describes the contributions of a certain element (process of structure) to the activities of the phenomenon under study. For example, one form of functional analysis identifies certain functions or processes, (e.g. political communication; rule adjudication) that occur within a political system and describes how and by what structures the functions a re performed.

Geopolitics: An analytical method which assumes that the geography of a state- its particular geographical location and also its physical characteristics, natural resources, and human resources-= can significantly affect the domestic and foreign policy actions of the state.

Globalization: The expanding interconnectedness of economic and social systems in the world, as well as the increasing homogeneity of material resources, culture and ideas among the world’s peoples. It is claimed that these linkages are altering the actions and beliefs of many individuals and groups and even affecting large organizations and governments. These linkages result from such factors as improved telecommunications technologies, the expansion of multinational corporations and the spread of their products to wider markets, and the growth of a world culture an cross-national identities.

Group approach: An analytical explanation of the value allocation process (politics) which is grounded in the concept of the group- any aggregated of individuals who interact to pursue a common interest. Within this approach, politics can be understood as the interaction among groups that are pursuing their political interests, and policy decisions are the outcome of that group process. It is assumed that any particular individual can belong to many different groups and has some political resources which can be used in an attempt to influence policy decisions.

Guerilla war: The essence of a guerrilla war is violent opposition to an existing regime by means of a long, protracted campaign primarily from rural bases. Fighting is typically in a hit and run style, with extensive efforts to win the support of the peasants and the creation of new political institutions prior to collapse of the old regime.

Hegemony: The existence of an extraordinarily powerful group (a hegemonic elite) or country ( hegemon) that sustains its domination over a long period of time.

Hybrid systems: A political system that attempts to blend the desirable aspects of both the presidential and cabinet systems of government. Hybrid systems have a prime minister and an elected legislature that can both enact and implement policies, but they also have a president, who may have relatively equal power with the cabinet or may have key specific, but limited, powers. Examples: France and Russia.

Hyperpluralism: A situation in which many effective groups are able to pressure the government to respond to their policy demands. As the government tries to satisfy all these different demands, public policy can become contradictory or muddled. At worst, government may become paralyzed, unable to respond in the face of strong competing demands.

Independent variable: The variable in a cause –and-effect hypotheses or explanation that produces change in another variable. In the “if X, then Y” mode of explanation, X is the independent variable that, given a certain value, actually causes Y, the dependent variable, to change in a particular way.

Interest group: A group which directly attempts to influence the allocation of public values or other actions of those in the political system. It may undertake political action, prov8ide goods or services to political actors, or provide d at and information to those within the political system in its attempts to achieve its political objectives. It may also exert influence through compliance or non-compliance with the government policy process.

International law: A broad attempt to establish principles and rules which formalize and constrain the interactions among states. Positivist law, or written agreements between states in the form of international treaties or conventions, is the basis for international law.

International organizations (IGO): A political actor whose members are states, not private groups or individuals. IGOs can shape the cooperative relations among states, some or all of whom are their members. States form IGOs to provide a forum of communication between states, to enact international laws and treaties and to intervene in disputes between states. Examples European Union, NAFTA, NATO.

International relations: One of the four major subfields within political science, work in international relations examines the political relations between countries and the dynamics within the world wide system of states. Subjects of analysis include foreign policy, interstate conflict resolution, and international law.

Judicial review: In political systems where the judiciary relatively independent, the judiciary can interpret or even revoke the policy decisions and actions taken by the other political structures, thus exercising the power of judicial review. In the United States, for example, the Supreme Court exercises the power of judicial review when it declares that a law passed by Congress is unconstitutional.

Judiciary: An important branch of most political systems, the judiciary is the system of courts and personnel that determine whether the laws of the society have been transgressed, and, if so, whether and what type of sanctions ought to be imposed on the transgressor.

Legislature: The political structure in which, typically , policy issues and discussed and assessed and public policies are enacted by a set of elected or appointed legislators. Although a particular legislature may not exercise these powers, most have three broad roles 1) enacting legislation; 2) representing the citizenry; and 3) overseeing the executive.

Macro politics: The politically relevant behaviors and interactions that occur among large groups, institutions or states. These phenomena are distinguished analytically from those of micro politics, which particularly focus on the political behavior of individuals and small groups.

Market economy: A type of political economy in which there is near-total private control of land, labor and capital. Every actor has direct control over his or her own factors of production, and production decisions are essentially the sum of all private actors’ decisions. The exchange value of goods is decided by the market. The state is generally quite passive in a market economy, enforcing rules and providing minimal protection to economic actors. Compare to Command economy.

Marxist-Leninist socialism: A variant of socialist ideology heavily influenced by the writings of Karl Marx and the interpretations by VI Lenin. It begins with three assumptions regarding the changes necessary to produce the key goals of equality and social justice: 1) it might be necessary to use violence to overthrow the old economic order; 2) a powerful government is necessary to restructure the economic system; and 3) a small dictatorial leadership group must manage the government and effect the economic and social changes. This group will be unnecessary when equality is achieved and can be replaced by decentralized citizen-run politics.

Micro politics: An analytic focus on individual and small group political processes, with a particular emphasis on how the individual understands the political world and how the individual acts politically.

Mixed economy: A political economy that attempts to combine the strengths of both market and command economies, while also minimizing their shortcomings. Control of the means of production is a shared between the state and private actors. The state’s rules, action and direct involvement in the economic system guide some production, distribution and pricing decisions, and also moderate and limit the market behavior of private households and firms.

Monarchy: A political system with a hereditary sovereign, often called a dingo or queen. 2. Analytically, a political system is which one person exercises a very large proportion of political control.

Nation: A nation is a socio-political unit defined by deeply shared fundamental identification among a set of people. This common identity can be based on such elements as shared ethnicity, language, descent, culture, religion, or geographic space. The nation is a major group, beyond the family, with whom the individual identifies very powerfully.

Natural law: Natural law refers to sensible, widely-accepted forms of behavior that ought to guide the relations among states and individuals and that should restrain hostile or destructive interactions.

Neocolonialism: According to this analytic perspective, new forms of domination and dependence between states have emerged in the decades (after World War II) since the end of colonialism. Although direct occupation by colonial power was ended at independence, domination has been extended in some cases by the manipulation of such power resources as economic aid, technology transfer, military support, and economic intervention.

Non constitutional regime: A political system in which there is persistent non enforcement of crucial limits on the rulers and/or protection of the rights of the ruled, especially those limits and rights specified in a constitution and other key legal documents. Most authoritarian or totalitarian regimes are non constitutional.

Non-governmental organization (NGO): National or transnational associations, which are not part of the governmental/state apparatus, whose members (groups and individuals) are committed to the promotion of an issue with international policy dimensions. Examples: Amnesty International’s monitoring of human rights; Medicine sans Frontiers (Doctors without Borders) provision of medical assistance.

Normative: Normative political knowledge addresses questions about what ought to be, rather than simply providing descriptions and explanations of what is. Examples of normative questions include: “Should there be limits on free speech?” or “How much and what types of health care should the state provide?”.

Oligarchy: Literally, rule by the few: a political system in which a small number of actors dominate the resource allocation process, usually serving their own interest.

Participatory democracy: Democracy in its classic sense, as government of and by all the people. There is active, direct participation by all citizens in the authoritative allocation of values.

Party system: The configuration of political parties in a political system. Party systems are generally classified according to the number of political parties and nature of the interactions among the parties in the governing process.

Political analysis: The attempt to describe and explain political phenomena. Most contemporary political analysis strives to make our understanding of politics more general, precise, and systematic, and ultimately to generate and test theories.

Political belief system: The configuration of an individual’s political orientations across an array of political issues. Many political beliefs are evaluative orientations, which synthesize facts (cognitive orientations) and feelings (affective orientations) into a judgment abut some political phenomena.

Political culture: The general configuration of a particular people’s (e.g., a nation or a country) political beliefs. It characterizes those cognitive, affective and evaluative orientations that are dominant among that people. Many explanations of political behavior and political processes are grounded in interpretations of political culture.

Political decay: The phenomena that occur when there is a decline in the capacity of the political system, and especially its effectiveness in maintaining order. It can be manifest in such collective behavior as demonstrations, protests, rebellion and other forms of political violence. It is often associated with extensive demands that the political system cannot meet and with the loss of citizen support for the political system. According to Samuel Huntington (1968), the probability of political decay increases as a state has a lower level of political institutionalization.

Political development: The specifically political aspects of development and modernization. It can refer either to a set of characteristics of the political system or the process through which those characteristics are increased. The key characteristics of more developed political systems can include: 1) the concentration of power in the central state;2) “modern” forms of political organization, such as institutionalized party systems and effective bureaucracies; 3) complex and expensive forms of individual and group political behavior , and 4) expanded capabilities of the political system to maintain order, manage the environment, meet the demands of the citizens, and so forth.

Political economy: The combination, in theory or in practice, of politics and economics. The political system and the economic system are inextricably intertwined, because many of the decisions made by the political system have significant impacts on the economy and activities within the economic system have major impacts on the state. Two ideal type political economies are the market economy and the command economy.

Political elite: A general term for those individuals who have relatively high levels of power, influence, interest, knowledge and involvement in political life. According to the elite approach to politics, the political elite is the stratum of the population that does more of what there is to do (in the policy process) and gets more of what there is to get (in the allocation of values).

Political idealism: A perspective, especially in international relations theory, which posits that human nature is basically good and thus that states have a natural tendency to be cooperative and even altruistic. Thus political institutions can be shaped to facilitate the emergence of these cooperative, nonviolent tendencies in the relations among states.

Political ideology: A comprehensive set of beliefs about the political world, including a specification of desirable political goals and the best way to achieve those goals. These systems of beliefs are generally based on particular assumptions about human nature, the relation of the individual to society, and the desirability of equality.

Political institutionalization: The extent that political organizations and procedures have acquired value in the eyes of the population and the stability to withstand significant pressure. Political institutionalization is measured by the political system’s capacity to regulate its citizens, respond flexibly to citizen demands, extract and distribute resources efficiently, and adapt to changing circumstances.

Political participation: The term applied to all modes of the political actions by individuals and groups. The broad goal of political participation is to influence the actions of selection of political rulers. Modes of political participation for an individual range form listening to political discourse to voting to taking part in a demonstration to holding political office.

Political party: An organized group which attempts to capture political power directly by placing its members in government office. The political party is the broadest institution in most political systems that links individuals and groups to the state and it can organize the activities of those participating in government. It also aggregates political interests into a comprehensible sent of polity goals.

Political realism: A perspective, especially in international relations theory, which assumes that people are naturally disposed to behave selfishly and that this self-interested orientation extends to the behavior of states. In this view, the fundamental goal of each state is to ensure its own security and survival by maximizing its power. Interstate conflict is likely to be a recurring event, and states sometimes use balance of power strategies to limit the frequency of major conflicts.

Political science: A set of techniques, concepts, and approached whose objective is to increase the clarity and accuracy of our understandings about political phenomena. This academic discipline is labeled a ‘science” in the United States because most political scientists use the scientific method to establish shared knowledge about the political world.

Political socialization: The process through which individuals acquire their cognitive, affective and evaluative orientations toward the political world. Some of the most important agents (sources) of political socialization are the family, the schools, peer groups, the media, and culture.

Political society: Political society is formed when individuals cede to the state a monopoly over the legitimate use of violence, sacrificing their own right to do violence to others in exchange for a similar sacrifice from others. This agreement among individuals is termed the social contract by Hobbes.

Political system: A (formal) theoretical concept that attempts to model the fundamental structures, processes, and institutions of politics. According to David Easton (1965), the defining feature of the political system is its authoritative allocation of values for the collectivity.

Political violence: The use of physical violence, or very serious threats of such violence, to achieve political goals. The modes of political violence can range from nuclear war to assassination to riots. Some analysts also define as political violence other activities that do not entail physical violence, such as racial epithets or ethnic discrimination.

Politics: Politics is defined in a variety of ways, but all definitions share the central idea that politics is the process through which power used in the promotion of certain values and interests. Politics can be thought of as the determination of who gets what, when and how in a given society.

Positivist law: Explicit written agreements often enacted by legislatures and interpreted by judiciaries, that specify appropriate and unlawful behaviors, a well as the sanctions for the latter. In the form of treaties or conventions between states, positivist law is the basis of international law.

Power: Although power is difficult to define, there is general agreement that power is exercise when A (one actor) induces B( another actor) to behave in a manner in which B would not otherwise behave. One taxonomy classifying the forms of power includes force (coercive power), exchange (economic power), and mutuality (integrative power).

Presidential government: A political system in which there is a separation of executive and legislative power and structures. This is meant to ensure a system of checks and balances in the policy process, with the legislature taking primary responsibility for policy-making and the president (the executive ) taking primary responsibility for policy –implementation (although in practice these distinctions may be blurred). The president and the members of the legislature are elected independently, for fixed terms. Examples: Mexico, the United States.

Privatization: The selling off of state-owned firms to private actors and/or the use of private firms to provide public goods and services.

Rational-choice theory: An array of formal analyses that share tow basic features: 1) they are attempts to represent political processes primarily by means of mathematical formulations or systems of symbolic notation; and 2) it is assumed that the behavior of political actors is goal-oriented, based on self-=interest, and calculating. Examples: game theory, minimum winning coalition theory.

Representative democracy: A form of electoral democracy in which citizens elect people to represent them in the governing process and to allocate values on their behalf for the collectivity, also known as a republic.

Revolution: A rapid and fundamental transformation of the state organization and of the allocation of values in a society. A revolution often involves the use of force and violence to destroy the existing political system.

Social market system: A political –economic system in which the state encourages the operation of an extensive free market economy but is also committed to social welfare distribution and some income redistribution, within the context of a democratic political process. Contemporary examples: Germany and Sweden.

Social welfarism: A set of ideological orientations and public policies which aim to insure that all citizens receive and adequate quality of life in such domains as education, health care, housing and employment opportunities. A social welfare state is usually characterized by relatively high taxes, more extensive resources allocations (e.g., transfer payments of subsidized goods and services) , and more active state intervention to protect citizens against the behaviors of those firms or others whose actions reduce the quality of life. Example Sweden

Socialism: One of the major Western political ideologies. In the socialist perspective, the most important goal is to provide a high quality, relatively equal standard of living for all. Each individual is encouraged to increase the collective good of all, in an environment that encourages cooperation and sharing. ‘Governments play a crucial role as it attempts to use its allocation of values and control of resources to increase the material, social and political equality of all citizens. Two major variations of socialism include Marxist-Leninist socialism and democratic socialism.

Sovereignty: The premise that each state has complete authority and is the ultimate source of law within its own boundaries. It assumes the equality before the law fo all states and that each state has the right to protect its territory against any aggression or intervention.

State: The concept of the “state: has various meanings in political science. !. The legal notion off the state is that it is a “territo4rially bound sovereign entity.” 2. In the general language of political science “state” usually refers to the organizational units, institutions, and individuals that perform the political functions for a national territorial entity, such as France or Nigeria. #) The state can also be defined as the entity with a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence to enforce the laws and decisions of the society.

Statism: One approach defining effective strategies for facilitating economic development. The statist approach emphasizes the importance of strong state action to support and guide the production and distribution of goods by the political economy. The state typically plans and regulates major aspects of the political economy and might own and operate key economic sectors.

Taxonomy: Most political analysis begins with a taxonomy—a set of categories that classify phenomena/data into different types. Categories should be exhaustive, mutually exclusive and differentiated by consistent criteria. The categories of taxonomy establish the crucial concepts that structure the analysis.

Territorial integrity: A concept closely as associated with sovereignty, territorial integrity is a premise of international law which holds that a state has the right to resist and reject any aggression, invasion, or intervention within its territorial boundaries.

Terrorism: Premeditated violence serving an underlying political objective in which the target of violence is an” innocent”. As a revolutionary strategy, terrorism involves selective acts of violence, usually by small organized cells of political activists.

Totalitarianism: A political regime which demands complete obedience to its extensive rules regarding not only politics, by virtually all aspects of life, including culture, economics, religion, and morality. A totalitarian political system might prescribe and proscribe the behavior and thoughts of its population in every domain of existence. Examples: contemporary North Korea, the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin.

Transnationalism: A system of institutions and relationships in which key actors’ loyalties and identities are not linked to any particular country. Many of these powerful actors are multinational corporations (MNCs) such as General Moters, Exxon, and IBM, and other important transnational actors include the International Monetary Fund, OPEC, NATO, and other IGOs and NGOs. Increasingly, MNCs and other transnational actors hold international economic power, shape global culture and communities and operated outside the legal control of state.

Treaty: A formal agreement between states that they will cooperate or assist each other militarily, economically, or politically. A treaty caries a stronger expectation of compliance than an alliance. Example: North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Unitary state: A political system in which the central government holds all legitimate power. The central government may delegate power of functional responsibilities to territorial units (often called departments, regions, or prefectures), but those delegated powers and functions can be r3voked at any time. Examples: China, France, Japan, United Kingdom.

War: Interstate violence that is sustained organized and usually involves hostilities between the regular military forces of the states. War is the ultimate mechanism for attempting ro resolve power struggles and conflict between stated.

Friday, July 30, 2004

Fri, 30 Jul 2004 02:28:21 GMT

disneyland was great

so much fun...i really can't write it all down, but i'm glad i finally got to go with our disney group hahaha. even though it tool 1.5 years to plan! it was well worth it. i'll post pictures when i get them.

ps: ok...if you can go on a ride as a "solo rider" on a ride because your group didn't feel like waiting in line for so long to ride a ride...please don't. i did for that ride "soaring over california" and it was kinda lonely cuz it's like this family is sitting in a row...and then there's...you

well...i'll be gone for the rest of this weekend...i'm be in the grand canyon =]

family road trip!

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 20:02:15 GMT

hiii everyone. angelica here. taking over for today. la la la. here we're at jayknotjake's house. we had breakfast earlier. pancakes, krispy kreme&bacon. erik is on his break. it's 11-3:30.. so he's killing time here and he told me to update. we're kinda just sitting around. but it's ALL good. better than staying home. hmm. well.. erik is ONE cooooooooooooool guy. even though he didn't come to my blockbuster night on monday. lol. j/k j/k erik. here's a joke for you guys. my friend Janice made it up.

janice: What does AOL say right before he shoots a gun?
me: What?
janice: AIM!
me: LOL!

good joke eh? well.. IIII thought it was funny. lol. but i laugh at everything. so how are you all doing today? i'm doing good. leave erik comments! he likes them. hm. well i guess that's all for today. hope everyone's having a greeeeeeat summer. bye!

<3angelica.

Monday, July 19, 2004

Mon, 19 Jul 2004 03:09:19 GMT

hell0o0o0o xanga world i'm back

i took a long ass break from xanga for awhile, i just wanted to live a little without having to really reflect upon it. just let things happen and see where it takes me. well, now i feel like reflecting upon everything that's happened. but i won't type it all out, that will be just too damn boring. but ya, i've been pretty much been workin most of the time, visited people up in temecula a few times, bonfires, beaches, parties, boba runs, movies, eboard meetings, birthdays, nights where we couldn't figure out what to do, bowling in mira mesa, and debut practices. i feel like i'm forgeting something, but ya, i'm sure i'll remember what it is. um...ok at the debut practices, i met some really tiiight ass people, the guys are chill as hell, and the girls are just super talented. never have i met a group of girls that could just seriously sing! omg! if you know me, you know that i have a place in my heart for girls that could sing. but ya...good stuff, but anyways, i have like, a month and a half left of my summer, and i think i'll enjoy it.

===

omg! how sad, that's a big ass snot bubble....

===

JOKE

A girl is standing at The Gates Of Heaven when she hears horrible screams of pain and torture coming from inside.

She says to St. Peter, "What's going on?"

He says, "That's the sound of new angels getting big holes drilled into their backs for their wings, and small holes drilled into their heads for their halos."

She says, "Heaven sounds terrible. I think maybe I'd rather go to Hell."

St. Peter says, "In Hell, you'll be constantly raped and sodomized."

She says, "That's okay, I've already got holes for that."

Thursday, July 15, 2004

Thu, 15 Jul 2004 06:05:30 GMT

Saturday, June 26, 2004

Sat, 26 Jun 2004 03:17:17 GMT

hey hi dee ho people..i'm chillen at jayk's at the moment with some funny people. so far its me, jayk, radley, dennis, angelica, kits, regina, and mai [technically]. more people are coming over, i.e. janice, mark, tania, james (i think)...and others i dunno. but whatever. i have no idea what's goin on at the moment, we ate all the damn swedish fish, and i'm really hungry now cuz i haven't had dinner yet..damnit i want pho!!! so0o0o0 ya, i dunno what we're doin rite now...people are on the bed, on the coach, on the floor and yes! ...ok,,, BD just got here, and radley just jumps on him when he gets into the bed..oh man, that looks kinda bad. so ya =] take it easy people, i'll see ya'll laters i guess.

=====

JOKE

why did the monkey fall out of the tree?

because it died....

what's green and smells like a pig?

kermit's fingers

(thanks angelica)

Thursday, June 24, 2004

Thu, 24 Jun 2004 03:40:20 GMT

OK! i'll update now staaaaarting....

monday!: ok, monday started off slow. went to work, went to lunch, then work again. afterwards tho, was tiiiight. um, first i went to the beach down in coronado. people from temecula drove all the way down there, i dunno why, but they did. met up with my special and hung out next to the water watching to see if sharks or mosnters were gonna come out. kinda scary just lookin into the darkness of the ocean. but yesssss, the beach was fuuuun. afterwards, i went to mira mesa to bowl a lil and met up with everyone and their mommahs! oh my god, there were so many people from state, dance crews, rb, mira mesa, san marcos, just friends from all over daygo. that was fun too, even though i didn't bowl. i suck anways, um, took regina home and ya, ended my night

tues: i can't remember, all i remember is work, and practicing w/ my lil cousin cuz we're singing a duet for our cousin's wedding this sat. oh yes! congratz marvin! bout time youg graduated! haha, but i'm glad to see you finally made it. me and others went to his school to go support. go job marvin =]

today: woooork! damnit, such a long day, did really nothing during the day. um, after work, i went down to my cousin's house to practice our song some more, then met up at april's house cuz people were there. dayam, haven't really chilled with them in awhile, i miss those times...good times

so0o0o yes...that's all for now! take it easy people

=====

that's usually the case

=====

JOKE

Little Mary was out with her Grandmother when they came across a couple of dogs fucking on the sidewalk.

"What are they doing, Grandma?" asked the little girl.

The grandmother was embarrassed, so she said, "The dog on top has hurt his paw, and the one underneath is carrying him to the doctor."

"They're just like people, aren't they Grandma?"

"How do you mean?" asked the Grandma.

"Offer someone a helping hand," said Mary, "and they screw you every time!"