SİYASAL DÜŞÜNCE - Deneme Sınavı - 14

Since the formation of the first social groups, human beings have always been in need to reflect upon three issues concerning the politics: Power and authority, the way rulers should act/decide and how the system of ruling should be formed, revised or challenged. First systematic reflections on both how to govern and organize the society and the effects of particular policies can be traced back to
the Ancient Greece.

This is not to underestimate the contributions of the Ancient Chinese political thought, which was based on multilayered aphorisms on ethical conduct, or Hindu political speculation, which produced influential expressions of commitment to the political order in a rather didactic form. The answer is B.

The canon of political thought relied on a series of thinkers and their ideas on the state (back then the city-state, i.e. polis), society, power, history, justice and the forms of government to evaluate and understand political developments and transformations.

People’s access to the material conditions of life sets the background of political debate. Expressing this through a famous statement, a well-known historical materialist, namely Karl Marx, claimed that “mankind always takes up only such problems as it can solve; since looking at the matter more closely, we will always find that the problem itself arises only when the material conditions necessary for its solution already exist or are at least in the process of formation” (Marx, 1904 [1859], pp. 12-3).

From a general perspective, followers of historical materialist tradition perceived the social circumstances as putting their stamp on the way people formulate their problems regarding social justice, equality, social order and good government. Not the ideas that derive out from historical conditions and intellectual context, but the material conditions and the inherent contradictions within material circumstances were constitutive with regards to the history of mankind and history of political ideas.

By denigrating the contextualization of political ideas, the Straussian approach points out the need to conceive universal human condition in an abstract form that aims to evaluate it independently from time and place. Arguing that study of political thought should be focused on the way universal rational arguments are drawn on and presented, it aims to provide a refreshed approach to the history of political ideas.The answer is Straussian approach C.

The postmodern approach to the political ideologies and thinking is an outcome of the critique of both contextualization and the Straussian understanding of political ideas. Therefore, the postmodern theorists questioned the notion of representation and the identification of social reality with the elements that supposedly represent the social world itself. From such a point of view, the social life can be understood with reference to the discourses and the discursive frameworks.The answeis E.

In such direct impact upon decision making processes, power is usually exercised over people to change their behaviour. In such cases, power is defined as a form of such relation which results in compliance of some to some others. In Steven Lukes’ (1974) well-known classification, this approach to power is criticized because of being limited by its sole focus on decision making and behaviour. Lukes has also criticized another point of view focusing on the context in which the decisions are made, and the way the political agenda is shaped. The answer is D.

For Weber (1978) charismatic authority is the type in which the authority is believed to have unnatural superiorities or exceptional characteristics. People, according to Weber follow the charismatic figure “by virtue of his mission” and charisma sets its own limits.

Nevertheless, it has a temporary character as charisma will wane into an institution, eventually being routinized. Traditional authority, on the other hand, feeds upon customs and convention. Being a source of conservatism, this type of authority also rests on identification with owner of the authority. Occupying the foreground is not, however, the transformative capacity of the rule or the organization, but rather provision of stability and preservation of social order. Legal-rational authority, as the third type of Weber’s classification, provides a source of legitimacy on a de-personalized and formal basis. The answer is B.

In political terms, and in our case, legitimacy requires people’s positive perception of the political system and leader. In relational terms, legitimacy requires the people’s approval and conceiving the government as rightful to govern.The answer is C.

The origins of the terms of right and left lie in certain historical events such as the French Revolution and their meanings have transformed to a certain extent in relation to the social political contexts in which they are drawn upon to make distinctions between the political actors.

Protectionist policies aim to preserve the economy from harsh competition or particular sectors from foreign competitors in order to speed up the development and increase the pace of the economic growth. The answer is A.

The contextual approach emphasizes the necessity of placing political thoughts emerged in a particular time and milieu in their own social and historical context in order to be capable of properly understanding authentic conceptions of philosophers.

According to the Straussian approach regarding with the political thought, universal human condition must be evaluated autonomously. According to this approach, various elements in political thought such as time and place are degenerating accompaniments for the abstract and clear form. The answer is B.

The postmodern theory can be considered as a critical methodological perspective against both the contextual and Straussian approaches in terms of how to approaches political thoughts and developments. Emphasizing the multidimensional characteristic of social reality that changes from person to person and from time to time, it highlights the importance of looking at the political thoughts in relation to discourses and discursive frameworks of the narrator.

Relying on aforementioned background information, we can notice that power inevitably refers to the use of force in relational terms. It cannot be limited to political affairs and can even be observed within small groups, between two people as well as between institutions and organizations. The answer is D.

For quite a number of scholars who are from the liberal tradition of the political philosophy, the state is perceived as an evil and is merely necessary to provide order while at the same time ensuring the implementation of the contracts between individuals and actors such as formal institutions or civic organisations. Further intervention into the social sphere is conceived as an intervention to human freedoms. The answer is E.

The term ideology refers to various meanings as well as negative and positive connotations in different ways of use. One of these ways concerning the use of the concept of ideology can be pointed out as the production of meanings, symbols, and ideals.

In the 19th century France, the terms left and right were used to delineate the supporters of the Republic vis-á-vis the supporters of the monarchy. Traditionally, the left came to be associated with social change and progress, while the right came to be associated with order and preservation of the prevailing and dominant social values.

The term of policy in political thought mainly refers to the outcome of struggle over resource distribution and the way governments address the social-political problems to achieve their goals.

the struggle

the agreement

the understanding

the perception

the peace

Protectionist policies aim to preserve the economy from harsh competition or particular sectors from foreign competitors in order to speed up the development and increase the pace of the economic growth.

A particular set of actions of a government to avoid the deepening of inequality may not lead to the loss of the legitimacy if the justice prevails. This issue also relates to the conceptions of desert and right. Desert mainly refers to deserving or aspiring something, either good or bad. In line with the term’s definition, the desert-centered conception of justice can be roughly considered as a conception of system in which people are entitled only to get what they deserve to.