A Study Guide for Ball, Modern Politics &Government

• According to Ball, politics is about disagreement. He says the ‘politics’ we see are the products of disagreements. In what way is the topic or your class project about disagreement? What is the chief means you are studying for reconciling the political conflict? ch. 2
• Ball asserts that you are studying something that can not be adequately measured: political power. In your own project, in what way is political power at stake, and why would it be difficult to measure? ch. 2
• Ball describes several approaches to thinking about the distribution of power (pp. 31-6). Which most closely describes yours? Why?
• Ball introduces a scheme for classifying forms of government on p. 45. Some elaboration of the scheme is found in the rest of chapter three. For the country (-ies) in your class project, what category seems to apply? Why?
• Using Ball’s concepts in chapter four, what seem to be the most significant features of your own political culture?
• What were the three biggest agents of your own political socialization? Give an example of how each shaped your political orientation. ch. 4
• What do political parties do? Why is this important to our politics? American parties are primarily electoral machines. Is that true for all political parties? ch. 5
• Do political parties play any role in the politics you study as part of your class project? If so, describe that role. ch. 5
• How does the system of electing officials influence the number and types of political parties in a particular country? ch. 5
• Do pressure groups play any role in the politics you study as part of your class project? If so, describe that role. ch. 6
• Ball implies that US elected officials are particularly open to influence by pressure groups. Why? ch. 6
• Describe the main distinctions between liberal and collectivist approaches to representation. ch. 7
• Why do people vote the way they do? ch. 7
• Are issues of repressentation important in the politics you study as part of your class project? If so, describe how. ch. 7
• According to Ball, what is the chief function of an assembly? ch. 8
• According to Ball, what do you look at to describe power and influence with respect to assemblies? ch. 8
• Do assemblies play any role in the politics you study as part of your class project? If so, describe that role. ch. 8
• The meaning of terms ‘government’ and ‘state’ overlap, but are not the same. Describe the difference, and the reason for the overlap. ch. 9
• Why does it matter who is part of a government? ch. 9
• Do chief executives play any role in the politics you study as part of your class project? If so, describe that role. ch. 9
• What are the main sources of bureaucratic influence in politics? (184) What controls exist to maintain political oversight of public bureacracies? (Ball ch. 10)
• In what ways does the judiciary fill a political role in the US? How does this compare with other democratic nations? (Ball ch. 11)
• Under what conditions would you expect the military to have a small political role in a particular country? Under what conditions would you expect them to have a large political role? (Ball ch. 12)
• What concepts help to explain the disintegration of the Soviet Union during the late 1980s and early 1990s? (Ball ch. 13)