Political Science PDF

8/21-8/26 Power is having others act as you would have them act. Power allows entities or individuals to get us to do things we might not ordinarily do. Power can be wielded by humans, animals, corporations, states, and others. Bases of power: ○ money ○ authority...

8/21-8/26 Power is having others act as you would have them act. Power allows entities or individuals to get us to do things we might not ordinarily do. Power can be wielded by humans, animals, corporations, states, and others. Bases of power: ○ money ○ authority ○ knowledge ○ religion ○ morality ○ violence ○ size and solidarity ○ charisma ○ Celebrity What is Politics? ○ Who gets what, when, and how ○ Pursuit of one’s interests - James Madison ○ The Good Society - Aristotle ○ The manipulation of people What is Government? ○ Government was a decision-making process called system analysis or the authoritative allocation of values and resources. - David Easton ○ The government allocates the resources and values in a society and distributes them. The government responds to demands with a policy because the people want something. People (individuals and groups) input demands -> decision maker/government uses persistence and maintenance -> outputs policy -> enters feedback loop (government asking if the policy is what the people wanted) and repeat. Possible policies: ○ Neglect (the government can ignore/reject your request) ○ Symbolic (the government releases a policy that acts like it addresses the issue but it doesn’t/giving a half-hearted policy that doesn't really give u what u want). ○ Cooptation (when the government takes in the leadership from the people (individuals and groups from the previous bullet point) and uses their leadership to make a policy). ○ Substantive policy (the government giving the ppl what they want).  ○ Political repression (the government using violent/harmful tactics to avoid giving the people the policy they want. Assassination, threatening, etc). System values: ○ Capitalism ○ Democracy ○ Constitutionalism 8/27 What is the origin of the government? Conflict ○ Conquest theory a single society exists with norms of behavior, but as it comes in contact with another society, it forms a government to establish control over conquered peoples. The government or state is created to maintain order over other people or intersocietal (between 2 societies) conflict). ○ Social contract government is a response to intrasocietal (within one society) conflict. Man lived in a “state of nature” with natural rights such as life, liberty, and property. No one had authority over anyone but some people transgressed against others. With no government, people were free but to secure your “natural rights” and to protect your life, liberty, and property, you must create a government. John Locke wrote in his book “Two Treatises on Government” that the protection of life, liberty, and property was the basic object of government. Hence, the government is limited to securing your “natural rights”. Thomas Hobbes wrote in his book “Levithan” that the government must guarantee the complete safety of people and therefore must be more powerful and encompassing. Hobbes argued that life in the “state of nature” would be “cruel, nasty, brutish, and short”. Therefore, he argued that the government must have more authority.  Locke preferred a limited government that only secures your rights so it would provide police but no protection of the environment. Locke = less government power bc not too many people. Hobbes = more government power bc a lot of bad ppl. Locke’s theory was used by the founders. 8/28 Class struggle Marx argued that government was created to protect private property. Democracy leads back to the 5th century. Demos - people Kratos - power Democracy compared to other forms of government A government controlled by and accountable to ○ none is anarchy ○ One is autocracy ○ Few is oligarchy ○ Aristocracy = best and brightest ○ Plutocracy = ruled by the wealthy ○ Many = democracy Procedural vs substantive democracy Procedural who should participate in decision-making? ○ Universal participation/ all adults How much should each participant’s vote count? ○ Political equality = one person equals one vote How many votes are needed to reach a decision? ○ Majority = 50% plus one Substantive Focuses on the substance of government policies, not the procedures used in making them.  Argues that certain principles must be incorporated into government policies. For example, government policies should include basic rights such as freedom of speech and religion. Policies that violate these rights may not be democratic. In summary, procedural = focuses on the methods of decision-making, substantive = the fairness and outcomes of those decisions. Purposes of government: Order Freedom Public goods Equality/Equity Constitutional government The US began as colonies of Great Britain. Each colony had a charter of corporations. These documents laid out the structure of the government. This was a departure from the British that relied on tradition, and not a written constitution. All colonies had a similar structure but deviated in the matter of how each branch was chosen.