1 / 12

Chapter One The Foundations of American Government

Chapter One The Foundations of American Government What is politics? Chapter One David Easton – “ the authoritative allocation of values ” Harold Lasswell – “ who gets what, when and how. ” most definitions refer to the struggle over the distribution of benefits What is Government?

emily
Download Presentation

Chapter One The Foundations of American Government

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Chapter One The Foundations of American Government

  2. What is politics? • Chapter One • David Easton – “the authoritative allocation of values” • Harold Lasswell – “who gets what, when and how.” • most definitions refer to the struggle over the distribution of benefits

  3. What is Government? • a permanent structure of decision makers • who make society’s rules about conflict resolution • and who make rules about the allocation of resources and who possess the power to enforce those rule

  4. Why Do We Need Government? • to provide structure for conflict resolution • to provide public services • to establish and implement public policies

  5. Who Governs? • totalitarian regime – rule by a small group or an individual dictator. • oligarchy—rule by a few elites, who make decisions to benefit their own group • aristocracy – rule by the best suited, through virtue, talent or education (now means rule by the upper class) • anarchy – having no government or laws • democracy – political power is vested in the people

  6. Principles of American Democracy • universal suffrage • majority rule • limited government • popular sovereignty

  7. Do we have a democracy? • elite theory – the idea that society is ruled by a small group who exercise power in their self-interest • pluralism – a theory that views politics as conflict among interest groups, where decisions are made through bargaining and compromise • hyperpluralism – when interest groups are so powerful that they dominate decision-making, making individual input impossible

  8. What is Political Culture? • the collection of a beliefs and attitudes toward government and the political process held by a community or nation • individuals learn political culture through political socialization • political socialization occurs in many settings, including the family and schools

  9. The Fundamental Values of American political culture • liberty –the greatest freedom of individuals that is consistent with the freedom of other individuals in society • equality – all people are of equal worth • property – anything that can be subject to ownership

  10. A set of beliefs about the goal of politics and the most desirable political order. Ideologue: A person who believes strongly about how government should operate. They can be placed on a continuum… Political Ideology

  11. Hot Links to Selected Internet Resources: • http://www.wadsworth.com/cgi-wadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M2&discipline_number=20&product_isbn_issn=0534592651 • http://www.wadsworth.com/politicalscience • http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/govweb.html • http://www.puaf.umd.edu/IPPP

More Related