Politics, Power, and Government

1. Politics, Power, and Government An Economy of Influence

2. What is Politics? • Politics: the process of who gets what, when, and how (Harold Lasswell) • the economics of interaction and conflict resolution … distribution of resources (tangible and human) through the currency of influence • desire to obtain wealth, prestige, and security

3. Power • What is power? What makes one powerful? In what ways can one be powerful? • The ability to get someone to do something that they otherwise would not do • May be derived by position, prestige, coercion • Authority: power recognized to be accepted as binding (legally, morally, institutionally)

4. What is Government • A political institution that: 1.) Makes rules determining who gets society’s valuable resources 2.) Regulate the use of legal force • Basic Functions • Maintain Order • Protect/Defend citizens • Provide services • Control economy • Two Questions: • Who governs? • To what Ends?

5. Why is government political? • Need to find acceptable solutions to political conflict: disputes over society’s valued resources between both individuals as well as interest groups • Must set rules, create institutions, and execute policies (through force if necessary) • Inevitably certain groups benefit from government actions while others suffer because of them

6. Democracy • Political power is vested in the people “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter”

7. Democracy in Action • Direct democracy: direct participation by the citizens in all government actions • Democratic republic: based on popular sovereignty, citizens elect representatives to create and execute government policy • Representative Democracy: similar to republican government, but may share sovereignty with a monarch or despot

8. Principles of Democracy • Popular sovereignty: people entrusted with the ultimate power over government • Limited Government: powers of government bound by institutional checks • Universal Suffrage: Free elections, right of all adults to vote • Majority rule, Minority rights: rule of law based on majority decisions, protection • Competing political parties: acceptance of oppositional and peripheral ideologies

9. Constitution vs. Constitutional Gov’t Constitution: • Identifies basic principles of government • Establishes basic structure, powers, and duties of government • Supreme law Constitutional government: • constitution has the authority to place limits on government • “Limited Government” • Rule of law

10. How Is Political Power Distributed? • Majoritarian politics – elected officials are the delegates of the people, acting as the people • Political elite – 4 descriptions • elites reflect a dominant social class • a group of business, military, labor union, and elected officials control all decisions • appointed bureaucrats run everything • representatives of a large number of interest groups are in charge

11. How Is Political Power Distributed? • Class view–the government is dominated by capitalists • Power elite view–the government is dominated by a few top leaders, most of whom are outside of government • Bureaucratic view–the government is dominated by appointed officials • Pluralist view–the belief that competition among all affected interests shapes public policy

12. What Explains Political Change? • Government and its policies are shaped by • Economic interests • Powerful elites • Entrenched bureaucrats • Competing pressure groups • Morally impassioned individuals • The dominant political problem of the time shapes the nature of day-to-day political conflict through • Deep-seated beliefs • Major economic developments • Widely shared (or competing) opinions

13. The Nature of Politics • Judgments about institutions and interests can be made only after one has seen how they behave on a variety of important issues or potential issues, such as • economic policy • the regulation of business • social welfare • civil rights and liberties • foreign and military affairs