Introduction: Government & the People

1. Introduction:Government & the People

2. Government, Politics, and Power • Government: The rules of the game • The institutions and processes that make the rules for society and possess the power to enforce them • Ex.: Congress & the constitutional budget power • Politics: The pursuit and exercise of power • Harold Lasswell: “Who gets what, when, and how” • Ex.: The deals & compromises that go into the budget

3. Constitutional Democracy • Democracy: Government by the People • Direct Democracy • (e.g., ancient Greece, New England towns) • Representative Democracy, or Republic • Constitutional Democracy = Limited Gov’t • Majority Rule and Minority Rights • Plurality & parliamentary systems • Equality • Worth, if not ability

4. Interacting Values • Personal Liberty • Respect for the Individual • Equality of Opportunity • Popular Consent • John Locke • Values in Conflict

5. Political Processes • Free and Fair Elections • Freedom of Expression • Right to Assemble and Protest • New “direct democracy” in the states • Initiative • Referendum • Recall

6. Conditions for Democracy? • Education? • Economics? • Social Capital? • Something else? • Why promote democracies elsewhere?

7. Making Public Policy • Policy: a course of action decided upon by a government that usually involves a choice among competing alternatives • Laws, presidential orders or “doctrines” (e.g., Bush Doctrine) • Implementation: actions taken by government to carry out a policy

8. Types of Policy • Distributive Policies • Distributing goods and services to projects or groups • New bombers or a new park? • Redistributive Policies • Takes something from one person or group and gives it to another • Tax brackets; earned-income credits