Why Government Matters

Chapter 1
Introduction
- People differ about 2 things  who should govern and the ends towards which they should
work
- Why government matters:
10. promoted finacial security in retiremnet
9. reduced the federal budget deficit
8. increased access to healthcare for older americans
7. Strengthened the nations highway system
6. Ensured safe food & water
5. Redcued workplace discrimination
4. Reduced disease
3. Promoted equal access to public accomodations
2. Expanded the right to vote
1. Rebuilt europe after world war II
A. What is Political Power?

- Power- ability of one person to get another person to act in accordance with the first
persons intentions (either obviously or in a more subtle manner)
- One of the most striking transformations has been how almost every aspect of human life
has found its way onto the governmental agenda
o Authority = right to use power
o Legitimacy= answers the question of ‘what makes the law or constitution a source of
right?’
 The united states constitution is often used as a reference for legitimacy but
to always the case
 Legitimacy often rests under whether or not its democratic
 When the constitution was being created  Hamilton felt it was too
democratic; George mason didn’t think it was democratic enough (he
didn’t sign it)
B. What is Democracy?
- 2 different meanings
o Regimes that come as close as possible to Aristotle’s definition- the rule of many
(direct or participatory democracy)
- Many town gov. have abandoned the pure town meeting in favor of either the
representative town meeting or the representative government (smaller amount)
- Second definition:
o Joe Schumpeter: “the democratic method is that institutional arrangement for
arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide by
means of a competitive struggle for the people vote” aka representative democracy
 It wouldn’t make sense for people to decide on issues (direct democracy)
that the president should.. so instead it’d be best to choose the president to
do the job
 However, voting for a resident based on popularity can lead to bad decisions
- In Europe- very few offices are elective & much of the money for campaigning comes from
the gov; in the US- many office are elective and lost of the money comes from industry, labor
unions and private individuals
- Framers of constitution didn’t think the “will of the people” was synonymous with “the
common interest” or the “public good”
o Favored rep .democracy over direct democracy
 Didn’t think people were apt to make decisions that a true leader should
make
 Biggest reason: saw it as a way of minimizing the chances that the power
would be abused either by a tyrannical popular majority or by self-serving
officeholders
C. How is Political Power Distributed?

- it is obvious to conclude that very different sets of hands can control political power
depending on what kinds of people become political leaders
o In some cases: leaders will become so constrained to what people want
(majoritarian politics)
o When circumstances do not permit majoritarian politics.. decisions are made by the
elite (identifiable group of people who possess a disproportionate share of some
valued resource------- political power, in this case)
- Four different schools of thought about political elites & how power has actually been
distributed
o 1. MARXIST (karl marx) -> those who control the economic system will control
the political one
 Government is merely a reflection of underlying economic forces
 They believe that two economic classes contend for power—capitalists
(business owners) and workers
 Whoever dominates economy (usually big businesses)  dominates
government
o 2. POWER ELITE (C. Wright mills)- few top leaders, not all from business, make
the key decisions w/o reference to political devices
 Corporate leaders, top military officers & a handful of elected officials
dominate politics and government
 Some have been added since then but this power elite view is the
same (American democracy is dominated by a few top leaders most
whom are outside of gov. & enjoy great advantages in wealth status
and org. position)
o 3. BUEURACRATIC (max weber)- appointed civil servants run things
 Dominant social & political reality of modern times was that all institutions,
governmental and nongovernmental have fallen under the control of large
bureaucracies
 Capitalists or workers may come to power or coalitions of well positioned
elites may dominate government and the legislative process but the gov.
they create and the laws they enact will be dominated in either case by
bureaucrats who staff/operate the gov. on daily basis
o 4. PLURALIST – competition among affected interests shapes public policy

 No real founders so to speak
 Acknowledge that big businesses may dominate on some issues but stress
that political resources, such as money, prestige, expertise, org. position, and
access to wide mass media are so widely scattered in American society that
no single elite has anything like a monopoly on them
 Many policies are the outcome of a complex pattern of political haggling,
innumerable compromises and shifting alliances.
 Mass public opinion greatly affects what gov does
D. Is Democracy Driven By Self-Interest?
- Pluralist view
o Positive = believes that democracy in more than name only.
o Negative = might lead some people to think politics is driven out of self interest
- Policy may be good or bad independent of the motives of the person who decided it
- Self interest of individuals is often an incomplete guide to their actions
E. What Explains Political Change?

- 1920s –widely assumed that the fed gov would play a small role in our lives
- 30’s 70s – believed gov would try to solve whatever problem existed
- 81  88 – Reagan sought to reverse the assumption and to cut back on th axes Washington
levied,
F. The Nature of Politics

- Political scientists are interested in how preferences are formed
- Understanding preferences is vital to understanding power
o Who did what in government is not hard to find but who made a difference in the
outcome and for what reason is much harder to find

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Chapter 1

A. What is Political Power?

C. How is Political Power Distributed?

o 4. PLURALIST – competition among affected interests shapes public policy

D. Is Democracy Driven By Self-Interest?

E. What Explains Political Change?

F. The Nature of Politics

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