1. DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC POLICY The Role of Government GOOD Instruments of Collective Action What does this mean: mobilize individuals and resources (labor, energy, money) To do what? BAD Infringe on individual liberties and freedom TRADE OFFS: GOOD&BAD Crime Policy: infringe on individual liberties in order to protect the public good. i.e. drug policy (leads to property crime/violence)

2. Question: How do we determine whether our government is doing what we want it to do? What is the standard to measure government performance? How do we evaluate our government? Do we focus on the process or the outcome?

3. DEMOCRATIC THEORY: HOBBES, LOCKE, ROUSSEAU, AND RAWLS The relationship between man and State - Social Contract Tradition (17th century): countered the common notion of a “highly constrained, hierarchical systems of social relations into which all humans were born and stayed throughout their entire lives.” Where the authority to rule, it was claimed, came from God. Social contract tradition: government should be founded upon the choices and consent of the people.

4. Thomas Hobbes (1588- 1679): humans are greedy-need the state to protect us. We are willing to give up freedoms in order for protection, order, safety. We can see this after 9-11 and our willingness to give up certain rights.

5. John Locke (1632-1704): Natural laws = rights from God. “Life, liberty, property” - T. Jefferson plagiarizes Locke in the Declaration of Independence. Most people respect these natural laws - of course there are a few bad apples. Yes we do need a govt. but only a limited one. The only legitimate govt. action is the action the public consents to.

6. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) – the public holds preferences for government action that are reprehensible. “the general will is always right, but the judgment that guides it is not always enlightened.” What does right mean? Are public preferences legitimate, legal, moral? Rousseau somewhat suggests that we set up institutions that people ought to have and then teach them what they ought to want. (is this elite theory?). Democratic theory presumes that preferences should determine public policies, assuming that public opinion/preferences are generally socially acceptable.

7. What happens in a democracy when people act in socially unacceptable or selfish ways? Suppression of minorities? Inefficient policies? Solutions?

8. Rawls: Veil of Ignorance

9. Rawls veil of ignorance: don’t know anything about our characteristics, man woman, child college student, etc. and then assess the fairness of a policy. Can we really be that objective. Even if we can this still assumes that we are able to assess all of the positive and negative externalities that come from the interactions in society, assess the long term benefits. Acknowledging positive externalities: The positive externalities of public education. Even if you and your family go to private school (or don’t have kids or are self taught) you will likely benefit from public education via an educated work force which leads to a higher GDP, which leads to a higher quality of life for most, or through lower crime rates, or because you do not have to train (as much) your new employees.

10. TOPDOWN POLICYMAKING I. Framework of the class: Democracy? We are going to be covering a lot of information in this class; We are going to talk about the constitution, voting, media, congress, courts, you name it. And how all these interact to form policy outcomes. In order to help us get through this material it would help if we had a sort of framework. The two textbooks (Bickers/Williams & Dye) that we’ve started to read have both started their stories of public policy by mentioning the term democracy. Perhaps this is a good framework frame the lectures around.

11. Evaluating Democracy More Broadly - we will reflect on the ways in which the American way of doing things achieves desired goals and serves us well or poorly. We will also ask, does this policy benefit some and not others?, does this institution favor some groups over other, do some groups have more access to this bureaucracy or politician?

12. Why is Democracy Important? But before we define democracy - why would we as a class be interested in democracy or use this ideal in structuring our class. 1.it's part of our history and our culture, De Tocqueville was amazed as to our egalitarian and democratic way of life in the 1830s 2.it is believed to be the best form of government to protect individual rights 3.that the pooled knowledge and experience of all citizens is more capable of ruling than a few oligarchic leaders.

13. Fundamental Principles of Representative Democracy 1.Popular sovereignty 2.Political Equality 3.Political Liberty

14. Popular Sovereignty a. govt. policies reflect people's preferences b. Majority rules. Narrow interest should not dominate in the political process.

15. Political Equality Each person caries the same weight in voting and other political decision making. What about equal access to political office? What about economic equality?

16. Political Liberty Is the idea that the government will not interfere with an individuals exercise of a range of different rights. The question is what rights are protected? Political v. Private Liberty?

17. Is the United States government a democracy? How much democracy do we have or how much should we have? Tyranny of the Majority: may threaten our liberty and freedom. Black segregation (voting rights), Japanese interment camps during WWII. Tyranny of the minority: Some have argued that that there is no evidence that the main source of tyranny is coming from the majority - and in fact it is often a minority that is the source of the tyranny.

18. Elite Theory v. Pluralism Elite theory – policy is dominated by a small number of economic and political elites Pluralism – policy is determined by a large number of competing groups with the winner determined by the size of the group and legitimacy of its argument. If we want to understand policy do we study elites or do we study competing groups of people?

19. Thomas Dye: Policymaking from the Top Down “The Discovery that in all large-scale societies the decisions at any given time are typically in the hands of a small number of people confirms a basic fact: Government is always government by the few, whether in the name of the few, the one, or the many.” Harold Lasswell “Public policy in America, as in all nations, reflects the values, interests, and preferences of the governing elite. The assertion that public policy reflects the “demands of the people” expresses the myth rather than the reality of democracy.” Thomas Dye

20. Q: What are the implications of a top down policymaking process: Top-down policymaking does not necessarily imply the oppression or exploitation of the masses. Elites may forego their own interests for the good of the nation (why?). National elites may ignore PO in order to promote the public interest.

21. How does one study a top down policy process? A focus on institutions not people. A focus on groups not individuals. A national elite? What does this mean? “there is more than enough interaction, linkage, and communication to justify reference to a national elite. And bargaining, accommodation, and compromise are more prevalent than conflict among leaders.” Thomas Dye