1. POLS 021E THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM FALL SEMESTER 2017
Professor Holmes

3. AMERICAN GOVERNMENT POWER & PURPOSE
Chapter 1
Introduction: Making Sense
of Government and Politics
Theodore J. Lowi
Benjamin Ginsberg
Kenneth A. Shepsle
Stephen Ansolabhere

4. How Political Scientists Study Government and Politics
Political scientists ask three basic kinds of questions:
By empirical we mean that the question aims to identify facts and patterns that are true in the world around us

5. How Political Scientists Study Government and Politics
Political scientists ask three basic kinds of questions:
Empirical questions: Asking about identifiable facts and patterns that are true in the world around us.
By empirical we mean that the question aims to identify facts and patterns that are true in the world around us

6. How Political Scientists Study Government and Politics
Political scientists ask three basic kinds of questions:
Empirical questions: Asking about identifiable facts and patterns that are true in the world around us. (Who is the most recent justice on the U.S. Supreme Court? Who nominated this person? How many senators voted to confirm the nomination?)
By empirical we mean that the question aims to identify facts and patterns that are true in the world around us

7. How Political Scientists Study Government and Politics
Political scientists ask three basic kinds of questions:
Empirical questions: Asking about identifiable facts and patterns that are true in the world around us.
Analytical questions: Asking questions related to why the empirical reality around us is the way that it is.
By empirical we mean that the question aims to identify facts and patterns that are true in the world around us

8. How Political Scientists Study Government and Politics
Political scientists ask three basic kinds of questions:
Empirical questions: Asking about identifiable facts and patterns that are true in the world around us.
Analytical questions: Asking questions related to why the empirical reality around us is the way that it is. (What explains why Gorsuch was the nominee chosen? Why did all Republican senators vote for him, and nearly all Democratic senators vote against him? Why did a few Democratic senators support his confirmation?
By empirical we mean that the question aims to identify facts and patterns that are true in the world around us

9. How Political Scientists Study Government and Politics
Political scientists ask three basic kinds of questions:
Empirical questions: Asking about identifiable facts and patterns that are true in the world around us.
Analytical questions: Asking questions related to why the empirical reality around us is the way that it is.
Normative questions: The “should” questions, related to how the world should be.
By empirical we mean that the question aims to identify facts and patterns that are true in the world around us

10. How Political Scientists Study Government and Politics
Political scientists ask three basic kinds of questions:
Empirical questions: Asking about identifiable facts and patterns that are true in the world around us.
Analytical questions: Asking questions related to why the empirical reality around us is the way that it is.
Normative questions: The “should” questions, related to how the world should be. (Should Democrats have supported Gorsuch’s appointment? Should President Trump have been able to replace Justice Scalia?)
By empirical we mean that the question aims to identify facts and patterns that are true in the world around us

11. How Political Scientists Study Government and Politics
Political scientists ask three basic kinds of questions:
Empirical questions: Asking about identifiable facts and patterns that are true in the world around us.
Analytical questions: Asking questions related to why the empirical reality around us is the way that it is.
Normative questions: The “should” questions, related to how the world should be.
By empirical we mean that the question aims to identify facts and patterns that are true in the world around us

12. Why is Government Necessary?
Maintain order

13. Why is Government Necessary?
Maintain order
Hobbes ( ): Life in the “state of nature” is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

14. Why is Government Necessary?
Maintain order
Hobbes ( ): Life in the “state of nature” is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
Protect property

15. Why is Government Necessary?
Maintain order
Hobbes ( ): Life in the “state of nature” is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
Protect property
John Locke ( )

16. Why is Government Necessary?
Maintain order
Hobbes ( ): Life in the “state of nature” is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
Protect property
John Locke ( )
Provide public goods

17. Why is Government Necessary?
Maintain order
Hobbes ( ): Life in the “state of nature” is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
Protect property
John Locke ( )
Provide public goods
Avoiding the “free rider” problem

18. What kind of political system does the United States have?
Democracy

19. What kind of political system does the United States have?
Democracy
Representative democracy/Indirect democracy/Republic

20. What kind of political system does the United States have?
Democracy
Representative democracy/Indirect democracy/Republic
Vs.
Pure democracy/Direct democracy

21. What kind of political system does the United States have?
Democracy
Representative democracy/Indirect democracy/Republic
Vs.
Pure democracy/Direct democracy
Constitutional Government/Limited Government

22. What kind of political system does the United States have?
Democracy
Representative democracy/Indirect democracy/Republic
Vs.
Pure democracy/Direct democracy
Constitutional Government/Limited Government
Federalist System