1. The Study of American Government
Chapter 1
The Study of American Government

2. What is Political Power?

3. Two Great Questions About Politics
Who governs?
To which ends?
The people who govern affect us in unumerable ways.
Examples? (Good/Bad)
In what ways does our government affect our daily lives?

4. Power
Power
Def – the ability of one person to cause another person to act in accordance with the first person’s intentions.

5. Power
Text’s Concern:
Power as it is used to affect who will hold government office and how government will behave.

6. How is Power Used? Obvious Uses – Executive decisions…
Subtle Uses – Presidential speechwriters…
Interesting Note – over the 20th century the lines between private and public have shifted in terms of governmental power. For example…

7. Def – the right to use power
Authority
Def – the right to use power
Not all who exercise political power have it.
Formal authority…
Legitimacy – what makes a law or constitution a source of right.

8. Struggles over legitimate authority
US Constitution – since this document has been the source of legitimate authority to govern.
Civil war, New Deal, Gay Marriage…all struggles to determine the legitimacy of government authority to settle the particular dispute.

9. Authority
There is a necessity to be in some sense democratic in the US today.
Virtually all Americans agree that without a sense of democracy no government exercise of power can be seen as legitimate.

10. What is Democracy?
Aristotelian Def – “Rule of Many” – participatory democracy.
Requires the participation of all or most of its citizens by holding office or making policy decisions.
4th century BC Greek City State
New England Town Meeting
Community Control
Citizen participation

11. What is Democracy?
Representative Democracty – acquisition of power by leaders via competitive elections.
Elitist theory – rep democracy is sometimes disapprovingly called this.
Justifications for Rep Democracy:
Practical
Flow of Public Opinion

12. Direct vs. Indirect Democracy
Constitution…
Requirements of Representative Democracy
European Model of Indirect Democracy
US Model of Indirect Democracy

13. Direct vs. Indirect Democracy
Arguments for direct democracy
Virtues of direct democracy should be relcaimed through:
Community Control
Citizen participation
Referendums

14. What did the Framers say?
“Will of the people” is not synonymos with the “common interest” or “public good”
Strongly favored representative democracy…
Direct democracy minimized chances of abue of power by a tyrannical popular majority or self- serving office holder

15. How is power distributed in a democracy?
Majoritarian Politics
Leaders constrained to follow wishes of the people very closely.
Reps act as delegates…
Applies when issues are simple, clear, and feasible
Elitism
Rule by identifiable group of persons who possess a disproportionate share of political power.
Four Theories of Elite influence
Marxism
C. Wright Mills
Weber
Pluralist

16. Marxism
Government mearly a reflection of underlying economic forces. Dominated by social class.
19th Century – govt is ruled by business owners (bourgeoisie) until the workers (proletariat) revolt and take over.
21st Century – “the rich” are considered the leaders of multinational corporations and hold power.

17. C. Wright Mills
Power elite composed of corporate leaders, generals, and politicians. Idea that government is ruled by a few powerful players many not elected but rather pulling the purse strings.

18. Max Weber
Bureaucracies based on expertise, specialized competence. Idea that appointed bureaucrats actually run government.

19. Pluralist View
No single elite has a monopoly on power; hence must bargain and compromise. Power is so widely distributed that it is near impossible for one or few to dominate.

20. Politics is self seeking
Cynical view held by many not necessarily correct!
Good policies may result from bad motives.
Self-interest is an incomplete guide to actions (Alexis de Tocqueville on America pg 11)
National crisis’ routinely prove this point (September 11th, 2001, Hurricane Sandy 2012)
Many instances of individuals acting against long ods without certainty of benefit (suffrage and civil rights movements)

21. Political Change
Necessary to refer frequently to history to track change.
1920’s government non- involvement + Great Depression led to a time period (1930’s-1970’s) of government seeking to solve every societal issue. Stagflation + inflation of late 1970’s led to the Reagan revolution (roll back of Washington’s influence)

22. Summary of Who Governs Answers are of the partial or contingent
Preferences and politics vary
Politics cannot be equated with laws on the books…
Sweeping claims and generalizations are to be avoided…
Judgments about institutions and interests should be tempered by how they behave on different issues.
The policy process can be an excellent barometer of change in who governs.