1. Unit 1: Intro to Government
Political power
Unit 1: Intro to Government

2. Journal #5 Name Date Copy question:
What qualities do you prize in a leader (Presidents? Religious? Teachers)? As a leader, is it better to be loved or feared? Explain.

3. What is Power?
A person, group, or state that exercises control, authority or influence.

4. What is Power in Politics?
Power is a relationship in which one individual (or group) can cause another individual (or group) to take an action that they would not otherwise take.
Power involves changing the behavior of another by using implied, not (almost never) actual, force.
Authority
(Legit Power)
Leadership
Power
(Informal Authority)

5. How is Power Gained?
“Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws.” - John Adams Is power only gained on the backs of the weak or naive?

6. Power Politics Theories

7. Marxist Theory Power comes from economic forces.
Ex. If the rich control the economy then they have the power.
If the government controls the economy then they have the power.
All societies are made of economic classes, which are usually divided into two groups:
Bourgeoisie (Capitalists)
Proletariat (Workers)
Capitalists dominate the economy, therefore they control the government.

8. “Power Elite” Theory The elite makes most of the decisions.
Military (“Warlords”; the Joint Chiefs of Staff)
Wealthy (Powerful families (ex. Kennedy’s), Entertainers/media, Corporate rich (ex. CEO’s of big corporations)
Political (U.S. Federal Government; President, Members of Congress)
First proposed by C. Wright Mills in his book The Power Elite

9. Bureaucracy Theory Non-elected individuals who control the government.
Good: decisions will be made rationally, most efficient way to organize human activity (big population, complex tasks, monetary system, communication, transportation, eliminate favoritism)
Bad: Immense power in the hands of the bureaucrats, can be a threat to our freedom (trap individuals in “soulless cage”)
Formulated by Max Weber

10. Anarchy Theory No organized government
People in a society help others without a set standard or order
No corruption (in theory)…can it work?

11. Pluralist Theory
Many groups, not the people as a whole, govern the U.S.
Groups: trade unions, business lobbies, special interest groups (ex. environmentalists)
Competition between these groups for power
The public acts as bystanders

12. Niccolò Machiavelli 1500’s Florence
Founder of modern political science, specifically ethics
Most famous work: The Prince
Written to the Medici family
Handbook on how to be a prince (ruler, President) and maintain power.

13. Machiavellian Theory (1500’s)
Endorsed behavior often deemed as evil and immoral
Basically…the ENDS justify the MEANS
Machiavellianism is a widely used negative term to characterize unscrupulous politicians

14. How Machiavelli saw human nature
Humans, by nature, are:
Greedy, power hungry, easy to corrupt, naïve, vain, cowardly, impressionable

15. maintained through morality”
Machiavelli
“Government cannot be
maintained through morality”

16. A Prince’s Duties
Maintain stability

17. What is the role of a prince? What should he do?
“The most important role of a prince is to guarantee stability to his power and to the nation.”

18. Guarantee stability
9/11/14 President Obama’s outlines plan to eliminate ISIS “This is a core principle of my presidency: If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven.” Should be more Machiavellian? Power to declare war?
Relies on constitutional powers as Commander in Chief, and on the post–Sept. 11, 2001, Authorization for the Use of Military Force against al-Qaeda to act against ISIS without explicit congressional approval

19. A Prince's Duties
Maintain stability
Minimize change

20. Change is negative for stability
"It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things."

21. Mid-term elections, November 4
What is at stake?
U.S. Senate is the big prize
Democrats in danger of losing control of Senate to Republicans (may affect social programs & judicial appointments)
Big push in many states

23. A Prince's Duties Maintain stability Minimize change
Use virtue as required

24. Non-Virtuous People
“The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous…. Therefore if a prince wants to maintain his rule he must learn how not to be virtuous, and to make use of this according to his need.”

25. Look virtuous, but do what you have to do
American value…”do good to do well”
World of law abiding nations that respect human rights. America should set an example.
No assassinating foreign leaders, keeping enemies prisoner, no torture, no lying or bribery
Are we guilty of any of these things?

26. Abu Ghraib prison, 2003- 2004 Baghdad, Iraq
11 convicted of abuse in 2005, court martialed

27. Donald Rumsfeld, Sec. of Defense (2001-6)
“These events occurred on my watch. As secretary of defense, I am accountable for them. I take full responsibility. It is my obligation to evaluate what happened, to make sure those who have committed wrongdoing are brought to justice, and to make changes as needed to see that it doesn't happen again. I feel terrible about what happened to these Iraqi detainees. They are human beings. They were in U.S. custody. Our country had an obligation to treat them right. We didn't do that. That was wrong. To those Iraqis who were mistreated by members of U.S. armed forces, I offer my deepest apology. It was un- American. And it was inconsistent with the values of our nation.“

28. But did he approve these techniques?
Memo read by Rumsfeld
Detailed how Guantanamo interrogators would induce stress in prisoners by forcing them to remain standing in one position for a maximum of four hours
Rumsfeld scrawled a handwritten note in the margin reading: "I stand for 8–10 hours a day. Why is standing [by prisoners] limited to four hours? D.R.“
Controversy, resigned in 2006

29. A Prince's Duties Maintain stability Minimize change
Use virtue as required
Be good, or not, depending on the situation

30. Do what needs to be done
“Hence a prince, in order to hold his position, must acquire the power to be not good, and understand when to use it and when not to use it, in accord with necessity.”

31. A Prince's Duties Maintain stability Minimize change
Use virtue as required
Be good or not depending on the situation
Be loved and feared, but favor being feared

32. Loved or Feared?
“Is it better to be loved than feared, or the reverse?... it is much safer for a prince to be feared than loved, if he is to fail in one of the two…
We can say this about men in general: they are ungrateful, unpredictable, simulators and dissimulators, runaways in danger, eager for gain”

33. Proper Use of Fear
“Nevertheless, the wise prince makes himself feared in such a way that he does not gain love but he escapes hated.”

34. U.S. foreign policy: Are we feared or loved?
Berlin Airlift
Soviet Union blocking access to allied controlled part of West Berlin.

35. U.S. foreign policy: Are we feared or loved?
American occupation of foreign lands…violate national sovereignty?
Benevolent motives…may still generate resistance
At mercy of occupying force, innocents may be killed, disregard for local customs…build up hostility?

36. A Prince's Duties Maintain stability Minimize change
Use virtue as required
Be good or not depending on the situation
Be loved and feared, but favor being feared
Know when to keep a promise

37. Danger of Openness
“How praiseworthy a prince is who keeps his promises and lives with sincerity and not with trickery everybody realizes.
Nevertheless, experience in our time shows that those princes have done great things who have valued their promises little, and who have understood how to addle the brains of men with trickery; and in the end they have vanquished those who have stood upon their honesty.”

38. A Prince's Duties Maintain stability Minimize change
Use virtue as required
Be good or not depending on the situation
Be loved and feared, but favor being feared
Know when to keep a promise
Appear to have good qualities

39. Appearances are Useful
“For a prince, then, it is not necessary actually to have all the above-mentioned qualities, but it is very necessary to appear to have them. Further, I shall be so bold as to say this: that if he has them and always practices them, they are harmful; and if he appears to have them, they are useful.”
--Machiavelli, The Prince

40. Appearances are useful
"Every one sees what you seem, but few know what you are."

41. Appearances are useful

42. A Prince's Duties Maintain stability Minimize change
Use virtue as required
Be good or not depending on the situation
Be loved and feared, but favor being feared
Know when to keep a promise
Appear to have good qualities
Realize that the end will justify the means

43. Princes Must Maintain Authority
"Wherefore if a Prince succeeds in establishing and maintaining his authority, the means will always be judged honorable and be approved by every one."

44. A Prince’s Duties Maintain stability Minimize change
Use virtue as required
Be good or not depending on the situation
Be loved and feared, but favor being feared
Know when to keep a promise
Appear to have good qualities
Realize that the end will justify the means

45. The ends justifies the means…
May 2, 2011
Osama bin Laden killed by U.S. Navy Seals in Pakistan
U.S. National Security Team in the White House Situation room

46. How Machiavellian are you?

47. Machiavelli
Are Machiavellian principles acceptable today? Was he evil or just a realist?

48. Do the ends justify the means? Does the good of the many out way
the good of the one or the few?

49. Leadership What do we want in a leader? Transformational Leadership
Motivates others to identify & commit themselves to the group’s mission
Natural extraverts, articulate high standards, inspire people to share vision