1. Welcome back!
Get you’re your “Why Civics is About More than Citizenship” Article
Should students be required, for graduation, to take and pass a Civics test?
Why do you think so many states have decided to create and pass these types of laws?
After reading the article, do you believe states should continue this pattern?

2. Welcome back!
Study for your quiz!!

3. Unit One: Constitutional Underpinnings

4. Bell ringer
What is a government?

5. Answers
The formal and informal institutions, people, and processes used to create and conduct public policy
In the broadest sense: Any institution or process that involves power, rule, and authority

6. The Basics of Government
Government: A formal institutions that make policy or law on behalf of the people
Government’s Purpose:
Maintain national defense and provide public order
Provide public goods
Collect taxes
Linkage institutions: how people are able to link with public policies
Political parties/elections/media/interest groups
These are needed for democracy to survive!

7. Public policy Definition: action taken by government
Institutions that make public policy:
Legislative/executive/judicial
Bureaucracies/gov’t corporations/ regulatory agencies/ cabinet
Policy and law are not the same
EX: Speed Limit and marijuana

8. Two basic Questions Who governs?
How is political power actually distributed in America?
What explains major political change?
To what ends?

9. What is Political Power?
understand-power-eric-liu
Power: the ability of one person to get another person to do what you want them to!
Our discussion of power:
Who will hold government office
How government will behave

10. Who exercises Power?
Those who exercise political power may or may not have the authority to do so
Authority: the right to use power
Legitimacy: Political authority conferred by law or by a state or national constitution

11. Politics: Who, What & How
Aristotle
“Political” – Greek politikos = ‘of, or pertaining to, the polis’
Polis = city-state
democracy-really-mean-in-athens- melissa-schwartzberg
2 Major Flaws
Suitable for smaller city-states only
Exclusive with extension of rights

12. All/Most citizens participate
What is Democracy?
direct
All/Most citizens participate
The Founders had a basic distrust of direct democracy
Impractical & mob mentality
Some people still argue for direct democracy
Neighborhoods/cities should govern themselves
Many states measure of direct democracy exists through referendums
Only way “will of the people” truly ensured

13. Indirect (representative)
What is Democracy?
Indirect (representative)
Leaders make decisions by winning competitive struggle for the popular vote
The Framers of Constitution decided on a “representative democracy”
Way of minimizing the chances that power would be abused by
Tyrant!
Tyrannical popular majority
Self-serving officers

14. Theories of representative democracy
Theories are…
Pluralist view
Elitism
Hyper-pluralism
Bureaucratic Theory
Majoritarian Politics: elected officials are the delegates of the people, acting as a majority of them would if they themselves were voting. Issues handled in a majoritarian fashion can be only those that are sufficiently clear to elicit an informed opinion from citizens. What citizens want done, can in fact be done (has to be realistic)
Elite Politics: when the issue does not have a clear opinion or even if it does, only those citizens motivated enough to go the the trouble to become active participants in policy making are involved.
Marxist view on Elites: Government, even if democratic in form, is a reflection of underlying economic forces. Two forces are battling: the bourgeois (business owners) and the proletariat (laborers). Which class dominates the economy also controls the government. Capitalists (big business and corporations) generally dominate the economy, thus the government (according to Marx).
C. Wright Mills: (sociologist) A coalition of three groups (listed above) dominate politics and government. the Power Elite View: the government is dominated by a few top leaders, most of when are outside of the government and are quite wealthy (special interest groups).
Max Weber: (sociologist) all institutions, governmental and nongovernmental, have fallen under the control of large bureaucracies whose expertise and competence are essential to the management of contemporary affairs. Power is mainly in the hands of appointed officials, career government workers, not the elected representatives. Government bureaucrats make public policy to fit their own ideas and interests.

15. Pluralist View Most popular view!
People naturally are social and form associations
Politics is about a struggle among many groups to get and hold power
Politics is the art of compromise – not just the majority
People will be protected by groups that share that person’s interests
Majoritarian Politics: elected officials are the delegates of the people, acting as a majority of them would if they themselves were voting. Issues handled in a majoritarian fashion can be only those that are sufficiently clear to elicit an informed opinion from citizens. What citizens want done, can in fact be done (has to be realistic)
Elite Politics: when the issue does not have a clear opinion or even if it does, only those citizens motivated enough to go the the trouble to become active participants in policy making are involved.
Marxist view on Elites: Government, even if democratic in form, is a reflection of underlying economic forces. Two forces are battling: the bourgeois (business owners) and the proletariat (laborers). Which class dominates the economy also controls the government. Capitalists (big business and corporations) generally dominate the economy, thus the government (according to Marx).
C. Wright Mills: (sociologist) A coalition of three groups (listed above) dominate politics and government. the Power Elite View: the government is dominated by a few top leaders, most of when are outside of the government and are quite wealthy (special interest groups).
Max Weber: (sociologist) all institutions, governmental and nongovernmental, have fallen under the control of large bureaucracies whose expertise and competence are essential to the management of contemporary affairs. Power is mainly in the hands of appointed officials, career government workers, not the elected representatives. Government bureaucrats make public policy to fit their own ideas and interests.

16. Elitisim Wealth is basis for all power
American’s left out of political decision making
Power rests with small group of leaders who hold resources to power – hold POTENTIAL to lead and rule
Power is not so much the ACT of control as the POTENTIAL to act
Marxist – influence of economic elites
C. Wright Mills (Power Elite) – important public policies were determined by “institutional elites” (military, corporate, and a small group of military leaders)
Majoritarian Politics: elected officials are the delegates of the people, acting as a majority of them would if they themselves were voting. Issues handled in a majoritarian fashion can be only those that are sufficiently clear to elicit an informed opinion from citizens. What citizens want done, can in fact be done (has to be realistic)
Elite Politics: when the issue does not have a clear opinion or even if it does, only those citizens motivated enough to go the the trouble to become active participants in policy making are involved.
Marxist view on Elites: Government, even if democratic in form, is a reflection of underlying economic forces. Two forces are battling: the bourgeois (business owners) and the proletariat (laborers). Which class dominates the economy also controls the government. Capitalists (big business and corporations) generally dominate the economy, thus the government (according to Marx).
C. Wright Mills: (sociologist) A coalition of three groups (listed above) dominate politics and government. the Power Elite View: the government is dominated by a few top leaders, most of when are outside of the government and are quite wealthy (special interest groups).
Max Weber: (sociologist) all institutions, governmental and nongovernmental, have fallen under the control of large bureaucracies whose expertise and competence are essential to the management of contemporary affairs. Power is mainly in the hands of appointed officials, career government workers, not the elected representatives. Government bureaucrats make public policy to fit their own ideas and interests.

17. Once interest groups are too powerful democracy and government are threatened
Situation that arises when too many interest groups become so powerful they dominate political decision making
Hyper-Pluralism

18. Max Weber – all institutions, government and non-government, have fallen under control of ever-growing bureaucracy (hierarchical departments)
Bureaucratic agencies able to dictate policies based on decisions they make in implementing policy
Bureaucrats could become powerful and take over roles of other politicians
Bureaucratic Theory

19. Two basic Questions To what ends?
Who governs?
How is political power actually distributed in America?
What explains major political change?
To what ends?
What value or values matter most in American democracy?
Are trade-offs among political purposes inevitable?

20. Fundamental Democratic…Values
processes
structure
Popular Sovereignty
Respect for the Individual
Liberty
Equality of Opportunity
Free and Fair Elections with competing political parties
Majority Rule w/Minority Rights
Freedom of expression
Right to assemble and protest
Federalism
Separation of powers
Checks and balances
Constitutionalism

21. End of Chapter 1 Power Point!