1. Introducing Government in America
Chapter 1

2. Government Definition:
The formal institutions and processes through which public policies are made for society.
Resolve conflicts
Allocate resources
Ultimate authority in a country
Government consists of those institutions that make authoritative public policies for society as a whole.
Four key institutions make policy at the national level: Congress, President, the Courts and the federal administrative agencies (bureaucracy).
This chapter raises two fundamental questions about governing that will serve as themes for the text.
1. How should we govern?
2. What should government do?
What governments do.
1. Regardless of how they assumed power, all governments have certain functions in common.
a. Governments maintain national defense.
b. Governments provide public goods - things that everyone can share, such as clean air.
c. Governments have police powers to provide order - as when Chinese security forces crushed the student protest in Tiananmen Square in
1989 and when the National Guard was called in to restore order in Los Angeles after the 1992 Rodney King verdict.
d. Governments provide public services - such as schools and libraries.
e. Governments socialize the young into the political culture - typically through practices such as reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in daily
exercises at public schools.
f. Governments collect taxes to pay for the services they provide.

3. Government
How should we govern?
What should government do?

4. Government
Regardless of how they assumed power, all governments have certain functions in common
A. Governments maintain national defense.
B. Governments provide public goods - things that everyone can share, such as clean air.
C. Governments have police powers to provide order

5. Government
D. Governments provide public services E. Governments collect taxes to pay for the services they provide.

6. Politics
Definition:
The process by which it is decided, Who gets what, when and how and in resolving conflicts in a country at the federal, state and local levels.
It is the struggle for power or influence
Politics determines whom we select as governmental leaders and what policies they pursue.
Political scientists still use the classic definition of politics offered by Harold D. Lasswell: "Who gets what, when, and how."
The media usually focus on the who of politics.
What refers to the substance of politics and government – benefits, such as medical care for the elderly, and burdens, such as new taxes.
How people participate in politics is important, too. Political participation refers to the ways in which people get involved in politics; the methods of participation.
When
People engage in politics for a variety of reasons, and all of their activities in politics are collectively called political participation.

7. Why is government necessary?
Social contract between the governed and the government.
Thomas Hobbes
John Locke
Baron Montesquieu
Jean Jacque Rousseau

8. Identify our political culture
Political culture is defined as ;
The set of ideas, values and ways of thinking about government and politics that we share in this country.
What is our political culture?
What aspects do you identify with of our culture?
Do we all share this identity in America?
Who shapes out ideas and values?

9. What values and ideas do we share?
Group Activity-
In a group of 3-4 students make a list of 3- 5 areas of values or ideas about government and politics that identify our political culture
Each person in the group research for a news article that supports your list.
Create a Webbing that connects the articles with your values and ideas

10. Structure of government
Totalitarian Democracy

11. Democracy Why chosen? Do we still have it? Can it be improved?
Video: TED Mid Atlantic- Larry Lessing

12. Democracies fall into two basic categories, direct and representative.
Democracy
Direct
Representative

13. Direct Democracy
In a direct democracy, all citizens, can participate in making public decisions. This system is only practical with small numbers of people--in a community organization or tribal council, for example, where people can meet in a single room to discuss issues and arrive at decisions by consensus or majority vote.

14. Ancient Athens, the world's first democracy, managed to practice direct democracy with an assembly that may have numbered as many as 5,000 to 6,000 persons--perhaps the maximum number that can physically gather in one place and practice direct democracy.

15. Representative Democracy
Today, the most common form of democracy, whether for a town of 50,000 or nations of 50 million, is representative democracy, in which citizens elect officials to make political decisions, formulate laws, and administer programs for the public good.
an investment of time and energy that is often impractical for the vast majority of private citizens.

16. Citizen Participation
Voters vote to remove elected officials from office
Referendum-
Voters vote on bills directly passed by legislature
Voters propose bills to the legislature or ballot

17. Policy Making-Who Makes It
If we live in a democracy…… (finish the statement)
Why should we care about democracy
Who needs to implement democracy?
How can democracy have a positive/ negative affect on society?
When should democracy be implemented?
In What Ways do we see democracy at work?

18. The Policymaking System
The process by which policy comes into being and evolves over time.
A policymaking system is a set of institutions and activities that link together government, politics, and public policy.
A political issue arises when people disagree about a problem or about a public policy choice.
In a democratic society, parties, elections, interest groups, and the media are key linkage institutions between the preferences of citizens and the government's policy agenda.
The end product of government and politics is public policy. When people confront government officials with problems they expect them to solve, they are trying to influence the government's policy agenda.
The end product of government and politics is public policy.
Policymakers stand at the core of the political system, working within the three policymaking institutions established by the U.S. Constitution: the Congress, the presidency, and the courts.
Policy impacts are the effects policy has on people and on society's problems.
Having a policy implies a goal: people who raise a policy issue usually want a policy that works.
Translating people's desires into public policy is crucial to the workings of democracy.
When people confront government officials with problems they expect them to solve, they are trying to influence the government's policy agenda. A government's policy agenda changes frequently: if public officials want to get elected, they must pay attention to the problems that
concern the voters.
Figure 1.3

19. People
Interests
Problems
Concerns

20. Linkage Institutions Political Parties Elections
News & Entertainment Media
Interest Groups

21. Policy Agenda Political Issues
These are the “whats” that the various people want taken care of.
Items at the top of the policy agenda are taken care of first.
It may take years to get an item on the policy agenda, and then several more years to get it acted on.

22. Policymaking Institutions
Legislature (Congress)
Executive (President)
Courts (Federal and State)
Bureaucracies (Federal and State)

23. Policy Expenditures of money Raising or lowering taxes
New laws or regulations
Non-decisions (gridlock)

24. Theories of U.S. Democracy…
Pluralist Theory
A theory of government and policies emphasizing that politics is mainly a competition among groups, each one pressing for its own preferred policies.
Groups will work together
Public interest will prevail
Pluralist theory contends that many centers of influence compete for power and control.
Groups compete with one another for control over public policy, with no one group or set of groups dominating.
There are multiple access points to our government, with power dispersed among the various branches and levels of government.
Bargaining and compromise are essential ingredients of our democracy.
Electoral majorities rarely rule; rather, as Dahl puts it, "all active and legitimate groups in the population can make themselves heard at some crucial stage in the [policymaking] process.“
The recent increase in interest group activity is cited by pluralists as evidence for pluralism.

25. Theories of U.S. Democracy…
Elite and Class Theory
A theory of government and politics contending that societies are divided along class lines and that an upper-class elite will rule, regardless of the formal niceties of governmental organization.
Not all groups are equal
Policies benefit those with money / power
Elite and class theory contends that our society (like all societies) is divided along class lines.
An upper-class elite rules, regardless of governmental organization.
Wealth is the basis of class power: a few powerful Americans are the policymakers.
Big business and its power is at the center of most elite and class theories.
The Reagan Administration strongly promoted big business.

26. Theories of U.S. Democracy…
Hyperpluralism
A theory of government and politics contending that groups are so strong that government is weakened.
Exaggerated / perverted form of pluralism
Confusing / contradictory policies
Gridlock- inability to act at all
Hyperpluralism is pluralism gone sour.
Many groups are so strong that government is unable to act.
There are too many groups with access to the different levels and branches of government: these groups have multiple ways to both prevent policies they disagree with and promote those they support.
When politicians try to placate every group, the result is confusing, contradictory, and muddled policy (or no policy at all).

27. Challenges to Democracy
Increased Technical Expertise
Limited Participation in Government
Escalating Campaign Costs
Diverse Political Interests
Challenges to democracy.
1. How can average citizens make decisions about complex issues?
2. What if citizens know little about their leaders and policy decisions?
3. Is American democracy too dependent on money?
4. Does American diversity produce governmental gridlock?

28. Questions About Democracy
Are the people knowledgeable- and do they apply what they know?
Do interest groups help the process, or do they get in the way?
Do political parties offer clear consistent choices for voters?
Does the President & Congress work in the best interests of ALL the people?
Some key questions about Democracy.
1. Are people knowledgeable about matters of public policy?
2. Do they apply what knowledge they have to their voting choices?
3. Are American elections designed to facilitate public participation?
4. Does the interest group system allow for all points of view to be heard, or do significant biases give advantages to particular groups?
5. Do political parties provide voters with clear choices, or do they intentionally obscure their stands on issues in order to get as many votes as
possible?
6. If there are choices, do the media help citizens understand them?
7. Is the Congress representative of American society, and is it capable of reacting to changing times?
8. Does the president look after the general welfare of the public, or has the office become too focused on the interests of the elite?

29. Questions about the Scope of Government
How big a role does the Constitution say should be played by the federal government?
Does a bigger, more involved (active) government limit the people’s freedoms?
Do we need a bigger, more involved government to protect our freedoms?
A comparative perspective on the scope and size of government.
The government of the United States actually does less—and is small—compared to the governments of similar countries.
The tax burden on Americans is also small, compared to other democratic nations.

30. Questions about the Scope of Government, continued…
Do competing political parties make for better policies?
Do more interest groups create a bigger government?
Does the media help control the size and policies government?

31. Questions about the Scope of Government, continued…
Can the president control the government, or has it gotten too big?
Can Congress respond to the needs of the people, or just to the interest groups?
Do members of Congress expand government by seeking to be re-elected?

32. Questions about the Scope of Government, continued…
Do the federal courts overstep their bounds and intrude on the powers of other branches of government?
Are the federal agencies too large and unresponsive to the public they are supposed to serve?