Exam Review Poli Sci Exam 1
14:10
What is government and why do we have it?
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Government
- a formally established way of making and carrying out political
decisions.
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Why do we have it
? Because government can do things for us. Life without
government would be worse. Without government, we would have to exist in
what some have call the “state of nature”.
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Politics
- the competition to shape government's impact on society's
problems and goals.
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Social Contract Theory
- It is not a written contract, but rather, a general
agreement between the people and their government. Each accepts certain
obligations. The people agree to give up some of their liberty and in
exchange, the government guarantees to protect what were called “natural
rights.”
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Normative
- the way things ought to be
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Empirical
- the way things actually are
Purposes of government-
to protect the natural laws.
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Natural Laws:
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
What purpose have government traditionally served? What does
government do?
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Protecting life
o
Authorities
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Protecting rights and liberties
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Justices system
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Providing public goods
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Roads
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Promoting equality
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Relatively modern function of government
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Most controversial aspect
But these things may at time conflict. Citizens disagree about which functions
are most important and which functions should be most vigorously enforced.
Disagreements usually arise from differences in individual priorities, and the way
these priories are organized is called a political ideology.
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Political Ideology
: a coherent set of beliefs about how policies affect society
and which policies are desirable. In the US, we mainly think of two:
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Liberals
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Conservatives
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Populists
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Libertarians
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More numerous third party
The Policy Process
:
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People:
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Interests
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Concerns
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Problems
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Linkage Processes:
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Elections
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Polls
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Lobbying
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Linkage Institutions
:
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Political parties
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Interest groups
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Media
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Governmental Agenda
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Government:
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Congress
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President
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Courts
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Policies
:
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Expenditures
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Regulations
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Taxes
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Non-decisions
ALL FORM A CYCLE AND IMPACT EACHOHER
The Requirements for a democracy
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Popular Sovereignty:
people are the ultimate source of all public authority
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Political Equality:
each person carries the same weight in voting and other
political decision making
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Political Liberty:
freedoms of speech, press, religion, assembly, etc. are
essential for democracy to work
Focus on Popular Sovereignty:
what six conditions are important?
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Government policies reflect the wishes of the people
– do the people
know best? Should elected representatives act as delegates or trustees?
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- Spring '08
- Nunnery
- Government, Civil Rights, Liberalism, Common Sense, Libertarianism
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