Download Ch.1

American
Government and
Politics Today
Chapter 1
The Democratic Republic
Politics and Government
Key terms:
• Politics: “who gets what when and how”
• Institution: an ongoing organization that performs
certain functions for society
• Government: institution in which decisions are
made that resolve conflicts or allocate benefits and
privileges
Why Is Government Necessary?
– Order
Maintaining peace and security by
protecting members of society from
violence and criminal activity is the oldest
purpose of government.
Why is Government Necessary?
– Liberty
The greatest freedom of individuals that is
consistent with the freedom of other
individuals in the society; can be promoted
by or invoked against government.
Why is Government Necessary?
–
Authority and Legitimacy
authority: the right and power of a
government or other entity to enforce its
decisions and compel obedience.
legitimacy is popular acceptance of the
right and power of a government or other
entity to exercise authority.
Forms of Government
–
–
–
–
Totalitarian Regime—government controls all
aspects of the political and social life of a nation.
Authoritarianism—A type of regime in which only
the government itself is fully controlled by the ruler.
Social and economic institutions exist that are not
under the government’s control.
Aristocracy—Rule by the “best”; in reality, rule by an
upper class.
Democracy—A system of government in which
political authority is vested in the people. Derived
from the Greek words demos (“the people”) and
kratos (“authority”).
Direct Democracy
– Political decisions are made by the people
directly, rather than by their elected
representatives
– Attained most easily in small political
communities.
Direct Democracy Today
– Initiative–a procedure by which voters can
propose a law or a constitutional amendment
–Referendum–an electoral device whereby
legislative or constitutional measures are referred
by the legislature to the voters for approval or
disapproval;
–Recall–a procedure allowing the people to vote
to dismiss an elected official from state office
before his or her term has expired.
Is Direct Democracy Dangerous?
While the founders believed in
government based on t he consent of the
people, they were highly distrustful of
anything that might look like “mob rule.”
Therefore, they devised institutions to
filter the popular will through elected
elites.
A Democratic Republic
Democratic republic and representative
democracy really mean the same thing—
government based on elected
representatives—except for the historical
quirk that a republic cannot have a
vestigial king.
A Democratic Republic (cont)
–
Principles of Democratic Government
• universal suffrage, or the right of all adults to
vote for their representatives
• majority rule, the greatest number of citizens
in any political unit should select the officials
and determine policies.
– Constitutional Democracy.
• limited government, states the powers of
government should be limited, usually by
institutional checks. Without such limits,
democracy could destroy itself.
What Kind of Democracy
Do We Have?
–
Majoritarianism
–
Elite theory
–
Pluralism
Fundamental Values
–
–
–
Political Socialization.
Liberty versus Order.
Equality versus Liberty.
• Economic Equality
• Property Rights and Capitalism.
– capitalism, an economic system
characterized by the private ownership
of wealth-creating assets and also by
free markets and freedom of contract.
Citizenship and Voting Rights
– Franchise – The right and privilege of
citizens to elect representatives and decide
policy issues in conformity with state and
federal law.
– Does the national government determine
voter eligibility, or do the states retain that
right and responsibility?
Ideologies:
Liberalism vs. Conservatism
–
Conservatives tend to favor limited governmental
involvement in the economic sector. Economic freedom
is seen as a necessity for the good of the society. On
social issues, conservatives advocate governmental
involvement to preserve traditional values and lifestyles.
–
Liberals tend to favor governmental regulation of the
economy to benefit individuals within the society. On
social issues, liberals advocate a limited governmental
role. Social freedom is seen as a necessity for the good
of the society.
Ideologies:
The Traditional Political Spectrum
•
•
socialism, a political ideology based on
strong support for economic and social
equality. Socialists traditionally envisioned
a society in which major businesses were
taken over by the government or by
employee cooperatives.
libertarianism, a political ideology based on
skepticism or opposition toward almost all
government activities.
Classical Liberalism
–
Liberal once meant limited government and no
religion in politics. The term evolved into its
modern American meaning along with the
political evolution of the Democratic Party,
which was once the party of limited government
but has become the party of (relative) economic
equality.
Table 1.1
The Traditional Political Spectrum
Figure 1-1
A Four-Cornered Ideological Grid
The Ideological Grid
–
We can break down the electorate into cultural and
economic liberals, cultural and economic
conservatives, cultural liberals/economic
conservatives (libertarians), and cultural
conservatives/economic liberals.
• Classifying the Voters. All four viewpoints have
substantial support based on polling data.
• Conservative Popularity. However, the term
conservative, as a self-applied label, is more
popular than any other label except “moderate.”
Totalitarian Ideologies
–
The “ideologies of our enemies,” that is, our
opponents in 20th and 21st century wars, cold
or hot.
•
•
Communism, revolutionary variant of socialism that
favors a partisan (and often totalitarian) dictatorship,
government control of all enterprises, and the
replacement of free markets by central planning; and
Fascism, a twentieth-century ideology—often
totalitarian—that exalts the national collective united
behind an absolute ruler, and rejects liberal
individualism, values action over rational
deliberation, and glorifies war.
Totalitarianism in the Islamic World
While communism and fascism are the
historical ideologies that totalitarianism was
coined to describe, our current international
problem is with radical Islamism as
exemplified by Al Qaeda.
The Changing Face of America
– Aging
– Population Growth
– Ethnic Change
• Changes in Hispanic Community
– Women in the Workforce
Figure 1.2 The Aging of America