Download Collective Action Principle

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
POWER & PURPOSE
Chapter 1
Five Principles of Politics
“Man by nature is a political
animal.” - Aristotle
The Field of Political Science
O Identifies patterns in political life
O What, Why, Should, How questions
41
28
30
1
What is Government?
O The institutions and procedures through
which a land and its people are ruled
O Can be simple or complex
Discussion: Government in a
Farming Society
O Imagine that everyone in this room is a farmer in
our own self-contained society
O We’re all equal in every respect
O One of us proposes to build an irrigation system
O How do we make decisions?
Forms of Government:
Inclusiveness
O Autocracy – A single individual rules
O Oligarchy – A small group of landowners, military
officers, or wealthy merchants rules
O Democracy – A system of rule that permits
citizens to play a significant part in the
governmental process
Forms of Government:
Recognition of Limits
O Constitutional – Formal and effective limits are
placed on the powers of government
O Authoritarian – No formal limits are placed on
government but government may be effectively
limited by other social institutions
O Totalitarian – No formal or effective limits on
government’s power of any kind
Imagine a hypothetical society in which a king has
almost total power but is constrained in his
coercive power by the church. This government
would best be described as a(n):
authoritarian democracy.
B. constitutional autocracy.
C. totalitarian oligarchy.
D. authoritarian autocracy.
A.
Imagine a hypothetical society in which a king has
almost total power but is constrained in his coercive
power by the church. This government would best be
described as a(n):
authoritarian democracy.
B. constitutional autocracy.
C. totalitarian oligarchy.
D. authoritarian autocracy.
A.
What is Politics?
-The struggle over who gets what, when, &
how
What is Politics?
O The conflicts and struggles over the leadership,
structure, and policies of government
O Politics takes many forms – voting, running for
office, joining groups and parties, lobbying, and
even speaking to friends and neighbors
O The 5 principles of politics can be used to explain
political action
Introducing the 5 Principles
of Politics
O All political behavior has a purpose
O Institutions structure politics
O All politics is collective action
O Political outcomes are the products of individual
preferences, institutional procedures, and
collective action
O How we got here matters
Rationality Principle
O All political behavior has a purpose
O Political behavior is instrumental
O Not random
O Done with forethought
O Calculation
O Political actors pursue policy preferences,
reelection, power, and to maximize their agency
budgets
Institution Principle
O Institutions structure politics
O Institutions are the rules and procedures that
provide incentives for political behavior
O Institutions are not necessarily permanently fixed.
Rules may change; they just don’t change easily
Institutions Provide Authority in
Four Ways
O Jurisdiction – The domain over which decisions
may be made
O Agenda and Veto Power – Control over what a
group will consider for discussion and the ability
to defeat something
O Decisiveness – Rules for decision making
O Delegation – Transmission of authority
Principal-Agent Relationship
O May be affected by the fact that each is motivated
by self-interest, yet their interests may not be wellaligned
O As a result, the principal needs to have some way
to monitor and validate what the agent is doing
O This leads to transaction costs – the cost of
clarifying the relationship and making sure
arrangements are complied with
Collective Action Principle
O All politics is collective action
O Collective action is difficult especially as the
number of people and interests involved grows
O Sometimes there are collective action dilemmas
– situations in which individually rational
incentives do not align with shared, collective
interests
A Collective Dilemma
Collective Action and Public
Goods
O Collective action is the pooling of resources and
the coordination of effort and activity to achieve
common goals
O Public goods are those that may be enjoyed by
anyone and may not be denied to anyone
Collective Action is Difficult
O Collective action and provision of public goods
becomes even more difficult as the number of
parties involved increases or as the ability to
bargain face-to-face is hampered. Examples:
O Free Riding
O Tragedy of the Commons
O Institutions are the solutions to these problems
Which of the following is NOT an example of a
collective dilemma?
A. free-riding.
B. tragedy of the commons.
C. formal bargaining.
D. prisoner’s dilemma.
Which of the following is NOT an example of a
collective dilemma?
A. free-riding.
B. tragedy of the commons.
C. formal bargaining.
D. prisoner’s dilemma.
Policy Principle
O Political outcomes are the products of individual
preferences and institutional procedures
O The policy principle is the logical combination of
the first three principles
O Policy outcomes are frequently “lacking in
neatness” because we have a system where
personal ambition mixes with a decentralized
political system
History Principle
O How we got here matters
O Path dependency – certain possibilities are made
more or less likely because of the historical path
taken
O Three reasons why history matters:
O Rules and procedures
O Loyalties and alliances
O Historically-conditioned points of view
A member of Congress seeks to bring additional
dollars home to his districts for construction of
roads and bridges. This is an example of the:
Institution Principle.
B. Rationality Principle.
C. History Principle.
D. Collective Action Principle.
A.
A member of Congress seeks to bring additional
dollars home to his districts for construction of
roads and bridges. This is an example of the:
Institution Principle.
B. Rationality Principle.
C. History Principle.
D. Collective Action Principle.
A.
The Five Principles of Politics
Applied to a Case
Take the example of immigration reform and think
about how each of the principles of politics might
inform the debate
O Rationality Principle
O Institution Principle
O Collective Action Principle
O Policy Principle
O History Principle