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Coordinated efforts by people with shared inte rests to produce public goods as well as private

goods.

a.

Defection - exiting groupi.

Free-loading (majorly affecting large groups) - no helping out the group, but still enjoying

benefi ts, may lead to a downward spiral

ii.

Roadblocks to collective actionb.

Keep ppl in groupi.

Select Benefits/incentivesc.

Unless the # of indiv iduals in a group are quite small, or unless there is coercion (penalty for

considering defecting), or unless there is some special device (select benefit) to make

individuals to act in their common interests. rational sel f Individuals will NOT work toward

common interests but rather their own.

i.

Mancur Olson ( "Logic of collective action")d.

Collective action -group of people working toward common goal1.

Politi cal pluralism - multiple people engaged in "tug of war" for direction of what nation should go

(policies)

2.

Democracy and good gov't require many collective participants3.

Group oriented, small groups, we ll organized to pursue interests

Polyarchy -everyday people involved.

Elections in adequate to reveal interests of individuals

Robert Dahl (poli tical scientist) wrote about political systems

Like- minded individuals (automatically form groups)4.

Networks- people you associated witha.

norms - values we have, expectationsb.

Trust - beli eve that someone will act in a way that is consistent in someone e lse's interestsc.

Cooperation -----> Social Capital ----> increase group size5.

Example is NATO, the US provides more cause it is important to them and is will ing to let go of

their resources to secure its own country, and by ex tension help out other countries

a.

One wil ling provider issue -a person wants something so bad, that they are will ing to take all the

associated costs. They believe that it would help everyone though others do not really care.

6.

Have more coercion

Small groups tend to overcome

collective action problems to achieve

their interests because easier to

communicate, more interactive with

each other, more likely to have ppl with

same mindset. Hold together more.

Larger groups have a larger success

because the can stand some losses,

defections, and free riders.

A reasonable person will cooperate if

others are willi ng to cooperate because

a that person is understanding and

pragmatic.

Political Culture

"Democracy in Ame rica" written by A lexi s de Tocqueville (French aristocrat who came to America to

evaluate the penitentiary system and laws)

a.

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Book is about American democratic culture and li berties, and what the institutions helped produce and

continued to produce.

1.

Politi cal institutes -congress, le gislature, judiciary, executive2.

Said success of democracy was because of 1. federalism, 2. race relations, 3. political culturea.

Book looks at democracy in 3D; geography, historical origin, Anglo American social condition3.

Characteristics that foster a stable democracy in the USA

Pragmatism - Americans are practical people than abstract ( Americans a real world applications

oriented) We see the limitations of Democracy, don't consider unreal democracy.

. Threatened democracy if it was unbridled indi vidualism, by selfishness. Undermine morality and

culture itself.

. Robert Putnam - "bowling alone" -the collapse and revival of American community - Americans

have become discontent with other members of society, detached from families, friends,

neighbors. This would impact our overall democratic structure, Very fabric of connection between

each other was beginni ng to unravel.

Indivi dualism -Inhe rent belief that progress in the individual and societal level, "The protestant work

ethic" You can advance yourself wi th hard work. Hard work and ef fort will achieve great outcome for

yourself

Spirituali sm -Americans are more religious than European counterparts, helps us define our democraticconduct and institutions according to a international survey. From religion comes what is right and what

is just. (aboli tion, women's right, civil ri ghts )

Groupism -Americans like to create groups.

Large scale pol itical insti tutionsa.

Cynicism toward politi cal leaders and institutionsb.

Substance of political culture

We dont trust leaders or governmenta.

Own suspicions about peopl e, institutions, and groupsb.

Cynical, and pessimistic of political culture -political paranoia

Constitution created to calm the cynical motions of the public, alleved fear of officals working for self-

interests

Anti-masonic movement = elite members, political el ites, all in a secret society, pursue inte rests of

members instead of the public.

a.

Anti- catholic's = Pope would have control in US, protestant US.b.

Red scarec.

Politi cal Paranoia is a good thing, put into place institut ions that have been useful for democracy,

constitution that bonds people to certain rules and rights.

Paranoia allows US citizens to be constantly vigilant to defe nd our democratic rights

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