Introduction to Government

What is Government? The formal institutions that make policy,

or laws, on behalf of the people At the national, or federal, level, there

are three branches: Executive, Legislative and Judicial

Governments Should… Maintain national defense and provide

public order Provide public goods (i.e., public parks,

highways, clean air, etc.) Collect taxes to pay for the services

they provide

Linkage Institutions How people are able to link up with

public policies Political parties Elections The media Interest groups

Public Policy Any action taken by the government, in order

to help, defend, prosecute, etc. citizens at home or enemies abroad are public policies

Players involved in policymaking Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches,

bureaucracies, government corporations, regulatory agencies, Cabinet members, etc…

Types of PoliciesType of Policy Definition Example

Congressional Statute

Law passed by Congress

Social Security Act

Presidential Action

Executive action Sending troops abroad

Court Decision Opinion by Supreme Court

Brown v. Board of Education

Bureaucratic Action

Law enforced by bureaucracy

Sending immigrants back home

Politics The term itself comes from the Greek work “polis”

which referred to the city-state in Ancient Greece, however, Americans generally equate politics with corruption and lying Just 6 percent of voters give Congress a positive job

rating, according to polling released June 5, 2013. One percent think Congress is doing an excellent job

and 5 percent think it's doing a good job, a Rasmussen Reports survey found. Twenty-six percent rated Congress' performance as fair, and 64 percent said it's doing poorly.

Democracy Direct Democracy (used by the Greeks)– the

people themselves have a say over their lives in terms of deciding public policy

Representative Democracy (used by the Romans, and what we have today) – a democracy where the people freely elect someone to speak, or make decisions, on their behalf Decisions of the majority should be abided by,

yet the rights of the minority should be protected at all times

Theories of Representative Democracy Pluralist – Most political scientists subscribe to

this view which holds that people are naturally social and form associations

Politics is about a struggle among many groups to get and hold power; everyone wants a piece of the pie

Politics is the art of compromise Generally have a positive sense of government Multiple points of access in our federal system

Theories of Representative Democracy

Elitism – Elite theorists say that pluralists miss the larger questions of how the pie is distributed

They believe that wealth is the basis of all power (i.e., over 1/3 of our nation’s wealth is held by 1% of the population), and that the elite run the country

American people are effectively left out of the political decision making

Theories of Representative Democracy

Hyper-Pluralism – Argues that once interest groups get too powerful, democracy and government are threatened

Too many interest groups become so powerful that they dominate the political decision making process (James Madison warned us about factions in Federalist 10) Democracy can become paralyzed by the

struggle between lobbyists or interest groups

Theories of Representative Democracy

Bureaucratic Theory – Institutions, both governmental and non-governmental, have fallen under the control of a large and ever-growing bureaucracy

Because bureaucracies and their rules are so large, only the bureaucrats can become powerful and take over the roles previously assigned to politicans

Small-group Discussion Which of the four theories of

representative democracy is correct? Why? Pluralist Elite Hyper-Pluralist Bureaucratic