PO 111: INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN POLITICS

Summer I (2014)

Claire Leavitt

Boston University

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Syllabus

• What is politics?

• What is political science?

• Governance and Collective Action

• Tools of US government

• Articles of Confederation

• The Constitution

• American Exceptionalism (liberalism)

POLITICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE

What is politics? Regulation of conflicts over the allocation of material and social goods

What we’re used to:

http://college.cqpress.com/sites/logic6e/Home/chapter1/Multimedia.aspx

POLITICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE

What is political science?

Research that attempts to reveal the laws that govern political behaviorResearch that provides objective, empirical evidence for the rules of politics that should help policymakers effectively solve problems

POLITICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH

Research question: What is the effect of negative advertising on the voting population?

Hypothesis: Negative advertising will both help and hurt a campaign—highly-partisan voters will respond positively to the negative ad while more moderate, independent voters will respond negatively

But how do we know?

POLITICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH

We can test our hypothesis using a controlled experiment, effectively applying the scientific method to political questions

Gather participants Randomly divide into two groups Have both groups fill out identical questionnaires

What is your partisan affiliation?

On a scale of 0-100 (0 = completely negative; 100 = completely positive), how do you feel about President Obama? How likely are you to vote in November? [1=not at all likely,5=very likely

POLITICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH

Show Group X a news broadcast, including two neutral political ads

Show Group Y the same news broadcast, including one neutral ad and one negative adattacking Obama)

Have each group fill out the same questionnaire after 1 hour. Any differences?

8

Strong Republican Weak Republican Independent

Group X (no negative ad)

20 30 50

Group Y(negative ad)

5 15 55

Strong Republican Weak Republican Independent

Group X (no negative ad)

4.2 3.6 2.7

Group Y(negative ad)

4.7 3.8 1.5

How do you feel about Obama? (0-100)

How likely are you to vote in November? (1-5)

RESULTS

SO WHAT?

Has political science become too “scientific”?

Good in practice, but how does it work in theory?

Academics versus policymakers/politicians

THE FRAMERS: AMERICA’S FIRST POLITICAL SCIENTISTS

Framers wanted to understand political and social life in a scientific way

Framers wanted to base a new government on universal political laws (inspired by Newton)

Madison (especially) believed human societies and humans themselves were pluralistic—composed of competing interests, values and preferences

THE FRAMERS: AMERICA’S FIRST POLITICAL SCIENTISTS

Thus, a successful government would have to effectively regulate the interaction of all

these varied interests

WHAT CAME BEFORE GOVERNMENT?

THE STATE OF NATURE:

A world without government

No laws regulating human action No enforcement of rules to ensure human rights and liberties are protected

Scarce resources

Highly competitive environment In other words: anarchy

WHAT CAME BEFORE GOVERNMENT?

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

British political philosopher; author of Leviathan

Life in a state of nature was “nasty, brutish and short”; humans not naturally evil/bellicose, but unable to trust one another

Strong monarch/government necessary for enforcing law

WHAT CAME BEFORE GOVERNMENT?

John Locke (1632-1704)

British political philosopher; “father of liberalism” State of nature mostly peaceful; government necessary to protect against the few bad apples

THE PROBLEM OF COLLECTIVE ACTION (#1)

Cooperation impossible without an enforcement mechanism

Illustrations of the collective action problem: Prisoner’s Dilemma Stag-and-hare parable (Rousseau)

Best Option: Both stay silent

Problem: Neither prisoner can trust the other one to stay silent

Non-Optimal Solution: Both testify against the other and each get five years

Net Loss: 4.5 years

THE PRISONER’S DILEMMA

THE PRISONER’S DILEMMA

Golden Balls (British TV game show)

STAG-AND-HARE PARABLE

Best Option: Both cooperate to catch the stag (more meat)

Problem: Neither hunter can trust the other to work together rather than grabbing the hare

Non-Optimal Solution: Both catch hares (less meat)

EXAMPLE: SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM

Research shows Social Security will go bankrupt in 2033Both parties know reform is necessary, but reform is deeply unpopularReelection still most important goalDemocrats cannot trust Republicans to cooperate and make concessions, and vice versaResult: No reform

THE PROBLEM OF COLLECTIVE ACTION (#2)

In large groups, people have the incentive to free ride off the contributions of others

Examples: Voting

Membership in a voluntary organization Labor unions and “right to work” legislation

THE PUZZLE OF COOPERATION

So why do people cooperate at all?

Carrots and Sticks:

Rewards for cooperation/participation Examples: AARP special benefits for members; individual social and psychological rewards

Punishments for non-cooperation Examples: The IRS; Obamacare penalties; mandatory voting (e.g. Australia)

WHAT CAN GOVERNMENT DO?

Collective action problems can be solved through creative and prudent institutional design

What kind of institutions ensure that…. Everybody cooperates when necessary Everybody contributes his or her fair share Free-rider problem is minimized Individual rights and liberties are still protected

THE TOOLS OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

Powers granted to each institutionmust be able to check each other and balance against each other

1) Command2) Veto power3) Agenda Control4) Voting Rules5) Delegation

THE FIRST ATTEMPT(S)

Post-”Declaration,” Congress under the draft Articles of Confederation governed the colonies during the war

Authority to coordinate the national army and war effort Mandated that each state supply troops individually Authority to borrow money, but no authorityto tax the colonists

PROBLEMS

Classic prisoner’s dilemma: States agreed to sacrifice for the war, but only if they could be assured other states would make equivalent efforts!

Small states could veto efforts to centralize power to pay for the war

Rhode Island vetoed taxation authority for Congress French loans saved the US war effort

THE FIRST ATTEMPT(S)

Articles of Confederation officially ratified in 1781

Authority derived not from the citizens butfrom the states No executive No judiciary Unicameral legislature Representatives selected by the states Each state had veto power over major

laws

POSTWAR (1781-1789)

US had crushing war debts ($25 million to Americans and $10 million to foreign governments)

Debt belonged to the Congress but the states had power of the purse; still no Congressional authority to tax

Little to no state repayment: States worried that others would refuse to contribute their fair share

POSTWAR (1781-1789)

Congress had no authority to negotiate debt settlements with other nations

States took advantage of each other: New York charged New Jersey exorbitant fees to use its ports, e.g. Each state had own currency and used tricks to inflate its currency value relativeto others To raise money, states cracked down on individual debtors; many Americans forced to sell their homes orserve jail time

THE CASE FOR A NEW CONSTITUTION

Locke Claimed all men were equal and entitled to thesame rights and liberties

Limited government & individual rights Endorsed popular sovereignty and principal-agent delegation

Montesquieu (1689-1755) Separation of powers and a three-pronged institutional structure Limited government/small political communities

THE CASE FOR A NEW CONSTITUTION

Hume (1711-1776) Politics as an adjustment around competing interests, similar to a free market

Newton (1642-1727) Newton’s discovery of physical laws inspired the Framers to search for comparable political and social

laws “Force,” “balance,” “checking power,” “laws of politics”

CHECKS AND BALANCES

Congressional Authority:

To make laws To regulate interstate and international trade To declare war To organize and maintain standing armies To tax citizens To borrow money

CHECKS AND BALANCES

Executive Authority:

To command the military and commissionofficers To appoint judges and foreign ambassadors To make treaties with foreign nations To veto legislation Inform Congress on the state of the union

Execute the laws made by Congress

CHECKS AND BALANCES

What is the one executive power that cannot be checked?

Presidential pardon

CHECKS AND BALANCES

Judicial Authority:

To declare laws unconstitutional(settled in Marbury v. Madison)

SCOTUS only federal court SCOTUS has supremacy over state courts

THE CASE FOR THE CONSITUTION

Federalist 10:

James Madison Warned against factions—special interestgroups that would lead to anarchy Two solutions: Get rid of factions, or use the government to control factions Factions could be controlled by republican, representative government and by pluralism (in large political communities)

THE CASE FOR THE CONSITUTION

Federalist 51:

Factions also a danger in Congress Solution: Checks and balances; bicamerallegislature Congress must be watched most carefully,since it is the most powerful branch

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM

Liberalism:

Lockean political philosophy as the established American creed Material abundance ensured the absence of class conflict Danger of unanimity of liberal ideals?

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM

Liberalism versus Racial/Gender Hierarchies:

Two competing, still unresolved political traditions Racial and gender inferiorities justified through scientific language