Political Science

US National Gov

08/25

Politics is About People.

• Public opinion

• Public Pressure

• Public Policy

* not always,

but channel of

process /gen

* many people have differing opinions based on...

age, gender, group, pressure, $ timeline, etc.

Politics Defined

"How groups negotiate (or fail) when they want

diff. things, or same thing by diff. means"

People + instit. structures/cntxt

Why Study US Politics?

• we ave a unique system

• living here $ useful to understand

Chapter 1

The Logic of American Politics

• Parties aren't for change with each other

• Individual Party identity = Personal Ideology

• Politicians are more interested in politics than policy

James Madison "the new gov. must represent & reconcile society's many diverse pref. that are 'sown into man.'"

The Importance of Institutional Design

1.1 Importance of Institutional Design

• unstructured negotiation is neg. for both sides, this failure of politics can lead to war

• wins from one side may be used for advantage in the future

1.2 Constitutions & Governments

• all org. are gov. by rules

• constitutions set institutions in a nation & the rules they must obey

• gov. is made up by these institutions

Authority v. Power

• gov. has offices that have specific responsibilities & authorities

Institutional Durability

• Institutions don't change but their insides do

The Political System's Logic

• Gov. must protect rights & stand before citizenry

[Left Margin Annotations]

bicameralism: two chambers that share power & hold equal power over one another

Authority: acknowledged right to make decision

Power: office holders authority over other office holders

offices: sub divisions of gov.

Republic

Democracy

which

Power is

Representatives

Parliamentary

Government

Chief is

Chosen by

Majority

Party

Private

Goods

Things

People buy

& consume

in market

based on

demand

Public

Goods

Goods

everyone

works

together to

provide

Collective Action Problems

Prisoner’s Dilemma: two or more actors

can't co-op for fear of reneging on agreement

Challenge for co-op increases by size

Cooperation

House delegates to a Rules Committee

to set limits & floor

"co-ops" when rare "come together"

large co-op is hard to organize

"zero-sum game": one party's gain is

the other's loss

Free-Rider Problem

• when small contributions are made, people will

be tempted to free-ride

1) can inspire others to free-ride

2) others take lots of action

The Tragedy of the Commons

: Situation where members overexploit resources

The Costs of Selective Action

: Group action has great benefits

1) transaction costs

2) conformity costs

i) time, effort, resources, money

iii) costs can be put in place for goals to

become more difficult to reach.

2) obligations & sacrifices made by agreements

• transaction & conformity costs are often

interchangeable

• conformity & transaction vice versa

Representative Government

• Blend of delegation & majority mix

• Depended on institutions reaching a

consensus agreements

British Parliamentary System / US system

Premier House of President

Representatives

House of

Commons

Voters (votes off)

(votes off)

Senate

The Work of Government

• Pore relying on gov for goods has two

major advantages:

1) undertake expensive projects

2) prevent free-riding

: "collective goods": goods available freely to

anyone's consumption