AMERICAN GOVERNMENT POWER & PURPOSE

Chapter 1 Five Principles of Politics Theodore J. Lowi Benjamin Ginsberg Kenneth A. Shepsle Stephen Ansolabhere

Why are you here?

• Let’s make a deal… – Will you take a one question test?

• With VERY high stakes??

Who is this person?

Who is this person?

Who is this person?

Making Sense of Government and Politics

• • Two fundamental questions about government and politics: – What do we observe? An empirical question – Why? A fundamental concern of science. Requires building a theory around principles – A third question could be normative Two objectives: – What is government and politics?

– Introduce our five principles of politics

What is Government?

• • The institutions and procedures through which a land and its people are ruled Governments may be simple, like a tribal council that makes all decisions, or they may be complex, like our own system of separate branches and levels of government

Discussion: Government in a Farming Society

• • • Imagine that everyone in this room is a farmer in our own self-contained society We’re all equal in every respect One of us proposes to build an irrigation system • How do we make decisions?

Forms of Government: Inclusiveness

• • • Autocracy – A single individual rules Oligarchy rules – A small group of landowners, military officers, or wealthy merchants Democracy – A system of rule that permits citizens to play a significant part in the governmental process

Forms of Government: Recognition of Limits

• • • Constitutional – Formal and effective limits are placed on the powers of government Authoritarian – No formal limits are placed on government but government may be effectively limited by other social institutions Totalitarian – No formal or effective limits on government’s power of any kind

Clicker Question

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): A. authoritarian democracy.

B. constitutional autocracy.

C. totalitarian oligarchy.

D. authoritarian autocracy.

Clicker Question

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): A. authoritarian democracy.

B. constitutional autocracy.

C. totalitarian oligarchy.

D. authoritarian autocracy.

What is Politics?

• • The conflicts and struggles over the leadership, structure, and policies of government Politics takes many forms – voting, running for office, joining groups and parties, lobbying, and even speaking to friends and neighbors • The 5 principles of politics can be used to explain political action

Introducing the 5 Principles of Politics

• • • • All political behavior has a purpose Institutions structure politics All politics is collective action Political outcomes are the products of individual preferences, institutional procedures, and collective action • How we got here matters

Rationality Principle

• • All political behavior has a purpose Political behavior is instrumental – Not random – Done with forethought – Calculation • Political actors pursue policy preferences, reelection, power, and to maximize their agency budgets

Institution Principle

• • Institutions structure politics Institutions are the rules and procedures that provide incentives for political behavior • Remember that institutions themselves are not necessarily permanently fixed. Rules may change; they just don’t change easily

Institutions Provide Authority in Four Ways

• • • • Jurisdiction – The domain over which decisions may be made Agenda and Veto Power – Control over what a group will consider for discussion and the ability to defeat something Decisiveness – Rules for decision making Delegation – Transmission of authority

Principal-Agent Relationship

• • • May be affected by the fact that each is motivated by self-interest, yet their interests may not be well-aligned As a result, the principal needs to have some way to monitor and validate what the agent is doing This leads to transaction costs – the cost of clarifying the relationship and making sure arrangements are complied with

Collective Action Principle

• • All politics is collective action Collective action is difficult and the difficulty mounts as the number of people and interests involved grows • 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

• • Collective action is the pooling of resources and the coordination of effort and activity to achieve common goals Public goods are those that may be enjoyed by anyone and may not be denied to anyone

Collective Action is Difficult

• 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: – Free Riding – Tragedy of the Commons • Institutions are the solutions to these problems

Clicker Question

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.

Clicker Question

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

• • • Political outcomes are the products of individual preferences and institutional procedures The policy principle is the logical combination of the first three principles Policy outcomes are frequently “lacking in neatness” because we have a system where personal ambition mixes with a decentralized political system

History Principle

• • How we got here matters Path dependency – certain possibilities are made more or less likely because of the historical path taken • Three reasons why history matters: – Rules and procedures – Loyalties and alliances – Historically-conditioned points of view

Clicker Question

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: A. Institution Principle.

B. Rationality Principle.

C. History Principle.

D. Collective Action Principle.

Clicker Question

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: A. Institution Principle.

B. Rationality Principle.

C. History Principle.

D. Collective Action Principle.

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 – Rationality Principle – Institution Principle – Collective Action Principle – Policy Principle – History Principle

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