Transcript Document
1 Five Principles of Politics Making Sense of Government and Politics • Two fundamental questions about government and politics: – What do we observe? An empirical question – Why? Requires building a theory around principles • Two objectives in this introductory chapter: – Explain what we mean by 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 – A small group of landowners, military officers, or wealthy merchants rules • 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 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 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. B. C. D. authoritarian democracy. constitutional autocracy. totalitarian oligarchy. authoritarian autocracy. 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 • History 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 – Gatekeeping power and the power to say “no” • Decisiveness – Rules for decision making • Delegation – Transmission of authority 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 is Difficult • Collective action becomes even more difficult as the number of parties involved increases or as the ability to bargain faceto-face is hampered. Examples: – Free Riding – Tragedy of the Commons • Institutions are the solutions to these problems 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 History Principle • How we got here matters • Path dependency – certain possibilities are made more or less likely because of the historical path taken 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. B. C. D. Institution Principle. Rationality Principle. History Principle. Collective Action Principle.