TYPES OF GOVERNMENT Government by one person Government

TYPES OF GOVERNMENT * Government by one person * Government by the few Aristocracy Oligarchy * Government by the Many = DEMOCRACY (Us)

TYPES OF DEMOCRACY • 1. Direct • 2. Representative

Direct democracy People make law/policy themselves Example: Initiative: Citizen petition places proposed law/constitutional amendment on ballot, people vote yes or no (state level – Florida)

• Representative government – – We elect people to make decisions for us, trust they will make decisions we support. IMPLICATIONS – do they truly represent the citizens who elect them? Which citizens get the “most” representation? – What do we expect out of our representatives? Should they mirror their constituents’ views or be allowed leeway to exercise their own judgment?

What does government do? • 1. Maintain national defense (armed forces ) - $600+ billion per year on ND • 2. Provide public goods/services (schools, libraries, highways etc. ) • 3. Preserve order ( police/national guard) • 4. Socialize the young (through schools) • 5. Collect taxes to pay for #2

Where does policy come from? • “The people? ” Transmit preferences to policymakers in government through “linkage institutions” (parties, elections, interest groups, media) • Citizens shape the government’s POLICY AGENDA • Main policymaking institutions: Congress, presidency, courts (& bureaucracy)

What does democracy mean? • Traditional democratic theory emphasizes certain principles: – MAJORITY RULE, but also – MINORITY RIGHTS (e. g. to freedom of speech, assembly) – REPRESENTATION (Wishes of “the people” should be “made present again”/honored/carried out by elected officials)

Modern theories of American democracy – how it works • 1. PLURALISM – Policymaking should be open to participation of all groups with no single group dominating (Dahl) • 2. ELITISM - �Pluralists too optimistic/unrealistic – Upper class elite (the wealthy/big business) pulls the strings of government. (Schattschneider) • 3.

• 3. HYPERPLURALISM – • “pluralism gone sour” – Lots of groups out there, so many competing groups that government can’t act. Also too many ways for groups to get their way – multiple levels of government and veto points at which groups can use the political system to their advantage. The “public interest” loses out.

Challenges to democracy • Complexity of issues (can average citizen understand them? If not, what does it mean for representatives to carry out citizens’ preferences? ) • Limited participation in government (especially by young people) • Rising campaign costs – money talks… • Policy gridlock (relates to hyperpluralism)

POLITICAL CULTURE • Paradox: diversity and unity – Ethnic and religious heterogeneity – Relative homegeneity of political beliefs (Samuel Huntington and others have said)

What is the American political culture? /set of values widely shared by American citizens? • 1. Liberty (freedom – see first amendment: freedom speech, religion, assembly) – freedom “from” • 2. Egalitarianism (Declaration of Independence – “all men created equal”, but equality of opportunity not outcome