POL 200: An Inside Look at American
Politics: FLC Course Linked With
Statistics
Professor Gabriel Sanchez, PhD
sanchezg@unm.edu
Office Hours (SS 2042/RWJF Center)
Monday/Wednesday 9:30-11- 3-4 or by
Appointment
The Basics
• Syllabus is available on WebCT- see me if you do not
see this on your “MyUNM“ page
• Also Emailed to each of you this weekend (Check UNM
Email)
• Text Books
– The New American Democracy (7th Alternate Edition)
– Other reading material available on E-reserves/WebCT
• Course Requirements
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Two Exams (25% Each)
4 In Class Quizzes (5% Each)
Research Paper (25% Each)
Low Stakes Assignments (1% Each-Total of 5%)
• Attendance Policy- Attendance is not mandatory, but
will be used to determine borderline grades.
Thinking Critically
• A key component of this class is to think critically
about politics.
• Therefore in addition to learning the basics of
American politics, I also want you to be able to be
critical of the institutions and practices of
American politics.
• This is reflected in the choice of your reading
material- Fiorina gives the basics, and Hudson
provides challenges to democracy.
Role of Stats in Politics
• Statistics is a critical component of many aspects of
the American Political System.
• Used extensively in policy-making.
• Used by elected officials to determine the
needs/interests of constituents.
• We therefore will focus a lot of attention to
understanding the political application of statistics.
• This is most directly apparent in the exit polling
project where we will implement a real survey and
analyze real data!
• You must participate on election Day.
What is Politics and Government?
• What Does Government Do?
• Protects citizens from unlawful activity
• Regulates social and economic relationships
(Regulates Industry)
• Provides Services
• Defends country from foreign aggression
Different Systems of Government
• What type of government does the US utilize?
• What is a democracy?
• Rule of the people by the people. Based on principle of
majority rule.
• Two major forms of democracy
– Athenian Direct Democracy (A)
– Representative (Republic) (B)
– I-CLICKER: Which form of democracy do we use in US?
• Why not direct democracy in US?
American Democracy
• British Legacy
- Limited government
- Representative Government
- Social Contracts/Natural Rights
I-Clicker: Is access to health care a “Natural
Right” that government should provides it’s
citizens?
A) YES
B) NO
Principles of American Democracy
Rhetoric or Reality?
• Equality in voting
• Individual freedom (Individualism)
• Equal protection of the law
• Majority rule and minority rights
– Do we really operate on majority rule in US?
• Voluntary consent to be governed
Theories of US Democracy
• As you can read in the Hudson essay, political
theorists have debated how government
should operate and what the role of citizens
should be in the US democracy. This debate
can be summarized in four major models of
democracy that we will outline in class.
• There are aspects of all models in our current
system.
• Protective Democracy- Closely tied to
capitalism, as this model advocates for
popular control of government as a means
of protecting individual economic freedom.
– For Mill and Bentham, democratic institutions
that allowed free and competitive citizens to
pursue individual wealth were valued.
– Government should not interfere with
individual property rights, with economic
inequality among the citizenry being
acceptable in this model.
– This model has an overall negative view of
human nature: we are self interested, and
governments job is to keep this negative side
of humankind from controlling politics.
– This model also views representation as
necessary because most citizens are not
capable of making political decisions. This
models influence can be seen in government
institutions like the electoral college.li
electoral college.
Romney the Gordon Gekko of GOP Race
– Is the critique of Romney by his rivals too
critical of capitalism?
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f83M2zR
4smU&feature=related
– http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/journaleditorial-report/2012/01/16/romneysrepublican-rivals-put-capitalism-trial
– electoral college.
Write Pair & Share Activity
What would the advocates of Protective
Democracy say about Romney’s career
background?
A) Romney’s background as a venture capitalist
should be viewed positively by voters, as it
displays his knowledge of markets and
economics.
B) Romney’s background as a venture capitalist
should be viewed negatively by voters, as it
depicts corporate greed etc.
• Developmental Democracy- In contrast to
protective democracy, this model has a much
more positive view of humankind.
– This model assumes that people have civic
virtue, which allows them to look past their self
interests to the well being of all of society.
– Good citizenship requires participation and
knowledge of politics.
– This model believes that democracy should
provide citizens with skills and virtue.
– Was highly influential all the way through the
mid 20th century in the US.
• Pluralist Democracy- Pluralists contend that
the ideals of developmental democracy are
great, but don’t see this model as being very
realistic.
• Pluralists observed that most people were not
very active in politics and elites actually ran
government (steady decline in participation
post 1960’s).
• Do not see a problem with apathy among
public as widespread participation would be
bad for democracy. What is their argument?
• Competitive elections and interest groups are
critical for pluralists competition based
system.
• Pluralism assumes that this competitive group based system works because all interest
groups have although different, equal
resources in which to influence government
leaders.
• This is currently the dominant model in the
United States, and most believe this is how
our system does/should work.
• Example of Pluralism in US Today
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGdo3hOGqYo
Low Stakes Assignment # 1
Does pluralism provide an accurate depiction of
how the US Political System actually operates
today?
Are there any aspects of pluralism that should be
changed in order for our system to work better?
• Participatory democracy- In contrast to
pluralists who view apathy as a natural
inclination of most people, participatory
democrats view apathy as the result of the lack
of opportunities for significant participation.
– Government institutions should be modified to
promote political participation (Examples?).
– The main problem of society according to this
model is that non-government institutions do not
follow democratic principles. (Examples?)
– How does this lack of democracy in other realms
cause problems for democracy in government?
• I-Clicker- Which form of democracy do you believe
is the ideal system for the United States:
A) Protective Democracy
B) Developmental Democracy
C) Pluralism
D) Participatory Democracy
E) None are ideal, new model that incorporates
elements of each would be best.