US Politics
Introduction
Overview
1. Power
–
–
Definition
Types
2. Exercising Power
–
–
Authority
Legitimacy
3. Politics
4. Political Culture and Socialization
5. Government
I. Power
Power
– How do we define power?
– How can we tell when
someone has power?
– Is power connected to individuals or
institutions?
I. Power
Power: Definition
– The ability to get
others to take
actions they
would not
otherwise take
I. Power
We find many different types of power in play
in the world in
various institutional
contexts
• How is it acquired?
• How is it exercised?
• Let’s look at
power in the family
I. Power
Types of Power
– Physical Coercion
– Parents use greater
strength to coerce
compliance
I. Power
• Governments rely
on the same
• Governments
routinely maintain a
monopoly on the
legitimate use of
force
I. Power
Types of Power
– Physical Coercion
– Economic
Threats/Rewards
– Use the promise of
financial gain or the
threat of financial loss to coerce
compliance
I. Power
• Economic threats
and rewards are
also key parts of the
government’s power
arsenal
I. Power
• Types of Power
–
–
–
–
Physical Coercion
Economic
Psychological
Instill proper emotions
so that people act the
way you want
because they
believe that is
what they want
to do
I. Power
Psychological Power
– This type of power is
essential to
governments
– It is vital that the vast
majority of the
population obeys laws
because they believe
it is the right thing to
do
II. Exercising Power
How do people and institutions come
to acquire power?
How do we determine the limits, if any
on the exercise of power?
II. Exercising Power
• The legitimate exercise of power rests
on the idea of authority
– The right to exercise power and compel
obedience
• Does everyone have authority?
• How does a person or institution gain
authority?
II. Exercising Power
• Authority relies on the idea of
“legitimacy”
• Legitimacy
– Right to exercise authority
– Rests on popular support for authority
II. Exercising Power
Is this permissible?
Police dogs attack civil rights protester
Birmingham, Alabama, 1963
II. Exercising Power
• Legitimacy places
limits on how power
may be exercised
• It helps us to
determine what is
and what is not a
legitimate use of
power
US military interrogation in Abu Ghraib prison
Baghdad, Iraq, 2004
III. Politics
• Politics
– Definition
– Importance
Why Politics?
Let’s look at the way of the world…
III. Politics
Politics intervenes here
Scarcity
Competition
Conflict
Politics is what we practice
to help prevent conflict from
becoming violent
Violence
III. Politics
• Politics: Definition
• Peaceful resolution of conflict
• Allocation of scarce resources in a peaceful
manner
• The process of deciding who receives the
benefits in society and who is excluded from
those benefits
III. Politics
• To practice politics at a societal level most
societies of any scale have adopted a specific
institution -- government -- to handle the
broad-based allocation difficulties
encountered.
• It rules (exercises power) through laws and
by maintaining a monopoly on coercive force
Which of course raises the questions…
III. Politics
• How do governments gain that
legitimacy and authority?
• Why would a people agree to allow an
institution to have so much control over
their lives?
IV. Political Culture
• The complex interaction between a
people and its government can be
explained by the idea of a political
culture
• Political Culture
Ways of life that bind and unite a people
politically
IV. Political Culture
• Basic Components of Political Culture
– Symbols
• Shared ways of communicating political ideas
Examples
Flag
Music
Buildings
Icons
Monuments
Clothing
IV. Political Culture
• Components
– Symbols
• Shared ways of communicating political ideas
– Beliefs
• Shared understanding of the basics of political life
– Values
• Shared understanding of what is good or desirable
– Mores
• Shared understanding of acceptable behavior
All of this is learned behavior, which gets us to …
IV. Political Socialization
• Definition
– The process by which the elements of the
political culture are transmitted from one
generation to the next
– Political Culture is a learned process
IV. Political Socialization
• Factors in socialization:
– Family
– Media
– Government
Peers/Public Opinion
Religious Groups
Current Events
Let’s take a closer look at “government”
V. Government
• Governments are sovereign institutions
within a politically defined area
• That means they are the final arbiter of
disputes, the final decision maker
• Governments are the most powerful
institutions we create
V. Government
• If governments are going to wield such
power over us, then we need to
examine questions like:
– How should this institution be organized?
– How much power should it have?
– Who should rule? In whose interests?
V. Government
V. Government
• Given the power of this institution, we
need to determine the best possible
arrangement
• The problem is that governments have
two somewhat contradictory challenges:
– Security/Order
– Personal Liberty
V. Government
We need to settle several related
questions:
– Who decides who the leaders should be?
– How are the leaders chosen?
– How much power/authority do they
possess?
Broadly speaking we have three types of government:
VI. Government
Monarchy
–
–
–
–
Single Ruler
Hereditary Title
Absolute authority
Most common form
of government in
world history
VI. Government
Dictator
– Single ruler
– Power usually
acquired through
violent means
– Line of succession
not clearly
established
VI. Government
Oligarchy
– Rule by small group of
people
– Usually military leaders
or economic elite
Pluralism: multiple such
groups compete for
political power
VI. Government
Democracy
– Rule by “the people”
Republic
Derives
from the Greek:
– People
elect leaders
demos
= people
who =represent
kratos
rule by them
VI. Governments
How are decisions made?
– Totalitarian system
• no “real” checks or limits on power of political
establishment
– Authoritarian
• no “formal” checks or limits on power of political
establishment; any checks are “political” (that is, come
from other groups competing for power)
– Constitutional
• Formal and political checks on political establishment
VI. Governments
So at the founding,
the political actors of
the period had to
reach consensus on
a series of crucial
questions
The Founding
• We need to examine the solutions they
arrived at and the rationale for those solutions
• Why did we go with a republic?
• Who did they decide to “represent”?
• How?
The Founding
• How do we balance liberty and order?
• How much power do you we give to the
government?
• Why did they choose to limit
governmental power and how did they
implement those limitations?