Dilemmas of Democracy
Review of Chapters 1 and 2
What should government do???
What should government not do???
Chapter 1
• What is government? Book definition v. yours
• Due to globalization our definition of
government has changed.
• 3 main purposes of government
– Maintain order
– Provide Public goods
– Promoting equality
Chapter 1
Thomas Hobbes
http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl
302/texts/hobbes/leviathancontents.html
John Locke
http://www.thisnation.com/library/books/lock
e/2ndtreatise.html
Chapter 1
• Freedom, Order, Equality
– Freedom: of and from
– Order: basic, social order, police order
– Equality: Political, Social (equality of opportunity
and equality of outcome)
Dilemmas of government
• Original dilemma: How much freedom should
be sacrificed for order? (Hobbes and Locke)
• Modern dilemma: How much freedom should
be sacrificed for equality? (20th century)
– Very controversial and dependant on political
ideology
• How have we seen these conflicts today?
Chapter 1
• Popular Culture examples on how still issues
today?
– Freedom
• http://www.poemhunter.com/song/freedom-2/
– Order
• Rap music
– Equality
• Rage against the machine
Chapter 1
Ideology v. Scope
Chapter 1
American Ideologies
Chapter 1
Liberals
• Want generous government
support of social programs
• Support government
activism but oppose
government regulation of
abortion
• Are more tolerant of
alternative lifestyles and
would use coercive power
to support equality
Conservatives
• Want smaller government
budgets and fewer
government programs
• Oppose government
activism but support
government control of
sexually explicit material
• Want government coercive
power to maintain social
order
Chapter 1
• HW: What ideology are you??
• http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz
• BE PREPARED TO DISCUSS!
Chapter 2
• Theories of a democratic government include
consideration of:
– Autocracy: power to govern is concentrated in the
hands of one individual.
– Oligarchy: power is concentrated in the hands of a
few people.
– Democracy: in theory, the people rule, either
directly or indirectly.
Chapter 2
• Lets focus on democracy!! What is it really??
– Americans believe “the people” should rule
• Who are the people?
– Demos “people”, kratos “power”
• But what is it??
Chapter 2
Procedural- “how the people
govern” this is the focus! The
procedures to make policy
•
•
•
•
Universal participation
Political equality
Majority rule
Responsiveness
Substantive- “what the govt
actually does” --> the substance
of the policies
• Must guarantee civil rights
and liberties
• Social and economic rights
Procedural is clear, but does not guarantee minority rights
Substantive is unclear on how to guarantee democracy by focusing on
minority rights
BASICALLY WE HAVE A PROCEDURAL FOCUS, WHILE INSTITUTING SMALL
SUBSTANTIVE VIEWS
Chapter 2
Participatory (direct)
• Still practiced in smaller
communities
• Too large and complex of a
society= need a full- time
professional government
• Impractical due to low
levels of citizen
participation
Representative (indirect)
• Framers felt that direct was
undesirable (come back to
this next unit)
• Elected officials are
expected to represent voter
views/interests
• RESPONSIVENESS : leads
officials to pay attention to
public opinion to achieve
majority rule
Chapter 2
• Just because we elect officials does not
guarantee democracy
• Institutional mechanisms are what allow
public opinion to be translated into
government policies (we will talk more about
this in later chapters)
– Elections
– Political parties
– Legislatures
– Interest groups
Chapter 2
• So… the Procedural view of democracy is the
most understood and accepted lets break
down these into how government
incorporates these principles
1.
2.
3.
4.
Who participates? POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY
How much participation? POLITICAL EQUALITY
What rule is used to make decisions? MAJORITY
Since we practice rep dem, how do we make
sure democracy (1-3) is achieved?
RESPONSIVENESS
Chapter 2
• Government incorporates all 4 of these
principles into two alternative models of
democracy
– Majoritarian: favors unlimited implementation of
the 4 procedural values to attain true democracy
– Pluralism: favors limited government
implementation of the values
– Elite: favors oligarchy (not really used, but many
believe this is the model US democracy takes)
Chapter 2
• Strengths and weaknesses of Majoritarian and
Pluralism models?
• Of the two models, which seems to
approximate the type of democracy the US
practices?
• Why is it hard for other nations to
democratize today?
All of these ideas are important in your
consideration of American government.