Chapter 1
The Foundations of American Government
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After students have read and studied this chapter they should be able to:

Understand a substantial amount of basic terminology, beginning with politics, institution,
and government.

Understand the relationship between politics and government.

Understand the concepts of order (or security) and liberty.

Briefly describe several forms of government (totalitarianism, authoritarian regime, aristocracy,
democracy).

Understand the difference between direct democracy on the one hand and a democratic
republic (or a representative democracy) on the other.

Explain the key features of democracies (universal suffrage, consent of the governed,
majority rule, limited government).

Describe competing theories of how the U.S. democracy works (majoritarianism, elite
theories, and pluralism).

Describe the trade-off between order or security and liberty, and between equality and liberty
(in the form of property).

Define the concept of ideology and explain the dominant ideologies in the U.S. (liberalism
and conservatism).

Distinguish between economic liberalism and conservatism and cultural liberalism and
conservatism.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Although we do provide some demographic projections at the end of the chapter, the basic point
of Chapter 1 is to introduce a series of concepts that are basic to understanding American
government and politics, and indeed, political science in general.
I.
Politics and Government
Key terms to define: politics, institution, government. Politics is the struggle over power or
influence within organizations or informal groups that can grant or withhold benefits or
privileges, or as .Laswell puts it, “who gets what when and how.” An institution is an
ongoing organization that performs certain functions for society. Government the
institution in which decisions are made that resolve conflicts or allocate benefits and
privileges. It is unique because it has the ultimate authority within society.
II. Why Is Government Necessary?
A. The Need for Security. Key concept: order, that is, a state of peace and security.
Maintaining order by protecting members of society from violence and criminal
activity is the oldest purpose of government.
B. Limiting Government Power. Key concept: liberty, or the greatest freedom of
individuals that is consistent with the freedom of other individuals in the society.
III. Democracy and Other Forms of Government
A. Types of Government. More concepts:
1.
Totalitarian Regime—a form of government that controls all aspects of the political
and social life of a nation.
2.
Authoritarianism—A type of regime in which only the government itself is fully
controlled by the ruler. Social and economic institutions exist that are not under
the government’s control.
3.
Aristocracy—Rule by the “best”; in reality, rule by an upper class.
4.
Democracy—A system of government in which political authority is vested in the
people. Derived from the Greek words demos (“the people”) and kratos
(“authority”).
B. Direct Democracy as a Model—A system of government in which political decisions
are made by the people directly, rather than by their elected representatives; probably
attained most easily in small political communities.
1.
Direct Democracy Today. Key concepts are the initiative, A procedure by which
voters can propose a law or a constitutional amendment; the referendum, an
electoral device whereby legislative or constitutional measures are referred by the
legislature to the voters for approval or disapproval; and the recall, a procedure
allowing the people to vote to dismiss an elected official from state office before
his or her term has expired.
2.
Teledemocracy. Will the Internet really have any impact on our democratic
system?
C. The Dangers of Direct Democracy. While the founders believed in government based
on t he consent of the people, they were highly distrustful of anything that might look
like “mob rule.” Therefore, they devised institutions to filter the popular will through
elected elites.
D. A Democratic Republic. Obviously, the terms republic and democratic republic are key, as
is the term representative democracy. The differences between these terms are subtle. By
itself, a republic can have many undemocratic features. Democratic republic and
representative democracy really mean the same thing—government based on elected
representatives—except for the historical quirk that a republic cannot have a vestigial
king.
1.
Principles of Democratic Government. These include universal suffrage, or the right
of all adults to vote for their representatives, and majority rule, which means that
the greatest number of citizens in any political unit should select the officials and
determine policies.
2.
Constitutional Democracy. The key concept is limited government, the principle that
the powers of government should be limited, usually by institutional checks.
Without such limits, democracy could destroy itself.
IV. What Kind of Democracy Do We Have?
The text discusses three theories that seek to explain how the U.S. democracy works.
A. Majoritarianism: A political theory holding that in a democracy, the government ought
to do what the majority of the people want. Popular as a principal, but not very good
at explaining what really happens in our system.
B. Elite theory assumes the population has little if any impact on the decision-making
process. Ultimately, policy decisions are made by a select few within the society. These
elites share a goal of governmental stability because they do not want their position
within society jeopardized.
C. Pluralism assumes that numerous factions (or interest groups) work to affect policy.
Each faction works to promote the interests of the faction, and through a series of
compromises public policy decisions are made.
V. Fundamental Values
A. Political Socialization. Why is our system stable? In part because of shared —a political
culture—passed on through political socialization, largely performed by the family and t
he educational system, although in recent years, by the media as well. The resulting
dominant culture in America is based on values inherited from Europe in general and
England in particular.
B. Liberty versus Order. Personal freedom and order, or security, can come into conflict.
Examples are the loss of civil liberties during wartime and cultural conflicts such as the
one over abortion.
C. Equality versus Liberty. There are many kinds of equality, some of which are more
controversial than others. Equality under the law regardless of race, religion, or gender
is a popular value today, but was not accepted as a norm even fifty years ago. Equality
of opportunity is a concept with much support.
1.
Economic Equality: this concept is more controversial. It came into play during the
1800s, especially as promoted by the European socialist movements (which are not
specifically named ion this section).
2.
Property Rights and Capitalism. Economic equality fairness as a value comes into
conflict with property rights and with the capitalist system in general. Key
concept: capitalism, an economic system characterized by the private ownership of
wealth-creating assets and also by free markets and freedom of contract.
VI. Political Ideologies
A. Liberalism versus Conservatism.
1.
Key concept: conservatism. Conservatives tend to favor limited governmental
involvement in the economic sector. Economic freedom is seen as a necessity for
the good of the society. On social issues, conservatives advocate governmental
involvement to preserve traditional values and lifestyles.
2.
Key concept: liberalism. Liberals tend to favor governmental regulation of the
economy to benefit individuals within the society. On social issues, liberals
advocate a limited governmental role. Social freedom is seen as a necessity for the
good of the society.
B. The Traditional Political Spectrum. Key concepts: socialism, a political ideology based
on strong support for economic and social equality. Socialists traditionally envisioned
a society in which major businesses were taken over by the government or by
employee cooperatives. Also: libertarianism, a political ideology based on skepticism
or opposition toward almost all government activities.
C. Problems with the Traditional Political Spectrum. We introduce the relative
separability of cultural and economic politics.
D. A Four-Cornered Ideological Grid. We can break down the electorate into cultural and
economic liberals, cultural and economic conservatives, cultural liberals/economic
conservatives (libertarians), and cultural conservatives/economic liberals.
1.
Classifying the Voters. All four viewpoints have substantial support based on
polling data.
2.
Conservative Popularity. However, the term conservative, as a self-applied label,
is more popular than any other label except “moderate.”
VII. Features
A. At Issue—Loss of Liberty in Wartime. When war is declared, it becomes difficult to
maintain American civil liberties (or even international standards of human rights) for
people who are believed to be associated with the enemy.