The Study of American
Government
WILSON, CHAPTER 1
DISTRICT 127
Understanding Power:
What is power?
 The ability of one person to get another person to
act in accordance with the first’s intentions
What is authority?
 The right to use power
What is legitimacy?
 Political authority conferred by law or by
state/national constitution
What makes the US Government and
Constitution legitimate?
Understanding Democracy:
What is meant by democracy as the Framers used
it?
 Representative Democracy
What is direct democracy? (Participatory
Democracy)
 Government in which all or most citizens participate
directly
Representative democracy?
 a government in which leaders make decisions by
winning a competitive struggle for the popular vote
Why was direct democracy feared by the Framers?
How is Political Power distributed?
Majoritarian Politics
 Elected officials become delegates of the people, acting as the
people would act were the matter put to a popular vote.
Marxist view – Karl Marx
 View that the government is dominated by capitalists
Power elite view – C. Wright Mills
 View that the government is dominated by a few top leaders,
most whom are outside of government
Bureaucratic view – Max Weber
 view that the government is dominated by appointed officials
Pluralist view
 The belief that competition among all affected interests
shapes public policy
Is Democracy Driven by Self-Interest?
 John Locke – Natural Rights (Life, Liberty, Property)
– 2nd Treatise of Government – Motivated by SelfInterest – Freedom leads to inequity and eventually
chaos - Give up Freedom to govern through Social
Contract – Gov’t validity is based on ‘consent of
governed’
 Alexis d Tocqueville – challenges our assumption
that people always act in self-interest, points out the
great emotion and conviction in equality within the
American system
Questions?