Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
of 23
Transcript of Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
1/23
The Logic ofAmerican PoliticsChapter One
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
2/23
What good is politics in helping people solvetheir problems?
Do institutions matter?
In a democracy, when a majority agrees on acourse of action, how do the institutionalarrangements really affect the majoritys
ability to do what it wants? Scenario: George W. Bush and embryonic
stem cell research
The Logic of American Politics
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
3/23
Choices breed conflict
conflicting interests
conflicting values
conflicting ideas about how to allocate limited
resources
The Logic of American Politics
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
4/23
Politics is how people attempt to manage
conflict.
What happens when politics fails?
anarchy
civil war
The Logic of American Politics
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
5/23
Formal definition:
politics is the process through which individuals
and groups reach agreement on a course of
common, or collective actioneven as theydisagree on the intended goals of that action.
Bargaining and compromise
Preferences equal givens
The Logic of American Politics
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
6/23
Effective political institutions
Set of rules and procedures for reaching and
enforcing collective agreements
Examples:
Clintons impeachment trial in Senate
Harrington Treatise
The Constitution Institutional design is a product of politics
example: Department of Education
The
Importance of Institutional
Design
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
7/23
Constitutions
Set of rules and procedures institutions follow to
reach collective agreements
Government
Consists of these institutions and the legally
prescribed process for making and enforcing
collective agreements
Constitutions & Governments
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
8/23
Governments may assume various forms:
monarchy
representative democracy
theocracy
dictatorship
Constitutions & Governments
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
9/23
Offices
Authority
Power
Power versus Authority
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
10/23
Institutions tend to be stable and resistchange.
Reasons:
Institutions persist beyond the tenure of officeholders who occupy them.
The people who are affected by them make planson the expectation that current arrangements will
remain (the status quo)
Those who seek change typically cannot agree onalternatives.
Institutional Durability
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
11/23
Core values embedded in our institutions:
elections
protection of individual liberties
principles
The Political Systems Logic
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
12/23
May involve
comparing preferences
agreeing on a course of action (alternative) that is
preferable to doing nothing
implementing and enforcing the collective choice
Nuts and bolts of action PLUS sharing costs and living
up to the agreement
Collective Action Problems
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
13/23
Coordination
problem increases with size of group
solutions
Prisoners Dilemma
free Riding
tragedy of the commons
solutions
Collective Action Problems
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
14/23
Collective action offers participants benefitsthey cannot achieve on their own.
cost
the key: to minimize costs
Other costs:
transaction
conformity costs the two costs often involve a trade-off with one
another
The Costs of Collective Action
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
15/23
Transaction costs
the time, effort, and resources required to
compare preferences and make collective
decisions
increase when the number of participants rise
Transaction and Conformity Costs
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
16/23
Conformity costs
the difference between what any one party
prefers and what the collective body requires.
losers in politics: parties whose preferences
receive little accommodation but who must still
contribute to the collective undertaking
paying ones taxes serving in Iraq
The two costs are inversely related
Transaction and Conformity Costs
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
17/23
Figure 1.1
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
18/23
command
veto
agenda control
voting rules majority rule
simple majority
plurality
delegation
principles and agents
agency loss
Designing Institutions for
Collective Action: The Framers Toolkit
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
19/23
representative government
direct democracy
referendum
initiative majority rule versus the republic
republic
allows some degree of popular control yet avoids tyranny
parliamentary government
cabinet
separation of powers
Representative Government
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
20/23
professionals
public servant or entrepreneur?
specializes in pulling together coalitions sincere versus strategic behavior:
what does it mean to behave strategically?
Politicians
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
21/23
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
22/23
Framers:
reformers
designed new government that minimized
conformity costs and escalated transaction costs
new government could:
solve problems
could not usurp power
Mitigating Popular Passions
-
7/21/2019 Ch 01 Outline - Logic of American Politics
23/23
Majority rule is visibly present; it is also
constrained by some powerful rules.
separation of powers
staggered legislative terms
an unelected judiciary
limited national authority
Most complex constitutional system in the
world
Mitigating Popular Passions
