POL 200: An Inside Look at American POL 200: An Inside Look at American Politics: FLC Course Linked With Politics: FLC Course Linked With

StatisticsStatistics

Professor Gabriel Sanchez, PhDsanchezg@unm.edu

Office Hours (SS 2042/RWJF Center)Monday/Wednesday 9:30-11- 3-4 or by

Appointment

The Basics The Basics • Syllabus is available on WebCT- see me if you do not

see this on your “MyUNM“ page• Also Emailed to each of you this weekend (Check UNM

Email)

• Text Books– The New American Democracy (7th Alternate Edition)– Other reading material available on E-reserves/WebCT

• Course Requirements– Two Exams (25% Each)– 4 In Class Quizzes (5% Each)– Research Paper (25% Each)– Low Stakes Assignments (1% Each-Total of 5%)

• Attendance Policy- Attendance is not mandatory, but will be used to determine borderline grades.

Thinking Critically• A key component of this class is to think critically

about politics.

• Therefore in addition to learning the basics of American politics, I also want you to be able to be critical of the institutions and practices of American politics.

• This is reflected in the choice of your reading material- Fiorina gives the basics, and Hudson provides challenges to democracy.

Role of Stats in PoliticsRole of Stats in Politics• Statistics is a critical component of many aspects

of the American Political System.• Used extensively in policy-making.• Used by elected officials to determine the

needs/interests of constituents.• We therefore will focus a lot of attention to

understanding the political application of statistics.• This is most directly apparent in the exit polling

project where we will implement a real survey and analyze real data!• You must participate on election Day.

What is Politics and Government?What is Politics and Government?• What Does Government Do?

• Protects citizens from unlawful activity

• Regulates social and economic relationships (Regulates Industry)

• Provides Services• Defends country from foreign aggression

Different Systems of GovernmentDifferent Systems of Government• What type of government does the US utilize?

• What is a democracy?

• Rule of the people by the people. Based on principle of majority rule.

• Two major forms of democracy– Athenian Direct Democracy (A)– Representative (Republic) (B)

– I-CLICKER: Which form of democracy do we use in US?

• Why not direct democracy in US?

American DemocracyAmerican Democracy• British Legacy

- Limited government- Representative Government- Social Contracts/Natural Rights

I-Clicker: Is access to health care a “Natural Right” that government should provides it’s citizens?

A) YES B) NO

Principles of American Democracy Principles of American Democracy Rhetoric or Reality?Rhetoric or Reality?• Equality in voting

• Individual freedom (Individualism)

• Equal protection of the law

• Majority rule and minority rights– Do we really operate on majority rule in US?

• Voluntary consent to be governed

Theories of US DemocracyTheories of US Democracy• As you can read in the Hudson essay, political

theorists have debated how government should operate and what the role of citizens should be in the US democracy. This debate can be summarized in four major models of democracy that we will outline in class.

• There are aspects of all models in our current system.

• Protective Democracy- Closely tied to capitalism, as this model advocates forpopular control of government as a means

of protecting individual economic freedom.

– For Mill and Bentham, democratic institutions that allowed free and competitive citizens to pursue individual wealth were valued. –Government should not interfere with

individual property rights, with economic inequality among the citizenry being acceptable in this model.

– This model has an overall negative view of human nature: we are self interested, and governments job is to keep this negative side of humankind from controlling politics.

– This model also views representation as necessary because most citizens are not capable of making political decisions. This models influence can be seen in government institutions like the electoral college.li electoral college.

Romney the Gordon Gekko of GOP Race– Is the critique of Romney by his rivals too

critical of capitalism?

– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f83M2zR4smU&feature=related

– http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/journal-editorial-report/2012/01/16/romneys-republican-rivals-put-capitalism-trial

– electoral college.

Write Pair & Share ActivityWhat would the advocates of Protective

Democracy say about Romney’s career background?

A) Romney’s background as a venture capitalist should be viewed positively by voters, as it displays his knowledge of markets and economics.

B) Romney’s background as a venture capitalist should be viewed negatively by voters, as it depicts corporate greed etc.

• Developmental Democracy- In contrast to protective democracy, this model has a much more positive view of humankind. – This model assumes that people have civic

virtue, which allows them to look past their self interests to the well being of all of society.

– Good citizenship requires participation and knowledge of politics.

– This model believes that democracy should provide citizens with skills and virtue.

– Was highly influential all the way through the mid 20th century in the US.

• Pluralist Democracy- Pluralists contend that the ideals of developmental democracy are great, but don’t see this model as being very realistic.

• Pluralists observed that most people were not very active in politics and elites actually ran government (steady decline in participation post 1960’s).

• Do not see a problem with apathy among public as widespread participation would be bad for democracy. What is their argument?

• Competitive elections and interest groups are critical for pluralists competition based system.

• Pluralism assumes that this competitive - group based system works because all interest groups have although different, equal resources in which to influence government leaders.

• This is currently the dominant model in the United States, and most believe this is how our system does/should work.

• Example of Pluralism in US Todayhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGdo3hOGqYo

Low Stakes Assignment # 1

Does pluralism provide an accurate depiction of how the US Political System actually operates today?

Are there any aspects of pluralism that should be changed in order for our system to work better?

• Participatory democracy- In contrast to pluralists who view apathy as a natural inclination of most people, participatory democrats view apathy as the result of the lack of opportunities for significant participation. – Government institutions should be modified to

promote political participation (Examples?). – The main problem of society according to this

model is that non-government institutions do not follow democratic principles. (Examples?)

– How does this lack of democracy in other realms cause problems for democracy in government?

• I-Clicker- Which form of democracy do you believe is the ideal system for the United States:

A)Protective DemocracyB)Developmental DemocracyC)PluralismD)Participatory Democracy E)None are ideal, new model that incorporates

elements of each would be best.