TYPES OF GOVERNMENT

* Government by one person

* Government by the few

Aristocracy

Oligarchy

* Government by the Many = DEMOCRACY (Us)

TYPES OF DEMOCRACY

• 1. Direct

• 2. Representative

Direct democracy

People make law/policy themselves

Example: Initiative: Citizen petition places proposed law/constitutional

amendment on ballot, people vote

yes or no (state level – Florida)

• Representative government –– We elect people to make decisions for us,

trust they will make decisions we support.

IMPLICATIONS– do they truly represent the citizens who

elect them? Which citizens get the “most” representation?

– What do we expect out of our representatives? Should they mirror their constituents’ views or be allowed leeway to exercise their own judgment?

What does government do?• 1. Maintain national defense (armed

forces ) - $600+ billion per year on ND

• 2. Provide public goods/services (schools, libraries, highways etc.)

• 3. Preserve order ( police/national guard)

• 4. Socialize the young (through schools)

• 5. Collect taxes to pay for #2

Where does policy come from?

• “The people?” Transmit preferences to policymakers in government through “linkage institutions” (parties, elections, interest groups, media)

• Citizens shape the government’s POLICY AGENDA

• Main policymaking institutions: Congress, presidency, courts (& bureaucracy)

What does democracy mean?

• Traditional democratic theory emphasizes certain principles:– MAJORITY RULE, but also– MINORITY RIGHTS (e.g. to freedom of

speech, assembly)– REPRESENTATION (Wishes of “the people”

should be “made present again”/honored/carried out by elected officials)

Modern theories of American democracy – how it works

• 1. PLURALISM – Policymaking should be open to participation of all groups with no single group dominating (Dahl)

• 2. ELITISM - Pluralists too optimistic/unrealistic – Upper class elite (the wealthy/big business) pulls the strings of government. (Schattschneider)

• 3.

• 3. HYPERPLURALISM – • “pluralism gone sour” – Lots of groups out

there, so many competing groups that government can’t act. Also too many ways for groups to get their way – multiple levels of government and veto points at which groups can use the political system to their advantage. The “public interest” loses out.

Challenges to democracy

• Complexity of issues (can average citizen understand them? If not, what does it mean for representatives to carry out citizens’ preferences?)

• Limited participation in government (especially by young people)

• Rising campaign costs – money talks…• Policy gridlock (relates to hyperpluralism)

POLITICAL CULTURE

• Paradox: diversity and unity– Ethnic and religious heterogeneity– Relative homegeneity of political beliefs

(Samuel Huntington and others have said)

What is the American political culture?/set of values widely

shared by American citizens?• 1. Liberty (freedom – see first

amendment: freedom speech, religion, assembly) – freedom “from”

• 2. Egalitarianism (Declaration of Independence – “all men created equal”, but equality of opportunity not outcome