Chapter 1 Politics Makes Sense Politics makes sense because - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

chapter 1
SMART_READER_LITE
LIVE PREVIEW

Chapter 1 Politics Makes Sense Politics makes sense because - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Chapter 1 Politics Makes Sense Politics makes sense because politics is everywhere Def: Any process for making collective decisions Decisions that will affect an entire group Problem: group members frequently disagree


slide-1
SLIDE 1

Chapter 1

Politics Makes Sense

slide-2
SLIDE 2

Politics makes sense…

  • …because politics is everywhere

– Def: Any process for making “collective decisions”

  • Decisions that will affect an entire group

– Problem: group members frequently disagree on what, if anything, to do

slide-3
SLIDE 3
  • Dealing with conflict is an essential part of

politics

– “Successful” politics usually involves discovering a consensus acceptable to “enough” of the group

  • Compromise is generally necessary

– This can be distasteful to some group members

slide-4
SLIDE 4

Politics and Governments

  • Groups of people establish governments to

structure their political decision-making

– Def: A system for implementing political decisions

  • Governments define who has what authority

– Who decides about taxes? Laws? Wars?

slide-5
SLIDE 5
  • Governments are often, but not always,

spelled out in constitutions

– Def: Written or unwritten statements of the

  • rganization, powers, and limits of the group’s

government and members

  • Ex: US Constitution, SC Constitution, Fraternity charter,

Articles of Incorporation (corporation)

slide-6
SLIDE 6
  • The formal roles and positions (president, etc.)

established by a constitution are called institutions

  • Generally speaking, what governments do is

make policy – decisions, laws, and programs that are meant to solve common problems

– How to provide the “best” education to citizens?

slide-7
SLIDE 7

Governing is Difficult

  • Why? 2 main (and simple!) reasons:
  • 1. Coming to a collective decision can be very

difficult

  • Ex: abortion, global warming, gay rights
  • 2. Getting people to work together is also difficult
  • Even if they agree on what to do!
slide-8
SLIDE 8

Collective Action Problems

  • These basic human difficulties show

themselves in a variety of ways, we will examine 2 in particular:

  • 1. Coordination problems
  • 2. Prisoners’ dilemma
slide-9
SLIDE 9

The Coordination Problem

  • As a group becomes larger and more diverse,

decision-making becomes more and more difficult.

– You knew this already, because you already understand politics, but the coach who taught you government in high school didn’t.

slide-10
SLIDE 10
  • Large, diverse groups have a more difficult

time reaching agreement than small, homogeneous ones.

– Ex: Japan vs. United States

slide-11
SLIDE 11

The Prisoners’ Dilemma

  • The PD is a “game” about cooperation

– A situation where the outcome depends on the combined choices of all the players

  • Def: A situation where both players acting in

their own best interest results in the worst

  • utcome for the group
slide-12
SLIDE 12
  • PD story
  • 2 players, A and B

– Each has 2 choices, cooperate (stick to alibi) or defect (confess & implicate partner)

  • Gives us 4 possible outcomes:
slide-13
SLIDE 13
slide-14
SLIDE 14
  • The moral of the PD is that voluntary

cooperation is difficult to accomplish

– People rightly try to make the best choices for themselves – Sometimes, those choices have bad consequences for the group

  • Ex: Free rider problem
slide-15
SLIDE 15

Solutions to CAPs

  • 1. Coercion (force)
  • 2. Majority rule
  • 3. Delegation
slide-16
SLIDE 16
  • Throughout the rest of the semester, we’ll be

looking at how the US government tries to resolve these problems

– Our unique history, heritage, and needs has lead to a particularly “American” set of answers, one with similarities & differences to those of other countries – To get to the present, we’ve got to go back to the beginning…