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Government: "who gets what, when, and how"

4 P's: People, Power, Policies, and Politics

People:

President, Congress, and Governors: elected directly from elections

Judiciary, SCOTUS, Cabinet, and Committee Heads: appointed indirectly from elections

EPA and State Department: hired civil servants; merit based; not affected by elections

Lobbyists, Citizens, Voters, PACs, and Residents: impact the government; not affected by elections

Powers:

Legislative Power: makes laws

Executive Power: enforces laws

Judicial Power: adjudicates laws (Judge)

Policies: decisions made in the pursuit of some goal

Politics: process by which policy decisions are made

Example: a policy is banning grinding at school dances while the politics is the principle making the decision

State (Nation)

Population

Territory

Functioning Government

Sovereignty - the idea of ultimate authority over a population in a territory wielded by a functioning government ("We the People")

Fundamental Functions of National Government (Preamble)

Establish Justice = Resolve Conflict

Insure Domestic Tranquility = Maintain Order

Provide for Common Defense = National Security

Promote General Welfare = Public Goods (Non-Excludables)

Provide Services (Not included in the Preamble - debated)

Dahl's Traditional Democratic Theory

Equality of Voting (one person, one vote)

Effective Participation (representation)

Enlightened Understanding (free press, free speech)

People Control the Voting Agenda

Pluralist Theory

Society is made up of groups (enough that one doesn't dominate)

Groups compete/battle to influence policy makers

Through compromise policy comes to serve the interests of society in general

Elite Theory - Serves interests of elites

Group of wealthy + powerful elites that rule (dominate the process)

Society divided based on wealth

Wealthy + big businesses are favored by policy makers

Hyperpluralism Theory

Too many groups with too divergent of policy agendas

We get conflicting/contradicting policies of stagnation and "gridlock"