5 Principles of Politics

Chapter 1 5 Principles of Politics What is Government?  The Institutions & procedures through which a land and its people are ruled - Can be simple or complex  2 Questions - Who governs? - How much government control is allowed? Forms of Government: Who Governs  Autocracy: A single individual rules  Oligarchy: A small group of landowners, military officers, or wealthy merchants rule  Democracy: A system of rules that permits citizens to play a significant part in the governmental process o Elect officials o Make petitions o Organize rallies o Lobby Forms of Government: Limits on Government Control  Totalitarian: No formal or effective limits on government’s power of any kind  Authoritarian: No formal limits placed on government, but government may be effectively limited by other social institutions o Usually limited by religions, military, etc.  Constitutional: Formal and effective limits are placed on the powers of government o Limits are effective because there are ways to enforce them What is Politics?  The conflict, struggle, cooperation, and collaboration over the leadership, structure, and policies of government o Struggle over “who gets what, when, how” – Harold Lasswell  Can take many forms: Voting, running for office, joining groups, political parties, lobbying, etc. Making Sense of Government & Politics  The goal of political scientists is to answer two fundamental questions about government and politics o What do we observe in government & politics? (Empirical question) o Why are we observing the behavior we are observing? (A fundamental question of science – requires building of a theory around principles)  A Third question… o What is ideal? or What should we observe?  This is called a normative question The 5 Principles of Politics 1. All political behavior has a purpose o Rationality Principle o Rational decision making 2. Institutions structure politics o Institution Principle o The rules that we use to govern us matter to structure the behavior of individuals in our government 3. All politics in collective action o Collective Principle o There is more than one decision maker involved o Need to get people to work together 4. Political outcomes are the products of individual preferences, institutional procedures and collective action o Policy Principle o Policy that we see is a natural outgrowth of the first three principles 5. How we got here matters o History Principle o When we cant follow the first four principles, history is the reason o Learn from history to know what to do in the future 1. Rationality principle  All political behavior has a purpose  Political behavior is instrumental o Done with purpose o Calculated decision o Done with forethought  Political actors pursue policy preferences, reelection, power, maximize agency budgets, etc.  This is not a judgment, but a principle to help us understand why political actors do what they do  EXAMPLE: Primary Goal of a member of Congress? To get reelected o They can’t pass good policy that they care about unless they have their job. They need to get reelected  What types of services do members of Congress supply to help achieve those goals? o Anything that will get voters out to the polls 2. Institution Principle  Institutions structure politics  Institutions are the rules and procedures that provide incentives for political behavior o Establish routinized, structures relations o Can discourage conflict, encourage coordination, enable bargaining, thereby facilitating decision making and cooperation  Remember that institutions themselves are not necessarily permanently fixed. Rules may change; they just don’t change easily. 3. Collective Action Principle  All politics is collective action  Collective action is the pooling of resources and the coordination of effort and activity by a group of people to achieve common goals.  Collective action is difficult and the difficulty mounts as the number of people and interests involved grows.  Incentives are often needed to induce large groups of individuals with different preferences and goal to make decisions.  Collective Action & Public Goals o Collective action is needed to overcome the free rider problem  Individuals who enjoy the benefits of some good or action while letting others bear the costs  Leadership structure and decision making procedures must be in place to exert pressure on the individuals who free ride off the work of the group o A public good is a benefit or good that others cannot be denied once it has been provided o Collective action is difficult and institutions are often the solution 4. Policy Principle  Political outcomes are the product of individual preferences and institutional procedures  The Policy Principle is the logical combination of the first three principles  Political outcomes are frequently ‘messy’ because we have a system where personal ambition mixes with a decentralized political system 5. History Principle  How we got here matters:  Path Dependency o The idea that certain possibilities are made more or less likely because of the historical path already taken  Rules & Procedures  Loyalties & Alliances  Historically conditioned point of view