POLITICAL SCIENCE 122

AMERICAN NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

STUDENT WORKBOOK

CHAPTER 1: DEFINING THE TERMS

DR. WILLIE EARL FOWLER

STUDENT NAME___________________________

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 Learning Objectives (Chapter One)

1. You should be able to define the concept of Divided Government.

2. You should be able to pinpoint the different definitions given to politics.

3. You should be able to define the different attributes of governmental institutions.

4. You should be able to understand and define how compliance relates to power.

5. You should be able to describe the different forms of government (totalitarian

regime, oligarchy, aristocracy, democracy, anarchy).
6. You should be able to explain the key features of democracies (universal suffrage,
consent of the governed, majority rule, limited government).
7. You should be able to describe the competing theories of how the U.S. democracy
works (elitism, pluralism and hyperpluralism).
8. You should be able to define political culture and describe the process of political
socialization.

9. You should be able to describe the importance of liberty, equality and property in
American political culture.

10. You should be able to explain how changing demographics (the aging of Americans,
and increased immigration) impact American political culture, and different priorities.

11. You should be able to define the concept of ideology and explain the dominant
ideologies in the U.S. (liberalism and conservatism).

12. What is the difference between direct democracy and representative democracy?

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 Learning Objectives (Chapter One)

1. You should be able to define the concept of Divided Government.

Divided Government is when one party (for example, the Democratic Party) controls
both chambers of Congress (the House and the Senate) and the White House is
controlled by a different party (for example, the Republican Party). Although the
Democrats lost control of the US House of Representatives in the 2010 Midterm
elections, they held on to the US Senate and are still in control of the White House.
So, we, currently, do not have divided government.

Notes:

Illustration 1: Yes!

House and Senate = Controlled by Republicans

White House = Controlled by Democratic President
This is Divided Government.

House and Senate = Controlled by Democrats

White House = Controlled by Republican President
This is Divided Government.

Illustration 2: No!

House = controlled by Democrats

Senate = controlled by Republicans
White House = Control by Democrats or Republicans
This is not Divided government.

(House and Senate must be controlled by same party) and the White House by different
party.

Illustration 3: No!
House = controlled by Republicans
Senate = controlled by Democrats
White House = Control by Democrats or Republicans
This is not Divided government.

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Note: However, there are some textbooks (Barbour and Wright text, for example) that
readily embrace the notion that only one chamber of Congress need to be controlled by
one party and the presidency controlled by the other party to qualify as divided
government. I tend to agree with this notion, especially if one party disagrees with
everything that they use to believe in just to obstruct the business from moving forward.
Of course they have readily admitted to doing this to ensure that President Barack Obama
is “a one-term president”.

2. You should be able to pinpoint the different definitions given to politics. Your
textbook defines politics as “the process by which we choose government officials
and make decisions about public policy.”

There are two more prominent definitions on politics and they were advanced by
David Easton and Harold Lasswell.

 Easton’s “authoritative allocation of values.”

Notes:

David Easton’s Black Box:

Demand and support  Decision-maker -> Outputs -> Outcomes


 
 feedback   

Environment

Demands = this can come in the form of a request, a letter to the decision-maker, media
attention, lawsuits, etc. Most demands come from interest groups while others come from
the people who encounter problems and need assistance. A demand could be from a
woman who wants an abortion so she (Roe) sues (hence, the case, Roe v. Wade) or can
even be from a person or group seeking action on an issue (e.g., Death penalty advocates
{pro or con}, Abortion advocates or those who are in favor of protecting the
environment).

Supports = to act, political actors generally need resources. This can come in the form of
taxes, fees, positive/negative media attention, public opinion, etc. If there is enough
support, the demand will be given a high priority by the decision maker who may make

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an “authoritative decision” (output). In the Roe v. Wade case, the support came from all
of the media attention and the different organizations. As it relates to the death penalty
example, proponents of the death penalty received a huge boost in “support” when
Lawrence Marshall, a Northwestern professor, led his students on various research
projects on the death penalty for class credit and found that there were a number of
wrongful convictions in the state of Illinois. As a result of their efforts, the governor of
Illinois, George Ryan, was forced to act. After the governor received the report of a
special commission to investigate the use of the death penalty in Illinois, he concluded
that judicial sentencing in the state of Illinois was “arbitrary and capricious”.

Outputs = this could be a legislative act, a governor’s declaration (Ex. Gov. Ryan
recently commuted the death sentences of 160 people on Death Row in Illinois), a court
decision (The People v. OJ Simpson or Roe v. Wade), or a regulatory agency ruling,
among others. Indeed, these decisions are “authoritative policy decisions” (Cox and
Rosenfield, 2001). An interest group “wins” when they get their legislation passed or a
bill signed by the governor: They have successfully competed for “influence” which is
why Easton describes it as an “authoritative allocation of values.”

Outcomes = decisions have consequences and then you will have feedback from the
environment. (For example, the Roe v. Wade decision by the court was an output
—“authoritative decision”, but the actual abortions that are/aren’t allowed would be
outcomes.

 Lasswell’s “who gets what, when and how”- again, you have the
competition for resources or values. According to this famous political
scientist, this is the primary purpose of “politics” – to decide how
these resources will be distributed.

Note: There is a difference between outputs and outcomes. The output is the “legislative
act” and the outcome is the “result” from the act. So, to use the example above for
illustrative reasons, the output is Governor Ryan’s decision to commute the death
sentences and the outcome or result is the fact that 160 death row inmates had their
sentences commuted to life in prison.

3. You should be able to define the different attributes of governmental institutions.

Notes:

Authority is the features of a leader or an institution that compels obedience, usually

because of ascribed legitimacy. Though there are many different ways to view
authority (religious, familial, tribal, charismatic, etc) we are referring to authority in
the political and legal sense here.

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 Legitimacy is a status conferred by the people on the government’s officials, acts,
and institutions through their belief that the government’s actions are an
appropriate use of power by a legally constituted governmental authority
following correct decision-making policies. These actions are regarded as rightful
and entitled to compliance and obedience on the part of the citizens. If the
government or its leaders make decisions or pass laws or rulings that are
substantively and/or procedurally unfair, the people may not view those laws or
rulings as legitimate. One very good example of this is the decision by the Grand
Jury in Ferguson, Missouri in the Michael Brown shooting (by an officer) and the
case in New York City, New York involving the choking of Eric Garner (also by
an officer), a young man who was breaking up a fight in the area. In both of the
aforementioned cases, the Grand Jury ruled that the officer should not be indicted
and the case was never taken to trial. In a case where an officer was indicted but
later acquitted was found in the Rodney King trial.

In the case of Rodney King, four white police officers were acquitted of
excessive force even though they were seen on videotape beating, punching and
stomping Rodney King on March 3, 1991. A year later, when the verdict was
announced that the four white officers were acquitted (due, in large part, because
the trial was moved from LA County {which has a large share of minorities) to
Ventura County {which is comprised primarily of whites}), riots erupted in South
Central Los Angeles which resulted in the loss of life for 57 people, 7,000 people
were arrested and millions of dollars in property damage. This case demonstrates
that the people may take matters into their own hands if they don’t view the
decisions or actions of governmental entities as legitimate. The riots in South
Central in 1991 ended when the cops in riot gear finally restored order.

Power (See the notes above for Machiavelli’s notions on power) is the ability to
cause others to modify their behavior and to conform to what the power holder wants.

Ex. If you are driving down the highway traveling at 80 miles per hour in a 65 mile
zone, will you slow down when you see a state trooper hiding in the bushes ahead of
you? Of course you will, because the state trooper has power over you. You know
that he has power, because he has the authority to give you a ticket or, even worse,
arrest you. You know that this power is legitimate, because he is a duly sworn officer
who is given “support” by the courts. In short, his/her job is to maintain order.

Ex2. What about the movie “Minority Report”, featuring Tom Cruise? In that
particular film, which had a number of parallels to this chapter, they had the
authority to arrest people before they committed the crimes. Given all of the research
and so-called precision of the decisions by the “pre-cogs”, these decisions were
deemed as legitimate, which validated the power of the Pre-Crime department. There
are other good examples of movies that demonstrate power: “Wallstreet”, “Deliver Us
From Eva” and the “Godfather” are but a few examples.

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 Political Power – The ability to get things done by controlling or influencing the
institutions of government.

Example: During the debate over whether the debt ceiling should be raised, members
of the Tea Party refused to sign on to any deal that either increased taxes or allowed
any existing tax measures to expire. Even when the President put $4 Trillion dollars
in cuts on the table, they still refused to go along with the deal. While some political
pundits have questioned their strategy, almost all agree that they have been able to
exert a considerable amount of political power.

4. You should be able to understand and define how compliance relates to power.

Notes:

Compliance is the act of accepting and carrying out authoritative decisions.

Ex. If you are speeding and are stopped by the police, you usually conform to the
wishes of the officer by pulling over to the side of the road. You have complied.

Ex2. If you pay your taxes (federal and or state), you are complying
with the law. If you fail to comply with this law, as prescribed by the Sixteenth
Amendment of the United States, you can be jailed (Ex. Actor Wesley Snipes was
recently ordered to start serving his term for tax evasion).

5. You should be able to describe the different forms of government (totalitarian

regime, oligarchy, aristocracy, democracy, anarchy).

Totalitarian regime is a form of government that controls all aspects of the political
and social life of a nation. All power resides with the government. The citizens have
no power. Some might argue that the only true totalitarian regime (now that Russia
has become more cooperative after the end of the Cold War) that remains in the world
is North Korea as most countries, even Cuba, have made strides towards more
democratic forms of government. However, many have turned their attention back to
Russia because former Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently consolidated
more and more power and as has curbed many of the Democratic reforms that were
made. Even though he is no longer officially President, many believe that he has
unlimited power.

Anarchy is the condition of having no government and no laws. Each member of the
society governs himself or herself. Have you ever viewed “Fast Times at Rigdemont
High”? Is that a good picture of anarchy? Or, you may think about the lack of order in

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Iraq after the United States took down Saddam Hussein’s statue: There was looting,
and pillaging throughout the country.

Different types of states: Let’s go back to our discussion of Aristotle in the chapter on
Early Thinkers here for instruction:

Aristotle who came along in the 4th Century (384-322 B.C.) believed that every state

(meaning government) should strive for equality of consideration (this didn’t mean

minorities and women). To buttress his point, he said consider the SIX different types

of states:

Monarchy—Rule by one in the interest of all

Aristocracy---Rule by a few in the interest of all

Polity—Rule by many in the interest of all

-------------------------------------------------------------

Tyranny---Rule by one in the interest of the ruler

Oligarchy—Rule by the few in the interest of the rulers

Democracy—Rule by the many in the interest of the rulers.

(Grigsby, current edition)

{More recent definition is that it is a system of government in which ultimate political

authority is vested in the people. Derived from the Greek words demos (“the people”)

and kratos (“authority”).}

Aristotle liked the first three categories, Monarchy, Aristocracy and Polity, because

here rulers are making decisions that benefit all (the whole). However, he didn’t like

the last three because the rulers are acting in their own interest, particularly when it

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 comes to democracy; he didn’t like this because he felt that the rulers would act like

tyrants and do what is only in their (meaning the rulers’) best interest.

Notes:

6. You should be able to explain the key features of democracies (universal suffrage,
consent- of-the-governed, majority rule, limited government).

Universal Suffrage- This is the right of all adults to vote for their representatives.

African-American males received the right to vote via the 15th Amendment and

women received this right via the 19th Amendment, but then states simply came up

with poll taxes, grandfather clauses, white primaries and literacy tests. The 24th

Amendment, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965

outlawed these discriminatory measures.

Majority- More than 50% (or 50%+1).

Consent-of-the-people-Quite simply, government derives its legitimacy from the
people who give their consent to be governed.

Ex. A good example of this is the Mayflower Compact. Before going on shore, 41 of
44 males on board signed an agreement to live by certain laws. This was one of the
principles advanced by John Locke in his Two Treatises on Government.

Limited Government- To clearly limit the powers of government through wide

public understanding, they placed the limits on government in writing. This ensures
that the government serves the public rather than private interest. This is why the
Anti-federalists wanted a Bill of Rights, because they were afraid of the abuse of
power by the federal government. Thus, the rights of government are spelled out in
our Constitution and Amendments and the rest of the rights are reserved to the states
or the people (via the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution).

Notes:

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7. You should be able to describe the competing theories of how the U.S. democracy
works (elitism, pluralism and hyperpluralism)

Ruling Elite theory is a perspective holding that society is ruled by a small

number of people (very wealthy and very well educated) who exercise power in
their self-interest.

Pluralism is a theory that views politics as a conflict among interest groups.

Political decision-making is characterized by bargaining and compromise. You
have the Pro-Choice organizations protesting against the Pro-Life groups. You
have the Pro-Guns groups protesting against the Gun Control groups and so on.

Hyperpluralism- is a theory that suggests that some interest groups may become
too powerful and dominate decision-making. Some political ads distributed during
the 2000 election suggested that if President G.W. Bush was elected, the NRA
would have a desk in the White House. In other words, they assumed that this
interest group would become too powerful and eclipse the power of other groups.
During the election of 2008, Barack Obama refused to take any money from
federal PACs because he felt that they wielded too much power in government.
He also promised not to hire any federal lobbyists who were active in the last two
years. Though he has done a pretty good job of resisting the urge to hire lobbyist
on the whole, there have been a few notable exceptions (e.g., Tom Daschle, who
was picked as the Secretary of Health and Human Services, but he had to
withdraw due to tax issues).
8. You should be able to define political culture and describe the process of political
socialization.

Political culture- The collection of beliefs and attitudes toward government and the
political process held by a community or nation. Edgar Schein’s work on political
culture is quite interesting. He posits that you can measure this by looking at the
dynamics in the organization: At a meeting, he looks at who talks to whom, who
interrupts whom (he says this is an indication of power), who talks before/after
whom, who agrees with whom, etc.

Political Socialization-The process through which individuals learn a set of political

attitudes and form opinions about social issues. The family and the educational
system are two of the most important forces in the political socialization process. In
other words, you generally develop many of your political opinions at the breakfast or
dinner table from your parents; in short, you mirror their views so they will like you
(receptivity); but you may also develop them in the classrooms as you listen to your
classmates and the instructor.

9. You should be able to describe the importance of liberty, equality and property in
American political culture.

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Liberty is the greatest freedom of individuals that is consistent with the freedom of
other individuals in society. One of your civil liberties is the right to free speech.
But, does that give you the right to yell “fire” in a crowded theater and impinge upon
the free speech of everyone else’s? NO!

Equality may be defined as the concept that all people are of equal worth
. Achieving equality in this country has been a constant struggle. After slavery was
abolished with the 13th Amendment, many states simply enacted “black codes” which,
in effect, reinstituted slavery. It took the 14th Amendment to get rid of these “black
codes” but many states simply came up with other measures to ensure that blacks
were never granted equality. Many of these “Jim Crow” laws were finally overturned
by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Given that the
United States elected its first black president in November of 2008, many people now
argue that equality has been achieved. Yet, African-Americans still face
discrimination in hiring, housing and in education. While the national unemployment
rate is at 9.0%, the black unemployment rate is much higher (14%).

Property is anything that is or may be subject to ownership. As conceived by the

political philosopher John Locke, the right to property is a natural right superior to
human laws (laws made by government). By the 1890s, many states began to enact
property tests (along with grandfather clauses and literacy tests) to ensure that Blacks
were prohibited from voting. This meant that blacks had to not only own the property
but pay taxes on it prior to the election.

10. You should be able to explain how changing demographics (the aging of
Americans, and increased immigration) impact American political culture, and
different priorities.

The face of America is changing. Given the low birthrate of Whites and the increasing
birth rates amongst Blacks and Hispanics, White’s representation in the population is

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 expected to decrease to 60.5% in 2030 (down from 71.8% in 2000) and to 52.8% in
2050. As the representation of Whites decrease, the number of Blacks and Hispanics
are expected to increase. Currently, African-Americans represent 12.2% of the
population but this is expected to increase to 13.1% in 2030 and to 13.6% in 2050.
While Blacks are expected to experience slight gains, representation by Hispanics is
expected to more than double by 2050. More specifically, Hispanics currently
comprise 11.4% of the population, but this number is expected to rise to 18.9% in
2030 and to a whopping 24.5% in 2050.

How will these changes impact society? What if these groups decide not to melt into
the so-called “melting pot”? What will happen to the notion of “e pluribus unum” (out
of the many, one)? Should we be a “melting pot” whereby everyone melts down their
cultural identity or should we more like a “tossed salad” whereby we all inter-relate,
but not give up our cultural identity?

Will we still be one nation a hundred years from now? What about the statistics in
Chapter 1 of your text that suggests that a large share of Americans do not believe
that we will still be one nation 100 years from now? What do you think? Will we still
be “one nation” 100 years from now?

Table 1

Regional Growth in the United States, 2000-2010

Census Regions Net Change (Millions)

Northeast +03.2

South (jobs, low cost of living) +13.0

Midwest +03.9

West (nice weather, location) +13.8

_____________________________________________________
Source: (U.S Bureau of the Census 2011)

11. You should be able to define the concept of ideology and explain the dominant
ideologies in the U.S. (liberalism and conservatism).

Ideology-This is a set of beliefs about the nature of people and about the institutions
and the role of government.

Liberalism-A set of belief that advocates positive government action to improve

the welfare of individuals, support of civil rights, and tolerance for political and

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 social change.

Conservatism-A set of beliefs that includes a limited role for the national
government in helping individuals, support for traditional values and lifestyles,
and a cautious response to change.

12. What is the difference between direct democracy and representative democracy?

Direct democracy would be if all citizens have an opportunity to make political

decisions directly. Can you imagine if each citizen had to vote each and every bill
(and there are thousands of them) that is proposed in Congress? What if we had to
wait for all citizens to respond, or even a simple majority (50%+1)? This would grind
our political system to a halt. This is why we have representatives to vote on our
behalf. Our Founding Fathers were skeptical of a direct democracy, because they
thought it may lead to anarchy, and they didn’t trust the easily persuaded masses.

Recall- is when voters of a state (or a city) can remove a state official from office.
This measure emerged as the Progressive Movement (which brought forth the
recall, the initiative and the referendum) swept through the country in the late
Nineteenth Century as you had boundless corruption, particularly at the local level
(Ex. Tammany Hall (the oldest and most famous urban machine began in 1789 as
a New York City country club, but grew into a fierce political machine that
wielded power and influence via corruption). Tammany Hall would trade votes
for resources (free coal, drink of whiskey) and would literally buy entire
neighborhoods. A good example of the corruption took place in 1844 election
where 55,000 votes were cast in the election even though less than 45,000
residents were eligible to vote (Cox and Rosenfield, 2001)!

Interesting fact: Sixty-eight percent of all cities use recall to remove office-
holders at the local level.

The City of San Francisco adopted the initiative and referendum in 1898 in
addition to other civil service reforms, but it didn’t take long for these reform
measures to spread as they were widely adopted by the 1930s.

Recently, in the state of Wisconsin, Progressives were successful in recalling two

of their state senators. These state senators, joined with Gov. Scott Walker, in his
efforts to dismantle the collective bargaining in the state of Wisconsin and cripple
the strength of unions nation-wide. The Republicans were successful in retaining
four of the six seats and celebrated on election night. This was somewhat odd
given the fact that two Republicans had just been recalled. Though they lost two
seats, the Republicans maintained control of their state senate by one vote.

Popular referendum- This allows citizens to vote on issues that directly affect
them. This could be anything from a local option on sales tax, liquor sales in the
community, school board issues, to allow or prohibit casino gambling, annexation
of land to extend the limits of the city, etc (Cox and Rosenfield 2001).

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 Legislative referendum – This is a ballot measure aimed at securing voter
approval for some legislative acts, such as changes to a state’s constitution.

Initiative-when citizens are allowed to give important input on measures that are
placed on the ballot. Though “initiatives” are popular primarily on the West Coast,
they provide useful information for decision-makers. Consider this statistic:
“Nearly half of all U.S. cities place important issues on the ballot for citizen input
(Cox and Rosenfield 2001).”

What about the referendum mentioned in Minority Report? Would you allow the
Pre-Crime department to use their methods to stop crime?

Representative democracy (form of government in which popular decision-making

is restricted to electing or appointing the public officials who make public policy) is
what we have here in the United States. We send our representatives to Washington,
D.C (federal) and to the statehouse (ex. Springfield, IL) to vote on our behalf.

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 Note: Here are some practice questions for Exam 1. Try to take this practice quiz
without looking at the answers at the end.

1. John Locke argued that government gives you your “natural rights” and should,
therefore, be able to take them away at any time. T or F

2. The United States is not a direct democracy. Instead, we are a representative

democracy. T or F

3. Popular American ideologies include: Conservatism, Liberalism and Libertarianism. T

or F

4. A democratic republic is based upon the notion of unlimited government. T o F

5. In recent years, American politics has been highly polarized. T or F

6. The first ten amendment of the Constitution are called “The Bill of Rights”. T or F

7. A state of affairs in which no government exists is called oligarchy. T or F

8. The concept of pluralism means that there is an elite class of wealthy and/or well-
educated citizens who exercise a disproportionate amount of influence over political
decisions making. T or F

9. When citizens of a nation do not enjoy liberty, the government frequently will abolish
the right to a fair trial. T or F

10. Government affects the life of most American citizens by guaranteeing employment
to every citizen. T or F

Answers:1. F; 2. F; 3. T; 4. F; 5. T; 6. T; 7. F; 8. F; 9. T and 10. F

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