Exam 1 Flashcards
What is policy ?
1) policy is root of politics
2) Policy seen as laws
3) get to the heart of democracy (hope)
4) want policy to link w/ poltics & hold people accountable to it (if no connection, how is democracy working)
5) electoral connection (worry if they tilt for their favor)
What is the system level approach?
Policy studies tend to take macro look at governamce
Designed to make public policy
what makes a successful policy system?
responsiveness to environment feedback (informational processing)
should democracy be more successful than Autocracies?
Yes b/c more responses/ feedback (voting, speech, free press, political mobilization)
what is autocracies?
1 person in absolute power.
spy on some citizens & takes away things that democracy has.
is competition good or bad?
Competition is important as it means capitalism id doing well
What are the inputs that we want govt to respond to?
Problems directly (Ex: provide food, beds etc)
Public opinion (Ex: polls, travel, etc)
Both
What are the limitations & how do we prepare for info processing?
politicians corrupt, slow to make decisions
what is Public Policy?
political striggles are all about rules norms & institutions
(laws, executive rule, bureacratic rule)
how do societies organize themselves?
1) have set rules
2) enforce those rules
Ex: Articles of Confederation
what are the fundamentals of policy making?
process of collecting a resource & then reallocating it to solve problems (some say policy bad b/c redistribution is to easy)
what is a popular answer in policy from philosophy?
should seek to enhance the agency people have to make meaningful choices about their life
(Ex: slavery-bad policy, birth control= good policy)
what makes a good policy making system?
effiecient systems must be responsive
Needs:
1) problem detection
(formal & informal like weather service, FDA)
2) Research orgs w/ congress
(CBO- do estimate cost, Neutral Competency)
Overview of elections:
tons of elections in US
Federal, local, state levels
Talks & coverage or elections- designed to force them to pay attentio to us
How does media & democracy come into play in policy?
mass media- intend for public audiences
press- people & orgs who produce media
free press vital to democracy- citizens can’t monitor govt, media censored by govt
what is the role of media & what’s happening?
provide info & evaluate/ interpret events
How is detecting problems & why complicated?
not hard to find, but no time
disagreement to severety & finding a solution
What does govt solution have in common?
redistributing resources & at least long term
what is simple problems?
can be solved automatically
(Ex: old age so solution is Social Security & medicare)
What is complex problems?
There is no real way to solve it
Ex: Cancer, Hurricans, Recessions, Quality education, North Korea
What is oligarchy?
small group who has control of a country
Ex: Russia
what is theocracy?
govt in which priest rule in name of god or a god
Ex: Iran & Israel
what is democracy?
govt by popular or eligible members of state
Direct democracy
what is the cyclical change framework?
idea is that politics comes in cycles
True when it comes to election
why?-some truths to talking when we look at & zoom out. Not just talking about elections there’s some truth we look at broader cycles of policy
what is the progressive era?
Industrial revolution created great wealth but also problems
Problems inequality, child labor, no weekends (working conditions)
The book The jungle is a good example of which era?
Progressive era
Raise empathy of those in bad conditions
What are some conservative backlash in conservative contraction in 20s?
economic expansion & low unemployment typically lead to harsher attitudes towards the poor.
What era does the Great Gaspy portray?
Conservative contraction 20s
what is the great depression era?
worldwide economic catastrophie
Unemployment in US as high as 25%
International trade decreased by 50%
what was govt response to Great depression era?
FDR & his New Deal politics, most profound & inflection point in 20th centruy (dem control house of rep)
what was the conservative contraction in 50s?
post ww2 of big time economic expansion
Govt money spent on this (warbonds)
Cooling off on social programs
Transfer of federal power
who is Eisnhower and what era does he belong in?
He is from the conservative contraction 50s
he is a textbook republican, famous for military,
what is conservatism really about?
balanced budgets & moderation
What is the great society era?
JFK has lots of progressive ideas that are getting mixed reception in Comgress
Assassination result in huge out pouring of smpathy
Lots of policies passed
LBJ makes good on these ideas
what are the 2 govt expansions?
1) war on poverty
(Ex: medicare, welfare safety net)
2) Civil Rights
(Ex: Fed involved in elections)
What is a good example of govt expansion?
Outlaws of Jim Crow (Civil Rights act)
what was the Reagan & modern conservatism era?
Reagon described govt not as a solution to problems but problem itsefl
Major blacklash
Major push to cut taxes & regulations
What is difference between Reagon & Eisenhower?
Eisenhower more policy work
Reagon more partisan
Reagon less concern w/ deficits
What is neoliberalism era?
Backlash is powerful & even liberals get in govt retrenchment to some extent
Clinton- end welfare as we know it
What was Obama era?
Obama signals an end of neoliberalism
Affordable Care Act makes good on a liberal policy goal of decades
Ex: universal health care
what is the swift backlash?
Trump admin engaged in major rollback of regulation on the buereacratic level
Role back of America’s on the world stage
What is macroscopic?
is policy fair? just good for people or bad
What is microscopic?
does this policy accomplish its goals?
What is policy evaluation?
examine content, implementation or impact of policy
What are the evaluation steps?
1)define stakeholder (who affected)
2) describe program (what does it do)
3) Gather evidence (qual/ quantitative)
4) draw conclusions (meet goal, can it be improved)
5) tell people about it
what was the Democrat as universal human value about?
main argument: stregnth of democracy. It basis value to help government reflect on itself.
what are the 2 values mentioned in the Dem as universal human value?
helps give people benefits
famine doesn’t happen in democratic party places. There are ways to thrive & not face famin no matter what level of poor country.
Democracy is a western value but not a bad way to see it
Democracy is expensive but if it works than failed policies should be voted out
what is public opinion in Democratic system?
collection of attitudes, opinions, & preferences of general public
what was Dynamic representation article about?
opinion influence policy in 2 ways:
1) Direct responses (win elections/ campaigns)
2) Electionas will change composition (indirect)- some dont bother (ignore) no response
Democratic govt should reflect opinion
No idea public policy is doing b/c we imagine people not responding correctly
who are the founders of public opinon?
Hamilton: people are turbulent & changning
Madison: the great danger is that majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority
what is the electoral college?
Supposed to represent smaller states, state legislatures a pointing who would be the best president. Each state gets 2 + members of house members
Still least democratic in constitution
How democratic is the senate (representation)?
1 person 1 vote, all vote count= but some states have more representaion (Ex: Wyoming )
How democratic is senate (election)?
way elect is not through popular vote
how democratic is judical power?
powerful policy makers. We wanted to be neutral (partisan)
Many states now gave up & let them vote
What is a limitation in judicial power?
congressional power
not proportional, house of representatives most democratic
what determines the size of electoral college?
distribution of voters in a give election
Ex: Every dem moved to Cali, Biden would win pop vote but Trump would win electoral
What is the minority party rule?
party receives fewer votes but still retains (or gain power)
Ex: Dem & Rep both have 50 seats in Senate but Dem senators represent 41 mil more americans
what are multiple access points ?
idea that many non government groups use their resources to exert influence
(ideally we want every sizeable group in society to have a seat at the table)
Does democracy work?
Yes if they have:
Voting
Voting in meaningful election
Public to attempt (be aware) of policies
What word describes a problem due to lack of knowledge & Apathy?
Rational ignorance
what is the american electorate?
Aggregate, the american electorate display some systematic tendencies (responsiveness to the world)
more govt= liberal
less govt= republican
What is the thermostatic model?
people move to one side altogether & vice versa
How does the Thermastatic model work?
Aggregation gain (wisdom of crowd)
Ex: Guess the world series, people messy answers will average out
what is aggregation gain and individual & electorical level?
Individual level: lot of randomness
Electorical level: appears to be some cohernt movements public is reacting
Does opinion matter?
Yes but be careful
Thermo movement is not very sophisticated (no nuance to it)
what was the Dynamic Representation article about?
Hypothesis: Does democracy work
What data/ methods used? Look at public opinion (survey)
They wanted to see Policy is responding to liberal or conservative
-mobilization, take bills that are obvious to which side it for, count votes based on response. those split compared to those who tend to vote 1 sided. it will show liberals & conservatives
Conclusion: Direct & indirect policy is tided up. members of house have direct repsonse compared to senate. harder for senate b/c its very large
what is public organize?
Political parties:
(worry about factualism (us vs them mentality)
more fundamental)
Interest groups:
worry they will take over
benefits those
members of legisltature get info by individual research/ interest group
Social movements:
successful movements that lead to successful policies
What are parties?
are groups that organizse to win offices
-not hard to find people who agree
-heroistic (brand name expert)
-safe choice to just vote for someone
what is a critique of 2 party system?
leds to animosity while more than 2 brings unity
what are the 3 party structures?
party in government (actual elective officials)
party organization (actual people & orgs)- institutional apparatus
party identification (in electorate)
what is split taking vote?
asked to vote & you mix match your choices
who are the people in the party electorate?
both dem & rep have millions of followers who claim to be party members
What is party id?
stable, psychological attachment to a party, information shortcut for voters
What the relationship of parties & ideology?
political parties are structured around ideologies beliefs
-dem/ liberalism, social repsonsibility, strong safety net
-rep/conservatism limited govt, personal responsibility
-partison attachment…
What creates a 2 party system?
Single member plurality electoral institutions
What are interest groups?
any group other than a party that is org to influence govt (lobbying)
what do most interest groups focus on?
they focus on business due to money & can cohorse
what is public interest group?
lobbying for everything else, not interested in profit just social change
What are access groups to members of congress?
legislatures tend to grant more access to 2 types of groups: Groups that represent constituents & groups that contribute to their campaign
what is indirect lobbying?
sway people to join
What causes a successful lobbying?
they do more often than boring topics.
they focus on tiny issues b/c someone is already doing the big topic. Allows them to gain more money. Helps small # of people
what are social movements?
groups that use pop participation to influence the govt. Aren’t formal orgs. Can be made up of many interest groups
Taken to the streets
Why do some social movements succeed in moblizing people while others fail?
overcoming collective action programs
established groups & organizations (resource mobilization)
EX: tea party, BLM
What is the policy process?
Problems are prioritized & solutions implemented.
(public problems & cared through solution)
What are 2 systems in policy process?
Formal rules of system- written words but mean nothing if not taken seriously(14th amendment)
Informal rules of systems- how or if it should be applied (Trump running for 2024, some say shouldn’t due to Jan 16)
What are individual actors?
policymakers
What do constitutions accopmlish?
establish rule of law in a society
Modern constitution:
alianable rights- make rules & then respect/ treasure them.
guidingright to the right path
what is the articles of confideration?
1st constitution ratified of 1781
each state has 1 vote/ equal vote
What is policymaking friction?
asks what are the impediments to changing policy (or making new policy)
Ex: Monarchy has little policymaking friction
Does increase friction make a stronger status quo?
yes, important in the lobbying book. think of friction as variable across the govt
What are some policy making institutions?
elected: president, congress
un-elected: courts, bueracracy, constitution actually says almost nothing about the role of the courts & bueracracy
Ex: supreme court doing judicial review (abortion right/wrong)
What are some multiple levels?
federal govt, state govt (local govt)
media coverage spends most time of federal level policy
-missing bipartisanship, policymaking
What does congress do?
designed to be most powerful branch.
federalist papers
primary law making body
What is bicameral?
representation through a bicameral legislature
the house & senate
compromise between big & small states
Also designed to provide friction
What is the legislature process?
bill introduced
committies (get introduced than passed through next phase or gone)
-vote through majority, minority does have seat but most likely will get bill passed or voted on if majority doesn’t like it
House (rules commit)
Floor (voting on it)
Both sides meet to get on same side
What does the president do?
Balancing different interests.
Pass fathers concern was they would turn to a monarchy
What is a unique institution?
Powerful yet restrained
Congress & courts have antecedents, president doesn’t
What is the head of state?
symbolic (embodies values, traditions)
“above” politics is a unifying symbol
What is head of govt?
Increase political office (most visible) so tensioin w/ heat of state
Policymaking
Ex: LBJ was good at it
(wa good at setting an agenda b/c of, media attention)
What are the constitutional base of Presidential power?
Enumerated powers:
-signing bills into law, execute the law, military authority, issue pardons, diplomacy, veto legislation, gets to appoint embassador, meant to be weak but grown overtime
What are things that shaped modern presidency?
actions of individual presidens change scope of the executive
(G. washington started the cabinet system & emphasized implied powers)
line of action during civil war
what are some orders/ assignments that impacted policy?
Executive orders can be used for major policy changes
President can get suid- Ex:Biden did w/ student forgiveness loan
President can get rid of any old executive order
Avoid waiting for legislation
Executive agreements to avoid Senate
Sining statements explain how president interprets the law
What are the levels of friction?
Increase of congress
Courts (house/senate)
Presidents
Congress designed to be the most powerful branch
What was the lobbying & policy change ch1-6 about?
Status quo bias is every powerful
(lobbying often fail due to this)
Hard to measure since they fail
Money is not nearly predictive
Role of money- if rich & powerful you aren’t worried about making policies but trying to cause things to fail EX: corporate interest
EX: Big Pharma worried they will try to prevent/ slow it down from passing
survey lobbyist & seeing what they bring.
Who is doing the status qou & where?
The power of the status quo extends not only to policies themselves,
but also to the ways lobbyists, journalists, and officials think and talk about those policies.
What is policy process compared to?
Nuts & bolts.
All the things we’ve been reviewing
(how bills become laws, etc)
How do we establish judical power?
Little in constitution regarding judicial checks on other branches
(Supreme court is highest, very little donw in courts other than have leway, congress power to check supreme court)
Power establikshed (judicial review, supremacy of federal courts- give playbook on certain thing were to cover up)
What is the judicial review?
Judiciary Act of 1989 est lower courts
Act also allowed federal officials to ask courts for a writ of mandamus
What are some details about the Marbury vs Madison?
John Adams lose election to Jefferson does midnight appointment these judges would go against jefferson, jefferson goes to Madison & told him whatever sent can be put aside. This messed up & writ of mandanus was sent
What was a concern in the marbury vs Madison?
Jefferson would ignore supreme court & vote against Marbury they side w/ Jefferson
Then allow Marbury to be there & supreme court has no reason to do a writ of mandanus
How was the judicial review establish?
Marbury decison empowered the court to declare a law unconstitutional
Supreme & federal courts only do
Who decides who gets to hear the case in judicial review?
courts needs jurisdiction
judicial review more accepted & more frequently used overtime
What is the Obama ACA & the courts?
constitutionally of ACA was taken up by the courts in the summer of 2012
National federation of independent business vs sebelius
Roe v wade important policy & overturn the policy (supreme court did it)
what is the 3 model of court decision making?
legal- law says the something from constitution
ideological- understanding judges are political (have preference)
strategic- trying to balance 1&2 at the same time (if to ideological, we can go backwards from our progress)
What is the federal bureaucracy?
refers to agencies
(rare to interact w/ elected officials,)
civilian & military bureaucracies
burecrats= who work for govt & not elected officials
(appointed or hired, cant be fired for political reason,can be hired in local level, implement policies congress & pres. decide upon)
What are the bureacrats as policy makers?
administrative law made w/in the executive bureacracy
EX: Cherron v National Resources Defense Council 1984 (Environment protection agency-protect air)
Est. legal standard for upholding an agency authority to write law in specific area
major challenge in contemporary times
what is the bureacratic drift?
<————————————————->
more lib more conservative
<——————–>
Agency drift
(policy preference of congress or pres.) used through out time
What is Coalition drift?
<————————————————->
more lib more conservative
Agency
(Policy preference of congress or Pres.)
we don’t really want a drift
used in obama to trump
What is the Iron Triangle?
Congressional committies & subcommities can go either to bureaucratic agency or interest groups. Vise versa
Can go to bureaucratic agency to interest groups or congressional committies & subcommitties. Vise Versa
Why do iron triangles collapse?
triangle existing & lots of these things happening & not knowing much of there specific things
Why is the iron triangle a concern to democrats?
we continue to see the same thing & not helping the things that need to
Ex: Budget going to defense & not nutrition
(Helps keep the status qou)
What is the Semi Equilbrium?
means position that can’t be improved upon
Status qou that wouldn’t change
Thought not to exist in politics but temporary equilibrium are very common
whats venue shopping?
lots of options for people who want to change policy
Legislature doesn’t work try courts or bureaucracy or another level of govt
(EX: Strategy of NAACP during civil war)
What was the Slow Rolling Fast Tracking & PAce of Bureaucratic article about?
Looking at administrative law, looking at bureaucratic drift, Pressure on agency, They try to wait it out & new transitions w/new president can just throw out the rule that was thinking of being passed.
What is the information processing?
How the govt sets the agenda
What is the rational choice (Comprehensive or economic rationality)?
initial point of comparison
(used to build formal theories)
social phenemona are extremely complicated so we try to reduce to simple methods
bounded rationality
What is utility maximizing?
any situation, people will make decisions in a way to maximize their utility.
(think money)
What are the voting calculus?
vote= benefit (likelihood a vote is making a difference)
if bad or good probably wont vote
If benefits outways the cost you vote
BUT you HAVE to outway the individual action you have in voting
what are some limitations to rational choice?
lots of people voting
Model has limited usefulness
Why they vote? Messy stuff that makes us human- peer pressure, civil duty, & socialization
What is bounded rationality?
Herbert Simon artcle talks about this.
People do seek to maximize their utility but operate w/ severe time & info
contraints leading to satisfaction
we cant consider all problems & all facts at all times. leads to disproportionate attentin to certain problems or framing
What are the realities of human decision making?
messy but necissary if we want to understand patterns of change in social system.
Ex: economic bubbles- investing in crypto
What are cognitive frictions?
another word for bounded rationality
imagine these frictions being ramped up or down
They are going to be there
What is the diagram of the policy process?
Problem definition+ agenda setting
l
Policy Formulation
l
policy legitimation->policy implementation
-Policy implementation
-Policy evaluation & change
–> goes back to problem/ agenda
How to determine a problem in policy?
1) determine if problem exists
2) appropraite problem for govt to solve
(think of it as a detection)
What is the power of ideas?
define problems goes a long way we decided to solve them
-causal stories (how much control agency did they have on situation)
EX: is addiction a disease or personal failing?
What is the social construction of target populaton?
An example would be havign 3 homeless people
1) 30yr
2)vet in wheelchair
3) young child
-most likely to help 3-2-1 in that order.
- based on causal stories- 1 seen as lazy, 3 has no agency
How do we determine who is deserving v undeserving?
welfare system sensitive to distinguishing between who deserves benefits
What is the racialized debate?
welfare has long history of racialized stereotyping (Ex: welfare people driving cadillacs)
some people undeserving
strapping young buck using food stamps to buy steaks
What is welfare?
social secerity & medicare do more to help people than food stamps
What are issues with agenda setting?
range of problems that decision makers will consider given period.
can be very large but all agendas are created
What is institutional frictions
Are things that slow down policyrapid decison making.
Ex:
Features of US institutions that limit agenda space?
-dual chambers
-president veto
-filibister
-frequent election calendar
differing institutional design can mitigate these to some degree.
How many things can you pay attention to at once?
studies show that working memory can accommodate about 4-8 time
How do we make complicated decisions?
1) heuristies
2) Satisficing
(seems obvi but for ages economic & political model were based on perfect rationality)
What is the policy information?
process of writing policy
decided solution & problem are going to pair off
What are the capabilities of policies?
they are more salient than lot of people give it credit
What are policy legitimation and what is the process?
we identified a problem
a way to solve it
Time to 1) build support in legislature 2) build support among public 3) pass it into law
What are policy implementation?
bureaucrats are involved
Mission are relatively straightforward
(Ex: social security)
some are very difficult
Ex: landing on the moon
What are the 2 popular frameworks?
Causal stories & social contructions
What is a theory?
need hypothesis (an argument) that is testable & falseside ability
What is framework?
not falseable, strucutred explanation for the way something works.
What is each theory trying to answer?
trying to answer the question of how & when policies change overtime
What is conflict expansion?
notion useful for political scientist (created by:schattachnider)
political conflicts are debates & disagreements over the public policy
Who is involved in conflict expansion?
Iron triangle
the complexity of not being able to be experts in everything so we have specific experts for those issues
(they are trying to find solutions to problem)
under preview of policy subsystem
What is policy subsystem
accept way of thinking about an issue & an accepted group of people who get to participate in decision making
What are some examples of conflict expansion?
Gun control- NRA argues freedom, american culture, & protection
Pollution- lung cancer, job creation, energy security
What is multiple streams theory?
Created by John Kingdon
Envision 3 streams: Problem, policy, political
What is a policy window in multiple stream?
when they are more independently but intersect at one point
What is problem stream in multiple streams?
perceptions of public problems
-social construction & problem definition
is it seen as a problem
problems can get worse or better
what is policy stream in multiple streams?
given a problem, what are the potential policy solutions
This is technocratic (or often partisan) element
Ex: Homelessness, Ozon layer
what are the macro political factors in multiple streams?
foreign intervention of govt
composition of govt
elections
public policy mood
interest group advocacy
Ex: Covid, Affordable care act
What is incrementalism theory?
created by wildarsky
concerned primarily w/ budgets
(it changes slowly) why?partisanship (gridlock) keeping status quo
they look at what they have & see if some programs need more than others
What is the policy response function in punctuation equilibrium theory?
idea policymakers take what they did last year & add new info & marginal adjustments
(alternative is zero base budget- untenable for large orgs)
Is it true about policy response function?
Yes, best predictor of this years budget is last years budget BUT execptions- rare periods when policies change dramatically in short period of time
What is punctuated equilibrium?
Created by Jones & Baumgartner
term by Gould to describe rate of species evolution
Idea is govt is disproportionate processor of info
What is the info processing?
institutional & cognitive frictions means that most issues most of the time ignored
-pressure behind these issues build
-eventually released in policy punctuation
EX: earthquake
What are the implications in incremental theory?
disconnect between size of problems & the policy response they provide
Instability (long periods of stasis, punctuated by short periods)
Why shold cognitve one’s matter?
govt large, hierarchical orgs
division of labor should mitigate effects of individuals cognitive biases
what is required in creating new policy?
requires concentrated attention of gatekeeprs
Where do individuals come from when making decisions?
Habitual learned respones
Deliberation
(Biases arise as hardwired, evolutionary short cuts, thoughts to reduce cognitive error on average)
What is limited attention spam?
Magical #7, plus minus 2 (george miller 1956)
most decisions are assoicated w/move pieces of relevant info
What is recency biases?
privilege more recent info over older info
(can be problem w/problems that occur periodically over longer periods)
Ex: Trend in crime dropped but media attention shows its increasing though still low compared to back then)
What is anchoring?
decisions are influences by an anchored reference point (status quo)
-end anchoring= using 1st reference point to compare other observations is common
1st piece of info we use when making decisions
what are some examples of anchoring in politics?
Policy evaluations- does this policy change turn out like implementing voter id law
what is shifting baselines?
similar to anchoring & recency bias
When underestimate constructive small changes in 1 direction
Ex: boiling frogs- shift baseline of making policies
what about the public in policy?
public opinion important in put then we should care about public perception of political events
susceptibility to framing is very important
what is loss aversion?
people hate losses more than they enjoy gains
means that how policies are framed will affect willingness to engage w/ various solutions
-people focus on negative framing
what is the availability cascade?
idea accumulates credibility as it spreads
a concern for conspiracy theories, which are subject to increase return
What is confirmation bias?
tendency to search for & favor info that suppoer 1 prior belief
my side right other wrong
quick to dismiss info
leads to selective exposure
what is fake news?
hear from political candidates
not many get involved in untrustworthy webs but still get info from somewhere
spread through facebook & emails
How can cognitive biases be mitigated in decision making?
group decisions
remember aggregation gain
markets tend to be info efficient
(bubbles still happen)
What is a policy bubble example?
tulupes in netherlands being sold high since seemed to be rare thing but they end up finding out it just flowers
another example of policy bubble?
tough on crime
-3 strike laws
-lots young people incarcerated
- now lots of old people in prison
what is polarization?
political ideology- leaving the middle to one side of the scale
what is public polarization?
party & members polarizations
how do we measure polarization?
can be measured in a survey, based on answers it can determine which side you are or middle
majority are mixed
what is congressional polarization?
sealing measure
similar way of measure to public polarization.
-look at bills code them to determine if its liberal or conservative
-determine which you vote for shows which side you are on or middle
which party system leads to more polarization?
2 party system
what are the 2 dimensions?
public polarization- disagreements about policy goals (ex: want active armforce or armforced that doesn’t intervine)
affective polarization- lifestyles & values (politics as social id)
why are we so polarized?
primary system itself depends on people to show up
social media = eco chambers, easy to hate people online
what are some of those main things to lead polarization?
media echo chambers
economic inequality
realignment
unmajoritarian
how does inequality play role in polarization?
looking at polarization & then looking at gini index (wealth) they are close to the same
why is this (polarization)?
big spending political donors tend to have more extreme preferences
-likely to support similar candidates
social status become important
what is realignment?
slow process, self reinforcing
Less interactions
what are some places to have realignment?
airport, applebees, olivegarden
WHat is the great sort?
great sort happened in 1906 when south went from democrat to republican
Why did it take so long to realign?
party identification
when is polarization reduced?
when people w/in coalitions have cross cutting attitudes
What is the economic divergence/ isolation?
closer you are to the city more democratic you are and if in rural more republican
what is the 2 step process in realignment?
unmajoritarian electoral system-more extreme candidates
elite discource drives people apart
Does degree of unmajoritarian vary over time?
yes, based on geographic distribution
what is the delegate paradox?
if a state had every district 51-49 republican than republicans wins in theory. this can result in lopsided state govt. (consequence to single member district)
what are some misconceptions to being polarized?
individual see their party as moderate compared to looking at other parties
what are potential consequences to polarization?
major increase in gridlock (institutional friction)
ability of govt to solve problems or even attend to them is compromised
What is happening with laws passed today?
we are seeing fewer passed but length of bill growing
why?window to pass bill is small so they put as much as they can in 1
What is politicalization?
process by which an idea becomes politicalized (incorporated)
Ex: abortion, climate change, gun control
what are bad ideas?
stop assigning policies critically & start doing so emotionally
feel that our identities are at stake
how can we tell what is high democracy?
peaceful transfer of power.
Ex: norway 1 in democracy, US in 26 & trending downwards due to faith going down
