Short Answers Due January 22 Flashcards
What is a Government?
Government is the institutions that make public policy. Government also shapes how we live. In the case of the United States government the institutions are The president, congress, the courts and Federal administrative agencies (“ the bureaucracy). Also there are thousands of state and local governments will also decide on policies that will influence our lives.
What is politics?
politics is explained as “the process determining the leaders we select and the policies they pursue. Politics produces authoritative decisions about public issues” (Edwards 11).
pluralist theory
Pluralist theory is the academic claim that power is in fact, and should be, dispersed. To restrain popular rule. -> to prevent tyranny, They believe enough gets done and the govt is working.
“the division of power among many groups and individuals in society”
According to pluralist theory, power should be divided so that competing groups are forced to compromise rather than accomplish nothing at all, and the compromising keeps one group or individual from dominating all others.
The Elite Theory
The elite theory is the belief that the privileged members of society are the ones who have the power and ability to make policies despite the recognized government system as a democracy. According to this theory, the power in America is not divided amongst the people equally or at all for that matter, rather, the elite are in control.
It holds that power is concentrated in the hands of a currupt elite, but is should be divided among many
What is anti-pluralist theory?
“the many competing groups are so strong that government is weakened, as the influence of so many groups cripples government’s ability to make policy”. this theory says the government is “unable to act” because of the amount of groups that are having influence on it.
POWER IS DIVIDED AND IT SHOULD NOT BE DIVIDED
In what way are ELITE AND ANTI-PLURALIST THEORY are opposite of one another?
Both agree that how the government is running is wrong, and believe there should be a change. Therefore, the government would not go about changes
Constitutionalism
the constitution is simply “a nation’s basic law” that distributes the power throughout the government.
What is interesting about the timing of the Declaration of Independence vis-à-vis the beginning of the revolutionary war?
Declaration of Independence (1776) a year after the war began
U.S fraying from britain. U.S declared it’s own independence to be free
Shay’s Rebellion
a series of attacks on courthouses by a small band of farmers led by Revolutionary War Captain Daniel Shays to block foreclosure proceedings; due to taxing.
Shays’ Rebellion facilitates another and more successful effort to amend or change the Articles of Confederation by demonstrates the flaw of the political system, which was governed by the elite rich people.
What does Madison mean by his recommended “republican remedy”?
He had a negative view of americans; selfish, vain, aggressive, mainly looking out for theirselves.
Cures to this issue:
abolish liberty
give everyone the same opinion
He suggests to pick power against power, dividing power, so one power can’t overt
one power-> providing a solution
Check & Balances
Madison was worried about “majority faction” structuring the government where the majority don’t have as much power
the United states government
The Articles, our founders would have needed to amend them using the rules of the Articles (seeking unanimous support) rather than using the rules they made up and for which they were seeking ratification (two third’s support: 9 states).
The New Jersey Plan, the Virginia Plan and the Connecticut Compromise
called for each state to be equally represented in the Congress. Congress are split into two so they can check each other -> Checks & balances
Federalists and Anti-Federalists
The Federalists are the ones that support and Anti-Federalist are those who oppose the Constitution. Anti-Federalist didn’t want to ratify the Constitution because they believed the government had too much power and it would take away their rights and they didn’t want to lose them again. The Federalists believed that the separation in powers actually protected their rights. We now have a Bill of Rights to assure Americans of the rights they have and protect them.
America as a republic rather than a direct democracy
republic is a form of government in which the people select representatives to govern then and make laws
Democracy is a system of selecting policymakers and of organizing government so that policy represents and responds to the public preferences
Checks and Balances and separation of powers
Checks and Balances is a vital part of our constitution, with checks and balances each branch of the government (the legislative, judicial and executive branches) cannot become more powerful than another branch. It balances the power equally. Each branch can “ check” to make sure that one of the branches is not getting more powerful than the others
Separation of powers is different from what Checks and Balances is. Separation of powers makes sure that each of the three branches of government would be somewhat, but not fully independent of one another. This is a good thing, because like in Checks and Balances not one branch can be in control of the other branches, the power that exists is shared among the three branches.
