Wk 1 Lecture Flashcards
1
Q
Structure of Module
A
•Will serve as an introduction to of US political system. Comprehensive and critical.
• Will look at key actors, institutions and contemporary issues.
• Will look at the role and influence of key ideas such as ‘democracy’, ‘power’ and the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, gender and wealth. • Grounded in analysis of domestic processes and politics, but draws on US foreign and economic policy.
2
Q
Key
questions…
A
• How does the US political system function? How is it organised? What are its primary characteristics?
• Is it fit for purpose? Does it deliver a successfully functioning ‘liberal democracy’?
• What problems can we identify with the US political system? How can we begin to think about possible solutions to these problems?
• Does the US Constitution still provide a useful template for the democratic resolution of political issues in the 21st century?
3
Q
US
‘Political
Culture’ INTRO
A
• What does it look like? • How can we identify it? What are it’s central features? • How important is it? How instrumental is its role in US politics?
4
Q
What
is
political
culture?
A
• Traditionally
hard
to
define
• Shared set of values, beliefs and practices by a national population around which politics is organised, conducted and performed.
• Permeates every aspect of US politics, from national governance to local politics.
• Does the US have an identifiable political culture?
5
Q
American
national
identity
A
In theory, American national identity is not based on ethnic homogeneity: There is no shared language, shared historical experience, shared religion, or shared culture. • Instead, to be ‘American’ is to subscribe to some shared core values.
6
Q
The
“American
Creed”
A
• Samuel Huntington. • Several “Core” American political values: • Liberty • Equality • Individualism • Democracy • Constitutional law
7
Q
Liberty
A
• Freedom is a commonly expressed American trait. • Freedoms in the Bill of Rights. • Yet, these freedoms were routinely denied to slaves, ethnic minorities and women.
8
Q
Equality
A
• Equality of opportunity, NOT equality of outcome • Historical legal restrictions on equality based on race and gender. • Social stratification of race, wealth, ethnicity, geography and religion contribute to highly unequal society.
9
Q
Individualism
A
• Prioritisation of the individual over the group. • Underlying assumption of politics, economics and law. • Enormous consequences for political debate: What role should the government play?
10
Q
Democracy
A
• Republican form of government • A lot of elected officials • Representative system. • Does it allow for the sufficient representation of the interests of all sectors of the American population?
11
Q
Constitutional
law
A
• Rule of law based on a Constitutional framework • The US constitution is a highly revered, quasi-‐mythical document • Rigid structure that has changed little in over 200 years. • What kind of society has this produced? What does the ‘rule of law’ look like?
12
Q
American
exceptionalism I
A
• Is the US fundamentally unique amongst the nations of the world? • Does the circumstances of its founding and it’s deliberate adherence to ‘E Pluribus Unum’ and the ‘American Creed’ make the ‘American experiment’ a special one, producing a fundamentally different polity from that found in other states?
13
Q
American exceptionalism II
A
• The ‘American experiment’ to form a ‘more perfect union’ • Idea that US society can be perfected, slow march of progress. • The nature of the American Creed and US national identity is fundamentally a good thing, US is not only different but better?
14
Q
Political
culture
under
Trump
A
• Traditionally a narrow spectrum of political discourse. • But punctuated by moments of intense partisanship. • 2016 election discourse was one such moment.
15
Q
Further aspect of political culture:
A
Strong regional identities Distrust of government
