The document discusses several key concepts related to understanding American politics. It defines politics as the process of making collective decisions and allocating public resources. It also discusses institutions as codified constraints on behavior, including organizations within government and rules. The American political system is complex due to its federal nature with multiple branches and levels of government, as well as outside groups seeking to influence politics.

2. Understanding American Politics
– Politics refers to the process of making collective
decisions to allocate public resources and to create
and enforce rules for the operation of society.
– Institutions are codified constraints on behavior.
The term institution can refer to several things,
including organizations as large as a branch of the
government and systems as specific as rules for
conducting debates in Congress.
– The American political system is complex, in part due to
its federal nature and in part due to the wide array of
branches at each level of government and the many
organizations, businesses, and movements that seek to
shape politics.

3. Objective: Students
will…
• Consider the Electoral
College…
• Over 50% majority wins all
electoral votes, whilst less
than the majority total
votes from a state are
discarded.
• Had the institution for
choosing the president
been different, candidates
winning the popular vote
would win the presidency.
Explore examples
of political
outcomes that are
profoundly shaped
by the institutions
of government.

4. Essential Question: How does Federalism
work to solve collective dilemmas?

5. • Collective Dilemmas and the Need for Government
– A collective dilemma is a situation in which there is a
conflict between group goals and self-interest.
– Thomas Hobbes argued that concentrating power in a
sovereign with final authority would prevent society from
becoming a "war of all against all."
– Governments exist to solve the fundamental problem
that Hobbes articulated, as well as other collective
dilemmas that society faces.

6. Types of Collective
Dilemmas
A collective-action
problem refers to a
situation where
people are individually
better off trying
to free ride and
benefit from a public
good without
contributing to it, but
people as a group
would be better off if
they all contributed.

7. Types of Collective
Dilemmas
A prisoner’s dilemma is an
interaction between two
individuals in which
neither actor has an
incentive to cooperate,
even though both would
be better off if they
cooperated.
The collective-action
problem can be thought of
as a multi-person version
of the prisoner’s dilemma

8. • A coordination problem is a situation in which
two or more people are all better off if every
player chooses the same course of action, but
there may be disagreement about which course
of action is best.

9. A problem of unstable coalitions is one in which three
or more people must make a collective choice, but
any voting coalition for an alternative could be divided by
another proposal. One solution to this problem is
choosing an agenda setter who limits the alternatives
available to the group

10. • Principal-Agent Problems
– A principal-agent problem is any situation in which one person
(a principal) hires another (an agent) to do a job on the
principal’s behalf. The agent, however, may have incentives to
deceive the principal for personal gain.
– In government, the bureaucracy is often thought of as an agent
that implements policy on behalf of Congress and the president,
who are principals. A bureaucrat, is an un-elected agent.

11. • Designing Institutions
– Governments address collective dilemmas and principal-agent
problems by establishing institutions.
– The programs and decisions created by government are
called public policies.
– How institutions are designed early on can shape the kinds
of public policies that are created later on. This process is
called path dependence.

12. Types of Government Institutions
Political Systems-
Authoritarianism, dictatorship,
monarchy, oligarchy, and one-
party states.
–Democracy refers to rule by
the people. A true Republic, is
constitutionally based and
represented by those elected
by the people who legislate to
ideally protect political and
civil liberties; two common
criteria for evaluating how
democratic a nation is.

13. Types of Government Institutions
• Authoritarianism-
Govts do not represent
the people, nor do they
have a voice in their
government.
• Dictatorship- An
authoritarian political
system in which one
individual reigns with
sovereign power.
• Monarchies-King or
queen rules on the
most critical matters.
There is no competition
for his or her position.
• Oligarchies- Power
resides with a small
group, often shared
with a parliament or
monarch.
• One Party States-
another form of
monarchy.

14. Solving Collective Dilemmas using Federalism
Solving dilemmas in a Republic
• 1. The figure shows three
arrows coming from the
problem and pointing to
Institutions [A], [B], and [C],
respectively. Why is there
more than one institution
that the public can choose
to solve its collective
dilemma? Explain.

15. • 2. For each of the three
institutions, there is
only one arrow pointing
to a single possible
outcome. Why is there
only one outcome per
institution? Explain.

16. The Federalism Approach to Collective-Action
Problem Solving (pg. 23)• State Power
• Leaders of small states
argued in the Constitutional
Convention, 1787 for the
need of 2 Senators for each
state.
• Designing this institution
helps protect against
benefitting larger states at
the expense of smaller
states.
• Leaders of large states
wanted Congressional
representation based on
population (Path
Dependence until ‘60s.)
• Federal Power
• Baker v. Carr, 1962
• Wesberry v. Sanders
‘64
• Together, these
decisions mandated
that all districts within a
state (House and state-
level house and senate)
had to be roughly equal
in size.
• Prior to this, rural areas

17. • Analyzing Politics and Government
– In the context of this chapter, the 2009 stimulus
debate in the federal government can be
understood through two collective-action
problems: one among the public, which dislikes
taxes but likes government programs, and another
among politicians, who do not want to oppose a
popular program for electoral reasons but may
oppose it for the sake of a balanced budget.
– The story also illustrates that,
while institutions are designed to solve collective
dilemmas, some dilemmas will be solved while
others will persist.

18. What Happens When Institutions
Can’t or Won’t Solve Dilemmas?
Where do you go if your
representative,
Congressman and or
Senator, can’t fix your
problem?
What might be the
potential political result
of them not fixing the
problem?

19. THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM
PARTICIPANTS
 Individuals
 Groups
 Organizations
INPUT
LINKAGE INSTITUTIONS
 Voting
 Political Parties
 Interest Groups
 Media
POLICY AGENDA
GOVERNMENT
 Congress- statutes
 President- orders/decisions
 Courts- opinions
 Bureaucracy- rules and regulations
POLICY IMPACT
OUTPUT

20. WHAT DOES THIS MODEL
SAY ABOUT PARTICIPATION
IN THE POLITICAL PROCESS?

21. WAYS OF PARTICIPATING
•GETTING
ELECTED
•CAMPAIGN
•VOTING
•CONTACT
•GROUP
•PROTEST
•INACTIVE

23. HOW
Methods
WHO
Participants
INDIVIDUALS
• Candidates
• Officeholders
• Supporters
• Voters
GROUPS (DEMOGRAPHICS)
• Affluent/Poor
• Whites/Blacks/Hispanics/Asian
• Elderly/Young
• Working Class/Labor/Business Blue
Collar/White Collar
• Men/Women
• Farmers/Bankers/Real Estate
Construction/Sales
• Catholics/Protestants/Jews
• Northerners/Southerners
• Liberals/Conservatives
ORGANIZATIONS (FACTIONS)
• AFL-CIO
• AARP
• ACLU
• NRA
• DNC
Gets WHAT
Values
BROADLY: ADVANTAGES FOR
ONESELF OR FOR ONE’S GROUP
AT THE EXPENSE OF OTHER
INDIVIDUALS AND/OR GROUPS
(WINNERS & LOSERS)
• Deference
• Prestige
• Recognition
• Influence
• Access
• Jobs
• Contracts
• Public Policy
• Justice
• Status Quo
WHEN
Immediately
Later
And
• Platforms
• Campaigns
• Speeches
• Rallies
• Public relations
• Media exposure
• Registration
• Voting
• Campaign Finance
• Lobbying
• Grass Roots Politics
• Coalition Building
• Compromise
• Logrolling
• Intimidation
• Rewards
• Sanctions
• Bribery
• Violence
• Expanding the conflict

24. Agenda factors
 Scope of conflict
 Other competing
conflicts
 Influence and intensity of
competing groups
 Range of government
power and resources
Conflict among private groups
1Losers seek to expand the
struggle to attract
reinforcements
The issue gains visibility
through the media
2New forces are mobilized,
including candidates, parties,
and interest groups
New balance of power created
leading to renewed conflict
4
Policy impact on groups and the
public
The issue reaches the agenda of
government
3The government maintains the
status quo- or enacts new
programs

25. MAIN LINKAGE
INSTITUTIONS
• POLITICAL PARTIES
• INTEREST GROUPS
• ELECTIONS
• MEDIA
WHY CALLED
“LINKAGE”
INSTITUTIONS?

26. How do Political Parties link us to government?

27. How do Interest Groups link
us to government?

28. How do Elections link us to government?

29. How does Media link us to
government?

30. How does Congress make policy?

31. What are some ways the President can make policy?

32. When the Court issues an opinion,
is it making policy?

33. What is their role in policymaking?

35. What Exactly Are We Guaranteed?
• 7 Principles of the
Constitution
• Popular sovereignty
• Limited government
• Separation of powers
• Checks and balances
• Judicial review
• Federalism
• Republicanism

36. Do we have a right to Limited
Government?
• The idea of Popular
Sovereignty (rule by the
people) is associated with
the idea of republicanism
and social contract
philosophers such as
Thomas Hobbes, John
Locke, and Jean-Jacques
Rousseau.

37. Why is Limited Government
Important?
• Limited government is a
common practice through
Western Culture, but it also
has roots in Hebraic Law.
Another non-Western
example of Limited
Government was the
Magna Carta, which
restricted the King's power
to be above the law.

38. How is Limited Government
related to Federalism?
• http://
study.com/academy/lesson/constitutional-provisions-for-limited-govern

39. The Art of
Limited Government-

40. Marbury vs. Madison
Judicial Review
• An important part of Checks
and Balances, allowing the
Judicial branch to check the
power of both the
Legislative and Executive
branches for potential
unconstitutionalities.
Established after the
Marbury vs. Madison ruling.
•
Writ of Habeas Corpus
The means if you are arrested have
the right to a written statement
showing what crimes you are
charged with before you are
imprisoned before trial.

41. Republicanism
• "The United States shall
guarantee to every State in
this Union a Republican
Form of Government,..."
(Article IV Section 4).
• People have the power in
government .
• Republicanism uses elected
Representatives, who
represent the people in the
House of Representatives
and the Senate.

42. Political Terms to Know
optimal outcome equilibrium
a set action with the
characteristic that no player
wish to change their
behavior given the behavior
of the other players in the
model
if no other outcome exists that
makes some actors better off
without making anyone worse
suboptimal outcome
if another outcome exists that makes
some actors better off while making the
other actors worse off

43. Free Rider problem
Individuals have
incentive not to
contribute to a collective
effort yet enjoy the fruits
of everyone else's
contribution

44. Tragedy of the Commons
• an economic problem in
which every individual tries
to reap the greatest benefit
from a given resource. As
the demand for the
resource overwhelms the
supply, every individual
who consumes an
additional unit directly
harms others who can no
longer enjoy the benefits

45. Whom has Power of the Purse?
• Article I, Section 9,
Clause 7 (the
Appropriations
Clause)
• Article I, Section 8,
Clause 1 (the Taxing
and Spending
Clause).

46. Logrolling
Standard
bargaining
strategy in
which 2 sides
swap support
for dissimilar
policies.

47. Constitutional
Veneration
Individuals are
much less
supportive of a
proposal when it
would effect a
constitutional
change

49. Blind
reverence
Subtly encourages
citizens to cede
their authority to
change the
Constitution to the
very government
officials
Constitution is
meant to
constrain.

50. Game Theory
Tool used to
model strategic
interactions
between actors;
one actor's
preferred
outcomes will
depend on
actions of the
other

51. Rational Choice
Theory

53. Games of pure
conflict
Player's
preferences are
diametrically
opposed; most
boring game
ever.
Also called
zero-sum gain…
same in politics.

55. Nash Equilibrium
If both players have
dominant strategies,
then it's easy to
determine a game's
outcome; both are

58. POWER: A Hard or soft option?
HARD POWER- Coercion SOFT POWER-Diplomacy

61. Confederation
There is a national
gov. but most
decisions made at
state level; lower-
level gov. has
primary authority.
Example: Canada
is proclaimed to be
a confederation in
1867, by an act of
British Parliament.

62. Unitary
System
National
government all
powerful;
monopolizes
constitutional
authority

64. Federalism
‘Robust' balance
between a
confederation and
unified; significant
policymaking
powers reside at
sub-national level

65. The Size
Principle
The larger and
more diverse a
constituency,
the more
diluted the
influence of any
faction.

67. How Can a Political Faction
Manipulate the Masses into Giving
up Liberties?

73. Grants-in-Aid
Federal
Government
Provide money to
a state for a
specific purpose

76. President Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 “War on Poverty” and Cloward-Piven’s
1966 political strategy, the
total recipients on welfare rocketed from 4.3 million to 10.8 million from 1965 through 1
.
Today, roughly $1 trillion annually is given to more than 107 million
Americans who receive some type of government benefits – not including
Social Security, Medicare or unemployment.
In 2007, there were 26 million recipients alone of food stamps before Obama
took office. There are now a record 47 million and climbing. And that doesn’t
include the expansion of other entitlements (like Obamacare)
In 2012, Forbes already summarized Obama’s “success” of skyrocketing the
welfare society:
•An increase of 18 million people, to 46 million Americans now receiving food
stamps;
•A 122 percent increase in food-stamp spending to an estimated $89 billion
this year from $40 billion in 2008;
•An increase of 3.6 million people receiving Social Security disability
payments;
•A 10 million person increase in the number of individuals receiving welfare, to
107 million, or more than one-third of the U.S. population;
• A 34 percent, $683 billion reduction in the adjusted gross income of the top

80. Obamacare, will result in government expansion and expenditures by
2022 to the tune of:
•Federal expenditures on Obamacare will total $2.3 trillion, a $1.4 trillion
increase from the program’s initial estimates;
•The combination of budget cuts and sequestration will reduce defense
spending by $1 trillion, while total government spending will increase by
$1.1 trillion;
•Taxes will be increased by $1.8 trillion;
•Yet, the national debt will increase by another $11 trillion.
The Heritage Foundation summarized well: “In 1964, programs for the
poor consumed 1.2 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).
Today, spending on welfare programs is 13 times greater than it was in
1964 and consumes over 5 percent of GDP. Spending per poor person in
2008 amounted to around $16,800 in programmatic benefits.”
In the next 10 years, America will spend another $10.3 trillion on
programs for the poor.

81. The Heritage Foundation summarized it
: “In 1964, programs for the poor
consumed 1.2 percent of the U.S. gross
domestic product (GDP). Today,
spending on welfare programs is 13
times greater than it was in 1964 and
consumes over 5 percent of GDP.
Spending per poor person in 2008
amounted to around $16,800 in
programmatic benefits.”
In the next 10 years, America will spend
another $10.3 trillion on programs for the poor.

83. Estimated number of victims[edit]
Stéphane Courtois states that "Communist regimes... turned mass crime into a full-
blown system of government."[4]:2
According to Courtois, the death toll amounts to 94
million.[4]:4
The breakdown of the number of deaths given by Courtois is as follows:
•65 million in the People's Republic of China
•20 million in the Soviet Union
•2 million in Cambodia
•2 million in North Korea
•1.7 million in Ethiopia
•1.5 million in Afghanistan
•1 million in the Eastern Bloc
•1 million in Vietnam
•150,000 in Latin America
•10,000 deaths "resulting from actions of the international Communist
movement and Communist parties not in power."[4]:4
Courtois writes that Communist regimes are responsible for a greater
number of deaths than any other political ideal or movement,
including Nazism. The statistics of victims include deaths through
executions, man-made hunger, deportations, and forced labor.

84. Block Grants
State or local
gov. receives a
specific amount
of money to
spend for some
purpose

85. Matching Grants
Federal gov.
matches
money spent
by states on
specifically
approved
federal
projects.

87. Unfunded
Mandates
States may
be asked to
pay for the
administration
of the policies

88. Direct Orders
Requirements
that can be
enforced by
legal and civil
penalties

89. Developmental Programs
Provide the
physical and
social
infrastructure
necessary to
facilitate
economic
growth (Bridges,
roads, police)

90. Redistributive
Programs
Reallocate
resources from
the "haves" to
the "have-
nots"
(Welfare,
progressive
income taxes,
Socialism,

91. Sanctuary
Jurisdictions
Places that have
policies limiting
how local law
enforcement can
cooperate with
federal
immigration
agents.

92. Selection Effect
When some characteristic of a group is due
to the likelihood of joining or being
selected into a group.

93. Regression
line
Line that
best fits
the
pattern of
the data in
the
scatterplot

99. Rousseau’s Model
Simplified

100. Poster Project
Assignment
Create a visual info-
graphic poster,
showing causes and
effects of the ideas of
enlightenment
philosophers and the
flow of ideas that
contributed to ideas
and actions of our
Founding Fathers at
the start of the
American Republic.