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Dafina Amin 2-4-13 Politics Exam #1 Study Guide

Vocabulary:
1. Politics: The process of who gets what, when and how, described by Harold Lasswell. Whenever you have conflicting POVS, politics attempts to reconcile. Politics is everywhere and can be applied to any situation. Lasswell also wrote The study of politics is the study of influence and the influential. 2. Power: simply the ability to influence anothers behavior. Power is getting people to do something they wouldnt otherwise do. Power may involve force (often coercion), persuasion, or rewards. 3. Representative Democracy: 4. Natural Rights: Rights youre born with which include equality, freedom, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 5. Social Contract: Contract between government and citizens. Government is their to protect our rights and if we feel they are not doing so, we have the right to alter or abolish it. 6. Tom Paine: Wrote a pamphlet called Common Sense a few months before declaration admiring how Americans had the ability to start a whole new society, and civilization for themselves. 7. Declaration of Independence 8. Power Theories 9. Iron Law of Oligarchy: Political theory developed by Gernman syndicalist sociologist Robert Michels in 1911 in his book Political Parties. It claims that rule by an elite, or oligarchy, is inevitable as an iron law within any organization as part of the tactical and technical necessities or organization. 10. De Tocqueville: French aristocrat who worried about the quiet despotism of Americas politics. 11. Thomas Jefferson: Main contributor to the Declaration of Independence. 12. Direct Democracy: The pure majority rule. 13. Inalienable Rights: Rights that the government cannot infringe upon 14. Government: Political association that does 1) makes rules determining who will get societys values (wealth, respect, safety, resources) and 2) it alone regulates the use of legitimate force in society. 15. Majority Rule vs Minority Rights 16. Pluralism/Plural Elitism 17. Consensus: Basic agreement on the general political ideals and goals of society. Agreement on rules and results is the cement that holds society together. Specific examples include agreeing on the importance of civil liberties and the goal of equality of opportunity. 18. C. Wright Mills: a sociologist who wrote the Power Elite, the best known study of elite control in the United States, and who maintained that American

politics was dominated by a unified group of leaders from corporations, the military, and politics. 19. Harold Lasswell: Political scientist who supplied famous definitions of politics. 20. Robert Dahl: Wrote Who Governs? which is a classic study supporting the pluralist model. He examines several important issues, such as urban development and public education, to see who made the key decisions. He concluded that the people influential in education policy were not the same as those involved in urban development or political nominations. He concluded there were a number of different economic and social groups wielding political power in New Haven.

Essays:
1. Explain the significance of social contract theory in understanding American Government. Compare and contrast the theoretical perception of Hobbes and Locke regarding the state of nature and why people form government. a. As we understand it, the social contract is basically a contract between the government and the people implied in the Constitution. If at any time the people feel the government is not representing best interests, we the people have the right to rebel. Rebelling meaning to revolution and hold re-elections. We expect certain things from our government just like our government expects certain things from the people, ex. Obeying laws. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were both British philosophers with very different views regarding the state of nature. The state of nature refers to the state man was in when first placed into the world. Hobbes had a very pessimistic point of view regarding mans state of nature. He believed that when man first appeared in the world, the world was chaotic because man was basically born evil. The state of nature of man was beastly and animalistic, selfish, greedy, and they would do anything at the expense of someone else. Only the strong survived. Without order, man was at risk of destroying himself. Locke believed that government was created in order to secure security. He felt the remedy to the chaos created by man was a single sovereign, a king, to impose rules and law and order to maintain harmony; a strong leader that unafraid to use cold-blooded tactics. Government is there to tell us right from wrong. And for the security and order given to us, we in turn give up our freedom, in order to survive. No one is born with rights. Locke didnt believe in inalienable rights. He believed because man was so bad by nature, we didnt deserve rights. Locke had a much more optimistic point of view. He believed that man came to this world as a blank slate. We arrive free, equal,

cooperative, and independent. We are not born evil. Rather, we learn to become evil, we are forced by outside forces. Man chooses to live with others in order to gain security and to pursue happiness he couldnt attain alone. Inalienable rights, aka god given rights, amount them Locke says, life, liberty, and property (meaning our soul and mind). Government has no right to tell us what to believe. He advocated the separation of church and state. He also believed that instead of a single sovereign such as a king, the people could be trusted to govern themselves under the right conditions. He believed that even the average laborer could be just as wise as a prince, or king. And man formed government for their human cooperative needs and desires, basically for economic reasons. So in summary, Locke believed we came into the world, regardless of who we are, we are given inalienable rights. And in order to insure them, the government is there to protect those rights. If they fail, we the people must abolish it. Although Hobbes and Locke have very contrasting views, they agree that the main motive for man to establish government is to maintain security and order in society. 2. What is the relationship of the social contract with Jeffersons contentions in the Declaration of Independence? As offered in lecture, explain the seven main philosophical principles of the document. To what extent has America extent has America fulfilled these aspirations? Explain and offer examples. a. Thomas Jefferson, who had little to say during collaboration meetings over the Declaration of Independence, was thrown into the role as the main writer. The ideas for the Declaration of Independence were inspired by John Locke and Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet called Common Sense a few months before the Declaration of Independence was written. Paine was basically saying how the Americans had in their power to start a whole new society and civilization for themselves. Paines envy and somewhat support to America separating, it was hard for Jefferson not to like and agree with his views. Because Jefferson was a John Locke supporter, Jefferson in turn was an optimist and believed man to be naturally good. This is why he even begins by writing we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. This statement could be difficult for many to understand. But it seemed Jeffersons intention was to fight for a natural state, a utopia. He believed that when we all are born into this world, we have certain rights and are born free to do whatever we desire, as long as it does not infringe upon the rights of another human being. Individual rights were emphasized in tis document. This is different from laws the government enforces and we have to abide by. Jefferson even directly quotes Locke by writing we have certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. All he changed was property to happiness, and this was probably due to black slaves being referred to as property and he did not want any discrepancies to who were

permitted to these natural rights. He also figured no one would be against pursuing happiness. The government is only their as a service to serve our needs and to ensure to maintain our inalienable rights. If the government threatens to take our rights away, it is our right to alter or abolish it and institute new government. This is the social contract. The government expects certain things from the people and the people expect certain things from the government. And if the people do not feel the government is doing what is best for them, they have the right to change it. Jefferson then lists many different offenses they believed the King had committed. And because the Americans felt their rights were being infringed upon, they were preparing to rebel to establish a new government, because they believed it was their right to do so. Jefferson is arguing that the social contract between the people and government had been broken and that revolution was necessary in order to preserve their liberty. They were fighting to establish freedom, liberty, and the right to free local government for the 13 colonies. In lecture it was established that the Declaration of Independence had seven main philosophical principles. They were the following: natural rights, government by consent of governed, social contract, alienable vs. inalienable rights, right to revolution against oppressive governments to preserve liberty, popular sovereignty of the people, and equality. Natural rights mean that we are born with certain rights, which include equality, freedom, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. For the most part, America has fulfilled this aspiration. The government has not directly infringed upon the rights of others, however there have been slip ups when the majority has their support. At our present time, we Americans seem to have natural rights. Government by consent of government basically means that the people give up our right to govern to elect a representative to handle the job for us. The social contract basically means that the government is their only to secure our rights and they have a contract to the people to uphold this. If the government infringes upon their rights or the people are not happy with them, they have the right to change it. 3. What are 2-3 positives and 2-3 negative aspects of pure or direct democracy as discussed in class? Explain de Tocquevilles main critique and concern about democracy according to lecture. Do you agree or disagree with de Tocquevilles assessment? Why/why not? Lastly, what kind of government do we have in the United States? Explain in detail the five principles of this model as discussed in lecture. a. Direct democracy is the idea that the pure majority rules with little consideration for minorities. It places great faith in the people that they can make decisions for whats best for us, to do whats right. People would have A couple of positive aspects to pure democracy is

that it allows for quick change and no representatives are needed, just we the people rule. It allows for quick change because voting for issues would be directly resolved by the people. There will be no middlemen representatives. However, the problem with pure democracy is that, as demonstrated throughout history, the majority does not always know what is right. At one point in time, women were not treated equal to men, black people were forced into slavery for many years, Nazis sought out to kill every Jew. Even now, homosexuals are being denied several rights straight people have due to their sexual orientation. Pure/direct democracy risks the uninformed/uneducated citizen making the decisions for what we vote for. It can be extremely unstable and unfair. As a result, people would have to take the time to become knowledgeable in the issues. This is why the founding fathers did not want too much democracy because they didnt trust the peoples. They were the ones to establish that knowledgeable elitists would hold representative positions. Democracy has the potential to destroy itself from within. de Tocquevilles main critique about democracy was quiet despotism, the tendency for the masses to conform. He was worried that the majority is what often forces you to do what you want to do. The pressure of conformity stifles democracy and individual creativity. It works like mind control, people cannot think for themselves. Conformity is a dangerous thing. I agree with this assessment because even when we hold elections and we vote for new representatives, propositions, and laws we have limited choices. We are fed all sorts of propaganda to brainwash us into thinking what we think are our own opinions. With the media and the influence of powerful people, we are convinced to pick what we wouldnt necessarily agree with. The founding fathers opposed direct democracy, but they had to somewhat make it about the people. So instead they designed the U.S. model of government to be representative democracy. This allowed for people to exercise their power to elect representatives to make the best decisions for us. This allows for the government to be a step removed. Elections serves as a filtering system where we decide who will represent us based on their character and what they think is best for us. The following are the five characteristics of representative/republican democracy: popular sovereignty, regular and frequent elections, political choice, pluralism, and political liberty. Popular sovereignty is the ideal that the government will be responsive to the people. The ultimate power resides in we the people. The people are engaged in widespread participation through open debate for example, and the government in return will be responsive to the people. Regular and frequent elections are important because we hold representatives accountable for their actions. If we feel they do not accomplish what we wanted them to

accomplish, we have the ability to take them out of power. Also, it allows for a turnover of power, no gets too settled. New people and new ideas need to . When people are voting in a representative democracy, they need to have a political choice. They must feel like theyre really voting for a case. They must have choices, such as 3 or 4 political parties, rather than feeling like theyre picking the lesser of two evils. Representative democracy creates a nation of groups. And because there are groups, there must be a balancing of the groups in order for them to have an equal chance for policy making. No group necessarily dominates the other but they are constantly competing with one another. That is why a separation of powers was developed. And lastly, a representative government must have political liberty, meaning that ideally we would all have individual rights that would be absolute (freedom of speech, bear arms).

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