DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

AND

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS



POSC 105

DEMOCRACY, POLITICAL CAPACITY, REFORM



  1. THIS MORNING:
    1. Why study the American political system?
    2. An argument in favor of national government


  2. GOVERNMENT IN A FREE SOCIETY:
    1. Perhaps the most important going on in Washington and throughout the country is the proper role of government in society.
      1. Is it too big? too remote? too impersonal? too inefficient?
      2. How can "our" problems best be solved? By individuals, neighborhoods, churches, associations, communities, and at most state and local government?
      3. What role does the national government have? Is it doing too much? Too little?
    2. What would you include on your list of legitimate national government activities or functions?
      1. National defense?
      2. Maintenance of law and order?
      3. Protection of the environment
      4. Education or should this be left to the states?
      5. The war against crime?
      6. The war against drugs? which drugs? cocaine? marijuana? Tobacco? caffeine, alcohol?
      7. The elimination of pornography?
      8. Enforcement of seatbelt and helmet laws?
      9. Control of television program content?
      10. Promulgation of national dress codes?
    3. Each person would probably cross off one or more of these possibilities.
      1. But hardly anyone would eliminate them all.
      2. So a key question is what should government do and not do.


  3. THE NATURE OF COLLECTIVE ACTION:
    1. The problem of the commons and rational (free) behavior: individuals acting rationally in their own interests can and frequently do bring ruin on the community and hence on themselves.
      1. Example to be discussed in class
    2. The problem of public goods;
      1. What would happen if Congress passed a law making support for the military voluntary, much as contributions to charities are voluntary?
    3. The problem of the market place
      1. Free riders and freedom
      2. Should the government leave environmental protection
    4. Major proposition: To escape the (inevitable?) problem of the destruction of the commons and free riders some form of coercion is necessary.
      1. This is a possible justification for government



    1. Problems that only individuals organized into social groups can solve.
      1. Major proposition: many 21st century problems can only be solved by collective action
      2. Major proposition: the list of such problems is greater than conventional political wisdom suggests.


  1. DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL CAPACITY:
    1. Major proposition: the preceding three propositions are tacitly accepted to one degree or another by nearly every American, whether they realize it or not.
    2. Hence, the key questions are only:
      1. Which problems should be included on the list?
      2. What political structures are necessary?
    3. In asking about political structures one raises questions of democracy and capacity:
      1. How can government be controlled and efficient at the same time?
    4. Discussions of reform, then, might keep these issues in mind.


  2. NEXT TIME:
    1. Course organization
    2. What does "democracy" mean?
    3. Reading:
      1. Squire and others, Dynamics of Democracy, Chapter 1.
      2. "An Argument for Government" on the internet reserve room


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