American Politics

public face of diplomacy

#1 person in foriegn policy making

• The Senate committee has a special role to play because the Senate has
• to approve all treaties and all nominations to key foreign policy
• postings. Members, therefore, have a great deal of influence on how
• U.S. foreign policy is conducted and who represents the United States
• around the world.

Advise and consent in all matters

• The House committee has less authority, but still plays an important in
• passing the foreign affairs budget and in investigating how that money
• is used. Senate and House members often travel abroad on fact-finding
• missions to places deemed vital to U.S. national interests.

The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence.

The United States Secretary of Defense (SecDef) is the head of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), concerned with the armed services and military matters.

• The role of the Secretary of Defense is to be the principal defense policy advisor to the President
• and is responsible for the formulation of general defense policy
• related to all matters of direct and primary concern to the DoD, and for
• the execution of approved policy.

Maintains military in over 50 foreign countries.

serves as the chief adviser to the President of the United States on national security issues.

• The National Security Advisor's office is located in the West Wing of the White House.
• He or she is supported by a staff that produces research, briefings,
• and intelligence for the NSA to review and present to the National
• Security Council and the President of the United States.

Not just the CIA

information is the most important contribution, comes from overt and covert operations

no direct influence but often their actions and groups become policy

• 1. formal and informal treaties
• 2. executive agreements, sole and congressional
• 3. indirect diplomacy like cultural and sporting events promoting goodwill
• 4. state visits
• 5. foreign aid both economic and military
• 6. propaganda

• Can only legally be declared by Congress, hasn't been since WWII.
• Today we just have conflicts with no real rules of war
• Has become too expensive
• has become too serious, war against people and ideas not just armies
• Nature of war was changed by the atomic bomb= kill everyone

• Mutual Assured Destruction
• theory of nuclear hostage where we show but hope not to use
• prevents war by making it impossible for other countries to survive
• neither side has an incentive to disarm once armed
• Started during the cold war ended in the 90's

Nuclear utilization target selection (NUTS) is a theory regarding the use of nuclear weapons often contrasted with mutually assured destruction (MAD). NUTS theory at its most basic level asserts that it is possible for a limited nuclear exchange to occur and that nuclear weapons are simply one more rung on the ladder of escalation pioneered by Herman Kahn.

spawned NATO, North American Treaty Organization

problems of conventional war ar that they n o longer rely on mass armies, rely on super weapons as force multipliers

• is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace. The UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of Nations,
• to stop wars between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue.
• It contains multiple subsidiary organizations to carry out its
• missions.

The UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945 upon ratification of the Charter by the five permanent members of the Security Council—France, the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States—and by a majority of the other 46 signatories.

It is not a world government becuase it reconizes the soveriegnty of its members

• General Assembly
• Security Council
• Economic and Social Council
• Trusteeship Council
• Secretariat
• World Court

main deliberative assembly of the United Nations. Composed of all United Nations member states, the assembly meets in regular yearly sessions under a president elected from among the member states.

When the General Assembly votes on important questions, a two-thirds majority of those present and voting is required.

• All other questions are decided by majority vote. Each member country
• has one vote. Apart from approval of budgetary matters, resolutions are
• not binding on the members.

• Conceivably, the one state, one vote
• power structure could enable states comprising just eight percent of
• the world population to pass a resolution by a two-thirds vote.[citation needed]
• However, as no more than recommendations, it is difficult to imagine a
• situation in which a recommendation by member states constituting just
• eight percent of the world's population, would be adhered to by the
• remaining ninety-two percent of the population, should they object.

• While other organs of the United Nations can only make 'recommendations'
• to member governments, the Security Council has the power to make
• binding decisions that member governments have agreed to carry out,
• under the terms of Charter Article 25.[7] The decisions of the Council are known as United Nations Security Council resolutions.

• The Security Council is made up of 15 member states, consisting of 5
• permanent members–China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the
• United States–and 10 non-permanent members, currently Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Gabon, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, Turkey, and Uganda. The five permanent members hold veto power over substantive but not procedural resolutions

The ten temporary seats are held for two-year terms with member states voted in by the General Assembly on a regional basis. The presidency of the Security Council is rotated alphabetically each month,[8] and is currently held by Turkey for the month of September 2010.

can send troops to fight but seldom do due to veto power, they can take other actions like peacekeeping, boycotts and sanctions

• The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) assists the General Assembly in
• promoting international economic and social cooperation and
• development.

• Viewed separate from the specialized bodies it coordinates, ECOSOC's
• functions include information gathering, advising member nations, and
• making recommendations. In addition, ECOSOC is well-positioned to
• provide policy coherence and coordinate the overlapping functions of the UN’s subsidiary bodies and it is in these roles that it is most active.

oversight of the "agencies" of the UN

regulates international bodies like the international postal union

Large group of 85 countries

established to help ensure that non-self-governing territories were administered in the best interests of the inhabitants and of international peace and security. The trust territories – most of them former mandates of the League of Nations or territories taken from nations defeated at the end of World War II – have all now attained self-government or independence, either as separate nations or by joining neighbouring independent countries. The last was Palau, which became a member state of the United Nations in December 1994.

The Trusteeship Council was formed in 1945 to oversee the decolonization of those dependent territories that were to be placed under the international trusteeship system

• Over time, as trust territories attained independence, the size and
• workload of the Trusteeship Council was reduced and ultimately came to
• include only the five permanent Security Council members (China, France,
• the Soviet Union/Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United
• States).

• The United Nations Secretariat is headed by the Secretary-General,
• assisted by a staff of international civil servants worldwide. It
• provides studies, information, and facilities needed by United Nations
• bodies for their meetings.

Is the executive branch and bureaucracy of the UN

led by the Secretary General- President of the World? Mostly just an office manager who has a 5 year term. Usually a non confrontational person because the powers of the world don't want opposition in another power

International Court of Justice (ICJ), located in The Hague, Netherlands, is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations

• purpose is to adjudicate disputes among states. The court has heard
• cases related to war crimes, illegal state interference and ethnic
• cleansing, among others, and continues to hear cases

Is a Roman court, has jurisdiction over all countries but no real power

You don't have to go to world court

This is really just a civl court to help but only works if both sides agree

• financed from assessed and voluntary contributions from member states.
• The regular two-year budgets of the UN and its specialized agencies are
• funded by assessments

• A large share of UN expenditures addresses the core UN mission of peace
• and security. The peacekeeping budget for the 2005–2006 fiscal year is
• approximately $5 billion (compared to approximately $1.5 billion for the
• UN core budget over the same period). this is it's biggest success

18th century Scottish minister. Wrote “Wealth of Nations”. Said capitalism worked by supply and demand. Wealth of Nations was published in 1776

Lassiez fair as far as government is concerned means no legislation. This is a natural law. Any government involvement would negate this process. We are not a true capitalist company because our government always dabbles.

Supply chasing demand over price is called business cycle supply is what's available, demand is how much is wanted or needed. Price is based on both supply and demand.

fathered legislation based on a book by Upton Sinclair called “The Jungle”. Because of his disgust in the Chicago meat packing enterprise he pushed for legislation of industry. This spawned the Pure Food and Drug Act and also led to regulation of child labor

Took a different and more involved role than Hoover- said he wouldn't sit passivly by while people suffered.

used the advice of second most popular capitalist- John Manard Keynes.

government pulled the economy out of depression by spending money- they became a consumer and used supply and demand to manipulate the economy

. In 1933 the US economy begain an ascent for 40 years and created unequaled wealth.

• What does the government do with it once it buys it?
• - donate it to other countries to drive their economy down
• - FDR burned or destroyed it at first but that made people mad so then he gave it away
• The cold war was an arms race which just kept people working for no real reason. Space race was an economy stimulator because it was wasteful. both of these are now over for the most part.

Foriegn aid into the other country in the form of imported goods is what is killing our economy

• In 1971 this all fell apart becauseNixon made friends with the Russians and ended Cold War. We stopped trying to go to space because we hit the moon. Stopped the Vietnam War. When this all happened the props fell out and our economy fell on its face. We abandoned the Keynes’ philosophy and
• crashed.

Keynes said give people a little to offset inflation. He called it “frictional inflation” at 1-2%. Recession is defined as no inflation

Inflation is a byproduct of good economy.

• This happened about 1978. Stagflation was the product. Inflation went up, employment went down. Right in the middle of this issue we had an oil crisis, then a coffee shortage, then sugar shortage, then toilet paper
• shortage.

Keynes said borrow to buy. Said purpose of the debt was to stimulate economy and as long as the growth of the economy outstripped that of debt we were better off.

The entire debt of the US is in bonds because the government has to pay it back eventually. Government gets money to buy more by offering bonds this system means the debt resides with us.

This works but Keynes didn’t say that once this starts it can’t stop. We become debt junkies because the debt doesn’t go away.

If we raise taxes to fix this it fails because it takes away from domestic demand.

control of the economy by controlling the supply of money

• Once the Federal Reserve Bankers got together they realized they could prevent panic by determining how much money exactly exists in two ways. Discount rate and margin.
• - banks loan out the same money over and over again (turning money over)
• - banks are owned by private business
• - federal reserve system is an association of private banks

In 1933 FDR became president money was “disappearing from the country. He authorized the creation of the Federal Reserve Banks. These are banks for banks.

prevents a "run on banks" by private citizens by always allowing for a supply of money for the banks

Discount rate is the rate of interest from Fed Res to banks. When the rates go lower, so do our interest rates.

If you want to increase the supply of money you lower the interest rate.

• If there is too much inflation and you want to reduce the amount of money you raise it to keep people
• from borrowing (creating).

Says that for all that you loan out you have to keep x%. If you get 1m, you can only loan 500k, the second time you can only loan 250k, third 125k and so on (based on 50% reserve). Eventually it hits zero.

If we lower the reserve requirement we will make more money. If we raise it we actually lower the amount available.

Commercial banks like those that caused the scare last year are not part of the Federal Reserve because they wanted to loan the entire amount without margin.

Most comes from taxes

Other type of money generator for government is licenses and fees. Ie. liquor, cosmetology, car… etc.

• User charges also gain money for the government- tolls amusement parks, sports complexes, schools
• etc.

A city can make money by going into debt, they do this by selling bonds.

intergovernmental transfers

• Income
• Sales
• Property
• Excise

perrsonal and corporate

what we pay taxes on total gross income. Businesses only pay on total net. Federal income tax is the biggest income generator for the US.

Old Income Tax is known as a progressive tax. The more you work the higher your tax bracket. The more you make then more you pay. It’s a Robin Hood tax. Steals from the rich to pay the poor. It is a good tax because it self perpetuates. This method is inflation proof and thrives on inflation. The problem with the old income tax is that it was progressive but only to about 400k a year.

Indexing Law was passed to move the bracket for taxation based on the rate of inflation.

• sales tax hits consumers only. important tax for states. bad because it is regressive. means the poor pay a bigger percentage of the sales tax than the rich.
• Poor have 4 times as much burden as the rich.
• This is a flat tax and all flat taxes are regressive and not fair. They always hurt the poor more than the
• rich.

Property tax is biggest for local government. Two types, real means land and buildings, personal is stuff you own.

This is a horrible tax because it is regressive and unfair. There is no relationship between property and your income, this is why it is unfair.

Self defeating tax because it discourages you from buying and owning.

This is retax because you pay again and again. It is unconstitutional. If you own a house somewhere you don’t live, you are not represented in that district because you can’t vote.

luxury or sin tax. Alcohol, entertainment, tobacco, tires, jewelry, hotels. Not sales tax.

Excise taxes quantity ie gas per gallon not per dollar.

This tax is hardest hit by inflation. It is inflation prone.

It is self defeating because it discourages you from using it. Sometimes this is on purpose like cigarettes. It is regressive. It is a tax on tax. You end up paying sales tax on the excise tax.

General obligation bonds are famous as municipal bonds bc they are state and local bonds. These have loopholes for the rich. Municipal bonds provide a “tax shelters” for the money of the rich. Rich people live off tax free interest from these bonds. They don’t pay income taxbecause their money is all in these shelters.

type of intergovernmental transfer

categorical, block, formula-automatic, project

A grant-in-aid is money coming from central government for a specific project. This kind of funding is usually used when the government has decided that the recipient should be publicly funded but operate with reasonable independence from the State.

Such funds are usually accompanied by requirements and standards set by the governing body for how they are to be spent.

An example of this would be how the United States Congress required states to raise the drinking age for alcohol from 18 to 21 in order for the individual states to continue to qualify for federal funds for interstate highways located within each state

may be spent only for narrowly-defined purposes.

recipients of categorical grants are often required to match a portion of the federal funds.

About 90% of federal aid dollars are spent for categorical grant.

During the development of the Interstate Highway System, congressional grants provided roughly 90% of the funding.

project grants, states compete for funding; the federal government selects specific projects based on merit

Formula grants, on the other hand, are distributed based on a standardized formula set by Congress.

33% of categorical grants are considered to be formula grants.

large sum of money granted by the national government to a regional government with only general provisions as to the way it is to be spent.

block grants are issued in support of general governmental functions such as education or law enforcement. State and local recipients have more leeway in determining how best to use the money.

Grants don’t always help, they skew priorities because of the restrictions.

Matching means the fed does part, you do part.

Disappearing grant- the fed funds all first year, then less and less until its gone. They give you seed money.

sometimes cities and states will spend frivolously just to get the money and waste some of their existing in the process



Federal government sometimes gives grants to communities to try out ideas. but then when money runs out the communities are left with nothing to continue.

United States government revenue sharing was in place from 1972-1987. Under this policy, Congress gave an annual amount of federal tax revenue to the states and their cities, counties and townships. Revenue sharing was extremely popular with state officials, but it lost federal support during the Reagan Administration. In 1987, revenue sharing was replaced with block grants in smaller amounts to reduce the federal deficit

the President's proposal to the U.S. Congress which recommends funding levels for the next fiscal year, beginning October 1. Congressional decisions are governed by rules and legislation regarding the federal budget process.

Budget committees set spending limits for the House and Senate committees and for Appropriations subcommittees, which then approve individual appropriations bills to allocate funding to various federal programs.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is a Cabinet-level office, and is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP).

The OMB's predominant mission is to assist the President in overseeing the preparation of the federal budget and to supervise its administration in Executive Branch agencies. In helping to formulate thePresident's spending plans, the OMB evaluates the effectiveness of agency programs, policies, and procedures, assesses competing funding demands among agencies, and sets funding priorities. The OMB ensures that agency reports, rules, testimony, and proposed legislation are consistent with the President's Budget and with Administration policies

Wildavsky was a noted scholar on budgeting and budget theory.He is associated with the idea of incrementalism in budgeting, meaning that the most important predictor of a future political budget is the prior one; not a rational economic or decision process undertaken by thestate.

This wastes money by seeking to streamline the process and not actually looking at the money being spent and appropriating based on need. Groups will spend their entire budget just so they get the same amount the next year even if they don't need it.

Bureaucracy is a concept in sociology and political science referring to the way that the administrative execution and enforcement of legal rules are socially organized.

used to mean a fast , effective, and rational administration. It made sure that every job was designed to ensure faithful performance by well-trained, highly motivated employees

was a German sociologist and political economist, who profoundly influenced social theory, social research, and the discipline of sociology itself.

• Specialization
• Centralization (hierarchy)
• Formal Rules (written records)
• Standardization (neutral competency)
• expertise (professionalism)
• Accountability

break jobs into smaller and smaller parts so that every employee knows exactly what their job is

because of this they can be trained in enough detail to succeed

geographic, client groups, subject matter, task

concentrate authority at the top of the organization where a single leader maintains control

this person is in charge of every other person in the organization

makes power impersonal, makes the organization immortal- anyone can do the job

implementation of policies through formal rules that govern everything that employees do

making sure all descisions are the same- all employees will always decide the same thing when producing a product or making a ruling

assures customers and clients will be treated the same whomever they talk to

no politics involved, everyone gets treated the same.

making sure all employees have the training and experience to do the job effectively

make sure they are given tools to succeed

written job desctriptions and hiring and firing are merit based only.

ties people by wages and chance for a career

enforcing the rules through a set of communication channels that allow leaders to know exactly what is going on at all levels

structured so that employees follow orders and policies or get fired

also referred to as red tape

essential for institutional memory because information is power

In theory it works, but in reality the people that do the jobs mess up

only way to fight bureaucracy is to create another one

ombudsman were put in place to tell management if there were areas that needed to be trimmed.

we are the problem

exists in every organization public and private

public has power becuase they have quasi-legislative, executive, and judicial powers

congress doesn't make laws, just creates agencies (smaller bureaucracies) to solve the problems