political science

A big and important feature of democracy is that people have opertunities to influence the decisions of gov

1.(Voting and Election) Encourage student to register to vote and help with political campaigns for city council candiates who will listen to students and get rid of the house ordinence

2. (Lobbying) go to memebers of the city council asking them to change the restrictive new law(ordinence)

3. (Litigation)talk to the local landlord association about wheather it might file a lawsuit challenging the ordinance, or talk to an atorny yourself about filing a law suit

4. (Grass roots activites) you could publicise and sponser meetings in order to organize marches, sit-ins and other non violent protests

• 1. When the loud garbage truck comes in the morning to pick up your trash (Local Department of sanitation)
• 2. When you are taking a shower(Local water filtration plant)
• 3. when you read the news paper about the war and wonder if our country mght have a draft(Selective Service)
• 4. when your driving and wonder how safe is that air bag in your car(Federal enviromental protection agency)
• 5. Stoping at a gas station and wonder why the prices are so hgh (Federal trade agreements)
• 6. When you find a parking spot and walk to class (State and federal support for higher education)
• 7. At work you figure out a customer bill and add the sales tax to the total(Local and state taxes)

Monarchy- one person, such as a king or queen, possesses absolute authority over the gobernment by virtue of being born into a royal family and inherting the position. ex Saudi Arabia

Constitutional monarchies- almost all kings and queens today in whcih they perform ceremonial duties but play little or no role in actually goberning their country. ex United kingdom, spain, belgium and japan

Dictator - sole ruler, often arrives at the position of power through a violent overthrow of the previous government. ex North Korea's Kim Jong II

Oligarchy - small group such as military leaders or the economic elite hold the reins of power

Pluralism- when there are multiple centers of power

Democracy- all citizens have a right to play a role in shaping government action aka pupular sovereignty. in a pure democracy all citizens make all decisions.

Republic- a small group of elected representatives acting on behalf of the many. ex united states

Totalitarian regime - leaders have no real limits on how they proceed or what they do

Authoritarian regime - kept in check by informal limits, such as othe rpolitical forces ex egypt

one person, such as a king or queen, possesses absolute authority over the gobernment by virtue of being born into a royal family and inherting the position. ex Saudi Arabia

almost all kings and queens today in which they perform ceremonial duties but play little or no role in actually goberning their country. ex United kingdom, spain, belgium and japan

sole ruler, often arrives at the position of power through a violent overthrow of the previous government. ex North Korea's Kim Jong II

small group such as military leaders or the economic elite hold the reins of power

when there are multiple centers of power

all citizens have a right to play a role in shaping government action aka pupular sovereignty. in a pure democracy all citizens make all decisions.

A small group of elected representatives acting on behalf of the many. ex united states

leaders have no real limits on how they proceed or what they do

kept in check by informal limits, such as othe rpolitical forces ex egypt

our government and laws reflect this country's hisory of a group of British colonies that fought a war for independence, expanded westward across a wilderness through the efforts of pioneers, and survived a bloody civil war that occurredm in most part over slavery

American judges posses significent power to invalidate laws and policies created by other government thus Americans have unique oppurtunites to use litigitaion as a means to influence goverment.

Oppertuniteis for citizen participation will not be fully effective, unless people actually become engaged in public affairs. if large number neglect to vote, and keep themselves informed then governig power may come to rest in the hands of a small number of individual and groups

Active participation by citizens is necessary in order for a democracy's laws and policies to reflect what peole want.

Election pathway

Lobying decision makers pathway- Legislatures are the central lawmaking bodies at the national, state and local levels of governmet. at the national level it is congress and local legislatures are city councils, country comgvernmentmissions, and village boards. The lobying pathway inbolves attempting to influence the activites and institutions of gov by suppliying information, ersuaion, or plitical pressure.

Court pathway

Cultural change pathway - the cultural change pathway is an indirect approach to influencing gov. indivduals and organized groups attempt to change the hearts and minds of their fellow citizens. by educating the public about issues and publcizing important events. ^{ex americans didn't think women should vote but through cutural change and women activist that belif was changed} The cutural change pathway can be used for a variety of issues incuding abortion, the death penality, enviromental protection and even privatizing social security

in 2004 latinos became the nation's largest minority group.

Many ofthe pathwys, elections, lobbying, courts, grassroots mobilization, and cultural change have been used by a diverse array of americans, including women, the disabled, homossexual, and people of color, who have felt excluded from meaningful particiption in american government.

some would say theat we treat the constitution as our nonreligious "bible" -the written document that americans deeply respect and obey.

An economic system where business and industry are privetely owned and there is little gov interference. capitalism is the economic system based on free enterprise in which individuals compete with each other for jobs, operate privately owned businesses

the gov owns and controls key factories and also the land.

most people have always belived that society as a whole benefits through the continuous creation of new businesses, new jobs, and increased wealth when all individuals purse their own interests and have opportuities to use their own private property and businesses to create jobs and generate income

historically, racial and gender discrimination have limited opportunities for many americans to find good jobs or start their own business. the ability of rich people to provide superior education for their children and pass on their wealth to family members provides and perpetuates advantage that most americans do not share.

Tocquebille a french scholar who traveled throughout the U.S and A belived Democracy in America lies not in the complex maze of political institutions but rather in the shared values of American citizens. and sugested the downside by stating "I know of no country in which there is such little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.^{ex the economic system people belive in focusing on a specific proble rather then focusing on changing the whole system.}

Myrdal a swedish social scientist in 1944 noted that American political culture "the most explicitly expressed system of general ideals" of any country in the west

calling our belief the "American Creed" Americans embrace the concepts of freedom, equality, liberty, majority will, religious freedom, and due process under the law

Dahl who is a yale university political scientist echod the beliefs of the american creed ""the commonview seems to be that our system is perhaps the most perfect expression of democracy that exists anywhere... to reject the domocratic creed is in effect to refuse to be american"

• 1.It's citizens must believe that they can influence the outcome of gobernment activity and government must permit popular participation
• 2.The political cuture and laws must encourage civic involvement and protect activists from being silenced either by the gov or by majority opinion

• Government is the formal structures and institutions through which binding decisions are made for citizens of a particular area.
• gov is not the process by which things take place in a political system' rather is "the rules of the game" and the structures that make and enforce these rules. the legislators(city councils, state legislatures, congress) and the Excutives(mayors, governors, the presedent)
• Government has the power to enforce its regulations and collect the resources it needs to operate.

politics is the process by which the character, membership, and actions of gov are determined

key difrence is politics is the process, whereas government involves the rules

• Pilgrims signed a document legalizing their position as a "civil body politic" under the sovereignty of King James1.
• These pilgrims finding themselves in a place outside the jrisdiction of English rule, looked for a system where laws, not a smal group or a single person, would rule their society.

causes and meanings of the revolution can be broken into two broad categories: Financial and ideological

• financial reasons
• The Great squeeze made life in the colonies harder and the prospects of a profitable future dimmer for most colonists,
• Parlement also passed many measures that placed lands in the western region under british rules n land=profit
• Main point revolution was about money
• A desire among Americans to create a system in which they had a saying started growing
• "the essence of self-governancem Americans argued was the ability to control taxes.

• after perliament gave the bakrupt East India Company a monopoly on importing tea into the colonies a band of enraged colonists, disguised as indians stormed into a merchant ship in Boston harbor in the dark and threw the company's tea overboard and got the name Boston Tea Party.

The national gov had no way to collect revenue from the states or from the states citizens no gov can survive without some means of obtaining the resources it needs to operate.

National gov had no way of regulating commerce ex each state could tax the goods imported from other states and coin or print its own money.

National gov was unable to conduct foreign affairs that is, to speak to other nations with a unified voice.

the mechanism to alter the Articles proved too difficult, as any change requires the unanimous consent of all 13 states(in other words just one state can veto any change)

The big problem that made the consider changing the articles was Shays's Rebellion

• Shays's Rebellion was the big factor that made them want to change the Article of confederation, shay's farm group attack in spring field massachusetts showed the country that the articles didnt give any power to the national gov so it couldnt help
• ^{from the book}Shays Rebellion had a profound impact on the future of our nation, because it sugested that liberty and freedom that is, an open democratic society-carried risks. george washington commented If government cannot check these disorders, what security has a man for life, liberty, or property?

note; A few months after the uprising a meeting was organized to revise the Articles this was the consttitutional convention.

The Virginia Plan named for the home state of its principal author james madison caled for a stronger national government with the legislative representation based on population. The most populous states such as Virginia, Pennsylvania, North carolina, and new york.wanted representaion by the amount of population in their states. Smaller states Like New Jersey realized that this would put them at a disadvantage in the national government. William Paterson came up with the New Jersey Plan which focused on equal representation among the states. Roger Sherman of connecticut presented the Great Compromise in which the national legislature would have a House of Representatives, based on proportional representation but a secound branch, the senate, would contain an equal number of reprentatives from each state

• Three Branches of government- The framers saw fit to create a system with different branches of gov to avoid the potential for corruption, The legislature would make the laws, the executive would inforce the laws and the judicial branch would interpret the laws and resolve disputes acoring to the law
• Separate Institutions Sharing powers. a middle ground through the granting of specific powers for each branch while at the same time making each branch partly dependent on the other for carrying out its powers
• Checks and balances- Each branch shares powers with the others, each branch is limited(checked) by the other two
• Representative Republicanism - a republican system in which leaders speak on behalf of constituents, they wanted to create a l government "by the people" but worried that the whims of public opinion might lead to unstable gov and perhaps even mob rule or "anarchy" Senators were to be selected by the state legislatures and the president would be chosen by an electoral college
• Federalism- a system in which a viable national gov would undertake certain responsibilities and state governments would handle others.
• Reciprocity among the States - The full faith and credit clause said that each state must accept the legal proceedings of the other states
• A fixed System open to change