PSCI100 Lecture 1: PSCI Notes

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Political Science
• Course: PSCI100
• Professor: Aaron Ettinger

Document Summary

Political process: the interaction of organized political structures in making and administering public decisions for a society. Inputs (demands and supports) - the political system - decisions and actions = output (cycle again) 6 important structures that carry necessary functions: interest groups, political parties, mass media, legislatures, executives and the judiciary. Laws and policies can be classified as regulative, extractive, distributive and symbolic. Regulative; when they control individual group behaviour in society. Extractive; when taxes are taken from citizens to pay for government to pay personal and corporate income taxes. Distributive; when they extend payments and services to individuals public education, healthcare and even garbage collection. Policy community: the mix of groups and individuals with a particular interest in a specific policy field. Divided into the sub government (inner circle) And the discourse community, a broader universe of groups and individuals who have some knowledge of the policy issue in question and who collectively construct a policy discourse.