POL 106 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Homeland Security, Civil Society, American'S Creed
30 Jun 2018
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●What is politics anyway
○Politics is - who gets what, when, and how
■Who are the participants in politics?
●People who have a vested stake in what happens, influence
politics, immersed in politics
○Lobbyists, media, voters, large companies, interest groups,
mayors, congressmen, presidents, countries, NGOs, United
Nations
■What decisions and policies?
●Use to facilitate change
■When and how refer to the political process?
●The practices we use to facilitate change
●How - if you have more power, you have a greater influence on
politics
○Power meaning money, positions, family name
●Game of politics
○Players
■Those who have a stake in the outcome
■Those who compete
■Those who may win or lose
●Almost always - there are winners and losers
○Stakes
■What may be gained or lost based on game’s outcome
■Brain drain
●People that are highly educated or skilled in their field leave to go
to other states
○Affects
■Services provided
■Education
■Medical assistance and healthcare
■Destroys economy
○Rules
■Procedures and regulations that define the game
■Violating rules changes the game altogether
●Example - laws
●What is permitted
○Legal
●Not permitted
○Illegal
●Who makes them
●How do we change them
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
●Who decides and how do decide if rules are fair
■Systems of justice are vital
●If not, more inclined to fight back, try to change it, and maybe
even take laws into our own hands
■Elements of democratic justice
●Law must be adopted in democratic process
○Fair, free, fearless environment
●Law must be equally and fairly applied
●Punishment must fit crime
●The U.S. is a federal, presidential, constitutional republic
○Not a pure democracy
○Have democratic principles
○Strategies/tactics of play
■Strategies will differ according to…
●Player’s power
●Urgency or importance of the stakes
●The type of government that is being challenged
○Zero-sum game
■Politics may not just be any old game
■Many political scientists believe it to be a zero-sum game
●If you’re not winning, you’re losing
■Because resources are limited by rules, government, etc.
■If we had infinite resources
●Demands made on government would all be equally met
■But because we have finite resources
●Some demands can be met at the expense of others
●Contractualists
○Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau
■All studied why political systems should exist
■All believed that humans, at least in principle, had joined in and were
bound to a social contract
■John Locke
●Natural rights
○Life, liberty, and property
●Social contract
○Theory that individuals join and stay in a civil society as if they had signed a
contract
○In the US, the best example is the constitution
○Why form these and why do we need government?
■State of nature VS civil society
●State of nature
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Politics is - who gets what, when, and how. People who have a vested stake in what happens, influence politics, immersed in politics. Lobbyists, media, voters, large companies, interest groups, mayors, congressmen, presidents, countries, ngos, united. The practices we use to facilitate change. How - if you have more power, you have a greater influence on politics. Those who have a stake in the outcome. Almost always - there are winners and losers. What may be gained or lost based on game"s outcome. People that are highly educated or skilled in their field leave to go to other states. Procedures and regulations that define the game. Who decides and how do decide if rules are fair. If not, more inclined to fight back, try to change it, and maybe even take laws into our own hands. Law must be adopted in democratic process. Law must be equally and fairly applied. The u. s. is a federal, presidential, constitutional republic.
