The Logic of American Politics Chapter One The Logic of American Politics What good is politics in helping people solve their problems Do institutions matter In a democracy when a majority agrees on a course of action how do the institutional arrangements really affect the majority s ability to do what it wants Scenario George W Bush and embryonic stem cell research The Logic of American Politics Choices breed conflict conflicting interests conflicting values conflicting ideas about how to allocate limited resources The Logic of American Politics Politics is how people attempt to manage conflict What happens when politics fails anarchy civil war The Logic of American Politics Formal definition politics is the process through which individuals and groups reach agreement on a course of common or collective action even as they disagree on the intended goals of that action Bargaining and compromise Preferences equal givens The Importance of Institutional Design Effective political institutions Set of rules and procedures for reaching and enforcing collective agreements Examples Clinton s impeachment trial in Senate Harrington Treatise The Constitution Institutional design is a product of politics example Department of Education Constitutions Governments Constitutions Set of rules and procedures institutions follow to reach collective agreements Government Consists of these institutions and the legally prescribed process for making and enforcing collective agreements Constitutions Governments Governments may assume various forms monarchy representative democracy theocracy dictatorship Power versus Authority Offices Authority Power Institutional Durability Institutions tend to be stable and resist change Reasons Institutions persist beyond the tenure of office holders who occupy them The people who are affected by them make plans on the expectation that current arrangements will remain the status quo Those who seek change typically cannot agree on alternatives The Political System s Logic Core values embedded in our institutions elections protection of individual liberties principles Collective Action Problems May involve comparing preferences agreeing on a course of action alternative that is preferable to doing nothing implementing and enforcing the collective choice Nuts and bolts of action PLUS sharing costs and living up to the agreement Collective Action Problems Coordination problem increases with size of group solutions Prisoner s Dilemma free Riding tragedy of the commons solutions The Costs of Collective Action Collective action offers participants benefits they cannot achieve on their own cost the key to minimize costs Other costs transaction conformity costs the two costs often involve a trade off with one another Transaction and Conformity Costs Transaction costs the time effort and resources required to compare preferences and make collective decisions increase when the number of participants rise Transaction and Conformity Costs Conformity costs the difference between what any one party prefers and what the collective body requires losers in politics parties whose preferences receive little accommodation but who must still contribute to the collective undertaking paying one s taxes serving in Iraq The two costs are inversely related Figure 1 1 Designing Institutions for Collective Action The Framers Toolkit command veto agenda control voting rules majority rule simple majority plurality delegation principles and agents agency loss Representative Government representative government direct democracy referendum initiative majority rule versus the republic republic allows some degree of popular control yet avoids tyranny parliamentary government cabinet separation of powers Politicians professionals public servant or entrepreneur specializes in pulling together coalitions sincere versus strategic behavior what does it mean to behave strategically The Work of Government private goods market provides individually purchased individually consumed public goods government provides cost born collectively everyone benefits mixed goods collective goods more accurate name public bad or externality auto pollution fire protection private to a public good smoking Mitigating Popular Passions Framers reformers designed new government that minimized conformity costs and escalated transaction costs new government could solve problems could not usurp power Mitigating Popular Passions Majority rule is visibly present it is also constrained by some powerful rules separation of powers staggered legislative terms an unelected judiciary limited national authority Most complex constitutional system in the world