Direct Of Participatory Democracy Majority example essay topic

I. The Study of American Government a. What is Political Power? b. Political Power i. Power is the ability of one person to get another to act in accordance with the first person's intentions.

1. President tells the air force that it can or cannot build the b-2 bomber 2. President's economics advisers persuade him to impose or lift wage controls. ii. Authority is the right to use power 1. Excepting decisions by people (either government or not government appointed) who have the authority 2.

Formal Authority is the right to exercise power that is vested in a governmental office (President, Senator, or Federal Judge) . Legitimacy is portrayed as the guidelines of laws. 1. Constitution is widely accepted as a source of legitimate authority. 2. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was an effort to see if a new more powerful government could be legitimate.

3. Civil War is a struggle over the legitimacy of the federal union. 4. In the United States no government at any level would be considered legitimate if it were not some sense democratic. c. What is Democracy? d.

Democracy i. Democracy is the word used to describe at least three different political systems. 1. The government is democratic if it's decisions serve the "true interests" of the people 2. The term democracy is used to describe Aristotle's definition "the role of many" in which most citizens participate. 3.

The principal of governance of most nations that are called democratic. 4. Constitution refers to democracy as "republican form of government" ii. Democratic Centralism is where the true interests of the masses are first passed through a discussion with the communist party and then decision is made with central leadership..

Direct of Participatory Democracy- Majority gathered in Greek city-state (polis) in which all participated in democracy besides the inferior (women, slaves, those who didn't own property) . Representative Democracy adapted by Joseph Schumpeter in which there is a present struggle of political parties. e. How is Power Distributed in a Democracy? i. Majoritarian politics is the practice the government official follows the majority of people's demands. ii. Elites are groups of persons who share political power f. Four Theories of Who Governs I. Karl Marx contributed theory that "government whatever is outward form, is merely a reflection of underlying economic forces, primarily the pattern of ownership of the means of production.

1. In modern society two major parties exist for power (Capitalist and Workers) 2. The power of who governs relies solely in what the government interest is in. ii. C. Wright Mills contributed theory that the non-governmental elite makes Makes most of the major decisions but that this elite is not composed Exclusively of corporate leaders.. Max Weber's theory crit ized Marx.

He states the bureaucrats (those who operate the government agencies from day to day) have power over any other elite.. Pluralist View stated that things are so widely scattered in our society that no single elite has extreme power. Businesses, politicians, union leaders, journalists, bureaucrats, professors, environmentalists, and lawyers inherently will represent all the views of all members of society equally. g. Direct Democracy and the Computerized Presidency i. Alexis de Tocqueville shared the belief that people will usually act on the basis of their self-interest.