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+"The Three Political Cultures" by Daniel J Elazar
+
+"The US is...inhabited by a single people of great diversity."
+It has a single political culture and many subcultures.
+
+Policital culture:
+ Patterns of political attitudes
+ Expectations of purpose/nature of government and poli. process
+ Who works in the government
+ Interacting with government and civic behavior (ethics, conscience,)
+
+The US's three subcultures:
+ Each tied to an original region and carried by migration. Systems of
+ "marketplace and the commonwealth"
+ Each is a framework rather than an absolute set of ideas, and
+ changes over time like other cultures
+ - Individualistic
+ Government is a service to people and doesn't have goals other
+ than serving its people individually.
+ Keep private activities private, and the government should only
+ regulate public activities (like economic marketplace), but be
+ small gov't
+ Politics is viewed as a career and a way to better oneself (be
+ compensated) by providing good services for the public.
+ Political life is a system of mutual obligations, on a
+ person-to-person basis for small org but person-to-party basis
+ for federal or state (for ex.)
+ Okay with corruption and limited ideological purity. Deal-making
+ and maintaining a mostly beneficial political system for
+ constituents is viewed as best practice.
+ - Moralistic
+ Government is focused on developing commonwealth or "greater
+ good."
+ Morality of politicians is important because the trades that
+ happen are means to establish a good society.
+ Community and gov't (if necessary) can intervene in private life
+ if for public welfare. (Communitarian)
+ Many believe that greater good can be best served by community
+ involvement, wary of government encroachment, and economically.
+ Sometimes support social intervention like censorship.
+ Party regularity is unimportant because politicians are expected
+ to work towards a good society, regardless of nonpartisan, third
+ party, or even cross-party alliance.
+ Amateur participation is expected because politics is not
+ supposed to be a profitable business, and corruption deterred.
+ Support and accept increased government footprint, and allow
+ bureaucracy and merit systems.
+ - Traditionalistic
+ "Paternalistic and elitist conception of the commonwealth"
+ Government maintains a strict hierarchy and supports itself as a
+ small group of established elite with family ties or social
+ position.
+ Expects that any (even minimal) participant in political culture
+ have a definite role to play and gain personally (although not
+ always pecuniarily).
+ Believe that political parties are unimportant except to recruit
+ for undesirable offices.
+ Political leaders are "conservative and custodial"
+ Anti-bureaucratic, support informal relationship-based systems
+ to maintain the hierarchy (because bureaucracy -> merit).
+
+Geographically, established early in the colonies. DC, VA, PA area
+individualistic. North is moralistic and South is traditional. These
+typically extend westward, and the individualistic tribe is less
+established than the other two, but very often mixes with moralistic.
+
+Interactions:
+ - moralistic + individualistic balance each other's respective
+ tendencies to overreach into personal life and to allow society to
+ degrade.
+ - traditionalistic order, while often damaging to opressed groups,
+ helps create (when functioning properly) a benevolent elite for
+ political power but has the same danger as oligarchy.
+
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+Political Science trying to be a science doesn't make it a science, but
+it approaches actionable results.
+Trump, Obama campaigns use "Hope and Change," or "MAGA" based on how
+voters interact with the political system.
+Or presentations based on hard work vs god/religious messages.
+Data collection and targeted messaging is getting better.
+
+# American Gov and Process
+The government is slow/inefficient, but this is how it was designed by
+the founders.
+What did they want?
+ - Feared tyranny = distrust of power (in general)
+ - System of government
+ - Divides power (branches balance each other's power)
+ - Competitive: {bicameral legis. competes, states compete,
+ branches compete} for power
+ - Checks and Balances, Federalism
+ - Government is slow, piecemeal, and balanced
+
+Types of Gov (formal structure that rules people)
+- Who governs?
+ Autocracy = one, oligarchy = group, democracy = people
+- How much gov control?
+ Authoritarian = ( state > individual rights ), often violent
+ Totalitarian = ( state eliminates other forms of power, transforms
+ society ), always violent
+ Constitutional = power, rights, responsibilities designed beforehand
+- Other, more complex classifications