The list is as follows: political socialization; power, authority, legitimacy, and capacity; public opinion; media; political elites; political parties; elections; campaigns; presidential powers; among others. Each of these themes is presented and further elaborated with specific examples within the book. The themes complement the information presented in class by adding more specificity and depth. For example, in class, we briefly discussed power, authority, legitimacy, and capacity. In much the same way, the book showed how the lines between these concepts are often blurred and misunderstood, leading to dissensions and hostilities between the public and the elite. However, the book often offered more nuanced theories and explanations for the development of these overarching motifs, through the use of detailed examples and…
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING GOVERNMENT IN AMERICA CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Introduction: Politics and Government Matter (pp. 3–8) A. Many Americans are apathetic about politics and government. B. Political knowledge fosters civic virtues, educates citizens on policy, and promotes participation.…
Partisan politics play a positive role in shaping America because they create political parties, which makes collective action and policy-making easier, and places some control over politicians with large ambitions. First of all, partisan politics lead to the facilitation of collective action. To facilitate collective action, in this case, means that partisan politics make it easier for voters to form groups that will vote in a certain way. This means that Americans who see the benefits of either the Democratic or Republican party will vote for that one; for instance, if you are a businessman, you know that supporting the Republican party will benefit you, which means that most businessmen are probably Republican. In addition to the facilitation of collective action, partisan politics make policy-making easier.…
Group size has an unprecedented impact on the nature of social interaction. Studies have shown that as group size increase individuals typically reduce their efforts. Imagine something as gigantic as our government, between the House and the Senate there are five hundred and thirty five members in the United States Congress. Groups of that magnitude fall victim to groupthink, or decision making that ignores alternate solutions in order to keep group harmony. Although after reading this article I highly doubt there will be any harmony between the two political parties anytime soon. The article describes how members of Congress followed the example of their party instead of looking for alternative solutions.…
Explain the difference between the three types of informal group roles (maintenance, task, and disruptive).…
Why did political parties and special interest group’s form? What roles do they play in shaping public policy? Political Parties and special interest group’s formed, In order to bring groups of people who share a common attitude or opinions together. They are also there in order to influence public policy, and rule changes in order to benefit a majority of the Citizens.…
Chapters 10 through 12 in Political Polarization in American Politics explain what causes polarization and who is involved. This reading supports the ideas from chapter four which says that politics has become polarized on more issues than before due to conflict extension. Both Congress and the voters are deeply polarized, driven by two major factors, coming from a change in government and social interactions as well as a “long-term realignment”. Therefore, polarization comes from previous political beliefs and alignments, splitting Republican and Democratic opinions on how much government interaction should be present on policies such as welfare, tax cuts, and Obamacare. Increased competition leads to higher stakes in every political dispute,…
“Group cohesion is defined as the degree to which a group exists or operates as a unified entity.” (Losh, S. 2011) At my children’s school, there is a group named, P.I.A (Parents in Action) and we meet monthly about the things that are transpiring in our school. The Dean, at our school was handling our children and situations unethically, she was rude and disrespectful. The P.I.A., worked cohesively, until we accomplished our goal of having her removed from our children’s school.…
During our class discussion last week, we discussed about the polarization in our society in today’s world. In the reading by Abramowitz, he stated, “That problem was polarization. According to these observers, the sharp divisions between Democratic and Republican leaders were driving a wedge between party supporters in the electorate and alienating many moderate citizens from the political process.” This statement by Abramowitz shows us that Congress is still divided after decades of creating a political system to run America. We as a society need to be able to work together as a whole instead of being divided. There have been leaders in our society that tried to bring us together. However, no matter how hard they try to bring great minds…
By the awareness of the people the process increased and regularized by the liberty and civil rights. American citizens seek free will from the governments and Constitutional security of justice. In the American federal system the political parties free to have support conflicting political agenda, free will to voice out, ideas, and ideologies. While the liberals go with the democrats the group of conservative support the Republicans. The Democrats and Republicans represent the main political parties of American along with minor independent parties. The American governments cultivate federalism, by demanding of reforms the citizens of America also contribute in shaping up political changes. Although legislators look upon amendment of Constitution and creation of laws, the citizens have their voices heard and participate. In the whole time, the voting attitude of Americans demonstrated changes. For example, Solid South in the part of Southern states used to be solid supports of Democrats but it was politically divided over time (Maier, Pauline, 2010).In the maintain of consistency the Constitution of US obligate the state and federal governments. With the ruling of democratic, the American federal government also allows amendments of the Constitution as called by the political…
Our nation’s history has been through many challenges fighting for political order. In 1892, the Populist Party supported the Omaha Platform which stated the rights and laws the populists wanted from the government. While in 2010, the Hartford Tea Party declared independence from the United States Government’s politics and regulations. These two ideologies have common and uncommon factors that contribute to political order.…
One obvious problem in our contemporary society is the divide between political groups. When half of our nation…
The political system in the US is arguably the most democratic in the world, with an unprecedented number of access points. As a result, there are more PGs, operating at more levels of government and with more impact in the US than any other political system. There are many PGs in the US that work to promote democracy, such as the ACLU who work to defend civil liberties and Common Cause who exist to hold government to account. However, the recent struggle to pass healthcare reform and failure to pass any form of gun control has highlighted how overly dominant special interest groups have become as a result of funding from big business. For this reason, I believe PGs in the US have an overall negative effect on democracy and opportunity.…
A country in which unity is proclaimed in its very name. In yet another revelation, Washington alludes to the possibility of a civil unrest due to factions voicing, “ It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.” As it has been said before, a house divided cannot stand, therefore, structured disunity can and has lead to chaotic destruction . As a country, we solemnly remember the Civil War in which faction fought faction in the slaughter of over 900,000 men and women. Lost was our nation's unity . In the face of a government’s responsibility to protect the lives and wills of its citizens, political parties have proven themselves to do just the opposite.…
This paper will discuss what interest groups are and the role that interest groups play in American politics and why it is important. Another thing that this paper will discuss is how interest groups have influenced American elections. American elections have been influenced with direct and indirect strategies to get a candidate elected. They have also been influenced wit the use of information. The direct strategies used where more in your face and out for everyone else to know about and where very effective. While the indirect strategies used may have been hidden and in the shadows they were also effective. The use of information was helpful to put things out into the world and it was also there to help the candidate that was being supported by the interest group gain popularity and/or publicity. Towards the end of the paper the role of interest groups and how they have influenced American elections should be understood.…