GVPT 170 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Plurality Voting System, Liberal Democracy, Free Rider Problem
5 Mar 2018
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The purposes of government: maintain order, law and order , hobbes and the anarchy of the state of nature , if men were angels, no government would be necessary (james madison) Tendency to form factions with like minded people. Avoid the tyranny of the majority: provide for the general welfare, public goods are benefits and services available to everyone, necessary role of government in providing these things because of the free rider problem. Ex: clean water, if people could donate to it some would not and would be the free riders : provide things that everyone benefits from. The process that determines what government does (textbook) Who gets what, when, and how (lasswell, 1936) Key: politics involve conflict over resources and also values. 3 features of politics: conflict, process, prevalence (i. e. politics is everywhere ) Sources of conflict in us politics: economic interests, role of government vs. individual, redistribution and equality. The us political system is based on rules.
