POLS 1336 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Oligarchy
22 Jan 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Government: the institution that implements policies and laws that guide the conduct of the nation and its citizens. Primary functions of the government: socialize new generations, establish and maintain a legal system, provide a wide variety of services to citizens, raising/spending money to support the services it provides. Least to greatest amount of participation within governments: monarchy, oligarchy, democracy. Direct democracy: take place in town meetings, citizens decide policy without elected representatives. Indirect democracy: elected councils decide policies on the behalf of citizens. Like the u. s. most modern democracies are best described as republics. American political culture ideas: liberty, equality, capitalism, consent of the governed, the importance of the individual. Political ideology: integrated system of ideas and beliefs about political values and the role of government. Sir isaac newton"s ideas involving natural law laid the foundation for political philosophers during the enlightment: thomas hobbes: relinquish rights to powerful monarch, john locke: preserve natural rights, jean-jacques rousseau: popular sovereignty.
