Political Science 2244E Chapter : American Government Term 2 Textbook Notes.docx

• School: Western University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: Political Science 2244E
• Professor: Donald Abelson

Document Summary

Then: in the 1950"s when eisenhower was president the biggest domestic policy was building the interstate highway system; everything else washington did was to worry about foreign affairs. Now: today washington has a policy for everything. And while in 1950 most people thought the federal government usually did the right thing, today most people have no respect for washington or the congress. What changed: there are two complaints about american politics, politicians are self serving and self interested, the second is about policies. The effects of four constitutional provisions on how we make policy: the separation of powers, has two important results, the president and the congress will be rivals (government shutdown). American policy making: best word to describe the system = adversarial a system that encourages participation by people who have an incentive to fight rather than cooperate, adversarial politics dramatizes issues, it downplays quiet negotiations.