POLI 2051 Chapter : Chapter 1 Lecture
Document Summary
Introduction - chapter 1: what is government and why do we have it, if men were angels, government wouldn"t be necessary. james madison. Government - a formally established way of making and carrying out political decisions: when the constitution was first signed and ratified, only white male property owners could vote. Politics - the competition to shape government"s impact on society"s problems and goals: politics is played everywhere. Why do we allow ourselves into this arrangement: most people need to be structured. Keeps things in order: we allow this arrangement because we get benefits from the government, life would be worse. Without government, we would have to exist in what some have called the state of nature. What would life be like without government: social contract theory can guide us here, to some extent. Normative - the way things ought to be.
