Midterm (Coulter POLS 101) Latest 2024 Graded A+

Midterm (Coulter POLS 101) Latest 2024 Graded A+ Politics A process among communities where public values are debated and described, diverse political actors cooperate and struggle for power to satisfy basic needs, protect interest, and obtain desires, and policy judgements are made and implemented Political Actors Participants in politics, voters, contributors, and officials Why is politics like a game? Written and unwritten rules, an objective, strategy, winners and losers Wipeout Two participants want things incompatible with each other Examples of Wipe Out Athens and Melos, Hitler, Stalin, Cambodia, Ethnic Cleansing, Genocide, Terror Log Roll Particular type of bargain The Lion and the Fox "The ends justify the means" The lion can't protect itself from traps and the fox can't defend itself from wolves. So a fox must recognize traps and the lion must scare off the wolves Example of the Lion and the Fox Bismarck, FDR, watergate, Iran-Contra Scandal Who created Lion and the Fox? Machiavelli Civil Disobedience Morality. People of conscience vs people who lack moral vision or courage. People who oppose slavery and war and the federal and state governments that follow. Example of Civil Disobedience MLK and the Civil Rights movement When is Civil Disobedience appropriate? When you don't have other resources to enact social change Who created Civil Disobedience? Thoreau Knowledge is Justified, true belief. Depends on reason and observation (not one or the other), true premises, and valid conclusions Theory Not a possible explanation, instead something that is informed. A general pattern of behavior that can explain actions Individuals are Rational They chose their behavior to maximize their expected value Expected value What you think you will gain out of an experiment Self Interest Not caring for the that welfare doesn't impact your well-being Rational Ignornace Some chose not to be informed What people want Value is placed on outcomes and alternatives from which they can chose Preferences People place more value on what they don't have, not completely rational Private Excludable and divisible Public Nonexcludable and indivisible Problems of Voluntary Action Hard to supply public goods, hard to get people to cooperate, people might free ride, people disagree about what is public, people might think their effort is worth the investment Rivalous Excludable Game theory Helps us think about the challenges/possibilities of human cooperation Prisoners dilemna why two completely rational individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interests to do so Dominant Strategy Gives you the best chance of a payout Nash equilibrium Choice where no better payoff is ensured by changing choice Forced Provisions Taxation Free Politics Liberalism Pareto Optimal The best distribution in a group Challenges to Public Goods Groups must be organized, incentives matter, people must be able to organize themselves politically Normative Implication people must be able to organize themselves politically Determining Public goods Individuals don't (or can't) give true valuation of public goods The larger the group... the further from optimal the amount a public group can supply Competition is __ in large groups because __ stiffer, there is more at stake Sub-groups solve Collective action problems Assurance game If enough other people show up, its worth attending Chicken game If no one shows up, its worth contributing to the public good Implications of Rational Ignornace Discounted interest in being educated about politics, wealthy will know more Amoral Disconnected to broader effect on the big picture Political behavior by citizens is amoral Paradox of Voting Doesn't usually make a difference, turnout will go down if cost to vote increases, voting is expressive and symbolic Blacks single peakedness theorem How sufficient consensus can occur Median voter theorem Must appeal to the median in order to win the election Rules matter Pure majoritarian, committees with open or closes rules Indifference curves How far from the original point you're willing to go Why government? God established government, we can observe human beings and provide an explanation why government exists Observable reasons for government Externalities,