Transcript American Politics: Congress

Institutional Analysis
Lecture 2: Rules of the Game
Sharyn O’Halloran
Basic Approach
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Preferences In -- Policies Out
Preferences
Government
(interests)
electoral process
Policies
(legal constraints
on economic or
social activity)
governmental process
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Issues emerge,
Interests (preferences) are formed, and
Information is transmitted to the
Institutions of government, where policy may or may not change.
Where do institutions come from?
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Institutions are the result of political process.
Choice is political
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Made by individuals with preferences over policy.
As circumstances change, so too may the
institutions of decision making.
Institutions set the rules
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They define the key actors, their interests, and the
rules by which they interact in the governmental
process.
Keep in mind as we review the basics of the US
Constitution.
Madison’s Dilemma
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Government must be responsive to the will of the
people.
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Just fought for independence
Aware of the consequences of unchecked authority
Government had to be effective
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The constitution was written in response to the failures of
the Article of Confederation.
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Articles extremely limited, the central government could not
even tax.
Government had to be able to get things done.
Dilemma (inherent conflict)
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Must enable the government to control the govern (i.e., tax)
and then oblige the government to control itself.
Constitutional Solution
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Main Theme
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How accomplished?
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Pit interest against interest
Divide and arrange the offices so that each check the
other.
Divide government into different branches
Render them by different modes of election
Given them different abilities
Results
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The branches will never coalesce; no one branch or
individual can dominate the political process.
Policy change difficult and incremental
Checks & Balances
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Types
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Presidential veto
Congressional override
Judicial review
How does differing constituencies provide
check?
Where do the interests of each branch come
from?
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Representatives—districts, 2 years
Senators—states, 6 years
President—national, 4 years
The Federalist Papers
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Purpose
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Propaganda to get white male landowners
to sign on to the new government.
Concern was that the un-landed class
would appropriate property.
What form of government do we have?
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Democracy?
In what way are US institutions undemocratic?
Federalist 10
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Question?
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How was a republican government, based on the
election of a few to represent many, prevent
tyranny.
Answer
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Tyranny can be controlled by competing interests
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People have different interests
Larger electorates (or number of representatives) have
more competing interests
Therefore, to preserve individual rights and secure the
public good, need large number of competing interests.
Case for strong union?
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Union bigger and therefore has more competing interests
than a state or locality.
Federalist 51
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Question?
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How to prevent one branch of government from
dominating others?
Answer
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To ensure liberty, need to ensure separate and distinct
exercise of the different powers of government.
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Premise: Men are self-interested
Intermediate steps:
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Men will abuse power
Setting interest against interest
Different modes of elections gives different interest
Conclusion:
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To ensure liberty need separation of powers based on different
modes of election to check each other’s abuse of power.