Chapter 1 Study Guide

Front 1

How people try to manage social conflicts. Formally, it is the process through which individuals and groups reach agreement on a course of common or collective action even as they disagree on the common intended goals of that action.

Back 1

Politics

Front 2

Everyone has preferences that must be reconciled if they are to agree to some common course of action. Because of this, you would never come to a conclusion or settlement without these two important things in politics.

Back 2

Bargaining and Compromise

Front 3

The givens that individuals and groups know what they want. May reflect the individual’s economic situation, religious values, ethnic identity or some other valued interest.

Back 3

Preferences

Front 4

Entities that politicians can count on to manage potential conflicts, ethnic and religious rivals.

Back 4

Institutions

Front 5

Establishes its governing institutions and its set of rules and procedures that these institutions must follow to reach an enforced collective agreement. It can be formal or unwritten.

Back 5

Constitution of a Nation

Front 6

This consists of these institutions in the legally prescribed process for making and enforcing collective agreement. There would be chaos, anarchy and no decisions being made without them.

Back 6

government

Front 7

The acknowledged right to make a particular decision.

Back 7

Authority

Front 8

Refers to an officeholder’s actual influence with other officeholders and as a consequence, over the government’s actions.

Back 8

Power

Front 9

This is undertaken to make institutions perform more efficiently. It enables institutions to accomplish new collective goals. It generally occurs by coordinating their actions and centralizing authority. The changes have been gradual, but over time they transformed the office.

Back 9

Institutional Reform

Front 10

What are two problems that make collective action difficult to attain?

Back 10

Coordination problems and prisoner's dilemma

Front 11

Why are collective action problems difficult to overcome?

Back 11

Even when differences are in principle reconcilable, there is no guarantee that a solution will be discovered and implemented. Our whole class would have to go for a certain day to do community service work. It would super difficult to coordinate a time.

Front 12

Members of the group must decide individually what they want and what they are prepared to contribute to the collective enterprise and how to coordinate their efforts with those of the others.

Back 12

Coordination

Front 13

It arises whenever individuals decide that even though they support some collective undertaking, they are personally better off pursuing an activity that rewards them individually despite undermining the collective effort.

Back 13

Prisoner's Dilemma

Front 14

It is a form of prisoner’s dilemma that afflicts large groups. This problem is when people defect from the agreement by withholding a contribution to the group’s undertaking while enjoying the benefits of collective effort. This problem arises whenever citizens recognize that their small contribution to the enterprise will not affect its success or failure.

Back 14

Free-Riding

Front 15

This is also a form of the prisoner’s dilemmas. Resembles free riding in that a large number of participants encourage reneging from contribution so the public well. The difference is that the good already exists and will be destroyed if its exploitation is not brought under control.

Back 15

Tragedy of the Commons

Front 16

This is a cost of collective action. It is a visible cost such as the time, effort and resources required to make collective decisions.

Back 16

Transaction Costs

Front 17

This is a cost of collective action. It ranges from an ordinary task such as paying property taxes to extraordinary sacrifices such as serving in Iraq away from home and family. Every time that there is a prisoner’s dilemma for collective decisions, it involves these kind of costs.

Back 17

Conformity Costs

Front 18

When a vote is taken and the decision is made based off of a simple majority, one half plus one.

Back 18

Majority Rule

Front 19

This is when individuals or groups authorize someone to make and implement someone to make and implement decisions for them. This term is important because it addresses common collective action problems. It is important whenever special expertise is required to make and carry out sound decisions.

Back 19

Delegation

Front 20

This is illustrated in American government through checks and balances as well as divided authority among different issues within the country.

Back 20

Separation of Powers

Front 21

What is the principle-agent relationship? Why is it important?

Back 21

Principles possess decision making authority and they delegate their authority to agents who then exercise it. It is important to monitor and promote the administration’s interest.

Front 22

The discrepancy between what a principal would ideally like its agents to do and what they actually do. They might arise accidentally by incompetence or the principles failure to communicate goals clearly or a loss might reflect the inherent differences between the goals of a principle and its agents.

Back 22

Agency Loss

Front 23

________ government is when modern democracies blend delegation with majority rule. This form of democracy eliminates the massive confusion that would ensue if large communities tried to craft policies directly. This type of government makes large scale democracy possible. Citizens participate directly in collective decision making. Reserved primarily for small communities and organizations.

Back 23

Representative

Front 24

It is designed to allow some degree of popular control and also avoid tyrant.

Back 24

A Republic

Front 25

_______________ system government fuses the executive and legislative branches.

Back 25

Parliamentary

Front 26

____________ system government has separate executive and legislative branches.

Back 26

Presidential

Front 27

______________ is a combination of unlike minded interests who nonetheless agree for their own distinct reasons to a common course of action.

Back 27

Coalition

Front 28

Why do politicians act strategically?

Back 28

To win elections. Every time a politician compromises, they are behaving strategically.

Front 29

Things people buy and consume themselves in a market place that supplies those goods according to the demand for them.

Back 29

Private Goods

Front 30

Things that everyone can freely consume. Their costs are borne collectively and no one can be excluded from their benefits. A freeway for example.

Back 30

Public Goods.... Collective Goods is a term that is less restrictive than public goods.

Front 31

Sometimes public goods are generated as a byproduct of people’s private activities. Many of them are undesirable and would more accurately be called “public bads.” Automobile pollution for example.

Back 31

Externalities

Front 32

How does the institutional design of our federal government mitigate “popular passions”?

Back 32

Everyone wanted to change the government. To solve the nation’s pervasive collective action problems, the Framers designed a new government that minimized conformity cost.