Political powerUnit 1: Intro to Government

Journal #5

• Name• Date• Copy question:

What qualities do you prize in a leader (Presidents? Religious? Teachers)? As a leader, is it better to be loved or feared? Explain.

What is Power?

• A person, group, or state that exercises control, authority or influence.

What is Power in Politics?• Power is a relationship in

which one individual (or group) can cause another individual (or group) to take an action that they would not otherwise take.

• Power involves changing the behavior of another by using implied, not (almost never) actual, force.

Authority (Legit Power)

Leadership

Power(Informal Authority)

How is Power Gained?

“Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws.”

- John Adams

Is power only gained on the backs of the weak or naive?

Power Politics Theories

Marxist Theory

• Power comes from economic forces.• Ex. If the rich control the economy then they have the power. • If the government controls the economy then they have the power.

• All societies are made of economic classes, which are usually divided into two groups:

• Bourgeoisie (Capitalists)• Proletariat (Workers)

• Capitalists dominate the economy, therefore they control the government.

“Power Elite” Theory

• The elite makes most of the decisions.

• Military (“Warlords”; the Joint Chiefs of Staff)

• Wealthy (Powerful families (ex. Kennedy’s), Entertainers/media, Corporate rich (ex. CEO’s of big corporations)

• Political (U.S. Federal Government; President, Members of Congress)

Bureaucracy Theory• Non-elected individuals who control the

government.

• Good: decisions will be made rationally, most efficient way to organize human activity (big population, complex tasks, monetary system, communication, transportation, eliminate favoritism)

• Bad: Immense power in the hands of the bureaucrats, can be a threat to our freedom (trap individuals in “soulless cage”)

Anarchy Theory

• No organized government

• People in a society help others without a set standard or order

• No corruption (in theory)…can it work?

Pluralist Theory

• Many groups, not the people as a whole, govern the U.S.

• Groups: trade unions, business lobbies, special interest groups (ex. environmentalists)

• Competition between these groups for power• The public acts as bystanders

Niccolò Machiavelli1500’s Florence

• Founder of modern political science, specifically ethics

• Most famous work: The Prince

• Written to the Medici family

• Handbook on how to be a prince (ruler, President) and maintain power.

Machiavellian Theory(1500’s)• Endorsed behavior often deemed as evil and immoral

Basically…the ENDS justify the MEANS

• Machiavellianism is a widely used negative term to characterize unscrupulous politicians

How Machiavelli saw human nature

• Humans, by nature, are:• Greedy, power hungry, easy to corrupt, naïve, vain,

cowardly, impressionable

Machiavelli

“Government cannot be maintained through morality”

A Prince’s Duties

• Maintain stability

What is the role of a prince? What should he do?

“The most important role of a prince is to guarantee stability to his power and to the nation.”

Guarantee stability

9/11/14President Obama’s outlines plan to eliminate ISIS

“This is a core principle of my presidency: If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven.”

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/11/politics/obama-speech-5-takeaways/

Should be more Machiavellian? Power to declare war?

A Prince's Duties

• Maintain stability• Minimize change

Change is negative for stability

"It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things."

Mid-term elections, November 4

• What is at stake?

• U.S. Senate is the big prize

• Democrats in danger of losing control of Senate to Republicans (may affect social programs & judicial appointments)

• Big push in many states

A Prince's Duties

• Maintain stability• Minimize change• Use virtue as required

Non-Virtuous People

“The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous…. Therefore if a prince wants to maintain his rule he must learn how not to be virtuous, and to make use of this according to his need.”

Look virtuous, but do what you have to do• American value…”do good to do well”

• World of law abiding nations that respect human rights. America should set an example.

• No assassinating foreign leaders, keeping enemies prisoner, no torture, no lying or bribery

• Are we guilty of any of these things?

Abu Ghraib prison, 2003- 2004

• Baghdad, Iraq

Donald Rumsfeld, Sec. of Defense (2001-6)“These events occurred on my watch. As secretary of defense, I am accountable for them. I take full responsibility. It is my obligation to evaluate what happened, to make sure those who have committed wrongdoing are brought to justice, and to make changes as needed to see that it doesn't happen again. I feel terrible about what happened to these Iraqi detainees. They are human beings. They were in U.S. custody. Our country had an obligation to treat them right. We didn't do that. That was wrong. To those Iraqis who were mistreated by members of U.S. armed forces, I offer my deepest apology. It was un-American. And it was inconsistent with the values of our nation.“

But did he approve these techniques?• Memo read by Rumsfeld

• Detailed how Guantanamo interrogators would induce stress in prisoners by forcing them to remain standing in one position for a maximum of four hours

• Rumsfeld scrawled a handwritten note in the margin reading: "I stand for 8–10 hours a day. Why is standing [by prisoners] limited to four hours? D.R.“

• Controversy, resigned in 2006

A Prince's Duties

• Maintain stability• Minimize change• Use virtue as required• Be good, or not, depending on the situation

Do what needs to be done

“Hence a prince, in order to hold his position, must acquire the power to be not good, and understand when to use it and when not to use it, in accord with necessity.”

A Prince's Duties• Maintain stability• Minimize change• Use virtue as required• Be good or not depending on the situation• Be loved and feared, but favor being feared

Loved or Feared?

“Is it better to be loved than feared, or the reverse?... it is much safer for a prince to be feared than loved, if he is to fail in one of the two…

We can say this about men in general: they are ungrateful, unpredictable, simulators and dissimulators, runaways in danger, eager for gain”

Proper Use of Fear

“Nevertheless, the wise prince makes himself feared in such a way that he does not gain love but he escapes hated.”

U.S. foreign policy: Are we feared or loved?• Berlin Airlift

U.S. foreign policy: Are we feared or loved?• American occupation of foreign lands…violate national sovereignty?

• Benevolent motives…may still generate resistance

• At mercy of occupying force, innocents may be killed, disregard for local customs…build up hostility?

A Prince's Duties• Maintain stability• Minimize change• Use virtue as required• Be good or not depending on the situation• Be loved and feared, but favor being feared• Know when to keep a promise

Danger of Openness“How praiseworthy a prince is who keeps his promises and lives with sincerity and not with trickery everybody realizes.

Nevertheless, experience in our time shows that those princes have done great things who have valued their promises little, and who have understood how to addle the brains of men with trickery; and in the end they have vanquished those who have stood upon their honesty.”

A Prince's Duties• Maintain stability• Minimize change• Use virtue as required• Be good or not depending on the situation• Be loved and feared, but favor being feared• Know when to keep a promise• Appear to have good qualities

Appearances are Useful“For a prince, then, it is not necessary actually to have all the above-mentioned qualities, but it is very necessary to appear to have them. Further, I shall be so bold as to say this: that if he has them and always practices them, they are harmful; and if he appears to have them, they are useful.”

--Machiavelli, The Prince

Appearances are useful

"Every one sees what you seem, but few know what you are."

Appearances are useful

A Prince's Duties• Maintain stability• Minimize change• Use virtue as required• Be good or not depending on the situation• Be loved and feared, but favor being feared• Know when to keep a promise• Appear to have good qualities• Realize that the end will justify the means

Princes Must Maintain Authority

"Wherefore if a Prince succeeds in establishing and maintaining his authority, the means will always be judged honorable and be approved by every one."

A Prince’s Duties

• Maintain stability• Minimize change• Use virtue as required• Be good or not depending on the situation• Be loved and feared, but favor being feared• Know when to keep a promise• Appear to have good qualities• Realize that the end will justify the means

The ends justifies the means…

• May 2, 2011• Osama bin Laden killed by U.S. Navy Seals in Pakistan

How Machiavellian are you?

Machiavelli

Are Machiavellian principles acceptable today? Was he evil or just a realist?

Do the ends justify the means? Does the good of the many out way

the good of the one or the few?

Leadership

• What do we want in a leader?

• Transformational Leadership

• Motivates others to identify & commit themselves to the group’s mission

• Natural extraverts, articulate high standards, inspire people to share vision