Guided Reading: An Introduction To Government and Politics

Chapter 1:
Define:
Society- A human group whose members live by common rules of conduct
and which has a plausible claim to self-sufficiency.

Rules of conduct- Rules, and regular human behavior like marriage,

work, etc. Also can be defined as predictable human behavior. Society
exists because of this, because they can understand and predict one
anothers behavior. This can integrate an individual into society.
Both animal and humans have rules of conduct but the major
difference is humans are so intelligent so they understand social
conduct and but can also change them by conscious decision.
Today societies have blurred, Western ideas have spread, like literacy,
clothes like jeans.
Field of voluntary reaction. People make their own decisions.

Government- Has to do with compulsion, and not decision making.

Government is a specialized activity of individuals and institutions that
make and enforce public decisions that are put into place in society.

Protect the society from external forces, enforce rules of conduct

within society, and settle disputes between members of society.
Common dominators of these functions are order, both internal and
external.
Governments selectively use force to maintain force to maintain a
stable and durable social order. Beyond this, they provide services
for society.
Essence of government is to maintain peace within the social order
by enforcing rules of conduct. They need enforcement due to the
problem of obedience being complicated because humans have vast
intellect. Humans can understand them, and manipulate them for
their own agenda. Because of this there are different opinions about
rules of conduct applying to certain situations.

Politics (page 9)- A process of conflict resolution in which support is

mobilized and maintained for collective projects.

Government which involves making and enforcing rules has politics at

every stage. A government needs popular support to carry out these
functions. It will lose support if it cannot keep external or internal
peace, or provide services for the population.
Government in a democracy must have an especially high level of
popular support, and the elections are an important way of acquiring
it. Phrase going into politics implies running for office.
Called art of the possible and the art of compromise because it must
resolve disagreements among people with different opinions and

desires. Usually ends in a settlement, an arrangement where no is

perfectly happy but everyone lives.
Polis- A Greek word translated as city-state. The polis consisted of a
city. Polis was the typical Greek form of political community at the
time of Socrates. Has given us words such as politics, or police.
Coalition (3 kinds) - Coalition is the joining of forces by two or more
parties during a conflict of interest with other parties. There are three
kinds.
1. In small scale settings, coalitions are based on personal
relationships among individuals. Ex: Prime minister must keep the
support of the partys elected members of parliament.
2. Coalitions can also be formal alliances. Ex: NATO in the Cold War to
prevent communism from spreading, and now agreed to defend
each other in case of attack.
3. Less formally, the buildings of coalitions are a characteristic of the
mass politics of modern democracies. Party leaders form electoral
coalitions by proposing policies to attract certain groups of voters.
Prisoner Dilemma- Two prisoners get less jail time if they can stay silent,
which would give them a favorable sentence. But that would be less likely
to happen. Both have x, y. First number is the payoff for the first player,
and the second for the second player. Ex: 0, -10 for Max if tell on Jennifer.
Most players who have self-interest in themselves end up with longer jail
sentences, each being led to talk. If they keep quiet, they could have less
jail time. This game is a model of the general problem of obtaining social
cooperation.

Dilemma- A simplification: people are not just individuals but also

members of families and communities, and are not purely selfinterested and feel obligated to follow general rules of conduct.
Ways to beat the game is iteration. If the game is played repeatedly,
both players learn to get the best ending. The most effective
strategy is tit for tat. Do not be first to defect, trust the other player
as long as he cooperates, but punish him if he defects. At the same
time do not hold a grudge, return to cooperation as soon as he does.
Approach others in a cooperative way, cooperate as long as they do,
but dont be played for a fool. Another way to beat the Prisoners
Dilemma is to force agreements.
The enforcement of agreements by an external authority (ex: police)
is one of the most important things a government does. By promising
to serve as an enforcement agency, the government promotes social
cooperation but overcoming the self-interest in the Prisoners
Dilemma.
Apply prisoners dilemma to pollution/littering- Most people want to
litter, because its easy. So most people tend to do it, for their own

interests. The Prisoners Dilemma relates to this because there is a

general problem of social cooperation. The same thing with pollution
is, they use things bad for the earth because its easier and makes
more money for them in short time.