slideshare of PowerPoint for GOVT 2306 SU 2020

1. Short Review
Texas governance and political economy within our system of federalism
Emerging opportunities from technological development
Emerging opportunities from crises

2. This review PowerPoint is
designed to point out concepts
and facts that I believe to be
important and that you may
find on the midterm exam. The
slides are not exhaustive. That
means that you will need to fill
in some of the details yourself.

3. Theories of political economy change is
context changes
Neoliberal economics is the dominant world view of global elites today.
Challenges to Neoliberal economics
Kate Rowath: Donut Economics
The purpose of the economy: promote wellbeing with or without economic growth
• One major element of the economy is the MARKET (regulated by price)
Two elements of the economy are often overlooked because price is less
important in driving their behavior
• The essential role of the family in unpaid labor and production
• The role of the collaborative commons
A fourth major element the economy is often excluded because of “free market”
ideology. It is assumed away.
• Government plays essential roles in the economy, ranging from creating the rules of
behavior to providing relief in times of market failure or crisis.

4. Government is essential.
Government may need a makeover.
• US and Texas government use 18th Century institutions (representative
democracy) based on 17th Century ideas (The Enlightenment) to deal
with 21st Century problems (uncertainty and complexity) and try to
ensure the wellbeing of future generations and the planet.
• Texas has weak governing institutions operating in a political culture
that maintains the status quo and accepts a large role for business.
• STRUCTURAL Arrangements of US Constitution
• Federalism?
• Separation of Powers?
• Checks and Balances?

5. Structure of US government
Federalism
A national government and fifty
state governments each with
legitimate political authority
Supremacy of national law
Reserved powers of states
Ongoing conflict between national
government and states
Separation of Powers
Executive Branch: execute laws
Separately elected executive is the
hallmark of US separation of
powers
Legislative branch: bicameral for
US and 49 of the 50 states
Judicial branch: adjudicate
disputes; based on English Common
Law tradition
Judicial review: declare actions of
other branches unconstitutional
Checks and balances
By design, the 3 branches must
cooperate to get most governing
done. The 3 branches can also
check each others' actions.
President must sign or veto bills
passed by congress
President can pardon those
convicted of crimes by the courts
Courts can declare actions of other
branches unconstitutional.
ETC.

6. Structure of Texas government
State Legislature
Reciprocal Bicameral:
House: 150 members; 2-year terms
Senate: 31 members; 4-year terms
Biennial: 140-day regular session in
odd numbered years
Leaders have great power
House: Speaker of the House
Senate: Lieutenant Governor
Must create a biennial budget
Role of Legislative Budget Board
Constiution requires balanced
budget
State Executive
Plural Executive: Many major executive
officials are elected rather than
appointed by governor
Weak Governor: major tool is veto; line
item veto; post adjournment veto
Lieutenant Governor: President of the
Senate; powerful
Comptroller of Public Accounts; provides
revenue estimates and certifies that
budget is balanced
Attorney General: state’s civil lawyer
Commissioner of the General Land Office
Commissioner of Agriculture
SECRETARY OF STATE IS APPOINTED
State Judiciary
Based on English Common Law
tradition; judge made law
Most judges elected in partisan
elections
2 courts of last resort
Courts of Appeals
District Courts (trial courts) original
jurisdiction felonies/major civil
County Courts:
Constitutional/statutory
Justice Courts
Municipal Courts

7. Government & the economy are intertwined

8. Economic paradigms change as reality
changes: mercantilism to neoliberalism
• New economic paradigms emerging:
• Behavioral economics
• No growth, steady state, and de-growth economics
• Donut economics
• Assumptions about the nature of human beings change
• Homoeconomicus; motivated by self-interest, selfish, perfect knowledge
• Human beings are complex and capable of altruism as well selfishness
• Humans lack perfect information and make many flawed decisions
• Technology of communication and energy increase our opportunities
• Increasing complexity and interdependence require moral and
intellectual humility

9. 20th Century vs.21st Century Assumptions
7 ways to think like a 21st Century political economist

10. Government requires a multi-disciplinary approach

11. Crises lead to new ways of doing things
• Problems of industrialization lead to progressive reforms
• Great depression gives rise to the welfare state
• Keynesian demand management emerges as dominant paradigm
• Stagflation crisis of 1970s gives rise to monetarism
• Reagan in the US and Thatcher in the UK start the transition to
supply side economics and neoliberalism
• Climate crisis, financial crisis, and the COVID 19 crisis reveal flaws
in the neoliberal status quo
• Open the Overton Window and expand the policy agenda

12. Origins of our opinions
• Agents of socialization: Influenced by Elites (Cultural Hegemony)
• Family: Do your parents accept the status quo or promote change? Scout mindset?
• Involuntary groups; ethnic groups, gender: groups introduce biases
• Race; people of different races confront different realities because of past discrimination
and institutional racism built into the structure of current institutions
• School: Condition us to accept authority, order, and dominant values
• Higher education can introduce new ideas but often simply train us to conform
• Religion: One source of values but may be sources of intense conflict
• Work: Traditional organizations promote hierarchy; collaborative work emerging
• Political Groups: Parties and Interest groups
• MEDIA; mass media, social media
• Digital networks are becoming more important as new methods of communication reduce
costs of gaining, sharing, and utilizing information.
• Computers are essential today and mobile devices, especially phones, have become our
constant companions

13. Antonio Gramsci: Cultural Hegemony
• Elites may control non-elites through coercion.
• Elites prefer voluntary compliance by non-elites over coercion.
• To exercise hegemonic control, elites manipulate the cultural dialogue
so that non-elites come to accept the elite worldview as natural,
inevitable, and in the best interest of all rather than a self-serving elite
world view.
• Elite control over the processes of political socialization and
acculturation to influence public opinion
• Makes it difficult to conceptualize and implement new ways of doing
things: cultural hegemony conditions what we see as common sense
• Restricts the realm of the possible to minor changes from status quo

14. Current Context:
• Take off stage of ITC revolution creates problems and
opportunities
• Crowd funding, 3-d printing, zero marginal cost in digitized economy
• Financial innovations, global networks, changing ways to organize
• Inequality of wealth and income and reduced ability to increase status
• COVID 19 crisis reveals flaws in global production and distribution
networks
• Opens the Overton window for the public and policy agenda for elites
• Long held opinions are challenged; ideologies and dogmas are revised
• Experimentation with new models leads to evolutionary change