Slide 1 WestCal Political Science 5 Western Political Thought 2016

West Coast American Leadership Academy
Political Science 5 – Western Political Thought
Spring 2016 / Fall 2016 – Power Point 1

1. American Persona
2. Defining Political Science
3. Role Of Theory, Rational Choice, Realism
4. Elitism & Pluralism
5. Transitional Effects & Stabilization
6. Spheres Of Influence
7. Power Theory & Transparency Theory
8. Classical & Modern Political Thought
9. Organic Roots Of America
10.Elite Inspiration For Our Government.
Course Lecture Topics

Welcome To Class!
New semesters bring various hiccups
for everyone. This also goes for your
instructor. We are all adjusting to new
situations, course schedule conflicts
and other adjustments. This course
utilizes various methods to deliver
information. Many of our materials are
media driven. You will find many to be
humorous, thought provoking, or even
interesting. This first clip is presented
merely for fun. It is titled “Welcome To
School.”

What Is Political Science?
1. Political science is a branch of the social sciences.
• Just like Sociology.
2. Each branch is interested in individual and group behavior.
• Fundamental difference is the foundational theory.
3. Sociologists are biased towards elitism.
4. Political scientists are biased towards pluralism.
• Elite theory is still utilized in contrast with pluralism.
5. Political scientists examine influences of political behavior.
• Result of competing interests.
• End result of conflict and compromise.
6. Sociologists look at individual behavior.
• According to elite influence in general.

Role Of Theory
1. Everyone uses theory whether they know it or not.
2. Many of us devise our own theories.
• Through childhood socializations up to adulthood.
3. Foundation of political science.
• Pluralism / Rational Choice Theory.
4. Think of theory as a pair of sunglasses.
• Filtering unwanted information.
• Helps us “see” the truth.

Rational Choice Theory (1)
1. What Is The Primary Goal Of The Individual?
• The answer may be summed up in one word: Survival.
• Survival is the foundation for all action.
• Individual parties make decisions based on rationality.
• It Assumes individuals base all decisions on self-interest.
2. Requirements To Make A Rational Choice:
• Perfect information
• Balancing our emotions
3. Rational Choice In One Sentence:
• “Decisions are based on self-interest…as we define our self-interest
to be.”

• It was Sept. 26, 1983, Colonel
Stanislav Petrov was monitoring the
Soviet Union’s early warning satellites
at Serpukhov-15.
• Then the alarms went off. On the panel
in front him was a red pulsating button.
One word flashed: "Start." This was a
false alarm.
• The false alarm came during one of the
most tense periods of the Cold War.

Who Is Acting Rationally In This Example?
We have a nun and a real-estate mogul. The nun gives up all
her worldly possessions and dedicates herself to helping
those in poverty. Her justification may be great rewards in the
afterlife. The real-estate mogul does not believe in an afterlife,
but does believe in making as much money as , spending it all
on an overly extravagant and abusive lifestyle. Who is acting
rationally? Both individuals are for they are fulfilling their self-
interest…as they define their self-interest to be.

Example Of Theory: Realism
1. Human nature is the predominant factor.
• In a nation-state’s foreign policy.
• These policies are focused upon self-interest.
• The inherent motive for man is survival .
• Applied policies are determined according to political determinations.
2. Considered to be a synonym for power politics.
• Construed as pragmatic and wrought with simplicity.
• Abrupt philosophy focused on the inherent evils of mankind.

Realism
This clip is from the
movie “Failsafe.” Walter
Matthau plays the role of
National Security Advisor
who applies rational
choice and realist theory
to explain why striking at
the Soviet Union is
necessary to survive.

America Stands Strong
This is a speech about
American strength by Ronald
Reagan, 40th President of
the United States.

Elitism
1. Elitism does not promote elite rule.
2. The rules of a society obstruct social progress of masses.
3. Elites are needed due mass ignorance and apathy.
4. Elites have two main goals:
• Preserve and enhance their positions of power.
5. Masses are open to demagogues:
• When the economy is doing poorly.
• The country is fighting a war that it is losing.
6. Demagogues come from the far left or far right.
7. The Founding Fathers were against national referenda.

Elitism Summarized (1)
1. Society is divided between the powerful few and the
majority weak.
2. Governing few are not typical of the governed masses.
Elites are not drawn mostly from the upper class
socioeconomic section of society.
3. Non-elites have to be given the opportunity to rise up to
elite positions. The masses have to believe that the
process is continuous or revolution may occur. Barriers
prevent finite elite positions from being overtaken by
unqualified individuals. This is a rat and cheese scenario.
Sufficient Cheese Sufficient Cheese Lack Of Cheese

Elitism Summarized (2)
4. Elites share a common belief on the basic values of the
elite. Any change of public policy will be incrementally slow
rather than revolutionary.
5. Elites may base their actions either on narrow, self-serving
motives and risk undermining mass support, or they may
initiate reforms, curb abuse, and undertake public-
regarding programs to preserve the system.
6. Active elites are not typically influenced from apathetic
masses. Elites influence masses more than the masses
influence elites.

Elitism / Information Flow (1)
1. Information flows from opinion elites down to opinion
leaders who are looked to the public for information.
2. News is first “created” by opinion elites and then sent to
opinion leaders to help disseminate the information.
3. Those at the very top of the elite network decide what
information is deemed as necessary to offer society.
4. These elites may be news makers themselves or in charge
of large media corporations.
5. Opinion leaders may be thought of as journalists, news
anchors, expert pundits or even celebrities who possess
legitimacy among those in society.

Elitism – Information Flow (2)

Mirror Myth
1. News media outlets “decide
what will be decided.”
2. Bias is exhibited throughout the
mainstream and nontraditional
news sources.
3. The news media stress that
they are nonbiased since they
only reflect reality.
4. Their choice of news subjects
proves their bias.

What We Call The News (1)
Securing market share
is vital, for without it, the
major media would lose
advertising revenue. It is
really our fault that the
major news networks
willfully focus on sex,
violence and various
negative pieces. Enjoy
this video, “What We
Call The News.”

Pluralism & Spheres (1)
1. Pluralism insures that groups are restricted from single
handedly influencing public policy.
2. Cross-cutting cleavages would form, as groups seek
compromise with others to build coalitions that would
succeed in affecting change.
3. Minorities are protected from an overwhelming majority.
4. Majority power-holders are essentially “checked.”
• Cross-cutting cleavages balance against overwhelming forces.

Citizen Based Propaganda
“The War On Terror” sparked
a great deal of media
distributed via the Internet.
Elites no longer maintain total
control over distribution.
These videos are meant to
produce an “Us” versus
“Them” mindset.

Pluralism Summarized (1)
1. Society is divided into numerous groups with all making
demands on government while none of the participants are
able to dominate all decision-making.
2. Citizens do not directly participate in decision-making, but
they are able to vote for leaders to make decisions through
a process of bargaining, accommodation, and compromise.

3. Competition among leadership groups helps protect
individuals’ interests. Countervailing centers of power – for
example, competition among business leaders, labor
leaders and government leaders – can check one another
and keep each interest from abusing its power and
oppressing the individual. Each of these individual
“spheres of influence” allies themselves with other spheres
that possess similar goals. See “Spheres Of Influence.”
4. Individuals may not participate directly in decision-making,
but they can exert influence through active participation in
organized groups, political parties and elections.

5. Leadership groups are open; new groups can form and gain
access to the political system.
6. Political influence in society is unequally distributed, but
power is widely dispersed. Access to decision making is
often determined by how much interest people have in a
particular decision. Because leadership is fluid and mobile,
power depends on one’s interest in public affairs, skills in
leadership, information about issues, knowledge of
democratic processes, and skill in organization and public
relations.

7. Multiple leadership groups operate within society. Those
who exercise power in one kind of decision do not
necessarily exercise power in others. No single elite
dominates decision making in all issues.
8. Public policy does not necessarily reflect majority
preference, but is an equilibrium of interest interaction –
competing interest group influences are more or less
balanced, and the resulting policy is therefore a reasonable
approximation of society’s preferences.

Elitism Versus Pluralism (1)
1. Elitism asserts that the most important division in society is
between elites and masses.
2. Elitism emphasizes the importance to leaders to maintain
their position of power – Pluralism emphasizes this devotion
to their group interests.
3. Elitism asserts that mass membership of organizations
rarely exercises influence on elite leadership. That these
organizations have no democratic processes and are
controlled by leaders who operate for their own self-interest.
Pluralists offer no evidence that the giant organizations
represent the interests of their individual members.

Elitism Versus Pluralism (2)
4. Elitism takes into account of all power holders – private and
public. Pluralism focuses on governmental leaders and
those who interact directly with them.
5. Elitism emphasizes shared characteristics of leaders on top
of their interest in preserving the social diversity among
leaders, differences in backgrounds, ideologies, and
viewpoints. Pluralism also argues that decisions made by
leaders are a product of their role perception, institutional
constraints, interest group pressure, public opinion, etc.
Elitism focuses on leadership consensus – Pluralism
focuses on elite conflict.

Spheres Of Influence
1. Competing spheres of influence
protect minority rights against
majority factions.
2. Alliances will form among once
competing spheres in order to
“check” another sphere or
individual elite base that acquires
too much power.
3. Individual spheres of influence are
always on the alert for one of their
peers assuming too much power.

Competing Spheres
1. Competing Spheres of Influence
essentially check each other
within the political system.
2. This is essential for the protection
of minority rights especially as it
pertains to majority factions.
3. Elites are those who hold
positions of power in society.
4. Our Founding Fathers considered
the protection of minority rights as
those few individuals who
retained control over society.

Transitional Effects – 1
1. Competition produces great returns for humanity.
2. The result has been America progressing from a
predominantly agricultural society to an industrial, nuclear,
and information based society.
3. Innovation has led to advancements that have greatly
influenced every aspect of society.
4. Society has benefited from constant advancements in
energy harvesting, computers, communication, water
purification, medicine, etc.

Transitional Effects – 2
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
Every significant discovery has in turn greatly influenced
societal norms of behavior Masses today view internet
communications as a vital necessity. It is nearly impossible to
operate in a complex society without easy access to the web.
The majority of masses did not have this belief fifteen years
ago. Only society determining that the internet allowed for
greater efficiency was it adopted as a societal norm. Those not
willing to adapt became obsolete.

Stabilization
1. Sudden instability is the greatest threat to humanity.
• It threatens to cause irreparable harm to the individual.
2. Elimination of one’s sustenance throws the individual into a
state of war, because their survival is now threatened.
3. Nation-states consist of multiple spheres of interest in turn
consisting of individual units consisting of people.
4. Survival is the primary goal of man and nation-states.
• The primary concern is that of stability.
• This philosophy has prevented a major war for over 70 years.
• Instability is the primary cause of all conflict.

Spheres Of Influence
1. Spheres consist of individuals
who share a common set of
interests and/or belief systems.
2. Individual participants are the
absolute micro-level.
• Family, work, school, political
parties, religion, etc.
• The individual member serves as
the conduit between spheres.
• Various social interactions
influence individual behavior.

Elite Stages
1. Elites are the true minority.
• This is true for all societies.
2. Elites possess large capacities of power.
3. The example shows maximum education.

Pluralism Alliances
1. Alliances will form among once
competing spheres in order to
“check” another sphere or
individual elite base that acquires
too much power.
2. Certain situations may also call
for spheres realize they share a
common agenda with one or
more of their respective peers.
Individual
Interdependent Spheres
Government Business

Power Theory – 1
1. To exert power one must first possess adequate reserves
• This is defined simply as “capacity of power.”
2. Achieving higher positions is dependent on various factors
that may include: education; wealth; profession; charisma
and other talents either developed or engrained from birth.
3. This “capacity of power” is not determined according to a
single resource, ability or possession.
4. It is a combination of different variables that serve to make
up the individual.
5. This is just like a battery consisting of energy resources
drawn upon when it comes time to draw power in order to
achieve a set objective.

Power Theory – 2
Like a battery powering a
flashlight so does one’s
individual “capacity of power”
serve to assist one in achieving a
set goal or in this case
influencing or affecting political
behavior to maintain, expand or
protect one’s standing in order
to survive in society.

Power Theory – 3
Power equals resources (capacity of power) times compliance
squared, divided by force. Every accounting of power theory is
taken into consideration in the construction of this formula. We
have explored the contention that the pursuit of self-interest
encourages man to engage in political behavior. This serves
as the foundation for rational choice theory, which in turn has
led us to power theory. One may argue that the pursuit of
power maintains the never ending cycle of political: conflict;
compromise; alliances; and wars.

Transparency – 1
America has grown from the days of a colony to major
power, superpower, and hegemon, to its present empire
status. American power is felt throughout the international
community. Playing poker requires one to adopt what is
commonly known as a “poker face”. Players will hide their
true emotions, even faking their true intentions to catch other
players off guard. Some have even taken to wearing
sunglasses. The exact opposite tactic that the United States
has adopted is “Transparency”. This involves disclosing all
routes the nation-state will undertake with regards to all
forms of public policy pertaining to its political, economic and
military strategies.

Transparency – 2
Alexander Hamilton initiated this
policy as the chief financial
philosopher of the United States
even if he did not coin the term.
Hamilton is regarded as the
chief architect of our economic
policy, which in turn was
developed in order to win the
confidence of domestic US
business and financial elites as
well as gaining the confidence
of international business.

Transparency Example
America possesses the
most technologically
advanced military
hardware. This video
demonstrates one of the
first deployable force
fields for light armored
vehicles (LAVs).
Welcome to the 21st
Century.

THE LAYERS
FARMERS
GREATMASSOFWHITEAMERICANS
WHOHADLITTLEINTERESTINPUBLICAFFAIRS.
MIDDLECLASS
SUCCESSFUL BODYOFINDIVDUALS
ELITE
DOMINATEDSOCIAL, CULTURAL, ECONOMIC, &POLITICAL LIFE
Early American Elites & Masses

• Government under the articles of confederation.
 Established a “Firm League Of Friendship.”
 Identified national government powers.
 Reassured each state of its:
Sovereignty.
Freedom.
Independence.
• Repayment of loans made to congress.
 Investors who backed the American war effort had
difficulty securing their loans.
 Without the power to tax, the future of the
American government looked bleak.
Elite Preferences:
Inspiration For A New Constitution

Articles Of Confederation
Though the American Revolution was that of ideas, it was a full
out war. Victorious, the thirteen colonies established and lived
under the Articles of Confederation until the adoption of the
Constitution of 1787. Revolutionary itself, the Articles of
Confederation provided little assistance for a nation absent of
leaders who possessed experience in governing the whole
country. The Articles of Confederation linked the thirteen colonies
in mainly defensive guarantees. Though a congress with typical
authority associated with a central government was established
with normal duties including the right to declare war, engage in
treaties and coin money, there lacked an executive branch to
enforce decisions. Congress was state directed, with each state
having a single vote. Nine out of thirteen states had to agree if
anything were to be passed.

• Protection of bankers and creditors.
 State-issued paper money permitted debtors to pay
off creditors with money worth less than they originally
owned.
• Opening western land to speculation.
 Need a strong central government.
With enough military power to oust the British from
the northwest.
To protect settlers against Indian attacks.
 The protection and settlement.
Cause land values to increase.
Make land speculators rich.
Elite Preferences:

• Protection of shipping and manufacturing.
 Strong navy important to American commercial interests.
 Tariff barriers not adequate against foreign goods.
• Ensuring the return of runaway slaves.
 Protection of human “property.”
 In 1787, slavery was lawful everywhere except in
Massachusetts.
 Nation’s founders prepared to protect slavery.
 Southern economy highly dependent on slaves.
• Exercising powers in world affairs.
 Confederation held in contempt by Britain and barbary
states.
 Elite wanted to assume role in the international community
and exercise power in world affairs.
Elite Preferences:

• Annapolis Convention.
 Report that outlined defects in the articles of
confederation.
 Called upon states to send delegates to new
convention to suggest remedies.
• George Washington's prestige.
 55 men chose George Washington in the
summer of 1787.
 Stood at the apex of American elite structure.
Formation Of A National Elite (1)

• Founders’ governing experience—wealthy
individuals.
 Wealth assumed A variety of forms:
 Land, ships, business inventories, slaves,
credit, bonds, paper money.
• Founders’ “ continental” view.
 Cosmopolitanism distinguished the men of
Philadelphia from the masses.
 “Continental” point of view for political,
economic, & military issues.
 Members of the elite extended their loyalties
beyond their states.
Formation Of A National Elite (2)

• Goal of government is to protect liberty and property.
• Origin of government is implied contract among
people.
• Elites believe in:
 A republican government.
 Limited government could not threaten liberty or
property.
 A strong national government could:
“establish justice.
insure domestic tranquility.
provide for the common defense.
promote the general welfare, and
secure the blessings of liberty.”
Elite Consensus In 1787

• Representation Compromise:
 addressed representation in the national legislature.
• Slavery compromise –the three-fifths compromise.
 For tax and representation purposes: slaves counted as
three-fifths of a person.
• Export tax compromise –between planters and merchants.
 Articles exported from any state should not bear tax or
duty.
 Imports could only be taxed by the national government.
• Voter qualification compromise:
 concerned qualifications for voting and holding office.
 electors in states should qualify for electors of the most
numerous branch of the state legislatures.
 women could not participate in government.
An Elite In Operation: Conciliation
And Compromise

• Elites benefited more directly and immediately than nonelites.
• Levying taxes.
 Congress given power to tariff.
• Regulating commerce –the interstate commerce clause & the
provision in article I, section 9.
 Created free trade area over the thirteen states.
 The arrangement was beneficial for American merchants.
• Protecting money and property.
 Congress gains control over currency and credit.
The Constitution As Elitist
Document (1)

• Creating the military – two purposes.
 Army and navy promote commercial and territorial
ambitions.
 Protection from invasion.
• Protecting against revolution.
 Protect government from revolution with military.
 Protect slaveholders from slave revolt.
• Protecting slavery.
• Congress outlawed the import of slaves after 1808.
• Protect existing property and slaves.
Document (2)

• Limiting States In Business Affairs
 Prevents States “Impairing The Obligation Of
Contracts”
• Limiting States In Monetary Affairs
 Provided Protection To Elite
• States Could Not
 Coin Money
 Issue Paper Money
 Make Money Other Than Gold Or Silver Coin
Legal Tender In Payment Of Debt
Document (3)

• Structure reflects desire to protect liberty and property.
• Elite control government and policy decisions.
 National supremacy – congressional control of decisions.
 Republicanism – representative government.
• Separated powers in the national government.
 Bulwark against majoritarianism.
 Additional safeguard for elite liberty & property.
 Divides responsibilities.
 Difficult to hold government accountable for public policy.
Elitism And The Structure Of The
National Government

• Ratification rules designed to give clear advantage to
supporters of constitution.
 Special ratifying conventions called extraordinary
ratification procedure.
 Minority of population participated in ratifying the
constitution.
• Emergence of anti-federalist opposition.
 Feared a strong federal government’s control.
 Confidence in ability to control state government.
• The bill of rights an afterthought.
 Most effective criticism centered on the absence of
bill of rights.
Ratification: An Exercise In
Elite Political Skills

Slide 1 WestCal Political Science 5 Western Political Thought 2016

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Slide 1 WestCal Political Science 5 Western Political Thought 2016