Introduction to Government: Writing Exercises

• These writing exercises will help you get started on the Discussion Post assignment
• You may need to supplement these notes with specific examples from the textbook, recent credible news items, or other credible sources

Introduction to Government: Writing Exercises

Grab a piece of paper and write down your thoughts on the following questions. You can pause the video to write.

Impact of politics

Impact of government

Defining government in your own words

(This does not need to be a “correct” definition. The point is to see your preconceived thoughts on the subject.)

Defining politics in your own words

What is politics?

• Expensive or involves large amounts of money
• Distant
• Involves politicians or campaigns
• involves voting or decision making
• Involves rights
• National borders
• Controversial

Politics and government

What is politics: State and local (mostly)

San Antonio Public Works - City roads

What is politics: State, local, and federal

Via Link

What is politics: State, local, and federal

Even a private university like OLLU is affected by politics and government (and gets some government money)

OLLU

What is politics?

• Not always distant
• immediate,right here
• touches everything
• direct impacts are constant
• involves all of us
• It can be expensive, but it’s not always about money

What is government?

Sometimes government only does part of the job:

Reduced fares on mass transit

Defining government: Comparing government to other organizations

Other organizations

• Family

    - What does it have in common?
    - What is different?

Other organizations

• Family

• Church

    - What does it (government) have in common?
    - What is different?

Other organizations

• Family

• Church

• Community organizations (voluntary)

    - What does it have in common?
    - What is different?

Other organizations

• Family

• Church

• Community organizations (voluntary)

• Charities

    - What does it have in common?
    - What is different?

Other organizations

• Family

• Church

• Community organizations (voluntary)

• Charities

• Businesses - The Market

    - What does it have in common?
    - What is different?

Other organizations: Part 1

• In common with government

    - Solve problems of collective action

Collective action

• Collective action is when a group of people work together to achieve a common goal.
• Is government required to do this? Can people work together voluntarily to achieve a common goal?

Other organizations: Part 1

• In common with government

    - Solve problems of collective action
    - provide goods and services people want or need
    - have some degree of structure and rules
    - have leaders
    - have resources (money, property, labor, etc.)

• Different from government

    - Voluntary
    - Can not use force to coerce behavior from members or non-members
    - Can not use force to coerce payment (taxation)

Other organizations: Part 2

• Organized crime

    - What does it have in common?
    - What is different?

Other organizations: Part 2

• Organized crime

• vigilantes

    - What does it have in common?
    - What is different?

Other organizations: Part 2

• Organized crime

• vigilantes

• terrorist groups

    - What does it have in common?
    - What is different?

Other organizations: Part 2

• What they have in common with government?

    - They use violent force to coerce behavior
    - They lack legitimacy

What is government or “the state”?

The organized, coercive use of violent force commonly accepted as legitimate

• Coercive use of violent force
• Legitimacy

What is politics?

• Politics is the process of making collective decisions in the context of…

What is politics?

• Politics is the process of making collective decisions in the context of…

The State or government.

Politics versus other organizations

Family, church, the market, etc. are all about making collective decisions in:

The Voluntary Sphere

Politics is about

Making collective decisions in:

The Coercive Sphere

Authorship and License

Do not share to Chegg, Coursehero, or similar websites.

• Author: Tom Hanna

• Website: tomhanna.me

• License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.