Who Governs? To What End?

Who Governs? To What End?

I.Distinguish between Government and Governance:

Government is the institution, the organization, the structure that is used to make laws.

Governance is the ability or the power to govern.


II.Decisionmaking Powers of those who govern:

By decisionmaking, we’re talking about the authority, the legitimacy to make decisions and policy.

We can describe this decisionmaking power in one of two ways:

1. Majoritarian systems are those systems where the leaders follow the preferences of most of the people.

2. Political elite systems are those systems where an identifiable group of people have a disproportionate share of political power. In this system, the leaders act without knowing what the people want.

III. Who Governs?

Determining whether it is a majoritarian system or a political elitist system can help determine who governs.

Is it important who governs? Absolutely because who governs has the power to make decisions about who gets what, when, where, how and why. These decisionmakers will determine how scarce resources will be used to satisfy our needs and wants --- who will get what, when, where, how and why.

If the decision makers feel that the government should control all the decisions and exclude the people, then this government is a very centralized system that makes all the decisions about property and property rights.

If the decision makers feel that the government should have minimum involvement and include the people, then this government is a decentralized system where people participate in the decision making about property and property rights. This type of government practices the philosophy of laissez-faire.

IV. To What Ends?

This question asks us how do government decisions affect us?

Decision makers can act in several ways in the process of serving in the government and fulfilling their obligation of governance.

1.Politics of Interests: When government decisions are made in favor of particular interests or causes, we refer to this as politics of interest or client politics.

Government decisions that favor interests are those that have been strongly influenced by particular interest groups such as AARP, the NRA, the NOW, etc. Leaders who lean towards politics of interest are often attuned to focus groups or specific polls.

2. Politics of Ideas: When government decisions are made in favor of all of society or for the public good, we refer to this as politics of ideas or the public interest or majoritarian politics.

V. Functions of Government:

We have already discussed the three major functions of government. In fulfilling these functions, decision makers engage in policymaking, implementing these policies, and regulating the implementation of these policies. In order to fulfill this process, the government has developed a bureaucracy or system of carrying out policies. This bureaucracy consists of government agencies which carries out the red tape involved in putting policy into action. As a result of bureaucracy, government has grown over the years into a formidable part of the government. The growth of bureaucracy has in itself become a cleavage as many citizens feel the government has overextended itself. Others many share the belief that the government should be the central decision maker.

VI.The Rules of the Game:

Government can only operate if there are some rules and regulations about how the structure is suppose to function. In other words, the institutions that make policy, implement the policy, and regulate the policies have rules that specify what they can and cannot do.

Who gets to govern is also determined by the Rules of the Game.

Knowing the Rules of the Game is important because government can only pay for its policies in one of two ways: taxes or borrow money. Either of these ways will impact on the citizens. Taxes are the compulsory payments for government goods and services. When taxes are increased, this leaves citizens with less disposable income on which to live. If the government borrows money either by selling government bonds or borrowing from banks, this creates a “crowding out effect” because it takes away money that citizens could borrow from banks.

If those who govern are strong advocates of government involvement or a more activist government, then these decision makers will seek to increase the government’s budget because they believe the public sector is more effective. Those who govern with the philosophy of laissez-faire tend to support a budget reduction and a tax reduction because they subscribe to the philosophy that the private sector is more efficient.

VII. Political Changes:

What government does today is influenced by the past. Government and governance is the product of an evolving process. Our government is a continuing evolution of our institution because leaders and citizens often support changes that they think will improve the delivery of government services.

Politics as we know is who gets what, when, where, how, and why. We use politics to define what is the public interest, and in the political process, some people are willing to die for their causes.

An issue arises and people support their preferences on cleavages. Understanding those preferences is important to understanding political power and how one can influence those who are in positions of governance.