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Chapter 12 — National Politics: Governmental Actors Study Chapter
Summary Chapter 12 focuses on the role of
governmental actors in working out political patterns of cooperation and
accommodation and in handling conflicts. As we saw in chapter 11, politics
occurs within constitutional and cultural frameworks that establish the rules
of the political game. However, we also need to investigate the specific ways
in which legislators, executives, bureaucrats, and judges act. As always, we
need to be aware of the many differences that exist between democratic, communist,
and developing countries as their political systems struggle to deal with
political conflict. Chapter 12 focuses on how governments function in two
advanced democracies--the United States and Great Britain--but the chapter also
considers the political practices of a wide range of nations. Legislatures in developed democratic
countries have four main, but interrelated, functions: representative, deliberative, legislative, and supervisory. By being representative, legislatures give voice to the political, economic,
social, and geographic interests of the political community. Of course,
legislators feel pressure from their party leadership and from the people they
represent, and they must consider their own beliefs and conscience in deciding
how to act politically. Legislatures also have a deliberative function, which
means that they provide a forum for debate and formal decision making. Thus,
they facilitate the examination of the views of contending parties.
Furthermore, legislatures have a legislative function--the formal
responsibility for making law. Finally, they serve a valuable role in
supervising the work of the executive and the bureaucracy. Congressional committees, in the United States for instance, have
extensive investigatory power that they often use to evaluate, and thus
control, the functioning of the other branches of government. Modern executives in developed countries
frequently dominate the political process. They typically plan, initiate, and
implement overall governmental policy. They are indispensable in the process of
articulating vital national needs and fundamental interests. Without executive
leadership, developed nations would lack both a national vision and the ability
to pull the country together on behalf of national priorities. The
resourcefulness and vigor of executives enable modern governments to do their
jobs. Executives also act to control the very bureaucracy they head. In
performing their tasks they must obtain widespread cooperation from
legislators, key interests, and citizens in general. Of course, there are a
number of significant differences in the way executives function in different
countries. In the United States, for instance, the president is often
challenged by a powerful Congress, while executives in communist and developing
countries face less of a challenge from legislatures. Despite frequent and often disturbing
complaints about how bureaucrats interfere with security, liberty, justice, and
welfare, it would be a mistake to ignore their important role in enabling
legislatures, and even more so executives, to carry out governmental
responsibilities. Clearly, government would come to a standstill without a
responsible and capable bureaucracy. Rational, efficient, and impartial
treatment of citizens--based on sensible procedures, good record keeping and
follow-up, and evenhanded behavior--contributes to successful accommodation in
the political community. Yet, government bureaucrats can also be impersonal,
inflexible, tangled in red tape, overbearing, inconsiderate, and unhelpful.
This type of behavior gives bureaucracy a bad name. But we must not let this
image cloud our understanding of the very vital role bureaucracies play in
contemporary society. The role of the courts in the political
process varies greatly from nation to nation. Courts are more powerful in
developing nations than in communist countries. They are weaker in developing
nations than in developed nations. Most fundamentally, courts uphold valid law
when it is challenged and provide a peaceful forum in which citizens can settle
their innumerable disputes. One of the most powerful judiciaries in the world
is found in the United States. This is because the United States has a written
constitution which the independent courts have final say in interpreting. The role of the courts in the political
process varies greatly from nation to nation. Courts are more powerful in
developing nations than in communist countries. They are weaker in developing
nations than in developed nations. Most fundamentally, courts uphold valid law
when it is challenged and provide a peaceful forum in which citizens can settle
their innumerable disputes. One of the most powerful judiciaries in the world
is found in the United States. This is because the United States has a written
constitution which the independent courts have final say in interpreting. Chapters 11 and 12 provide students with
an understanding of the fundamental factors that explain how political systems
work to accommodate conflict and the struggle for power. We invite readers to
think critically about what works best and what needs improving in any nation. Chapter
Objectives After reading chapter 12 you should be
able to...
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