Chapter 1: Freedom, Order, or Equality?
CHAPTER 1
Freedom, Order, or Equality?
Name: ______Hour: ______Date: ______
Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, students should be able to do the following: (Answer these questions and turn in when the portfolio is due)
1.Define the key terms from the chapter.
- Globalization
- Government
- National Sovereignty
- Order
- Liberalism
- Communism
- Public Goods
- Freedom Of
- Freedom From
- Police Power
- Political Equality
- Social Equality
- Equality of Opportunity
- Equality of Outcome
- Rights
- Political Ideology
- Totalitarianism
- Socialism
- Democratic Socialism
- Capitalism
- Libertarianism
- Libertarians
- Laissez Faire
- Anarchism
- Conservatives
- Liberals
- Communitarians
2.Summarize the subprime mortgage crisis and its global implications.
3.What is the traditional definition of government and discuss why globalization makes that definition less compelling than it once was.
4.Identify reasons why the United States opposes an international court.
5.Discuss the three major purposes of government and explain their differences.
6.Discuss the divergent views of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Karl Marx toward the purposes of government.
7.Identify the three concepts that describe the values pursued by government.
8.Explain the differences between the concepts of majoritarian and pluralist models of democratic government.
9.Define “social order,” providing examples of its application and indicating why people are hesitant to accept this definition of order.
10.Compare and contrast the terms “freedom of” and “freedom from,” providing an example of each.
11.Distinguish between political equality and social equality, explaining the two routes to achieve social equality.
12.Explain the two dilemmas of government.
13.Construct a two-dimensional, fourfold classification of American political ideologies, using the values of freedom, order, and equality.
14.Distinguish between liberal and conservative attitudes about the scope and purpose of government.
15.Explain both the libertarian and communitarian attitudes about the scope and purpose of government.
CRITICAL THINKING QUESTION FOR CLASS DISCUSSION
16. Considering what values are most important to you, is freedom more important than order? If there is an issue, such as airport security, how much freedom is the right amount an individual should have to surrender for his/her safety?
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(The following information is for your information only. You do not need to answer anything below. Use it to help you throughout the chapter).
Chapter Synopsis
The era of Globalization has deeply impacted governance in the United States. In so doing, it has deeply affected the relationship between an individual and his/her sovereign government. Thus, one of the principal challenges of modern democracy lays in having to make difficult choices. These choices can bring one's core values into discord. This chapter outlines a normative framework for analyzing the policy choices that develop through the pursuit of the purposes of government.
One choice those in government must make is how much national sovereignty should be yielded to international law. Since Globalization tends to erode national sovereignty, choices must be made as to how much authority should be given to international laws and institutions. Therefore, one must understand the impact of politics abroad on the United States and, conversely, the role of politics in the United States on governments abroad.
While many individuals see a variety of purposes for government, we identify three major purposes of government: maintaining order, providing public goods, and promoting equality. The pursuit of these objectives inevitably creates two tensions democratic governments must negotiate. The first is the classic conflict between freedom and order. The second is the modern conflict between freedom and equality. Seemingly every dilemma in American political life can be observed through the prism of this conflict.
Many people use political ideologies to help create a framework to resolve the conflicts that arise in such conflicts. Ideologies define the scope and purpose of government. On the polar end of the political continuum is totalitarianism, which stands opposite of anarchism. Totalitarianism supports government intervention in every aspect of government, whereby anarchism rejects government entirely. Libertarianism and communitarians serve as more moderate variations of these two extremes.Libertarians prefer a small government in regards to both social and economic policy. On the other hand, communitarians prefer a large role for government in both the economic and social spheres.
In American politics, we use the terms liberal and conservative to denote a more narrow range toward the center of the political continuum. Conservatives typically want less government in the economic sphere and more government involvement in the social sphere. Conversely, liberals tend to desire more government involvement in the economic sphere and less in the social sphere. In other words, both ideologies desire a combination of small and large government, with a shifting emphasis as to where that involvement should be. Alternately, libertarians and communitarians are consistent in that one wants a small government in nearly all situations, and the other wants a large in nearly every situation. Libertarians and liberals are in agreement in regards to social policy, and libertarians and conservatives tend to agree on economic matters. Communitarians tend to agree with liberals regarding a large role for government in economic matters, and they tend to agree with conservatives regarding a high level of government involvement in social policy.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
- The Globalization of American Government
- The Purposes of Government
A. Maintaining Order
B. Providing Public Goods
C. Promoting Equality
- A Conceptual Framework for Analyzing Government
- The Concepts of Freedom, Order, and Equality
- Freedom
1. Freedom of
2. Freedom from
3. The four freedoms
- Order
1. Police powers
- Equality
1. Political Equality
2. Social Equality
3. Equality of opportunity
4. Equality of outcome
- Two Dilemmas of Government
- The original dilemma
1. Freedom versus order
- The modern dilemma
1. Freedom versus equality
- Ideology and Scope of Government
- Political Ideology
1. Totalitarianism
2. Socialism
3. Capitalism
4. Libertarianism
a. Laissez-faire
5. Anarchism
6. Liberals
7. Conservatives
INTERNET RESOURCES
The Communitarian Network www.gwu.edu/~ccps/
Learn more about how this nonpartisan association is working to strengthen the moral and political environment in the United States.
Ideological Debates
Politics1 compares and contrasts ideologies from every part of the continuum with links to news and opinion on election issues.
Balanced Politics
Definitions of political ideologies
Political Compass
An ideology questionnaire that is a good source for determining your ideology
World’s Smallest Political Quiz
An online quiz that may assist you in determining your ideology
Select Smart
Another online quiz that may assist you in determining your ideology
The National Political Index
A one-stop shop for substantive political information and debate
The Global Policy Forum
A nonprofit organization dedicated to monitoring United Nations policy and promoting accountability for global decisions
Further READINGS
Arendt, Hannah. The Origins of Totalitarianism. New ed. New York, 1973.
Friedman, Thomas. The World Is Flat: A Brief History of The Twenty-first Century (2005; expanded edition 2006; revised edition 2007)
Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. Edited by J.C.A. Gaskin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996
John Locke, The Two Treatises of Civil Government (Hollis ed.), 1689
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