...LPPE ASSIGNMENT 1 After careful consideration of the Technical Note and the reading by Kenneth Shepsle please respond to the following three questions: 1. Deductive thinking is an important skill of a manager and it consists in finding real-life implications of abstract, general frameworks. So here’s an exercise in deductive thinking: Please write what sort of problems with policy-making in democratic countries does Arrow Theorem predict? ANSWER Problems with policy-making in democratic countries does Arrow Theorem predict:- A. The problem associated with the groups that each group should have equal numbers of members. B. In most of democracies people don’t have individual preferences. C. Democracies have simple majority rule. In a simple majority rule, the Minimal Decisive Number is 50%+1. D. In most Democracies simple majority rule result in never ending voting cycle. 2. Offer at least two ideas for how real-world democracies can deal with such problems. ANSWER A democratic decision--‐making system is a system that in every case can somehow combine individual preferences into a collective, social preference. Solution for problems mentioned in answer 1 according to arrow theorem can be:- A. Democracies should have a general formula that covers not only the majority rule but every rule that aggregates individual preferences into a collective preferences that means democracies with majority rule should also have minimal Decisive rule. For...
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...Alexix de Toqueville's book, Democracy in America, compares the way the French and American governments function. Specificity in chapter 11, Liberty of the Press in the United States, contrasts the media and how they portray "news". He starts off by saying that "the press does not affect political opinions alone, but extends to all the options"(p. 1). Later in the chapter he also references how the media is the most common, if not only means of getting information. He compares the French to the American media to justify his claim that the press can cause a great influence on how you view facts, and how the press can influence your opinion. "The press cannot create human passions, however skillfully it may kindle them where they exist"(p. 3). He goes on by stating in America political news is not affected by passionate citizens you truly care about the actual problems, rather than American passion in news mainly focuses on petty interests and consumerism. The intellectual part of the media have been depleted if not completely removed from our grasp. Whereas in France the main focus of the press is based on political interest and advertisements are limited. Other points Tocqueville make on American media is how we attack each other's ideas. "The United States has no metropolis;... instead of radiating from a common point they cross each other in every direction the Americas have nowhere established any central direction of opinion”(p.4). Our opinions are no longer formed on facts...
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...form to campaign against the “pink tax”. Massive media outlets like, Buzzfeed provide information and videos to inform viewers of the ridiculous taxes. The videos are viewed with millions of views on these issues. Women should not have to campaign against these taxes because these taxes should not have been implemented in the first place. A price on feminine products should not be more expensive than men items. The average wages of women are significantly lower than men and with higher taxed items provides women with a disadvantage in society. Alexis De Tocqueville’s view believed that democracy can not have one side dominating the other side because that would not be a democracy. A majority side dominating another viewpoint will create a “tyranny of the majority” created from the men’s side. These viewpoints affect women's lives, which needs to change by creating more equality in our democracy. Aristotle's belief on happiness correlates with Alexis De Tocqueville’s belief on freedom of press because freedom of press from different individuals allows Americans to freely express themselves. Americans voices needs to heard to allow democracy to happen in the country. Places without freedom of press allows strict government to enforce unwanted laws to be passed to treat their citizens unfairly. Third-world and communist countries dictates media to favor their political leader. These riots occur if democracy is not present in their government system. Countries such as, Russia during...
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...De la Démocratie en Amérique – Tocqueville The ideal of a democracy, like the one developed by the Americans since 1776, lies in the fact that Men were born equals. This principle of equality has been the foundation of Tocqueville’s thought. All along this book, we can notice that the causes that enable the democratic state of America to be, lies on the particular situation of this country. Indeed, America lives under a pure democracy, without any aristocratic inheritance or revolutionary passions. This country has laws, recognized and applied by “almost” everybody. However, the country also has habits and morals deeply integrated (brought about by the diverse immigration) and particularly powerful. Usually within a democracy, common opinion rules the world. Although, the Americans hold a very particular philosophical vision according to which, each individual, unique, judge things by himself. As a matter, everyone cannot put forward his own opinion about every subject because if it was the case, he would dedicate and lost most of his time to study and, seeing that everything couldn’t be detailed, would go for some approximation. That is why Tocqueville says that, for some special domain, such as religion for example, it is necessary for the human being to come to general ideas. The example quoted by Tocqueville is very forceful and makes us able to catch the consequences of the emanation of an individual thought on this point. Tocqueville clearly distinguishes the individuals...
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...Tyranny and American Democracy Oppression is something dreaded by everyone. This universal fear was a much larger problem in the 1800’s than it is today. Tyranny was a fear that the Federalists, Anti-Federalists, and Alexis de Tocqueville had in common. The Federalists feared tyranny of the majority, or faction while the Anti-Federalists feared tyranny of the aristocracy. Tocqueville feared “soft despotism” but supported tyranny of the patriarchy. While the Federalist and the Anti-Federalists were the visionaries for America who tried to prevent different tyrannies, Tocqueville discusses the hypocrisies in America that the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists were against. The Federalists strongly believed that the newly founded republic needed a large, centralized government in order to discourage tyranny of the majority. Hamilton voices this opinion when he says “a firm Union will be of the utmost moment to the peace and liberty of the States as a barrier against domestic faction and insurrection.” (Hamilton, 66, Federalist No. 9) This is because a large, centralized government uses the system of the checks and balances, which prevent domestic faction and revolt. The Federalists made it clear that they opposed a mob ruling and the minorities being denied their rights. The main danger the new republic faced, they argued, was the superior force of an “interested and overbearing majority.” (Madison, 72, No. 10) The Federalists solution on how to deal with majority faction...
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...Workers shows the change from an earlier ideal of American life and labor, where ones labor was to be used to work and cultivate your own land to sustain your own living. This image of the Erie Canal workers shows the exact opposite of this self owned concept for labor. All of these men are essentially being used as machines, good for nothing but labor, to work and make use of the land owned by someone else, for someone else's profit. The fruits of their labor would not be actual fruits as they might previously have been, but a monetary amount, to be budgeted as best as possible to buy things from other people. This dependence on others and this early establishment of a working class. Tocqueville connects with this idea when he discusses the tyranny of the majority, “within a democracy organized as the United States, only one power is encountered, only one source of strength and success, with nothing outside them[1].” This describes the amount of power in the hands of the...
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...Term paper - Besides summary, the discussion part should further involve a comparison of social thinkers. Read and discuss more original and/or secondary readings. Give your own views, and try to conduct a dialogue with the existing views. In this thesis, I will give a summary of the works by Alexis de Tocqueville and Karl Marx, a discussion on their ideas as well as a comparison of the two thinkers. Alexis de Tocqueville is an aristocrat thinker From France that provides the most famous and influential views on democracy. In his work “Democracy in America”, he regards America as a land of liberty and democracy due to reasons like mores, geographical and historical advantages, but also provides a foresight on the future of democracy in America, and the threats to democracy and possible dangers of democracy. He believes the puritans were the one that contributed the most to American democracy, since they were all middle-class men with no salient differences when they first settled down in America. Also, they brought religion and political liberty to Amercia. Marx and Tocqueville holds different views on human nature. For Marx, he reflected on what it means to be truly human. Since he thinks that all species-beings are communal beings, he disaprroves things like religion, wage-labour and other forms of alienation that bring us far away from our communal nature and we must overcome them. For tocqueville, he emphazied a lot on dignity and liberty and he thinks that we are all...
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...An Exploration of Individualism As Described By Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy In America By Mario A. Griseta Jr The classic work Democracy In America by Alexis de Tocqueville has been the source of scholarly pursuit as well as strife within that same community. Through a brief examination of this text, several of Tocqueville’s arguments helped to define, for me, many of the constructs that made America what it was and that have led to what it has become today. Of the many themes and ideas presented by Tocqueville, his thoughts on individualism struck the loudest chord with me. Tocqueville describes America as a society of joiners because of the fact that it is a country almost entirely composed of immigrants. This, in addition to the pursuit and promise of “equality of conditions” that Americas touted as an unofficial theme, brought citizens from many classes together in closer proximity and relation. Although this sounds like a good thing, and I believe it is, Tocqueville argued that with this blending of social classes and as opportunity increased people would isolate themselves, "bond of human affections is extended and loosened" (p. 483). As people gained wealth and left behind the daily struggle to survive many sought out education and as a result of this enlightenment developed the "habit of always considering themselves in isolation" (p. 484). This individualism is likened to selfishness by Tocqueville but he is careful to point out that he does not believe...
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...Foss v. Harbottle 1 Principles and Applications and Exceptions to the Principles INTRODUCTION Basically, both under the general law and under the Companies Acts there are some protections of minority. Example of minority protection is the doctrine under the general law that the majority of the members must not commit a fraud on minority but must act bona fide for the benefit of the company as a whole. Here, the topic that I am about to touch is the rule of Foss v. Harbottle in which there are some exceptions to this particular rule protect the minority. As for the beginning, Foss v. Harbottle was originally a case reported in 1843. The Victoria Park Company was established for the purpose of ‘laying out and maintaining an Ornamental Park within the Township of Rusholme, Charlton-upon Medlock and Moss Side, in the country of Lancaster’. The capital of the company was to be $500,000, divided into 5,000 shares of $100 each. It was to be controlled by five shareholders. The first directors were Thomas Harbottle, Joseph Adshead, Henry Byrom, John Westhead and Richard Bealey. It was provided that three directors should constitute a board and that the acts of three or more should be as effectual as if done by the five. To sum up the feature of the case, two shareholders in the company, Richard Foss and Edward Turton, brought an action against the company’s directors, on behalf of themselves and the other shareholders except the defendants. The defendants were the five directors, a shareholder...
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...Synergistic Decision Making Tariq Shah OM-176 Group and Organizational Dynamics PSY 452 Module Two Organizational Management Professor Fabian April 15, 2015 Synergistic Decision Making Working with people is not easy at times. Many people rather work independently of others. I believe most of the reason for the individual deciding to work independent of others, is because they do not want to rely on others for their success or failure. If they can do it alone, they feel more in control of the process and thus, do not have to deal with many of the variables that come with working in groups of people. In my journey I have certainly not mastered working with people; however, I do find that working in groups provides the best overall solution to any organization’s effectiveness. The synergistic decision making process, where rational and interpersonal aspects are used, provides an organization or group with the best possible outcomes. Last week during class, our professor divided us into small groups between three to four people. My group had four people in total. Our task was to use the Desert Survival simulation and decide whether we would as a team stay or leave the crash site. After we had determined that, we then were asked to decide as a group, what order to label the fifteen items which were salvaged from the crash site. The Desert Survival simulation was certainly more than just any exercise. It is a tool that forces each person in the group to interact one with...
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...As a nation we often define racism as whites hating blacks. Is that the only form of racism? Certainly it has a strong historical precedence but as my son learned recently, members of a minority are as capable of racism and unfair behavior as any other member of society. I would suggest that the route to the elimination of racism is to hold all members of society to the same bar. For example, when a black refers to another black man as a "nigger," is this productive? Isn't this 'joke' amongst friends actually a constant reminder of the marginalization of one's demographic group? If so, then to whom is the infliction of prejudice to be assigned? I find it equally unacceptable but, as you may note by your own reaction, it is an assumption that, to even challenge, is deemed racist and unacceptable - or at the very least uncomfortable. Said differently, if "I" get to define the converation on racism, you can be assured I will define it to my favor. That being said, who is tolerable in this example and who is being prevent from even engaging in a dialogue that may result in substantive change and viable solutions? Abdication of a position for the fear of being labelled is a monopoly on the debate which is, by design, established to give those in control of the language an advantage. I think with all things even today, majority rules. When one says something, it isnt heard as loudly when others collectively join hands and speak out about it. The pendulum will always swing to the...
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...negative viewpoints on the British tyranny. In the lines “Look on this picture and weep over it!” Paine transitions from a passive character to Paine giving warnings/threats, thus concluding Paine grows more aggressive throughout the piece. This also reflects on how you progress over time the tyranny will also grow more aggressive. So, Thomas Paine grows from a passive into a threatening character reflecting the viewpoint on the theme that the tyranny is bad and liberty being needed. Thomas Paine has many symbolic meanings and similes in which we see many connections between the theme being made all connecting back to the theme of liberty. With negative viewpoints towards the tyranny, Paine compares the British rule to hell through the lines, “Tyranny, like hell.” Thomas communicates that the tyranny casts a dark light onto the progression of America. He has harsh feelings toward the overruling and the cause being understable due to the vast negatives that the tyranny brought connecting back to the theme of liberty needed in America. Then Paine says, “but if a thief breaks into my house, burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, and to "bind me in all cases whatsoever"... am I to suffer it?” Paine compares thieves breaking into one's house to the british tyranny. The thieves take all of the things in the house. Put people hostage but so does the british In America. This reflects the idea of tyranny being a drawback. Not just that...
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...Understanding the credibility of a source is important for succeeded in writing clear and accurate papers. This assignment showed me that some sources can easily be manipulated to insert one’s own opinion, which can lead to misinterpretations of the facts. Not only did I find sources that where bad, I begun to understand what a good source looks like. The majority of these sources seemed to come from either books or scholarly databases. The first question I answered was “who wrote that the people get the government that they deserve?”. I found this answer on a website called the Big Apple. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote this statement in his book called Democracy in America. The source I found this information from did not seem credible. The website was not from a dot mil or org domain. Also, the website sited the majority of its content from Wikipedia. This leads me to question much of its content. The second question I answered was “How were the colleges Smith, Bryn Mawr, Radcliffe, Vassar, and others collectively known?” I found a book on the subject by using the search engine Google scholar. This Guides to Educational Planning contained information on how to plan for your college experience and succeed. This book had great information on the Seven Sisters, the answer to the question. The third question I answered was “who first invented the modern concept of city police and what were or are they called?”. The answer to this question was the Romans. The information...
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...William O’Connell PSC 499 4/24/2011 1. A libertarian would probably love the idea that a group of individuals are able to come together and govern themselves without any interference from a coercive governmental agency. However, I don’t think they would like the idea of a majority having complete control without the constraint of some sort of constitution or other legally binding document. The tyranny of the majority can be much more vicious than a brutal king, and if we are talking about someone’s livelihood like fish or grazing for their cattle, it can become very dangerous. 2. I think Dahl would love this book. Robert Dahl promoted the idea of a polyarchy democracy, in which he wanted as many people as possible to be involved in as many decisions as possible, so this idea of people governing their own commons would be very attractive to him. 3. I would say that yes, her findings are generalizable. She uses a game theory model that looks at all possible outcomes. She also finds general commonalties present throughout all her examples. While she admits that not every scenario calls for the same administration, her basic idea is one that can be applied to all situations. 4. Wgwrg wgwrg wgwrgw wgwg wgwg wrgwr wgwrg wgwg wgwgr wgwgrg wrgwrgwr wrgwrgwr wrgwrgw wrgwrgw wrgwrg hg h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h...
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...Religion Traditions and Democracy in America In Democracy in America, Tocqueville is worried about the disappearance of old aristocratic ranks and privileges, and the emergence of democracy. Tocqueville states that the "key to almost the whole work" can be found in his chapter on the "point of departure" for the Anglo-Americans (Tocqueville, p. 17). How can this chapter on the early history of Puritan New England shed light on what European governments can do to adapt to democratization? It seems odd that Puritans would have much to teach Europeans (or Americans today) about democracy. Tocqueville in fact outlines how vastly different the New England towns were from what we would call democratic. The leaders who made these laws were intent on enforcing good morals by using the most extreme enforcement. There is virtually no conception of a right to personal privacy. Their laws were based on a literal reading of the Old Testament and were extremely harsh. For example, in Connecticut, blasphemy, witchcraft, adultery and rape are punished with death. It is a capital crime for a son to say anything disrespectful of his parents. Tocqueville wants us to focus not on these laws, which he calls "bizarre and tyrannical" (Tocqueville, 27). Instead, he points out that these tyrannical laws were passed with the "free, active participation of all the interested parties themselves, and that the morals were even more austere and puritan than the laws" (Tocqueville...
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