American Political Science
In politics as in political science and legal scholarship, the world sometimes seems to be divided into those who think that for the sake of efficiency as well as justice markets must be free from regulation by morals and those who believe that, considerations of efficiency notwithstanding, justice demands that morals govern markets. In his instructive and admirably balanced new book, Cass Sunstein contends that, for all concerned, this is a bad way for the world to be divided.
Sunstein sets out to show the superiority of a third view: markets and morals exercise a reciprocal influence on each other, and a respectable political science and a responsible jurisprudence must grasp the complicated relationship between them. In support of his thesis, Sunstein examines a remarkable range of ideas and issues: the ambiguity of preferences; the need to devise empirical measures of human well-being to solve problems of adjudication and public policy that arise in the modern welfare state; the complex origins, the pervasive influence, and the political regulation of social norms; why markets alone cannot put an end to discrimination; free speech issues raised by the Internet; constitution making in Eastern Europe; the relation among property rights, democracy, and constitutionalism; neglected consequences and complicated trade-offs in the regulation of the environment and health; and the project of using the legal system to democratize America. In making his case, Sunstein is conscientious about introducing qualifications to his claims, drawing out problems of implementation inhering in his reforms, and identifying dangers associated with his programs, though occasionally he blurs the distinction between openly acknowledging a difficulty and responding to it by scaling back his theoretical ambitions or revising his political programs.
The two crucial and connected points, to which Sunstein returns again and again, are that markets are complex institutions and that morals are an irreducible element of social and political life. It is not exactly that there is no such thing as a free market or that morals are everywhere, but that free markets cannot be understood in isolation from beliefs and practices, especially beliefs about what is just and good for human beings and practices that prepare or prevent one from participating effectively in commercial, democratic society. Moreover, because they depend on and are partly constituted by law, free markets are not only more complex but also less autonomous than they sometimes appear. For example, the law of property provides rules of entitlement and the law of contract establishes rules of transfer.
Niccolo Machiavelli, John Locke, and John Stuart Mill present three distinct models of government in their works The Prince, Second Treatise of Government, and Utilitarianism. From an examination of these models it is possible to infer their views about human nature and its connection to the purpose of government. A key to comparing these views can be found in an examination of their ideas of morality as an intermediary between government and human nature. Whether this morality must be inferred from their writings or whether it is explicitly mentioned, it differs among the three in its definition, source, and purpose.
Diamond discusses the importance of ideology and the ways in which they “pave road” for society to appropriately organize upon. Diamond specifically outlines the ways in which changing an ideology can alter society in Chapter 14, From Egalitarianism to Kleptocracy, as society evolves through the spread of an ideology. Both Diamond and Hunt agree about the importance of ideology in society, but their standpoints are critically different in their perspectives. Diamond focuses on other aspects just as well, such as immunity to germs or resource production, whereas Hunt specifically focuses on the ways in which changes in ideology impact the development of capitalism. Thus, both Hunt and Diamond have different thought’s on economic history, but converge in the ideal of signifying ideological
Since the 1950s, most Americans have condemned the McCarthyite witch-hunts and show trials. By large majorities, Americans oppose firing communists from their jobs or banning communist speakers or books.[2] But over the past several years, increasing numbers of historians, writers and intellectuals have sought to minimize, explain away and justify McCarthyism. A spate of books and articles touting new historical evidence has tried to demonstrate that communism posed a real danger to American society in the 1940s and 1950s. They argue that even if some innocent people suffered and McCarthy was reckless, he was responding to a real threat.[3] As a result, Joe McCarthy doesn't look so irresponsible in hindsight.
Going an uneventful four years, the major attention came on February 9, 1950 when the Senator gave the Lincoln Day address in Wheeling, Virginia. Through this speech, McCarthy claimed to have the names of over 200 State Department employees who were members of the Communist party. To follow the accusations, the Senator was further...
Miron, Jefftey A., and Jeffrey Zweibel. "The Economic Case against Drug Prohibition." Journal of Economic Perspectives 9 (1995): 175-92. American Economic Association. Web. 130 Apr. 2014. .
1. In your opinion, which ancient political practice, protective or developmental republicanism, has had the greatest impact on our liberal democratic practice?
There are benefits of legalizing marijuana, both for the government and society. One of these is that the marijuana market could be government run. The black market would be abolished, saving lives and redirecting the profits from the drug dealers’ Escalade’s new rims to the be...
Legalization of marijuana has become an increasingly popular topic for debate in society with “sentiment in favor of legalization [increasing] by 20 [percentage] points in just over a decade,” bringing support for legalization to 52% (Dionne and Galston). The most common arguments for reforming current legislation are the following: enforcement wastes public resources, taxation can provide a new source of revenue, and enforcement of current laws is discriminatory (Dionne and Galston). It is necessary to look at the impact on the primary stakeholders by analyzing the various harms and benefits through application of the ethical theories of utilitarianism and deontology, in order to determine the solution that will result in the best possible outcome.
Into the Wild, a novel written by Jon Krakauer, as well as a film directed by Sean Penn, talks about Chris McCandless, a young individual who set out on a journey throughout the Western United States, isolating himself from society, and more importantly, his family. During his travels, he meets a lot of different people, that in a way, change his ways about how he sees the world. There are many characteristics to describe McCandless, such as “naïve”, “adventurous”, and “independent”. In the book, Krakauer described McCandless as “intelligent”, using parts in his book that show McCandless being “intelligent”. While Krakauer thinks of McCandless as being “intelligent”, Penn thinks of McCandless as a more “saintly” type of person.
According to Polanyi, a market economy becomes a market society when all land, labour and capital are commodified (Polanyi, 1957). A market society is a structure, which primarily focuses on the production and distribution of commodities and services. This takes place through a free market system, which allows the opportunity for individuals to engage themselves in the market place, through trucking, bartering or exchanging. Polanyi’s fundamental idea of a market society is that all social relations are rooted in the economy as opposed to the economy being submerged in social relations.
The main objective of this essay is to understand how market society emerged, but first the defintion and characteristics of a market society must be understood. According to Polanyi, “Market economy implies a self-regulating system of markets.... it is an economy directed by market prices and nothing but market prices”(Polanyi 43). Similarily, Heilbroner explains how the market “allows society to ensure its own provisioning”(Heilbroner 12). Both of these explanations describe how the market economy is self regulated, meaning that this “economic system is controlled, regulated and directed by markets alone...
Customer satisfaction is a key customer performance metric for any customer-focused organization. The percentage of customers who are “very satisfied,” as opposed to simply “satisfied,” and the percentages who are dissatisfied have a significant impact on profits. (J.Best, Market Based Management )
The first point that Rodrik makes is that markets are limited by the scope of governance or regulation. He argues that markets and governments are most effective when they are operating in accordance with one another. This theory seems to stem from a theory earlier developed by the famous economist Adam Smith, which was that “the division of labor is limited by the extent of the market.” Rodrik expands on this theory by saying that not only is labor limited by the market, but that markets are limited by government.
Customer satisfaction is one of the most essential elements of customer retention, customer loyalty, and product repurchase. The art and science of customer satisfaction involves strategically focusing on creating and reinforcing pleasurable experiences.
After so many years, America still finds itself fighting a well-known and highly demonized "enemy". The enemy is not terrorism. It's an "enemy" that many Americans have dealt with face to face. This enemy is illegal drugs, marijuana in particular. Marijuana is the most widely used and criminalized drug in the United States. This highly sought after resource yields a black market price tag that creates a street economy all its' own. This is Marijuana by itself, it and all the other illegal drugs together combine to form the third largest economy in the world. This is because the demand for illegal drugs is so high. There can be benefits to a legalized drug trade that is certain. The following paper will defend that some uses of marijuana will benefit the economy if legalized. This is based on the premises that all illegal drugs can benefit the economy if legalized and that some illegal drugs include uses of marijuana.