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| 275352117 | Government | The Institutions that make authoritative decisions for any given society. In our national government, these institutions include the Congress, the President, the Courts, and federal administrative agencies ("the bureaucracy".) | 0 | |
| 275352118 | Majority Rule | In choosing among alternatives, the of over half the voters should be followed. | 1 | |
| 275352119 | Minority Rights | Such as freedom of speech and are sometimes overshadowed by the majority rule. | 2 | |
| 275352120 | Policymaking System | People: Interests, problems, concerns. Linkage Institutions: Parties, elections, media, interest groups. Policy agenda: Political issues. Policymaking institutions: Legislature, executive, courts, bureaucracy. Policy: Expenditures, taxes, laws, regulations, nondecisions. People: Impacts of policies. | 3 | |
| 275352121 | Political Culture | Overall set of values widely shared within American society. It is so crucial because Americans are so diverse in terms of ancestries, religions, and heritages. | 4 | |
| 275352122 | Articles of Confederation | The first constitution of the United States, adopted by Congress in 1777 and enacted in 1781. The Articles established a national legislature, the Continental Congress, but most authority rested with the state legislatures. Every state had to ratify it, Maryland was the last state. | 5 | |
| 275352123 | Judicial Review | The ability to judge the constitutionality of laws. | 6 | |
| 275352124 | Virginia Plan | Proposed by Edmund Randolph and said that each state would have proportional representation in Congress depending on their population. | 7 | |
| 275352125 | New Jersey Plan | Proposed by William Patterson and called for each state to be equally represented in the new Congress, regardless of the state's population. | 8 | |
| 275352126 | Natural Rights | Rights inherent in human beings, not dependent on governments, which include life, liberty, and property. The concept of natural rights was central to English philosopher John Locke's theories about government and was widely accepted among American's Founders. | 9 | |
| 275352127 | Federalists | Supporters of the U.S. Constitution at the time the states were contemplating its adoption. | 10 | |
| 275352128 | Anti-Federalists | Opponents of the American Constitution at the time when the states were contemplating its adoption. | 11 | |
| 275352129 | Separation of Powers | A feature of the Constitution that requires each of the three branches of government- executive, legislative, and judicial- to be relatively independent of the others so that one cannot control the others. Power is shared among these three institutions. | 12 | |
| 275352130 | Checks and Balances | Features of the Constitution that limit government's power by requiring that power be balanced among the different governmental institutions. These institutions continually constrain one another's activities. | 13 | |
| 275352131 | McCullogh v. Maryland | An 1819 Supreme Court decision that established the supremacy of the national government over state governments. In deciding this case, Chief Justice John Marshall and his colleagues held that Congress had certain implied powers in addition to the enumerated powers. | 14 | |
| 275352132 | Enumerated Powers | Powers of the federal government that are specifically addressed in the Constitution; for Congress, these powers are listed in Article I, Section 8 and include the power to coin money, regulate its value, and impose taxes. | 15 | |
| 275352133 | Implied Powers | Powers of the federal government that go beyond those enumerated in the Constitution. The Constitution states that Congress has the power to "make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution" the powers enumerated in Article I. | 16 | |
| 275352134 | Cooperative Federalism | A system of government in which powers and policy assignments are shared between states and the national government. They may also share costs, administration, and even blame for programs that work poorly. | 17 | |
| 275352135 | Dual Federalism | A system of government in which both the states and the national government remain supreme within their own spheres, each responsible for some policies. | 18 | |
| 275352136 | Fiscal Federalism | The pattern of spending, taxing, and providing grants in the federal system; it is the cornerstone of the national government's relations with state and local governments. | 19 | |
| 275352137 | Supremacy Clause | Article VI of the Constitution, which makes the Constitution, national laws, and treaties supreme over state laws when the national government is acting within its constitutional limits. | 20 | |
| 275352138 | Elastic Clause | The final paragraph of Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, which authorizes Congress to pass all laws "necessary and proper" to carry out the enumerated powers. | 21 | |
| 275352139 | Gibbons v. Ogdens | A landmark case decided in 1824 in which the Supreme Court interpreted very broadly the clause in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution giving Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce, encompassing virtually every form of commercial activity. | 22 | |
| 275352140 | Political Ideology | A coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose. It helps give meaning to political events, personalities, a policies. | 23 | |
| 275352141 | Political Socialization | According to Richard Dawson "the process through which an individual acquires his [or her] particular political orientations-- his [or her] knowledge, feelings, and evaluations regarding his [or her] political world." | 24 | |
| 275352142 | Public Opinion | The distribution of the population's beliefs about politics and policy issues. | 25 | |
| 275352143 | Exit Polls | Public opinion surveys used by major media pollsters to predict electoral winners with speed and precision. Voting places are randomly selected and workers are then sent to these places and told to ask every tenth person how they voted. | 26 | |
| 275352144 | Policy Agenda | The issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actively involved in politics at the time. | 27 | |
| 275352145 | Interest Group | An organization of people with shared policy goals entering the policy process at several points to try to achieve those goals. Interest groups pursue their goals in many arenas. | 28 | |
| 275352146 | Hyperpluralist Theory | A theory of government and politics contending that groups are so strong that government is weakened. Hyperpluralism is an extreme, exaggerated, or perverted form of pluralism. | 29 | |
| 275352147 | Olson's Law of Large groups | Advanced by Mancur Olson, a principle stating that "the larger the group, the further it will fall short of providing an optimal amount of a collective good." Smaller interest groups will get more stuff done. | 30 | |
| 275352148 | Political Action Committees (PAC's) | Political funding vehicles created by the 1974 campaign finance reforms. A corporation, union, or some other interest group can create a political action committee (PAC) and register it with the Federal Election Commission, which will meticulously monitor the PAC's expenditures. | 31 | |
| 275352149 | Amicus Curiae Briefs | Legal briefs submitted by a "friend of the court" for the purpose of raising additional points of view and presenting information not contained in the briefs of the formal parties. These briefs attempt to influence a court's decision. Part of the Litigation | 32 | |
| 275352150 | Collective Good | Something of value (money, a tax write-off, prestige, clean air, and so on) that cannot be withheld from a group member. | 33 | |
| 275352151 | Iron Triangle | Interest group Bureaucratic agency Legislative Committee Congress | 34 | |
| 275352152 | Rational-Choice Theory | A popular theory in political science to explain the actions of voters as well as politicians. It assumes that individuals act in their own best interest, carefully weighing the costs and benefits of possible alternatives. | 35 | |
| 275352153 | Closed Primaries | Elections to select party nominees in which only people who have registered in advance with the party can vote for that party's candidates, thus encouraging greater party loyalty. | 36 | |
| 275352154 | Open Primaries | Elections to select party nominees in which voters can decide on Election Day whether they want to participate in the Democratic or Republican contests. | 37 | |
| 275352155 | Party Realignment | The displacement of the majority party by the minority party, usually during a critical election period. | 38 | |
| 275352156 | Responsible Party Model | A view favored by some political scientists about how parties should work. According to the model, parties should offer clear choices to the voters, who can then use those choices as cues to their own preferences of candidates. Once in office, parties would carry out their campaign promises. | 39 | |
| 275352157 | Political Party | According to Anthony Downs, a "team of men [and women] seeking to control the governing apparatus by gaining office in a duly constituted election. | 40 | |
| 275352158 | Party dealignment | ***The gradual disengagement of people and politicians from the parties, as seen in part by shrinking party identification. | 41 | |
| 275352159 | McGovern Fraser Commission | Party leaders could no longer handpick the convention delegates virtually in secret. All delegate selection procedures were required to be open, so that party leaders had no more clout than college students or anyone else who wanted to participate. | 42 | |
| 275352160 | Buckley v. Valeo | Allowed candidates to unlimited money to their own campaign. | 43 | |
| 275352161 | Caucus | A meeting of all state party leaders for selecting delegates to the national party convention. Caucuses are usually organized as a pyramid. | 44 | |
| 275352162 | Superdelegates | National party leaders who automatically get a delegate slot at the Democratic national party convention. | 45 | |
| 275352163 | Federal Action Campaign Act | A law passed in 1974 for reforming campaign finances. The act created the Federal Election Commission, provided public financing for presidential primaries and general elections, limited presidential campaign spending, required disclosure, and attempted to limit contributions. | 46 | |
| 275352164 | Party Platform | A political party's statement of its goals and policies for the next four years. The platform is drafted prior to the party convention by a committee whose members are chosen in rough proportion to each candidate's strength. It is the best formal statement of a party's beliefs. | 47 | |
| 275352165 | Campaign Strategy | The master game plan candidates lay out to guide their electoral campaign. | 48 | |
| 275352166 | National Party Convention | The supreme power within each of the parties. The convention meets every four years to nominate the party's presidential and vice-presidential candidates and to write the party's platform. | 49 | |
| 275352167 | Electoral College | A unique American institution, created by the Constitution, providing for the selection of the president by electors chosen by the state parties. Although the electoral college vote usually reflects a popular majority, the winner-take-all rule gives clout to big states. | 50 | |
| 275352168 | PROS OF ELECTORAL COLLEGE | The electoral college introduces a bias into the campaign and electoral process. The winner-take-all rule means that candidates will necessarily focus on winning the states where the polls show that there appears to be a close contest. Gives more representation to the smaller states. Has worked so far, is hard to change because it is a part of the Constitution. | 51 | |
| 275352169 | CONS OF ELECTORAL COLLEGE | Unnecessary Hard to amend because it is a part of the Constitution Sometimes is unfair (ex. Gore vs. Bush election). | 52 | |
| 275352170 | Referendum | A state-level method of direct legislation that gives voters a chance to approve or disapprove proposed legislation or a proposed constitutional amendment. | 53 | |
| 275352171 | Initiative Petition | A process permitted in some states whereby voters may put proposed changes in the state constitution to a vote if sufficient signatures are obtained on petitions calling for such a referendum. | 54 | |
| 275352172 | Voter Registration | A system adopted by the states that requires voters to register well in advance of Election Day. A few states permit Election Day registration. These laws have made it more difficult to vote more than once, they have also discouraged some people from voting at all. Voter registration requirements in the United States are, in part, to blame for why Americans are significantly less likely to go to the polls than citizens of other democratic nations. | 55 | |
| 275352173 | Policy Voting | Electoral choices that are made on the basis of the voters' policy preferences and on the basis of where the candidates stand on policy issues. | 56 | |
| 275352174 | Mandate Theory of Elections | The idea that the winning candidate has a mandate from the people to carry out his or her platforms and politics. Politicians like the theory better than political scientists do. | 57 | |
| 275352175 | Legitimacy | A characterization of elections by political scientists meaning that they are almost universally accepted as a fair and free method of selecting political leaders. When legitimacy is high, as in the United States, even the losers accept the results peacefully. | 58 | |
| 275352176 | Civic Duty | The belief that in order to support democratic government, a citizen should always vote. | 59 | |
| 275352177 | Political Efficacy | The belief that one's political participation really matters--that one's vote can actually make a difference. | 60 |
