Terms : Hide Images
| 4983509537 | Linkage Institution | Institutions that connect citizens to government. The mass media, interest groups, and political parties are the three main linkage institutions. | 0 | |
| 4983509539 | Narrowcasting | The modern media trend for TV and radio shows to target very narrow ideological audiences (ex. conservatives watch Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly); results in greater political polarization | 1 | |
| 4983509541 | Political Party | A group of individuals with broad common interests who organize to nominate candidates for office, win elections, conduct government, and determine public policy | 2 | |
| 4983509544 | Third Party | a party that challenges the two major parties | 3 | |
| 4983509545 | 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. | 4 | |
| 4983509546 | Electorate | All of the people entitled to vote in a given election | 5 | |
| 4983509548 | 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. | 6 | |
| 4983509549 | Critical Elections | An electoral "earthquake" where new issues emerge, new coalitions replace old ones, and the majority party is often displaced by the minority party. Such periods are sometimes marked by a national crisis and may require more than one election to bring about a new party era. | 7 | |
| 4983509550 | Party Nominating Convention | This was a new idea, where the candidates were no longer nominated by state legislatures or by a caucus, which only involved party leaders. With the idea of incorporating the common people, voters and politicians would gather in halls and nominate candidates. The anti-Masonic party was the first to hold one of these. It was more democratic because it allowed the common people to have a say. | 8 | |
| 4983509551 | Caucus | A meeting of local party members to choose party officials or candidates for public office and to decide the platform. | 9 | |
| 4983509552 | Open Primary | A primary election in which voters may choose in which party to vote as they enter the polling place | 10 | |
| 4983509553 | Closed Primary | A primary in which only registered members of a particular political party can vote | 11 | |
| 4983509554 | Divided Government | Governance divided between the parties, as when one holds the presidency and the other controls one or both houses of Congress. | 12 | |
| 4983509555 | General Elections | regularly scheduled elections at which voters make the final selection of officeholders | 13 | |
| 4983509556 | Swing states | States that are not clearly pro-Republican or pro-Democrat and therefore are of vital interest to presidential candidates, as they can determine election outcomes | 14 | |
| 4983509559 | Proportional Representation | An election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote. | 15 | |
| 4983509560 | Interest Group | An organization of people sharing a common interest or goal that seeks to influence the making of public policy | 16 | |
| 4983509562 | Iron Triangle | A close relationship between an agency, a congressional committee, and an interest group | 17 | |
| 4983509564 | electioneering | Activity that seeks to influence the outcome of an election. Independent electioneering (SuperPacs & 527s) is protected free speech and so cannot be limited by government. | 18 | |
| 4983509565 | litigation | legal proceedings | 19 | |
| 4983509566 | Electoral College | A group of people named by each state legislature to select the president and vice president | 20 | |
| 4983509567 | Popular Vote | the tally of each individual's vote within a given geographic area | 21 | |
| 4983509568 | Lobbying | A strategy by which organized interests seek to influence the passage of legislation by exerting direct pressure on members of the legislature. | 22 | |
| 4983509569 | Public Interest Group | an organization that seeks a collective good that will not selectively and materially benefit group members | 23 | |
| 4983509570 | Political Action Committee | A committee set up by a corporation or interest group to raise and funnels money to political candidates. Donation amounts to PACs are limited by FECA rules (hard money). | 24 | |
| 4983509571 | Super PAC | a PAC that can accept unlimited contributions from individuals, unions, corp, & assoc., & spend unlimited sums on indep. expenditures in fed election campaigns, provided that it does not contribute to or coordinate w/ parties or candidates. | 25 | |
| 4983509572 | Economic Interest Group | A group with the primary purpose of promoting the financial interests of its members | 26 | |
| 4983509573 | Hard Money | Political contributions given to a party, candidate, or interest group that are limited in amount and fully disclosed. | 27 | |
| 4983509574 | Soft Money | Campaign contributions unregulated by federal or state law, usually given to parties and party committees to help fund general party activities. | 28 | |
| 4983509575 | Federal Election Commission | A commission created by the 1974 amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act to administer election reform laws. Its duties include overseeing disclosure of campaign finance information and public funding of presidential elections, and enforcing contribution limits. | 29 | |
| 4983509576 | Citizens United v. FEC | A 2010 decision by the United States Supreme Court holding that independent expenditures are free speech protected by the 1st Amendment and so cannot be limited by federal law. Leads to creation of SuperPACs & massive rise in amount of third party electioneering (Citizens for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow) | 30 | |
| 4983509578 | 527 Political Committees | organizations created with the primary purpose of influencing electoral outcomes; the term is typically applied only to freestanding interest groups that do not explicitly advocate for the election of a candidate | 31 | |
| 4983509579 | Free rider problem | the problem faced by interest groups when citizens can reap the benefits of interest group action without actually joining, participating in, or contributing money to such groups. | 32 | |
| 4983509580 | BCRA (McCain Feingold Act) | Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA, McCain-Feingold Act, The increased role of soft money in campaign financing, by prohibiting national political party committees from raising or spending any funds not subject to federal limits, even for state and local races or issue discussion; The proliferation of issue advocacy ads, by defining as "electioneering communications" broadcast ads that name a federal candidate within 30 days of a primary or caucus or 60 days of a general election, and prohibiting any such ad paid for by a corporation (including non-profit issue organizations such as Right to Life or the Environmental Defense Fund) or paid for by an unincorporated entity using any corporate or union general treasury funds. The decision in Citizens United v. FEC overturns this provision, but not the ban on foreign corporations or foreign nationals in decisions regarding political spending. | 33 | |
| 4983509582 | Mass Media | Television, radio, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and other means of popular communication. | 34 | |
| 4983509583 | Media Event | A speech or photo opporutnity staged to give a politician's view on an issue | 35 | |
| 4983509584 | Press Conference | an unrestricted session between an elected official and the press | 36 | |
| 4983509586 | Print Media | newspapers and magazines | 37 | |
| 4983509589 | Chains | Newspapers published by massive media conglomerates that account for over four-fifths of the nation's daily newspaper circulation. Often these control broadcast media as well. | 38 | |
| 4983509590 | Beats | specific locations from which news frequently emanates, such as Congress or the White House. Most top reporters work a particular beat, thereby becoming specialists in what goes on at that location | 39 | |
| 4983509591 | Trial Balloons | an intentional news leak for the purpose of assessing the political reaction | 40 | |
| 4983509592 | Sound Bites | Quote or "snippet" from politician's speech used by media to represent whole speech. Used by candidates to spread message (slogan); Used by media to avoid serious (boring) discussion of issues. | 41 | |
| 4983509595 | Policy Entrepreneurs | activists in or out of government who pull together a political majority on behalf of unorganized interests | 42 | |
| 4983509598 | Party Image | The voter's perception of what the Republicans or Democrats stand for, such as conservatism or liberalism | 43 | |
| 4983509599 | Party Identification | An informal and subjective affiliation with a political party that most people acquire in childhood. | 44 | |
| 4983509600 | Ticket Splitting | Voting with one party for one office and with another party for other offices. It has become the norm in American voting behavior. | 45 | |
| 4983509603 | National Party Convention | A national meeting of delegates elected in primaries, caucuses, or state conventions who assemble once every four years to nominate candidates for president and vice president, ratify the party platform, elect officers, and adopt rules. | 46 | |
| 4983509604 | National Committee | Delegates who run party affairs between national conventions. | 47 | |
| 4983509605 | National Party Chairperson | individual elected by the national committee who manages the daily operations of the national party | 48 | |
| 4983509610 | New Deal coalition | coalition forged by the Democrats who dominated American politics from the 1930's to the 1960's. its basic elements were the urban working class, ethnic groups, Catholics and Jews, the poor, Southerners, African Americans, and intellectuals. | 49 | |
| 4983509613 | Proportional representation | An election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote. | 50 | |
| 4983509617 | Nomination | the official endorsement of a candidate for office by a political party. Generally, success in the nomination game requires momentum, money, and media attention. | 51 | |
| 4983509620 | Superdelegates | National party leaders who automatically get a delegate slot at the Democratic national party convention. | 52 | |
| 4983509621 | Invisible primary | Informal raising of support (and money) before first primaries | 53 | |
| 4983509623 | Presidential primaries | elections in which voters in a state vote for a candidate (or delegates pledged to him or her). Most delegates to the national party conventions are chosen this way. | 54 | |
| 4983509627 | Independent expenditures | Money spent by individuals or groups not associated with candidates to elect or defeat candidates for office. | 55 | |
| 4983509636 | Selective perception | the phenomenon that people often pay the most attention to things they already agree with and interpret them according to their own predispositions | 56 | |
| 4983509641 | Motor Voter Act | Passed in 1993, this act went into effect for the 1996 election. It requires states to permit people to register to vote at the same time they apply for their driver's license. | 57 | |
| 4983509651 | Collective good | something of value that cannot be withheld from a nonmember of a group, for example, a tax write-off or a better environment | 58 | |
| 4983509652 | Free-rider problem | The problem faced by unions and other groups when people do not join because they can benefit from the group's activities without officially joining. The bigger the group, the more serious the problem. | 59 | |
| 4983509653 | Selective benefits | Goods (such as information publications, travel discounts, and group insurance rates) that a group can restrict to those who pay their annual dues. | 60 | |
| 4983509654 | Single-issue group | Groups that have a narrow interest, tend to dislike compromise, and often draw membership from people new to politics. These features distinguish them from traditional interest groups. | 61 | |
| 4983509656 | Electioneering | Activity that seeks to influence the outcome of an election. Independent electioneering (SuperPacs & 527s) is protected free speech and so cannot be limited by government. | 62 | |
| 7676876999 | Demography | The scientific study of population characteristics. | 63 | |
| 7676877000 | Public Opinion | the distribution of the population's beliefs about politics and policy issues | 64 | |
| 7676877001 | Census | A periodic and official count of a country's population. | 65 | |
| 7676877002 | Melting Pot | the mixing of cultures, ideas, and peoples that has changed the American nation. The United States, with its history of immigration, has often been called a melting pot. | 66 | |
| 7676877003 | Minority Majority | When the combined minorities outnumber the majority. | 67 | |
| 7676877004 | Political Culture | An overall set of values widely shared within a society | 68 | |
| 7676877005 | Voter Turnout | The number of eligible voters who actually vote in an election. | 69 | |
| 7676877006 | Reapportionment | Process by which representative districts are switched according to population shifts, so that each district encompasses approximately the same number of people | 70 | |
| 7676877007 | Political Socialization | Complex process by which people get their sense of political identity, beliefs, and values (family, school, media, religion, national events-all help to socialize) | 71 | |
| 7676877008 | Mass Media | Forms of communication, such as newspapers and radio, that reach millions of people. | 72 | |
| 7676877009 | Sample | A relatively small proportion of people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the whole. | 73 | |
| 7676877010 | Random Sample | a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion | 74 | |
| 7676877011 | Sampling Error | The level of confidence in the findings of a public opinion poll. The more people interviewed, the more confident one can be of the results. | 75 | |
| 7676877013 | Exit Poll | public opinion surveys used by major media pollsters to predict electoral winners with speed and precision | 76 | |
| 7676877014 | Political Ideology | A cohesive set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and the role of government. | 77 | |
| 7676877016 | Political Participation | Main form = voting. Also joining political party, volunteering on political campaign, campaign contributions, running for office, protests... | 78 | |
| 7676877017 | Protest | Begins out of the Renaissance ideal of questioning authority | 79 | |
| 7676896772 | 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. | 80 | |
| 7676896773 | 10th Amendment | Powers not expressly given to federal government by the Constitution are reserved to states or the people. Also known as "reserved powers amendment" or "states' rights amendment" | 81 | |
| 7676896774 | McCullough v. Maryland | Established the following: 1.The national government can establish a national bank, even though the Constitution does not say it can. 2.The national government is supreme to the states when it is acting within its sphere of Action. 3..The national government has certain implied powers that go beyond its enumerated Powers. 4.State laws preempt national laws when the national government clearly exceeds its constitutional powers and intrudes upon state powers. | 82 | |
| 7676896775 | Gibbons v. Ogden | Special permits giving rights to operate steamboats on New York waters exclusively were given. Gibbons (of New Jersey) was told he had to pay a fee to travel in New York. Result: New York cannot require licensing from other states. Only national government has that power - Supremacy clause - NY cannot regulate commerce | 83 | |
| 7676896776 | Reserved Powers | Powers given to the state government alone | 84 | |
| 7676896777 | Enumerated Powers | Powers given to the national government alone | 85 | |
| 7676896778 | Concurrent Powers | Powers held jointly by the national and state governments. | 86 | |
| 7676896779 | Elastic Clause | Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, which allows Congress to make all laws that are "necessary and proper" to carry out the powers of the Constitution. | 87 | |
| 7676896780 | States' Rights | the right of states to limit the power of the federal government | 88 | |
| 7676896781 | Full Faith and Credit Clause | Constitution's requirement that each state accept the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state | 89 | |
| 7676896782 | 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. | 90 | |
| 7676896783 | 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. | 91 | |
| 7676896784 | 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. | 92 | |
| 7676896785 | Categorical Grant | A grant ($) given to the states by the federal government for a specific purpose or program. The federal government tells the states exactly how to spend the money (no state discretion unlike block grants). Example = Medicaid. Most common type of federal grant because it gives Congress the most control over the states. | 93 | |
| 7676896786 | Block Grant | Money given to states for general programs within a broad category | 94 | |
| 7676896787 | Commerce Clause | The clause in the Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 1) that gives Congress the power to regulate all business activities that cross state lines or affect more than one state or other nations. | 95 | |
| 7676896788 | Mandate | An official order to do something | 96 | |
| 7676896789 | Policymaking Institutions | The branches of government charged with taking action on political issues. The U.S. Constitution established three policymaking institutions-the congress, the presidency, and the courts. Today, the power of the bureaucracy is so great that most political scientist consider it a fourth policy making institution | 97 | |
| 7676896792 | Policy Agenda | the issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actually involved in politics at any given point in time | 98 | |
| 7676896793 | Policymaking System | The process by which policy comes into being and evolves over time. People's interests, problems, and concerns create political issues for government policymakers. These issues shape policy, which in turn impacts people, generating more interests, problems, and concerns. | 99 | |
| 7676896795 | Linkage Institutions | Institutions that connect citizens to government. The mass media, interest groups, and political parties are the three main linkage institutions. | 100 | |
| 7676896799 | pluralism | A theory of government that holds that open, multiple, and competing groups can check the asserted power by any one group. | 101 | |
| 7676896800 | hyperpluralism | A theory of government and politics contending that groups are so strong that government is weakened | 102 | |
| 7676896801 | elitism | A theory of government and politics contending that an upper-class elite will hold most of the power and thus in effect run the government. | 103 | |
| 7676896804 | populism | the political doctrine that supports the rights and powers of the common people in their struggle with the privileged elite | 104 | |
| 7676896805 | liberty | Freedom from government control | 105 | |
| 7676896806 | individualism | Giving priority to one's own goals over group goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications | 106 | |
| 7676896807 | egalitarianism | the doctrine of the equality of mankind and the desirability of political and economic and social equality | 107 | |
| 7676896809 | Declaration of Independence | Heavily influenced by Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke and Baron de Montesquieu, this document was the proclamation of the second Continental Congress (4 July 1776) asserting the independence of the colonies from Great Britain. | 108 | |
| 7676896810 | Locke | Said human nature lived free and had the natural rights of life, liberty, and property. He said government was created in order to protect these rights and if the government failed to do so it was the duty of the people to rebel. | 109 | |
| 7676896811 | Constitutional Convention | The meeting of state delegates in 1787 in Philadelphia called to revise the Articles of Confederation. It instead designed a new plan of government, the US Constitution. | 110 | |
| 7676896813 | Connecticut Compromise | Compromise agreement by states at the Constitutional Convention for a bicameral legislature with a lower house in which representation would be based on population and an upper house in which each state would have two senators. | 111 | |
| 7676896814 | New Jersey Plan | A constitutional proposal that would have given each state one vote in a new congress | 112 | |
| 7676896815 | Virginia Plan | "Large state" proposal for the new constitution, calling for proportional representation in both houses of a bicameral Congress. The plan favored larger states and thus prompted smaller states to come back with their own plan for apportioning representation. | 113 | |
| 7676896816 | Three Fifths Compromise | the agreement by which the number of each state's representatives in Congress would be based on a count of all the free people plus three-fifths of the slaves | 114 | |
| 7676896817 | Anti-Federalists | A group who opposed the ratification of the Constitution in 1787. They opposed a strong central government (tyranny) and supported states' rights. | 115 | |
| 7676896818 | Checks and Balances | A system that allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other branches in order to prevent abuse of power; change usually comes slowly, if at all, and moderation and compromise are typical in our political system | 116 | |
| 7676896819 | Federalist Papers | A collection of 85 articles written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison under the name "Publius" to defend the Constitution in detail. | 117 | |
| 7676896820 | Formal Amendment | change or addition that becomes part of the written language of the Constitution itself through one of four methods set forth in the Constitution | 118 | |
| 7676896821 | Informal Amendment | A change made in Constitution not by actual written amendment, but by the experience of government under the Constitution; the methods include: (1) legislation passed by Congress; (2) actions taken by the President; (3) decisions of the Supreme Court; (4) the activities of political parties; and (5) custom | 119 | |
| 7676896827 | Unitary | A nation-state that has a centralized government and administration that exercises power equally over all parts of the state | 120 | |
| 7676896828 | Confederation | a political system in which a weak central government has limited authority, and the states have ultimate power. | 121 | |
| 7676896829 | devolution | The process whereby regions within a state demand and gain political strength and growing autonomy at the expense of the central government. | 122 | |
| 7955746987 | American Creed | Individualism Egalitarianism Liberty Capitalism Populism | 123 | |
| 7955819259 | Bill of Rights | 1st ten amendments to the Constitution added after the ratification process was complete, and partly to fulfill a promise to those who supported ratification. | 124 | |
| 7955840276 | Federal System | decentralizes our politics. | 125 | |
| 7955888648 | Nationwide, the fastest growing age group is composed of | 65+ YEAR OLDS | 126 | |
| 7955938241 | Criticisms of modern polling | -Careful attention to polls is unwise, as polls only reflect the passive attitudes of voters. -Polls can distort the election process by creating a bandwagon effect, where people want to follow the crowd. -Polls are subject to very wide margins of error, yet are treated as accurate measurements of public opinion. | 127 |
