Terms : Hide Images
| 4991685654 | Linkage Institution | Institutions that connect citizens to government. The mass media, interest groups, and political parties are the three main linkage institutions. | 0 | |
| 4991685655 | 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 | |
| 4991685656 | Faction | Group or clique within a larger organization; party strife and dissension | 2 | |
| 4991685657 | 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 | 3 | |
| 4991685658 | patronage | Granting favors or giving contracts or making appointments to office in return for political support | 4 | |
| 4991685659 | Party Dealignment | the gradual disengagement of people and politicians from the parties, as seen in part by shrinking party identification. | 5 | |
| 4991685660 | Third Party | a party that challenges the two major parties | 6 | |
| 4991685661 | 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. | 7 | |
| 4991685662 | Electorate | All of the people entitled to vote in a given election | 8 | |
| 4991685663 | Party Realignment | The displacement of the majority party by the minority party, usually during a critical election period. | 9 | |
| 4991685664 | 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. | 10 | |
| 4991685665 | 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. | 11 | |
| 4991685666 | 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. | 12 | |
| 4991685667 | Caucus | A meeting of local party members to choose party officials or candidates for public office and to decide the platform. | 13 | |
| 4991685668 | Open Primary | A primary election in which voters may choose in which party to vote as they enter the polling place | 14 | |
| 4991685669 | Closed Primary | A primary in which only registered members of a particular political party can vote | 15 | |
| 4991685670 | Divided Government | Governance divided between the parties, as when one holds the presidency and the other controls one or both houses of Congress. | 16 | |
| 4991685671 | General Elections | regularly scheduled elections at which voters make the final selection of officeholders | 17 | |
| 4991685672 | 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 | 18 | |
| 4991685673 | Communication Act | Turned the Federal Radio Commission into a larger Federal Communication Commission, with responsible for regulating the telephone and telegraph industry as well as the radio broadcasting industry | 19 | |
| 4991685674 | Proportional Representation | An election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote. | 20 | |
| 4991685675 | Interest Group | An organization of people sharing a common interest or goal that seeks to influence the making of public policy | 21 | |
| 4991685676 | Frontloading | the recent tendency of states to hold primaries early in the calendar in order to capitalize on media attention | 22 | |
| 4991685677 | Iron Triangle | A close relationship between an agency, a congressional committee, and an interest group | 23 | |
| 4991685678 | Party Coalition | The groups and interests that support a political party. | 24 | |
| 4991685679 | 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. | 25 | |
| 4991685680 | litigation | legal proceedings | 26 | |
| 4991685681 | Electoral College | A group of people named by each state legislature to select the president and vice president | 27 | |
| 4991685682 | Popular Vote | the tally of each individual's vote within a given geographic area | 28 | |
| 4991685683 | Lobbying | A strategy by which organized interests seek to influence the passage of legislation by exerting direct pressure on members of the legislature. | 29 | |
| 4991685684 | Public Interest Group | an organization that seeks a collective good that will not selectively and materially benefit group members | 30 | |
| 4991685685 | 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). | 31 | |
| 4991685686 | 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. | 32 | |
| 4991685687 | Economic Interest Group | A group with the primary purpose of promoting the financial interests of its members | 33 | |
| 4991685688 | Hard Money | Political contributions given to a party, candidate, or interest group that are limited in amount and fully disclosed. | 34 | |
| 4991685689 | Soft Money | Campaign contributions unregulated by federal or state law, usually given to parties and party committees to help fund general party activities. | 35 | |
| 4991685690 | 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. | 36 | |
| 4991685691 | 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) | 37 | |
| 4991685692 | 501(c)(3) Committees | nonprofit organization that is exempt from federal income tax if its activities have the following purposes: charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering amateur sports competition, or preventing cruelty to children or animals. | 38 | |
| 4991685693 | 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 | 39 | |
| 4991685694 | 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. | 40 | |
| 4991685695 | 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. | 41 | |
| 4991685696 | High-tech politics | A politics in which the behavior of citizens and policymakers and the political agenda itself are increasingly shaped by technology. | 42 | |
| 4991685697 | Mass Media | Television, radio, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and other means of popular communication. | 43 | |
| 4991685698 | Media Event | A speech or photo opporutnity staged to give a politician's view on an issue | 44 | |
| 4991685699 | Press Conference | an unrestricted session between an elected official and the press | 45 | |
| 4991685700 | Investigative Journalism | the use of in-depth reporting to unearth scandals, scams, and schemes, at times putting reporters in adversarial relationships with political leaders | 46 | |
| 4991685701 | Print Media | newspapers and magazines | 47 | |
| 4991685702 | Electronic Media | Television, radio, and the Internet, as compared with print media. | 48 | |
| 4991685703 | Selective Exposure | The process by which individuals screen out messages that do not conform to their own biases. | 49 | |
| 4991685704 | 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. | 50 | |
| 4991685705 | 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 | 51 | |
| 4991685706 | Trial Balloons | an intentional news leak for the purpose of assessing the political reaction | 52 | |
| 4991685707 | 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. | 53 | |
| 4991685708 | Talking Head | A shot of a person's face talking directly to the camera. Because this is visually unappealing, the major commercial networks rarely show a politician talking one-on-one for very long. | 54 | |
| 4991685709 | Policy Entrepreneurs | activists in or out of government who pull together a political majority on behalf of unorganized interests | 55 | |
| 4991685710 | Party Image | The voter's perception of what the Republicans or Democrats stand for, such as conservatism or liberalism | 56 | |
| 4991685711 | Party Identification | An informal and subjective affiliation with a political party that most people acquire in childhood. | 57 | |
| 4991685712 | 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. | 58 | |
| 4991685713 | Party Machine | a centralized party organization that dominates local politics by controlling elections | 59 | |
| 4991685714 | 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. | 60 | |
| 4991685715 | National Committee | Delegates who run party affairs between national conventions. | 61 | |
| 4991685716 | National Party Chairperson | individual elected by the national committee who manages the daily operations of the national party | 62 | |
| 4991685717 | 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. | 63 | |
| 4991685718 | Proportional representation | An election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote. | 64 | |
| 4991685719 | Coalition government | A government controlled by a temporary alliance of several political parties | 65 | |
| 4991685720 | 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. | 66 | |
| 4991685721 | Blue Dog Democrats | Fiscally conservative Democrats who are mostly from the South and/or rural parts of the United States. | 67 | |
| 4991685722 | 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. | 68 | |
| 4991685723 | McGovern-Fraser Commission | A commission formed at the 1968 Democratic convention in response to demands for reform by minority groups and others who sought better representation. | 69 | |
| 4991685724 | Superdelegates | National party leaders who automatically get a delegate slot at the Democratic national party convention. | 70 | |
| 4991685725 | Invisible primary | Informal raising of support (and money) before first primaries | 71 | |
| 4991685726 | 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. | 72 | |
| 4991685727 | Direct mail | A high-tech method of raising money for a political cause or candidate. It involves sending information and requests for money to people whose names appear on lists of those who have supported similar views or candidates in the past. | 73 | |
| 4991685728 | Independent expenditures | Money spent by individuals or groups not associated with candidates to elect or defeat candidates for office. | 74 | |
| 4991685729 | Federal election campaign act | First major federal law (1971) to regulate federal elections. Created Federal Election Commission (FEC). Required disclosure of sources of campaign funds (transparency), set limits on contributions to candidates (individuals = $1000, PACs = $5000), spending limits for candidates, limits on independent expenditures. | 75 | |
| 4991685730 | 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 | 76 | |
| 4991685731 | suffrage | The right to vote | 77 | |
| 4991685732 | Political efficacy | The belief that one's political participation really matters - that one's vote can actually make a difference | 78 | |
| 4991685733 | Civic duty | the idea that citizens have a responsibility to help their country | 79 | |
| 4991685734 | Voter registration | System designed to reduce voter fraud by limiting voting to those who have established eligibility to vote by submitting the proper documents. | 80 | |
| 4991685735 | 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. | 81 | |
| 4991685736 | 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. | 82 | |
| 4991685737 | 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 | 83 | |
| 4991685738 | Battleground states | States in which any major candidate could win and the outcome is too close to call | 84 | |
| 4991685739 | Pluralism | A theory of government that holds that open, multiple, and competing groups can check the asserted power by any one group. | 85 | |
| 4991685740 | hyperpluralism | A theory of government and politics contending that groups are so strong that government is weakened | 86 | |
| 4991685741 | Potential group | all the people who might be interest group members because they share some common interest | 87 | |
| 4991685742 | Actual group | That part of the potential group consisting of members who actually join. | 88 | |
| 4991685743 | 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 | 89 | |
| 4991685744 | 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. | 90 | |
| 4991685745 | 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. | 91 | |
| 4991685746 | 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. | 92 | |
| 4991685747 | 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. | 93 | |
| 4991685748 | Union shop | a provision found in some collective bargaining agreements requiring all employees of a business to join the union within a short period, usually 30 days, and to remain members as a condition of employment | 94 | |
| 4991685749 | Right-to-work laws | State laws that provide that unions cannot impose a requirement that workers join the union as a condition of their employment. | 95 | |
| 4991685750 | Public interest lobbies | organizations that seek a collective good which does not only benefit their membership | 96 |
