Government in America 15th Edition: Chapter 1 Flashcards

892454665	Government	The institutions and processes through which public policies are made for a society.	0
892454666	Public Goods	Goods, such as clean air and clean water that everyone must share.	1
892454667	Politics	The process by which we select our governmental leaders and what policies these leaders pursue. Politics produces authoritative decisions about public issues.	2
892454668	Political Participation	All the activities by which citizens attempt to influence the selection of political leaders and the policies they pursue. Voting is the most common form in a democracy. Other means include protest and civil disobedience.	3
892454669	Single-Issue Groups	Groups that have a narrow interest, on which their members tend to take an uncompromising stance.	4
892454670	Policymaking System	The process by which policy comes into being and evolves. 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.	5
892454671	Linkage Institutions	The political channels through which people's concerns become political issues on the policy agenda. In the U.S., they include elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media.	6
892454672	Policy Agenda	The issues that attract the serious attention of the public officials and other people involved in politics at the time.	7
892454673	Political Issue	An issue that arises when people disagree about a problem and how to fix it.	8
892454674	Policymaking Institutions	The branches of government charged with taking action of the political issues. The U.S. Constitution established three - Congress, the presidency, and the courts. Today, the power of the bureaucracy is so great that most political scientists consider it a fourth policymaking institution.	9
892454675	Public Policy	A choice that government makes in response to a political issue. It's a course of action taken with regard to some problem.	10
892454676	Policy Impacts	The effects a policy has on the people and problems. They are analyzed to see how well a policy has met its goal and at what cost.	11
892454677	Democracy	A system of selection policymakers and of organizing government so that policy represents and responds to the publics preferences.	12
892454678	Majority Rule	A fundamental principle of traditional democratic theory. In a democracy, choosing among alternatives requires that the majority's desire to be respected.	13
892454679	Minority Rights	A principle of traditional democratic theory that guarantees rights to those who do not belong to majorities.	14
892454680	Representation	A basic principle of traditional democratic theory that describes the relationship between the few leaders and the many followers.	15
892454681	Pluralism	A theory of American democracy emphasizing that the policymaking process in very open to the participation of all groups with shared interests, with no single group usually dominating. Pluralists tend to believe that as a result, public interest generally prevails.	16
892454682	Elitism	A theory of American democracy contending that an upper-class elite holds the power and makes policy, regardless of the formal governmental organization.	17
892454683	Hyperpluralism	A theory of American democracy contending that groups are so strong that government, which gives in to the many different groups, is thereby weakened.	18
892454684	Policy Gridlock	A condition that occurs when interests conflict and no coalition is strong enough to form a majority and establish policy, so nothing gets done.	19
892454685	Political Culture	An overall set of values widely shared within a society.	20
892454686	Gross Domestic Product	The sum total of the value of all the goods and services produced in a year in a nation.	21