AP Gov 4/20 Vocab Quiz

Question 1

Party Realignment

Answer 1

a party loses groups of people to a different party for a significant period of time. This tends to be signaled by a critical election.

Question 2

Dealignment

Answer 2

a large portion of the electorate abandons its previous political party affiliation, without developing a new one to replace it.

Question 3

Divided Government

Answer 3

One party controls the White House, and another controls one or both houses of Congress

Question 4

interest groups

Answer 4

A group of individuals with common interests and seek to influence the government in some way. Interest groups affect policy through grassroots mobilization: interest groups organize citizens(alot of them), who act to influence policymakers through media coverage; lobbying: direct contact with policymakers for the purpose of persuasion through the provision of information, political benefits, etc: litigation: the use of courts to gain policy preferences through cases or amicus curiae briefs (“friend of the court” briefs)

Question 5

political action committee (PAC)

Answer 5

a private group that raises and distributes funds for use in election campaigns.

Question 6

SuperPAC

Answer 6

allowed to give an unlimited amount of money to a candidate or political party. Money still comes from individual donors, labor unions, and nonprofits. The difference is in that they may not act “in concert or in cooperation with” the candidate, the candidate’s organization, or a political party.

Question 7

Elite/Class theory

Answer 7

a group theory that argues that power is concentrated in the largest and richest organizations.

Question 8

Pluralist theory

Answer 8

the theory that all interests are and should be free to compete for influence in the government. The outcome of this competition is compromise and moderation.

Question 9

Hyperpluralist theory

Answer 9

A state in which many groups or factions are so strong that a government is unable to function.

Question 10

Mass media

Answer 10

television, radio, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and other means of popular communication

Question 11

Linkage institutions

Answer 11

A linkage institution is a structure within a society that connects the people to the government or centralized authority. These institutions include: elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media.

Question 12

horse-race journalism

Answer 12

a practice which journalist and reporters use in regards to government coverage and campaign coverage with emphasis on who is gaining or losing, not on what is being done about issues.

Question 13

Redistricting

Answer 13

The redrawing of congressional and other legislative district lines following the census, to accommodate population shifts and keep districts as equal as possible in population

Question 14

Gerrymandering

Answer 14

the drawing of legislative district boundaries to benefit a party, group, or incumbent

Question 15

Incumbent

Answer 15

The person currently holding office

Question 16

franking privilege

Answer 16

Privilege that allows members of Congress to mail letters & other materials to constituents postage-free

Question 17

standing committees

Answer 17

Permanent body with specified legislature responsibliites: evaluate bills and either kill them or pass them along for further debate, each has a jurisdiction over a certain area, each has several subcommittees

Question 18

conference committee

Answer 18

both houses have passes a different version of the same bill; is formed to achieve an agreement between both the house and the senate on the exact wording of the bill; temporary

Question 19

House Rules committee

Answer 19

unique powerful position (gatekeeper power), determines the terms on which legislation with reach the floor, sets the time limit of the debate time for a bill, decides whether and how a bill may be amended

Question 20

House Ways and Means Committee

Answer 20

drafts tax legislation, jurisdiction over all taxation, tariffs, and other revenue raising measures

Question 21

Seniority system

Answer 21

a system that gives the member of the majority party with the longest uninterrupted service on a particular committee the leadership of that committee

Question 22

Filibuster

Answer 22

a tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speeches

Question 23

Cloture

Answer 23

a rule for limiting or ending debate in a deliberative body

Question 24

Logrolling

Answer 24

legislator supports a proposal favored by another in return for support in his or hers

Question 25

Split ticket voting

Answer 25

voting for candidates from one party for some offices and from the other party for other offices