ch 7 - ap gov

Question 1

Citizens’ (noneconomic) groups

Answer 1

Organized interests formed by individuals drawn together by opportunities to promote a cause in which they believe but that does not provide them significant individual economic benefits.

Question 2

Iron triangle

Answer 2

the interaction of mutual interests among members of Congress, executive agencies, and organized interests during policy making.

Question 3

Climate control

Answer 3

the practice of using public outreach to build favorable public opinion of an organization.

Question 4

Issue network

Answer 4

The fluid web of connections among those concerned about a policy and those who create and administer the policy.

Question 5

Economic groups

Answer 5

Interest groups that are organized primarily for economic reasons but that engage in political activity in order to seek favorable policies from government.

Question 6

Lobbying

Answer 6

The process by which interest-group members or lobbyists attempt to influence public policy through contacts with public officials.

Question 7

Economic incentive

Answer 7

Motivation to join an interest group because the group works for policies that will provide members with material benefits.

Question 8

Outside lobbying

Answer 8

A form of lobbying in which an interest group seeks to use public pressure as a means of influencing officials.

Question 9

Electioneering

Answer 9

Working to influence the elections of candidates who support the organization’s issues.

Question 10

Pluralist theory

Answer 10

A theory that holds that policy making is a competition among diverse interest groups that ensure the representation of individual interests.

Question 11

Elite theory

Answer 11

A theory that holds that a group of wealthy, educated individuals wields most political power.

Question 12

Political action committee (PAC)

Answer 12

An entity whose specific goal is to raise and spend money to influence the outcome of elections.

Question 13

Free-rider problem

Answer 13

The phenomenon of someone deriving benefit from others’ actions.

Question 14

Private (individual) good

Answer 14

Benefits that a group (most often an economic group) can grant directly and exclusively to individual members of the group.

Question 15

Inside lobbying

Answer 15

Direct communication between organized interests and policymakers, which is based on the assumed value of close (“inside”) contacts with policymakers.

Question 16

Public employee unions

Answer 16

Labor organizations comprising federal, state, and municipal workers, including police officers and teachers.

Question 17

interest group

Answer 17

An organization that seeks to achieve goals by influencing government decision making.

Question 18

Public goods

Answer 18

Goods whose benefits cannot be limited and that are available to all.

Question 19

Rational choice theory

Answer 19

The idea that from an economic perspective it is not rational for people to participate in collective action when the can secure the collective good without participating.

Question 20

Purposive incentive

Answer 20

Motivation to join an interest group based on the belief in the group’s cause from an ideological or a moral standpoint.

Question 21

Social capital

Answer 21

The many ways in which our lives are improved in many ways by social connections.

Question 22

Super PACs

Answer 22

Political organizations that use contributions from individuals, corporations, and labor unions to spend unlimited sums independent from the campaigns, yet influencing the outcomes of elections.

Question 23

Solidary incentives

Answer 23

The motivation to join an interest group based on the companionship and the satisfaction derived from socializing with others that it offers.

Question 24

Umbrella organizations

Answer 24

interest groups that represent collective groups of industries or corporations.