Ch1 Vocab

Question 0

Public goods

Answer 0

Goods, such as clean air and clean water, that everyone must share

Question 1

Government

Answer 1

The institutions and processes through which public policies are made for a society

Question 2

Politics

Answer 2

The process by which we select our governmental leaders and what policies these leaders pursue. Politics produces authoritative decisions about public issues.

Question 3

Political participation

Answer 3

All the activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue. The most common, but not the only, means of political participation in a democracy is voting. Other means include protest and civil disobedience.

Question 4

Single-issue groups

Answer 4

Groups that have a narrow interest, tend to dislike compromise, and often draw membership from people new politics. These features distinguish them from traditional interest groups.

Question 5

Policymaking system

Answer 5

The process by which political problems are communicated by the voters and acted upon by government policymakers. The policymaking begins with people’s needs and expectations for governmental actions. When people confront government officials with problems that they want solved, they are trying to influence the government’s policy agenda.

Question 6

Linkage institutions

Answer 6

The channels or access points through which issues and people’s policy preferences get on the government’s policy agenda. In the United States, elections, political parties, interest groups, and the mass media are the three main linkage institutions.

Question 7

Policy agenda

Answer 7

The issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actually involved in politics at any given point in time.

Question 8

Political issue

Answer 8

An issue that arises when people disagree about a problem and a public policy choice.

Question 9

Policymaking institutions

Answer 9

The branches of government charged with taking action on political issue. 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 scientists consider it a fourth policymaking institution.

Question 10

Public policy

Answer 10

A choice that government makes in response to a political issue. A policy is a course of action taken with regard to some problem.

Question 11

Democracy

Answer 11

A system of selecting policymakers and of organizing government so that policy represents and responds to the public’s preferences.

Question 12

Majority rule

Answer 12

A fundamental principle of traditional democratic theory. In a democracy, choosing among alternatives requires that the majority’s desire be respected.

Question 13

Minority rights

Answer 13

A principle of traditional democratic theory that guarantees rights to those who do not belong to majorities and allows that they might join majorities through persuasion and reasoned argument.

Question 14

Representation

Answer 14

A basic principle of traditional democratic theory that describes the relationship between the few leaders and the many followers.

Question 15

Pluralist theory

Answer 15

A theory of government and politics emphasizing that politics is mainly a competition among groups, each one pressing for its own preferred policies. Compare elite and class theory, hyperpluralism, and traditional democratic theory.

Question 16

Elite and class theory

Answer 16

A theory of government and politics contending that societies are divided along class lines and that an upperclass elite will rule, regardless of the formal niceties of governmental organization.

Question 17

Hyperpluralism

Answer 17

A theory of government and politics contending that groups are so strong that government is weakened. Hyperpluralism is an extreme, exaggerated, or perverted form of pluralism.

Question 18

Policy gridlock

Answer 18

A condition that occurs when no coalition is strong enough to form a majority and establish policy. The result is that nothing may get done.

Question 19

Gross domestic product

Answer 19

The sum total of the value of all the goods and services produced in a nation.

Question 20

Individualism

Answer 20

The belief that individuals should be left on their own by the government. One of the primary reasons for the comparatively small scope of American government is the prominence of this belief in American political thought and practice.