Chapter 17 Flashcards by Lena Lewis

agenda setting

Deciding what belongs on the political agenda

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benefit

Any satisfaction that people believe they will derive if a policy is adopted

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boycott

A concerted effort to get people to stop buying from a company in order to
punish and to coerce a policy change

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client politics

Political activity in which one group benefits at the expense of many other people

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closed shop

A business that will not employ non-union workers

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cost

The perceived burden to be borne if a policy is adopted

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cost argument

A situation in which people are more sensitive to what they might lose than to what they might gain

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Do Not Call Law

Example of legislation pioneered in the states and replicated by the federal government

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entrepreneurial politics

Political activity in which benefits are distributed, costs are concentrated

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Gerald Ford

Individual who noted the government big enough to give you everything you
want is also big enough to take away everything you have

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the Grange

An organization of farmers especially outspoken in its criticism of large
corporations

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interest-group politics

Political activity in which benefits are conferred on a distinct group and costs on another distinct group

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logrolling

Mutual aid among politicians, whereby one legislator supports another’s pet
project in return for the latter’s support

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majoritarian politics

Political activity in which both benefits and costs are widely distributed

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policy entrepreneurs

People in and out of government who find ways of creating a legislative majority
on behalf of interests not well- represented in government

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political agenda

A set of issues thought by the public or those in power to merit action by government

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pork-barrel projects

Legislation that gives tangible benefits to constituents in the hope of winning their votes

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process regulation

Rules regulating manufacturing or industrial processes, usually aimed at improving consumer or worker safety and reducing environmental damage

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professionalization of reform

A situation in which government bureaucracy thinks up problems for government to solve

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deregulation

A movement made by recent presidential administrations to lessen the federal government’s oversight of several key industries such as the airlines and trucking

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Theodore Roosevelt

Individual who persuaded Congress to fund five full time lawyers to prosecute
antitrust violations

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secondary boycott

A boycott by workers of a company other than the one against which the strike
is directed

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Sherman Antitrust Act

A law passed in 1890 making monopolies illegal

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Superfund

Intended to force industries to clean up their own toxic wastes, but a good illustration of entrepreneurial politics

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relative deprivation

A sense of being worse off than one thinks one ought to be

T/F The expansion of government has been the result, fundamentally, of a non-partisan process.

T/F There was no public demand for government action to make automobiles safer before 1966.

T/F Congressional action has been the preferred vehicle for advocates of unpopular causes.

T/F The bureaucracy reacts to policy, but is not a source of policy

T/F Somewhat contrary to the intent of the Framers, the House of Representatives has become a source of significant political change.

T/F Increasingly, the actions of state governments are irrelevant to national policy-making.

T/F Conflicts between rival interest groups are not nearly so important in majoritarian politics.

T/F Interest-group politics often produce decisions about which the public is uninformed.

T/F The Brady Bill requires background checks on gun buyers before they can purchase a firearm.

T/F The Founders deliberately arranged things so that it would be difficult to pass a new law.

T/F Policy entrepreneurs are outside of government.

T/F Ralph Nader is a well known example of a policy entrepreneur.

T/F Entrepreneurial politics cannot occur without the leadership of a policy entrepreneur.

T/F Superfund is a good example of entrepreneurial politics.

T/F In part, the decentralization of Congress is responsible for the prominence of entrepreneurial politics.

T/F Much of the antitrust legislation that was passed in this country was the result of entrepreneurial politics.

T/F The Grange was an association of small businessmen who were sharply critical of business monopolies and large corporations generally.

T/F Anti-trust sentiment was strong in the late 1800s and early 1900s, but it was not focused on any single industry.

T/F The Sherman Act (1890) spelled out rules for restraining monopolies and created and enforcement mechanism.

T/F Theodore Roosevelt was influential in prompting more prosecutions for violations of antitrust laws.

T/F Our antitrust policy is perhaps the strongest found in any industrial nation.

T/F Antitrust enforcement in any particular administration is largely determined by the amount of interest-group pressure that is applied.

T/F In the labor conflicts of the 1940s and 1950s, Republicans and southern Democrats tended to support the interests of businesses.

T/F Each president has tried to tilt the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in one direction or the other by means of appointments.

T/F Between 1996 and 2001 subsidies for farmers decreased.

T/F Farm subsidies are a legacy of the Great Depression.

Compared to the political agenda in the 1930s, today's political agenda (the issues that politics chooses to address) is:

much longer

Both occupational safety and urban poverty legislation were enacted at a time when:

he problems treated had been getting better.

Which of the following institutions has not played an increasingly important role in the agenda-setting process in government?

The Senate

The bureaucracy has acquired new power in policy-making because:

now it frequently acts as an independent source of policy proposals.

Attorneys general of states may influence national policy by:

settling suits with agreements that are binding on businesses throughout the country.

Politicians are most likely to support programs whose costs are:

remote in time.

A proposed environmental protection program offers benefits and costs that will be shared by a large number of people. The type of politics that will most likely be involved is:

majoritarian politics.

Interest group politics must involve:

two or more small, identifiable groups.

A proposed bill that would abolish tariffs on imported cheese, thereby hurting the dairy industry while benefiting U.S. cheese eaters, would most likely involve:

entrepreneurial politics.

T/F More and more, we debate the legitimacy of proposed government policies.

T/F The "rivers and harbors" bill that passes Congress almost every year is an example of pork-barrel legislation.

T/F The Sherman Act (1890) did little to rigorously define what a monopoly actually was.

T/F Sugar subsidies are still being paid for by taxpayers.

T/F Deregulation was a conspicuous feature of the 1980s.

T/F The airline, trucking, and long-distance telephone industries have all been deregulated.

T/F Recent deregulation of certain industries started with the ideas of government bureaucrats.

T/F To some degree, deregulation was supported by presidents Carter, Ford and Reagan.

T/F Polls suggest most Americans do not believe that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is doing enough to regulate the safety of drugs.

T/F The wages paid to merchant seamen and construction workers on federal projects are protected by federal rules.