Exam 2 Flashcards
Bureaucracy
- Administrative policy-making group
- Managed by departments staffed with non-elected officials
Government Corporation
State-owned company, is a legal entity that undertakes commercial activities on behalf of an owner government
-Ex: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
Independent Executive Agency
-Agencies that exist outside of the federal executive departments (those headed by a Cabinet secretary)
3 types: executive (managerially/budgetary–>carry out executive functions, government corporations, regulatory commissions (impose regulations but are free of political influence-Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
Independent Regulatory Agency
Federal agencies create by an act of Congress that are independent of the executive departments.
-Ex: CIA/EPA
Whistleblower
A person who informs on a person or organization engaged in an illicit activity
Cabinet Department
A government in which the executive power rests with a cabinet of ministers who are individually and collectively responsible to the legislature
-Ex: Commerce, VA, Homeland Security
Sunshine Acts/Legislation
U.S. Law passed in 1976 that affects the operations of the federal government, Congress, federal commissions, and other legally constituted federal bodies.
-# of Freedom of Information Acts intended to create greater transparency in government
Issue Network
Alliance of various interest groups and individuals who unite in order to promote a common cause or agenda in a way that influences government policy
-Collective goal
Privatization
Transfer of a business, industry, or service from public to private ownership and control
-Ex: Road/Bridge Construction/Operation
Enabling Legislation
Piece of legislation by which a legislative body grants an entity which depends on it for authorization or legitimacy of power to take certain actions.
-Often establishes government agencies to carry out specific government policies in a modern nation
Iron Triangle
Comprises the policy-making relationship among the congressional committees, the bureaucracy, and interest groups
Merit System
Process of promoting and hiring government employees based on their ability to perform a job, rather than on their political connections.
Spoils System
- Patronage System
- Practice in which a political party, after winning an election, gives government civil service jobs to its supporters, friends and relatives as a reward for working toward victory and as an incentive to keep working for the party
Agenda Setting
Ability to influence the importance placed on the topics of the public agenda
-Ex: news item is covered frequently an prominently, the audience will regard the issue as more important
Gender Gap
Discrepancy in opportunities, status, aptitudes between men and women
Opinion Leader
Well-known individual/organization that has the ability to influence public opinion on the subject matter for which the opinion leader is known
-Ex: politicians, educators
Political Socialization
Lifelong process by which people form their ideas about politics and acquire political values
-Family, education, peer, mass media
Sampling Error
Statistical error that occurs when an analyst does not select a sample that represents the entire population of data and the results found in the sample do not represent the results that would be obtained from the entire population
Bias Consensus
Where people tend to overestimate the extent to which their opinion, beliefs, preferences, values and habits are normal and typical of those of others
-Others also think the same way that they do
Generational Effect
- Fiscal Policy
- When the government makes fiscal decisions to government spending/tax when the full cost of the benefits is not paid by the current generation but the future ones
- Medicare
Opinion Poll
Human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample
Political Trust
Characterized by trust within a political institution (Congress)
-Measurement of citizens’ belief in the institutions which govern them
Spin
Form of propaganda, achieved through providing a biased interpretation of an event or campaigning to persuade public opinion in favor or against some organization or public figure
Divided Opinion
Separated by different opinions
-lacking of consensus
Media
The main means of mass communication
- Overseer of the political system
- Honest: great force in building the nation
- Great role in bringing common man close to their leaders
Peer Group
A group of people of approximately the same age, status, and interests
Public Opinion
Views prevalent among the general public
-Widespread belief of the majority of people in a society about a given subject or issue
Democratic Party
Which follows a liberal program, tending to promote a strong central government and expansive social programs
Free-rider Program
Those who benefit from resources, goods, or services do not pay for them (under-provision of those goods/services)
- How to limit free riding and its negative effect these situations
- Occur when property rights are not clearly defined and imposed
Indirect Technique
Strategies that use the general public or individuals to influence the government for the interest group
National Convention
Convention of a major political party, one that nominates a candidate for the presidency
Party Platform
List of values/actions which are supported by a political party/candidate in order to appeal to the general public
-Garnering the general public’s support and votes about complicated topics/issues
Social Movement
Type of group action
- Focus on specific political/social issues
- Carry out to change it
Two-party System
Party system where 2 major political parties dominate politics within a government
-Majority/Minority
Direct Technique
An interest group activity that involves interaction with government officials to further the group’s goals
The GOP
Grand old party (republic party)
-After the Civil War, the upstart Republicans were perceived as the party that won the war
Interest Group
- Advocacy/Lobbying/Special Interest
- Determined to encourage or prevent changes in public policy without trying to be elected
Party Identification
Party with which an individual identifies
-most commonly supports (through voting)
Plurality
of votes cast for a candidate who receives more than any other but does not receive an absolute majority
Realignment
Describing a dramatic change in the political system
Splinter Party
A political party that has broken away from a lager one
Whig Party
- Political party active in the middle of the 19th century
- Central to the 2nd party system
- 1830s leading opponent of Jacksonians
- Fell apart due to the election of 1856 (no position on slavery) very important topic at that time
Divided Government
One party controls the executive the other control the legislative
Independent
Individual not affiliated to any political party
-Hold a centrist view point between those of major political parties
Lobbyist
Person who takes part in an organized attempt to influence legislators
Party Organization
Group of leaders/activists/members who work to promote the party and its candidates
-Essential for the functioning/ability to connect the party’s candidates and the electorate
Policy Demanders
New changes
Republican Party
GOP
-Favoring a conservative stance–limited central government, strong national defense
Third Party
Contending for votes that failed to outpoll either of its two strongest rivals
Australian Ballot
Secret ballot
-System of voting in which voters mark their choices in privacy on uniform ballots printed and distributed by the government or designate their choices by some other secret means
Federal Election Commission (FEC)
- Independent regulatory agency
- Founded in 1975 to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the UNITED STATES
Front-Loading
Practice of scheduling state party caucuses and primary elections earlier than the general election
Hatch Act
- 1939
- Prohibits employees in the executive branch (except president/vice) from engaging in some forms of political activity
Issue Advocacy Advertising
Communications intended to bring a problem to light
-Social or political issues
Office-block
Massachusetts Ballot
Names of those running appears in a single column under a heading which states the office for which they are running
Political Action Committee (PAC)
Organization that raises money privately to influence elections or legislation, especially at the federal level
- Soft money (not accounted as going to a particular candidate; not regulated by law)
- Hard Money (political donations regulated by law
Socioeconomic Status
Relating to or concerned with the interaction of social and economic factors
Vote-eligible population
Describe the population that is eligible to vote
Voting-age Population
Describing the age to vote
Coattail Effect
Tendency for a popular political party leader to attract votes for other candidates of the same party in an election
Focus Group
Small but demographically diverse group of people whose reactions are studied especially in market research and political analysis
Front-Runner
Leading position in a race or other competition (presidential nomination)
Independent Expenditures
Political campaign communication that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate that is not made in cooperation
Midterm Elections
General Elections, held 2 years after the 4 year election of the president
Party Column
Indiana Ballot
Vote a “straight ticket” for all of a party’s candidates by entering a single mark
Political Consultant
Specific industry that has grown up around advising/assisting political campaigns
Super PAC
Allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money from corporations to influence the outcome of state and federal elections
-Soft Money
Voter Turnout
Percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election
-Decreasing trend
Direct Primary
Preliminary election in which a party’s candidates for public office are nominated by direct vote of the people
Franchise
Right granted by a government to an individual
General Election
Regular election of candidates for office, as opposed to a primary election
Invisible Primary
Money primary
- Period between the first well known presidential candidates with strong political support networks showing interest in running for president
- Demonstration of substantial public support by voters for them in primaries and caucuses
- Raising money in an effort to show political strength
Registration
Act of registering
