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