EXAM INTRO Flashcards
Voter turnout matters because
Politicians pay more attention to those who vote than to those who do not vote
Government is defined as the
Institutions and processes through which public policies are made for society
The policymaking institutions of the American national government include all of the following EXCEPT
The Supreme Court
The Senate
Congress
The Presidency
Political parties
Political parties
Things that are indivisible, nonexclusive, and that everyone can share are called
public goods
Governments in the modern world, whether democratic or not, are similar in doing all of the following except
Collecting taxes
Protecting citizen’s civil liberties
Providing public services
protecting citizens
An interest group so single-minded that its members often vote on only one issue, ignoring a politician’s stand on everything else, is known as
a single-issue group
Politics is defined by Harold Lasswell as
who gets what, when, and how
The list of problems to which political leaders are paying serious attention is an
policy agenda
______ is the process by which policy comes on to being and evolves over time
A policymaking system
What isn’t a part of the policymaking system?
public goods
A politcal party is a key ______ in America’s democratic system
Linkage institution
Which of the following statements about a government’s policy agenda is false?
When people confront government officials with problems to be solved, they are trying to influence the government’s policy agena
Bad news gets an issue on the policy agenda more quickly than good news
A government’s policy agenda tends to remain constant over time
A government’s policy agenda tends to remain constant over time
What isn’t a linkage institution?
Congress
Political issues
arise when people disagree about a problem or public policy choices made to combat a problem
A means of selecting policymakers and or organizing governemnt so that policy represents and responds to the public’s preferences is
democracy
The writers of the United States Constitution were distrustful of democracy
TRUE OR FALSE
True
Two of the most important principles of democratic theory are majority rule and
minority rights
Pluralist theory contends that in the US many groups vie for power with no one set of groups dominating
TRUE
Representation refers to
the correspondance between the few leaders and the many followers in a democracy
American government is viewed most positively by the
Pluralist theory
Over a third of America’s wealth is owned by
one percent of the population
Elite and class theory holds that
all societies are divided among class lines and that an upper-class elite will rule
The nature of groups and the government in hyperpluralist theory is
strong groups and weak government
One of the most prized values in American politics is
individualism
What’s true about the US Constitution?
It centalizes political power
Sets nuetral rules in the game of politics
Supersided only by the president
None of the above
In setting the broad rules of the game of politics, constitutions
Are never nuetral, they give some partacipants advantages over other
The British government stepped up it’s controls over the American colonies with new taxes and stronger commerce regulations right after
French and Indian war
Wh oissued the Declaration of Independence?
The Continental congress
The primary author of the Declaration of Independence was
Thomas jefferson
The Declaration of independence
blamed the british parliament for abuses on the colonies
The foundation of John Locke’s philosophy was that human beings
derive their rights from nature
What didn’t John Locke believe in?
divine right of kings
the Declaration of Independence argued that
people should revolt when they suffer deep injustices
The sole purpose of government, according to John Locke, was
to protect natural rights
Thomas jefferson’s phrase “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” was a modification of John Locke’s phrase “life, Liberty, and _____”
Property
The American revolution was called the
conservative revolution
Beginning in 1781 the US was governed under the
Articles of Confederation
Under the Articles of Confederation, most power rested with the
state legislatures
What wasn’t a problem with the national government under the articles of confederation?
the lack of power given to state legislatures
Shay’s rebellion was
An uprising by farmers to prevent judges from foreclosing on farms
What was the original, sole, and express purpose of the convention in philadelphia
revise the Articles of Confederation
According to James Madison and many of the delegates at the Constitutional Convention, what is the primary source of political conflict?
unequal distribution of wealth
Most of the delegates at the Constitutional Convention regarded what as the greatest threat to government?
balanced government
The Virginia and New Jersey Plans introduced at the Constitutional Convention differed mainly over whether
states should send equal numbers of representatives in Congress
Most of the delegates at the Constituional Convention regarded what as the greatest threat to government?
factions
The Connecticut Compromise at the Constitutional Convention
resolved an impasse between those who favored the New Jersey Plan and those who prefferred the Virginia Plan
On the issue of slaves, the Constitutio specified
that slaves would count as 3/5’s of a person
The debate at the Philadelphia Convention over eligibility to vote was resolved by
leaving it up to the individual states
A major purpose of the Economic provisions in the Constitution was to
create a strong national government so as to bring stability out of economic chaos
Compared to the government under the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution gave the central government
more economic powers
The framers of the Constitution gave the chief economic policymaking role to
Congress
TWhat violation of individual right is not forbidden in the original Constitution?
passing ex post facto laws
Madisonian principles in the Constitution were based on
concern that government would be dominated by a majority or minority faction
The one element of government that Madison’s plan placed within direct control of the voters was the
House of Representatives
The Madisonian requirement that each branch of government acquire the consent of the others for many of its actions created a system of
checks and balances
The Federalist Papers were
essays in support of the constitution
Opposition to ratification of the Constituion was based on the belief that it would
provide for elite control, endanger liberty, and weaken states
The most important effect of the constitutional amendments has been to
expand liberty and equality
The Supreme Court in Marbury v. Mason asserted the power of the Court to
check the actions of the other brances through judicial review
The development of the two-party system is an example of informal constitutional change through
political practice
