MIDTERM 1 Flashcards
What is the practice of attempting to influence the decisions of a collective to act, or not to act in a particular manner?
POLITICS
What is the part of society and the economy that functions separately from government control?
Private or Voluntary sectors (Civil Society)
What is the part of society and the economy that functions with government control?
Public sector
The way things are
Empirical beliefs
The way things ought to be
Normative beliefs
Defined in this discipline as the ability of one actor to impose its will on another, to get its own way, to do or get what it wants
Power
Two types of power
Coercion and Authority
Agent is able to impose its will on others by using or threatening, physical force and other forms of punishment.
Coercion
Power based on legitimacy
Authority
Refers to the set of organizations that make, enforce, and administer collective, public decisions for a society
Government
Three kinds of government power
Legislative, Executive and Judicial
The power to create laws and public policies
Legislative power
The power to enforce laws and administer public policies
Executive power
The power to interpret the law
Judicial power
An activity in which conflicting interests struggle for advantage or dominance in the making and execution of public policies
Politics
A system of government designed to integrate the expressed wishes of the governed
Democracy
Society has demands that go to the political system which produces output back for the society
Model of the Political System
An organization that exists to pursue the common interests of its members
Interest Group
An interest group that aims to accomplish its objectives by trying to influence directly how government power is used.
Advocacy/Pressure Group
A formal organization that seeks to achieve its objectives through government by contesting elections.
Political party
Source of many of the demands expressed in day-to-day political activity
Cleavages
Refers to a belief that we belong to some group
Identities
The process through which dominant beliefs and assumptions about the world reinforce existing patterns of power in a society by taking alternative courses of action off the table
Cultural Hegemony
An informal alliance of individuals and interest groups who aim to achieve their objectives by changing the dominant beliefs of a society
Social movement
The press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about
Agenda setting
Government is understood according to rules, laws, and constitutions
Institutional Approaches
A rule that is enforceable in court
Law
A rule that is widely perceived as binding, but which is not enforceable in court
Convention
Where decisions are carried from the past into the future and reversal costs are high
Path dependence
Emphasizes the autonomy of state actors; seeks to influence political outcomes
State-based approach
Refers to the state being composed of a conglomeration of specialized policy processes, each of which nurtures support from the most relevant interest in society
Policy communities
The idea that the political and bureaucratic leaders of the state interact with elites in society; to arrive at decisions that are in their mutual interests
Elite accommodation
States that steer the economic development of their countries in directions favored and coordinated by state actors
dirigiste state
Studies of government in the context of the broader social and economic environment of which it is a part; center on groups and societal forces
Political sociology
Emphasizes deep-seated divisions in society such as regions, ethnic background, language, religion, and economic classes
Social cleavage approach
Postulate that the resources to influence power are widely dispersed among many interests in society, rather than tightly controlled by one particular group of elites
Pluralist approach
Authorities engage in wheeling and dealing with the various groups in an effort to keep them all content
Brokerage politics
Emphasizes the role that economic groups - in particular, classes - play in shaping the nature of politics and government
Marxist approach/Class approach
Those who own the means of production, such as businesses and industries
Bourgeoisie
Working class
Proletariat
Adapts concepts and theories from psychology in seeking to understand why people think the way they do about politics
Political psychology approach
Behavior of individual political actors whether as citizens, voters, or members of groups such as political parties, interest groups, and social movement
Political behavior approach
Assumes that individuals seek to maximize their utility as efficiently as possible; behavior is goal-oriented
Rational choice approach
A term reserved generally for the people who arrived in more recent times
Settlers
Refers to the countries, particularly European powers that laid claims to territory in the Americas
Colonial Powers
Who were the first Europeans to arrive in what is now Canada in the 1500s?
Italian and French Explorers
Who took possession of Rupert’s Land in 1670?
The British Hudson’s Bay Company (The Bay)
When did the French settlers arrive and settle in “New France” now known as Quebec
1600s
What did Britain later gain control by the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht?
Nova Scotia and Newfoundland
What treaty ended the War of the Spanish Succession?
1713 Treaty of Utrecht
What did Britain conquer in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759?
New France
What were the two traditional European rivals that were a part of the Seven Years’ War?
France and Britain
What was the treaty that allowed Britain to gain PEI, Cape Breton, and New Brunswick?
1763 Treaty of Paris
What is the first distinctively Canadian constitutional document that laid down the rules for governing the British North American colonies that comprised the territory of what would later become Canada?
The Royal Proclamation of 1763
What protected the French language and religion?
The Royal Proclamation of 1763
What is the old colonialist doctrine that contends that land could be claimed by a colonial power provided that it was not occupied when the colonial power discovered it?
Terra Nullius
Did Terra Nullius apply in the Canadian setting?
No
What act in 1774 established a council to advise the governor in the colony of Quebec?
The 1774 Quebec Act
What act was passed in response to pressure from those Loyalists who moved into what is now Ontario, and who were already accustomed to operating with an elected assembly?
1791 Constitutional Act
What did the 1791 Constitutional Act divide the colony into?
Upper and Lower Canada
A set of political institutions that included an elected legislative assembly
Representative Government
A kind of government where advisers to the governor would both be chosen from and reflect the views of the elected assembly
Responsible Government
How did the 1839 Durham Report outline a division of powers between local and imperial authorities?
Local matters - the governor would follow the advice of colonial authorities
Imperial concern - he would act as an agent of the British government
The colonies were amalgamated by what act?
1840 Act of Union
What was required before the passage of bills?
Double majority (a majority of members from each part of the colony)
Who deals with problems that all colonies had in common?
Central government
Who handles distinctive internal matters on their own?
Provincial government
What were officially united on July 1, 1867 by the British North America Act?
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the colony of Canada - now divided between Ontario and Canada
What was the British North America Act renamed to?
Constitution Act, 1867
What are the two parts of the British Parliamentary System of Government?
The legislative part and the monarch
What is composed of an elected lower house, the House of Commons, and an unelected Upper House (called the Senate in Canada) with its members being appointed by the Prime Minister?
Legislative
What is a position that is embodied by the Queen in Great Britain and by the Queen and her representative, the governor-general in Canada?
Monarch or the Crown
Who is the core of the Parliamentary System?
Prime Minister and the Cabinet
it involves a combination of legislative and executive powers
Fusion of powers
Who is given the power to introduce most legislation and the right to control most of the time the legislature?
Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers
What is the British Parliament sometimes called?
Westminster model
What constitutes a majority of the members of Parliament normally belong to the same political party as the Prime Minister and Cabinet?
Majority Government
Opposition MPs
Minority Government
What is expected to operate independently of the executive and legislative branches of government?
Judicial Independence
Power to declare laws invalid; the power of the courts to overturn executive and legislative decisions
Judicial review
What is it called when the executive, legislative, and judicial powers are distributed to three separate branches of government: the president, congress, and the Courts respectively?
Separation of Powers
What does the “checks and balances” do for the US system?
Ensures that the actions of any one branch of government are subject to veto by another
What was the first attempt to fuse the principles of the British parliamentary system with those of federalism?
Canadian Confederation
Who was the first Prime Minister of Canada?
John A Macdonald
What can be defined as a division of powers between central and regional governments such that neither is subordinate to the other?
Federalism
A kind of government where all final authority resides with a central government
Unitary Government/Legislative Union
A kind of government where all final authority resides with the constituent government
Confederal government
What year did Canada adopt a new flag?
1965
What year did the government recognize “O Canada” as its national anthem?
1967
This can be defined as the sum total of residual or discretionary powers still left in the hands of the monarch
The Crown
This means that the monarch reigns according to the constitution and one that has put most of the powers of government into someone else’s hands
Constitutional monarchy
What are the principles of the Canadian Constitution?
Constitutional monarchy, responsible government, federalism, judicial review, rule of law, democracy
This means that all government action must be based on law and that governments and government officials must obey the law
Rule of law
This means that people ultimately rule primarily through periodic elections
Popular sovereignty
Everyone has one vote on election day
Political equality
During and between elections, people are free to organize and advocate for political purposes
Political freedom
This means that except in defined situations designed to protect minority rights, the will of the majority prevails
Majority rule
This can be defined as the sum total of the politically relevant values, beliefs, attitudes, identities, and orientations in a society
Political culture
Consists of ideas, assumptions, values, and beliefs that shape our understanding and behavior as citizens in the world of politics
Political culture
A system of government where collective public decisions are made by the people or the people’s representatives, but where certain spheres of human activity are altogether outside of the legitimate purview of collective public decision-making
Liberal democracy
This means that legitimate political authority comes from the people and that the people have the final say
Popular sovereignty
Four elements of modern Canadian liberal democracy
popular sovereignty, political equality, freedom, and majority rule/minority rights
A minimal expression of this would be the principle of one person-one vote
Political equality
Describes a domain of human activity where people have the liberty to do, or not do as they choose
Freedom
What are the five basic categories of Canadian values that can be distinguished from those in the United States?
Balance between individualism and collectivism; Particularism, diversity, and tolerance; Deference to authority; Egalitarianism; Caution, diffidence, dependence, idealism, and non-violence
Legislators are guided or bound by the frequent referral of policy questions to the electorate as a whole
Referendum
Legislators respond to demands for policy changes expressed by voters in the form of a petition
Initiative
A member of Parliament could be forced to resign if a certain proportion of electors in a constituency sign a petition to this effect
Recall
Distinctive collections of values, beliefs, attitudes, identities, and orientations held by smaller groups within society
Subcultures
Official aspects of the electoral system
redistribution or redrawing the electoral map; the official organization of elections; an evaluation of the lack of proportionality in the electoral system and suggestions for reform; party and election finance
What is the primary function of elections?
To allow the mass of citizens to choose their parliamentary representatives and, indirectly, their governmental leaders
How does the electoral process begin?
By dividing the country into single-member electoral districts
What are the two stages of redistribution?
- deciding how many seats in the Commons to allot to each province and territory
- actually drawing constituency boundaries within the provinces
Manipulating constituency boundaries to increase the re-election probability of the members of the government party
Gerrymandering
Who is responsible for the overall administration of the election and must function with absolute impartiality?
Chief electoral officer
List of eligible voters
Voters’ list
This means that the winner often does not have a majority of the votes cast, only a plurality
Single-member-plurality
How was the SMP criticized?
- overrepresentation of white males
- discourage voter turnout
- strategic voting
Constituencies would be eliminated and each party would receive as many seats in each province as its popular vote
Proportional representation
