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American Government and Politics > Midterm #1 > Flashcards

Midterm #1 Flashcards

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1
Q

Power

A

Ability to get others to do what you want.

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2
Q

Government

A

System or organization for exercising authority over a body of people.

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3
Q

Economics

A

Production and distribution of a society’s material resources and services.

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4
Q

Elite Democracy

A

Idea that democracy limits the citizens’ role to choosing among competing leaders.

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5
Q

Pluralist Democracy

A

Idea that citizen membership in groups is the key to political power.

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6
Q

Participatory Democracy

A

Idea citizens are actively and directly control all aspects of their lives and participate in all aspects of lawmaking.

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7
Q

Citizens Divine Right of Kings

A

Doctrine that kings and queens have a God-given right to rule and that rebellion against them is a sin.

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8
Q

Political Culture

A

Set of attitudes and practices held by a people that shapes their political behavior. It includes moral judgments, political myths, beliefs, and ideas about what makes for a good society.

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9
Q

Immigrants

A

Citizen or subject of one country who moves to another to live or work.

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10
Q

Naturalization

A

Legal process of acquiring citizenship for someone who does not have it by birth.

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11
Q

Types of Rights (Procedural vs. Substantive)

A

Procedural - assurances that the rules will work smoothly and treat everyone fairly without promise of particular outcomes.

Substantive - assure outcomes as fair.

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12
Q

Ideologies

A

Sets of beliefs about politics and society that help people make sense of their world.

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13
Q

Popular Sovereignty

A

Concept that the citizens are the ultimate source of political power.

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14
Q

Monarchy Government

A

Government where power is vested in a king or queen (Saudi Arabia).

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15
Q

Theocracy Government

A

Government that claims to draw its power from divine or religious authority (Iran).

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16
Q

Fascist Government

A

One where policy is made for the ultimate glory of the state (1930s Italy).

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17
Q

Oligarchy Government

A

Small group of elites rules (post-Soviet Russia).

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18
Q

Totalitarian Government

A

Exercises absolute control

over every aspect of life (North Korea).

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19
Q

Anarchy

A

Absence of government and laws. No one has true freedom because your rights can be usurped by anyone physically stronger than you or by anyone with a weapon.

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20
Q

Great Compromise

A

(Maddison) Constitutional solution to congressional representation: equal votes by everyone in a particular country during a given year.

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21
Q

Three-fifths Compromise

A

Slave population for purpose of representation in the House of Representatives.

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22
Q

The New Jersey Plan

A

Unicameral legislature, equal representation in both chambers for each state.

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23
Q

The Federalist Papers

A

Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution.

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24
Q

Thomas Paine and Common Sense

A

Best-selling American book of all time. Ddvocates for a new nation free to govern itself free from Britain.

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25
Q

Categorical and Block Grants

A

Categorical - Federal government gives money to a state and has specific instructions on how to use it.

Block - Federal government gives the states money but has limited instructions on how to spend it.

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26
Q

Unfunded Mandate

A

Federal government tells the states to do something but doesn’t give them money to do it.

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27
Q

Bicameral Legislature

A

Legislature with two houses, or chambers.

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28
Q

Unicameral Legislature

A

Having one legislative or parliamentary chamber. One chamber of legislature/house. Fewer chambers, easier to get laws passed.

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29
Q

Checks and Balances

A

Each branch of the government (executive, judicial, and legislative) has some measure of influence over the other branches and may choose to block procedures of the other branches. (Puts us into a gridlock, hard to get stuff done).

30
Q

Supremacy Clause

A

Constitutional and national laws are the supreme law of the land. Constitution, federal laws made pursuant to it, and treaties made under its authority, constitute the supreme law of the land.

31
Q

Enumerated Powers

A

Expressly given to the national gov. Congress may exercise the powers that the Constitution grants it, subject to the individual rights listed in the Bill of Rights.

32
Q

Concurrent Powers

A

Powers are shared by both the national/federal gov. and state gov.

33
Q

Types of Direct Democracy (Initiative, Referendum, Recall)

A

Initiative - state votes on something directly, usually a constitutional amendment passing the legislature totally (popular votes)

Referendum - legislature puts something to vote.

Recall Elections - can ‘un-elect’ their elected officials.

34
Q

Types of City Government

A

Mayoral Government - form of government where the mayor and council are partisan and run cities in a partisan way (many big and/or east coast cities).

Council-Manager Government - form of local government in which a professional city or town manager is appointed by elected councilors (most cities are governed this way in most states).

Commission Style - combines executive and legislative functions over a narrow area of responsibility.

35
Q

Anarchy

A

Absence of government and laws. No one has true freedom because your rights can be usurped by anyone physically stronger than you or by anyone with a weapon.

36
Q

Moralistic (State Culture)

A

Expects government to promote the public interest and the common good, see gov. as positive and encourages citizen participation.

37
Q

Individualistic (State Culture)

A

Distrusts government, expects corruption, downplays citizen participation, and stresses individual economic prosperity.

38
Q

Traditionalistic (State Culture)

A

Expects government to maintain existing power structure and sees citizenship as stratified with politics coming from the social elite.

39
Q

Trends in American Demography

A

Becoming less white as people of other races and ethnicities move in.

40
Q

Race to the Bottom

A

Used to describe government deregulation of the business environment or taxes in order to attract or retain economic activity in their jurisdictions.

41
Q

Values

A

Central ideas, principles, or standards that most people agree are important.

42
Q

Feudalism

A

Social system in which a rigid social and political hierarchy was based on the ownership of land.

43
Q

Slavery

A

Ownership, or forced labor, of one people by another.

44
Q

Constitution

A

Rules that establish a government.

45
Q

Ex Post Facto Laws

A

Laws that criminalize an action after it occurs.

46
Q

Establishment Clause

A

First amendment guarantee that the government will not create and support an official state church.

47
Q

Parliamentary Systems

A

Government in which the executive is chosen by the legislature from among its members and the two branches are merged.

48
Q

Sedition

A

Speech that criticizes the government.

49
Q

Libel

A

Written defamation (damaging one’s reputation) of character.

50
Q

Due Process of the Law

A

Guarantee that laws will be fair and reasonable and that citizens suspected of breaking the law will be treated fairly.

51
Q

Strict Scrutiny

A

Heightened standard of review used the Supreme Court to assess the constitutionality of laws that limi some freedoms or that make a suspect classification.

52
Q

Jim Crow Laws

A

Southern laws designed to circumvent (find a way around) the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments and to deny clacks rights on bases other than race.

53
Q

Virginia Plan

A

Proposal at the Constitutional Convention that congressional representation be based on population, thus favoring that large states.

54
Q

Federalism

A

Political system in which power is divided between the central and regional units.

55
Q

Separation of Powers

A

Institutional arrangement that assigns judicial, executive, and legislative powers to different persons or groups, thereby limiting the powers of each.

56
Q

Checks and Balances

A

Principle the allows each branch of government to exercise some form of control over the others.

57
Q

Articles of the Confederation

A

The first constitution of the United States (1777) creating an association of states with weak central government.

58
Q

Constitution

A

Rules that establish a government.

59
Q

Constitutional Convention

A

Assembly of 55 delegates in the summer of 1787 to recast the Articles of Confederation; the result was the U.S. Constitution.

60
Q

Necessary and Proper Clause

A

Constitutional authorization for Congress to make any law required to carry out its powers.

61
Q

Federalists

A

Supporters of the Constitution who favored a strong central government.

62
Q

Anti-Federalists

A

Advocates of states’ rights who opposed the Constitution.

63
Q

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

A

Official United States policy on military service by gays, bisexuals, and lesbians, instituted by the Clinton Administration on February 28, 1994. Theoretically lifted a ban on homosexual service.

64
Q

Civil Rights

A

Citizenship rights guaranteed to the people and protected by the government.

65
Q

Habeas Corupus

A

Right of an accuse person to be brought before a judge and informed of the charges and evidence against him or her.

66
Q

Devolution

A

Transfer of powers and responsibilities from the federal government to the states.

67
Q

Brown v Board of Education of Topeka

A

Supreme Court case that rejected the idea that separate could be equal in education.

68
Q

Griswold v Connecticut

A

Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Constitution protected a right to privacy.

69
Q

De Jure Discrimination

A

Discrimination arising from or supported by the law.

70
Q

De Facto Discrimination

A

Discrimination that is the result not of law but rather of tradition and habit.

American Government and Politics (6 decks)

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