Midterm #2 Flashcards
Congressional Oversight
Committee’s investigation of the executive and of government agencies to ensure they are acting as Congress intends. Efforts by Congress, especially through committees, to monitor agency rule making, enforcement, and implementation of congressional policies.
Congressional Oversight Theories
- Don’t do anything unless a massive problem occurs.
2. Constantly overseeing o the bureaucracy and making small changes when/where needed.
Redistricting
Process of dividing states into legislative districts.
3 Types of Gerrymandering
- Bipartisan Gerrymandering - Political parties effectively strike a bargain in order to maintain the status quo.
- Racial Gerrymandering - redistricting to enhance or reduce the chances that a racial or an ethnic group will elect members to the legislature.
- Partisan Gerrymandering - redistricting controlled by the majority party in a state’s legislature, to increase the number of districts that party can expect to carry.
Majority vs. Minority Party in Congress
Majority currently is republican and minority is democratic which means more republican ideas/desires are more likely to get passed.
Polarization
Occurs when public opinion goes to two extremes, and there is no real middle ground or moderates.
House Rules Committee
Committee that determines how and when debate on a bill will take place.
Filibuster
Practice of unlimited debate in the Senate in order to prevent or delay a cote on a bill.
Cloture
Vote to end a Senate filibuster; requires a three-fifths majority, or sixty votes.
Split Ticket Voting
In an election, someone votes for people of multiple parties when voting people in for different offices.
Strategic Politicians
Office-seekers who base the decision to run on a rational calculation that they will be successful.
Traditional vs. Modern Policy Making
Modern - Increased centralization in decision making, increased usage of restrictive rules, decreased productivity, increased polarization.
Types of Congressional Representation
House of Representatives - part of the federal government’s legislative branch, 1 guaranteed representative while the rest is dependent on population size.
Senate - legislative chamber in the bicameral legislature, 2 representatives per state that guarantees equal representation.
Impeachment
Formal charge by the House that the President has committed acts of “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors” which may or may not result in removal from office. Majority of the House or 2/3 of the Senate vote for conviction on conviction case.
Theories of Presidential Power (Going Public and Power to Persuade)
- Power to persuade is often times focused on a president’s ability to convince Congress, other political actors to cooperate with the administration’s agenda.
- Going public is the president’s strategy of appealing to the public on an issue, expecting that public pressure will be brought to bear on other political actors
Divided Government
Political rule split between two parties, in which one controls the White House and the other controls one or both houses of Congress.
Bureaucracy
Organization characterized by hierarchical structure, worker specialization, explicit rules, and advancement by merit.
- Hierarchy: clear chain of command and responsibility
- Specialization: tasks divided by expertise
- Explicit rules: rules rather than preferences govern decisions; have standardization, predictability
- Merit: hiring based on exams and experience
Spoils System
19th Century practice of rewarding political supporters with public office.
Pendleton Act
1883, Civil Service reform that required the hiring and promoting of civil servants to be based on merit (good or worthy), not patronage (favoritism).
Hatch Act
1939, law limiting the political involvement of civil servants in order to protect them from political pressure and keep politics out of the bureaucracy. Prohibits employees in the executive branch of the federal government, except the president, vice-president, and certain designated high-level officials of that branch, from engaging in some forms of political activity.
Clientele Groups
Special interest groups that benefit directly from the activities of a particular bureaucratic agency and therefore are strong advocates of the agency.
Bureaucratic Discretion
Bureaucrats’ use of their own judgement in interpreting and carrying out the laws of Congress.
Iron Triangles
Phenomenon of a clientele group, congressional committee, and bureaucratic agency cooperating to make mutually beneficial policy.
Fundamentals Model of Elections (Sides and Vavrick)
How economic growth, how people view the economy, and how popular you’re party is and how it will effect the outcome of the election. Using data from several categories such as past election results, incumbency, presidential approval ratings, economic indicators, ideological indicators, and biographical information about the candidates to predict the outcome of the election.
Agency Capture
Process whereby regulatory agencies come to be protective of and influenced by the industries they were established to regulate.
Primary vs. Caucus
Primary - like a mini election, any registered voter can go and cast a ballot, do not discuss other local issues.
Caucus - local meeting where registered members of a political party in a city, town or county gather to vote for their preferred party candidate.
Courts
Institution that sit as neutral third parties to resolve conflicts according to the law.
Common Law Tradition
Legal system based on the accumulated rulings of judges over time, applied uniformly - judge-made law.
Precedent
Previous decision or ruling that, in common-law tradition, is binding on subsequent/similar future cases.
Types of Laws
Substantive laws
Spells out what we can and cannot legally do. Example: can’t drive while under the influence.
Procedural laws
Spells out how we conduct the law. Explain how the law is conducted. Example: illegal search of drunk drivers car.
Criminal laws
Protect the public good.
Civil laws
Regulate interactions between individuals. No common good to it.
Constitutional law
Both the Constitution and the body of decisions it makes.
Common law
Establishing precedent through the court system.
Statutory laws
Laws that a legislature passes.
Administrative laws
Regulations
Executive orders
Rule or order issued by the president to an executive branch of gov.
Jurisdiction
Courts authority to hear certain cases.
Senatorial Courtesy
Tradition of granting senior senators of the president’s party considerable power over federal judicial appointments in their home states.
Appeal
Rehearing (hear a case in court again) of a case because the losing part in the original trial argues that a point of law was not applied properly.
Opinion
Written decision of the court that states the judgment of the majority.
Judicial Activism
View that the courts should be lawmaking, policymaking bodies.
Solicitor General
Justice Department officer who argues the concernment’s cases before the Supreme Court.
Executive Orders
Presidents issues executive orders to help officers and agencies of the executive branch manage the operations within the federal government itself.
Inherent Powers
Presidential powers implied but not explicitly states in the Constitution.
Relationship between the President and Bureaucracy
The bureaucracy is a major source of information and power for the president, but its unwieldy structure requires controls and may often work against the president. May ignore the president’s demands, and delay or sabotage the president’s agenda. To gain the support of the bureaucracy, the president must bargain and persuade.
Presidential Roles
Serves as both the head of state and the head of government. The head of state is a relatively the non-political, unifying role of the president as symbolic representative of the country. The head of government is the political role of the president as leader of a political party.
Cabinet
body of advisers to the president, composed of the heads of the executive departments of the government. Individually and collectively responsible to the legislature.
State of the Union Address
Yearly address delivered in January by the president of the US to Congress, giving the administration’s view of the state of the nation and plans for legislation.
