Midterm #2

Question 1

Congressional Oversight

Answer 1

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.

Question 2

Congressional Oversight Theories

Answer 2

1. Don’t do anything unless a massive problem occurs.

2. Constantly overseeing o the bureaucracy and making small changes when/where needed.

Question 3

Redistricting

Answer 3

Process of dividing states into legislative districts.

Question 4

3 Types of Gerrymandering

Answer 4

1. Bipartisan Gerrymandering - Political parties effectively strike a bargain in order to maintain the status quo.
2. Racial Gerrymandering - redistricting to enhance or reduce the chances that a racial or an ethnic group will elect members to the legislature.
3. 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.

Question 5

Majority vs. Minority Party in Congress

Answer 5

Majority currently is republican and minority is democratic which means more republican ideas/desires are more likely to get passed.

Question 6

Polarization

Answer 6

Occurs when public opinion goes to two extremes, and there is no real middle ground or moderates.

Question 7

House Rules Committee

Answer 7

Committee that determines how and when debate on a bill will take place.

Question 8

Filibuster

Answer 8

Practice of unlimited debate in the Senate in order to prevent or delay a cote on a bill.

Question 9

Cloture

Answer 9

Vote to end a Senate filibuster; requires a three-fifths majority, or sixty votes.

Question 10

Split Ticket Voting

Answer 10

In an election, someone votes for people of multiple parties when voting people in for different offices.

Question 11

Strategic Politicians

Answer 11

Office-seekers who base the decision to run on a rational calculation that they will be successful.

Question 12

Traditional vs. Modern Policy Making

Answer 12

Modern - Increased centralization in decision making, increased usage of restrictive rules, decreased productivity, increased polarization.

Question 13

Types of Congressional Representation

Answer 13

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.

Question 14

Impeachment

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

Theories of Presidential Power (Going Public and Power to Persuade)

Answer 15

1. 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.
2. 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

Question 16

Divided Government

Answer 16

Political rule split between two parties, in which one controls the White House and the other controls one or both houses of Congress.

Question 17

Bureaucracy

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Spoils System

Answer 18

19th Century practice of rewarding political supporters with public office.

Question 19

Pendleton Act

Answer 19

1883, Civil Service reform that required the hiring and promoting of civil servants to be based on merit (good or worthy), not patronage (favoritism).

Question 20

Hatch Act

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

Clientele Groups

Answer 21

Special interest groups that benefit directly from the activities of a particular bureaucratic agency and therefore are strong advocates of the agency.

Question 22

Bureaucratic Discretion

Answer 22

Bureaucrats’ use of their own judgement in interpreting and carrying out the laws of Congress.

Question 23

Iron Triangles

Answer 23

Phenomenon of a clientele group, congressional committee, and bureaucratic agency cooperating to make mutually beneficial policy.

Question 24

Fundamentals Model of Elections (Sides and Vavrick)

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

Agency Capture

Answer 25

Process whereby regulatory agencies come to be protective of and influenced by the industries they were established to regulate.

Question 26

Primary vs. Caucus

Answer 26

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.

Question 27

Courts

Answer 27

Institution that sit as neutral third parties to resolve conflicts according to the law.

Question 28

Common Law Tradition

Answer 28

Legal system based on the accumulated rulings of judges over time, applied uniformly - judge-made law.

Question 29

Precedent

Answer 29

Previous decision or ruling that, in common-law tradition, is binding on subsequent/similar future cases.

Question 30

Types of Laws

Answer 30

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.

Question 31

Jurisdiction

Answer 31

Courts authority to hear certain cases.

Question 32

Senatorial Courtesy

Answer 32

Tradition of granting senior senators of the president’s party considerable power over federal judicial appointments in their home states.

Question 33

Appeal

Answer 33

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.

Question 34

Opinion

Answer 34

Written decision of the court that states the judgment of the majority.

Question 35

Judicial Activism

Answer 35

View that the courts should be lawmaking, policymaking bodies.

Question 36

Solicitor General

Answer 36

Justice Department officer who argues the concernment’s cases before the Supreme Court.

Question 37

Executive Orders

Answer 37

Presidents issues executive orders to help officers and agencies of the executive branch manage the operations within the federal government itself.

Question 38

Inherent Powers

Answer 38

Presidential powers implied but not explicitly states in the Constitution.

Question 39

Relationship between the President and Bureaucracy

Answer 39

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.

Question 40

Presidential Roles

Answer 40

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.

Question 41

Cabinet

Answer 41

body of advisers to the president, composed of the heads of the executive departments of the government. Individually and collectively responsible to the legislature.

Question 42

State of the Union Address

Answer 42

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.