Monster Vocab

Question 1

Grassroots Lobbying

Answer 1

A form of lobbying designed to persuade officials that a group’s policy position has strong constituent support.

Question 2

Caucus

Answer 2

A group of members of Congress sharing some interest or characteristic. Many are composed of members from both parties and from both houses.

Question 3

Direct Democracy

Answer 3

Government controlled directly by citizens. Procedures in some states such as the initiative, the referendum, and the recall give voters a direct impact on policy making and the political process by means of the voting booth and can therefore be considered forms of direct democracy.

Question 4

Block Grants

Answer 4

Federal grants given more or less automatically to states or communities to support broad programs in areas such as community development and social services.

Question 5

Oversight

Answer 5

(Congressional) Refers to the review, monitoring, and supervision of federal agencies, programs, activities, and policy implementation.

Question 6

Dealignment

Answer 6

The graduate disengagement of people from the parties, as seen in part by shrinking party identification.

Question 7

Fiscal Policy

Answer 7

Use of the federal budget–taxes, spending, and borrowing–to influence the economy; along with monetary policy, a main tool by which the government can attempt to steer the economy. Fiscal policy is almost entirely determined by Congress and the president.

Question 8

General Election

Answer 8

A regular election for statewide or national offices, as opposed to a primary election.

Question 9

Closed Primary

Answer 9

Elections to select party nominees in which only people who have registered in advance with the party can vote for that party’s candidates, thus encouraging greater party loyalty.

Question 10

Motion for Cloture

Answer 10

With sixty members present and a voting, this can halt a filibuster.

Question 11

Super Pac

Answer 11

Political-action committee that is allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions, individuals and associations.

Question 12

Federalism

Answer 12

A way of organizing a nation so that two or more levels of government have formal authority over the same land and people. It is a system of shared power between units of government.

Question 13

Political Socialization

Answer 13

The process through which individuals in a society acquire political attitudes, views, and knowledge, based on inputs from family, schools, the media, and others.

Question 14

Expressed powers

Answer 14

The notion that the constitution grants to the federal government only those powers specifically named in its text

Question 15

Lame duck period

Answer 15

A lame duck or outgoing politician is an elected official whose successor has already been elected or will be soon

Question 16

Midterm election

Answer 16

Midterm election refers to a type of election where the people can elect their representatives and other subnational officeholders (e.g. governor, members of local council) in the middle of the term of the executive

Question 17

Franking privilege

Answer 17

The ability of members of Congress to mail letters to their constituents free of charge by substituting their facsimile signature (frank) for postage

Question 18

Lobbying

Answer 18

According to Lester Milbrath, a “communication, by someone other than a citizen acting on his or her own behalf, directed to a governmental decision maker with the hope of influencing his or her decision.”

Question 19

Party polarization

Answer 19

Public opinion becoming more divided, less consistency with views

Question 20

Amicus Curiae

Answer 20

Legal briefs submitted by a “friend of the court” for the purpose of influencing a court’s decision by raising additional points of view and presenting information not contained in the briefs of the formal parties

Question 21

Judicial activism

Answer 21

A judicial philosophy in which judges make bold policy decisions, even charting new constitutional ground. Advocates of this approach emphasize that the courts can correct pressing needs, especially those unmet by the majoritarian political process

Question 22

Horse race journalism

Answer 22

Journalism that focuses on who is winning or ahead in the polls rather than on candidates’ policy agenda or debates

Question 23

Case work

Answer 23

Activities of members of Congress that help constituents as individuals, particularly by cutting through bureaucratic red tape to get people what they think they have a right to get

Question 24

Issue network (iron triangle)

Answer 24

Also known as subgovernments, a mutually dependent, mutually advantageous relationship between interest groups interested in a particular policy, government agencies that administer that policy, and the congressional committees and subcommittees that handle it. Iron triangles dominate some areas of domestic policymaking

Question 25

Political party

Answer 25

According to Anthony Downs, a “team of men [and women] seeking to control the governing apparatus by gaining office in a duly constituted election.”

Question 26

Gerrymandering

Answer 26

The drawing of legislative district boundaries to benefit a party, group, or incumbent

Question 27

White House staff

Answer 27

Today, the White House staff includes about 600 people, many of whom the president rarely sees. They provide a wide range of services to the president, including making advance travel preparations and answering letters from citizens

Question 28

Filibuster

Answer 28

A strategy unique to the Senate whereby opponents of a piece of legislation use their right to unlimited debate to prevent the Senate from ever voting on a bill. Sixty members present and voting can halt a filibuster.

Question 29

Executive order

Answer 29

Regulations originating with the executive branch. Executive orders are one method presidents can use to control the bureaucracy.

Question 30

Critical elections

Answer 30

An electoral “earthquake” where new issues emerge, new coalitions replace old ones, and the majority party is often displaced by the minority party. Critical election periods are sometimes marked by a national crisis and may require more than one election to bring about a new party era

Question 31

Pork barrel spending

Answer 31

Federal projects, grants, and contracts available to state and local governments, businesses, colleges, and other institutions in a congressional district.

Question 32

Entitlements

Answer 32

Policies for which Congress has obligated itself to pay X level of benefits to Y number of recipients. Social Security benefits are an example.

Question 33

Original intent

Answer 33

A view that the Constitution should be interpreted according to the original intent of the Framers. Many conservatives support this view.

Question 34

Logrolling

Answer 34

An arrangement in which two or more members of Congress agree in advance to support each other’s bills.

Question 35

Monetary policy

Answer 35

Government manipulation of the supply of money in private hands–along with fiscal policy, an important tool by which the government can attempt to steer the economy

Question 36

Selective incorporation

Answer 36

Selective incorporation is a doctrine describing the ability of the federal government to prevent states from enacting laws that violate some of the basic constitutional rights of American citizens

Question 37

Suffrage

Answer 37

The legal right to vote, extended to African Americans by the Fifteenth Amendment, to women by the Nineteenth Amendment, and to people over the age of 18 by the Twenty-sixth Amendment

Question 38

Fiscal Federalism

Answer 38

The pattern of spending, taxing, and providing grants in the federal system; it is the cornerstone of the national government’s relations with state and local governments.

Question 39

Writ of certiorari

Answer 39

This is Latin for “to make more certain.” This order directs a lower court to send its records on a case to the Supreme Court for review. This happens if one of the parties in a case claims that the lower court made an error. Nearly all cases come to the Supreme Court on appeal from a lower court.

Question 40

Litigation

Answer 40

Pursuing a case or claim through the judicial process.

Question 41

Uncontrollable spending

Answer 41

The portion of the Federal budget that is spent on programs, such as Social Security, that the president and Congress are unwilling to cut.

Question 42

Political efficacy

Answer 42

The belief that one’s political participation really matters–that one’s vote can actually make a difference.

Question 43

Gender gap

Answer 43

The regular pattern in which women are more likely to support Democratic candidates, in part because they tend to be less conservative than men and more likely to support spending on social services and to oppose higher levels of military spending.

Question 44

Single-member districts

Answer 44

A single-member district is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder.

Question 45

Pocket veto

Answer 45

A type of veto occurring when Congress adjourns within 10 days of submitting a bill to the president and the president simply lets the bill die by neither signing nor vetoing it.

Question 46

Redistricting

Answer 46

The redrawing of congressional and other legislative district lines following the census, to accommodate population shifts and keep districts as equal as possible in population.

Question 47

Independent expenditures

Answer 47

Type of communication (newspaper, commercial, ad) that either expresses the support or opposition of a candidate, without explicitly benefitting the candidate or relating to them.

Question 48

Policy agenda

Answer 48

The issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people involved in politics at a point in time

Question 49

Cooperative federalism

Answer 49

A system of government in which powers and policy assignments are shared between states and the national government

Question 50

Stare decisis

Answer 50

A Latin phrase meaning “let the decisions stand”. Most cases reaching appellate courts are settled on this principle.

Question 51

Devolution

Answer 51

Transferring responsibility for policies from the federal government to state and local governments.

Question 52

Demographics

Answer 52

The science of population changes.

Question 53

Political culture

Answer 53

An overall set of values widely shared within a society.

Question 54

Divided government

Answer 54

A government in which one party controls the White House and another party controls one or both houses of Congress.

Question 55

Open primary:

Answer 55

Elections to select party nominees in which voters can decide on Election Day whether they want to participate in the Democratic or Republican contests.

Question 56

PAC:

Answer 56

Political action committees. Political funding vehicles created by the 1974 campaign finance reforms. A corporation, union, or some other interest group can create a PAC and register it with the Federal Election Commission, which will monitor the PAC’s expenditures.

Question 57

Judicial Review

Answer 57

The power of the courts to determine whether acts of Congress and, by implication, the executive are in accord with the U.S. Constitution. Judicial review was established by Marbury v. Madison.

Question 58

Categorical grants

Answer 58

Federal grants that can be used only for specific purposes, or “categories,” of state and local spending. They come with strings attached, such as nondiscrimination provisions.

Question 59

Interest group

Answer 59

An organization of people with shared policy goals entering the policy process at several points to try to achieve those goals. Interest groups pursue their goals in many arenas.

Question 60

Pluralism

Answer 60

A theory of government and politics emphasizing that many groups, each pressing for its preferred policies, compete and counterbalance one another in the political marketplace.

Question 61

Unfunded mandate

Answer 61

An unfunded mandate is a statute or regulation that requires a state or local government to perform certain actions, yet provides no money for fulfilling the requirements.

Question 62

Implied powers

Answer 62

Powers of the federal government that go beyond those enumerated in the Constitution, in accordance with the statement in the Constitution that Congress has the power to “make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution” the powers enumerated in Article I

Question 63

Incumbent

Answer 63

Those already holding office. In congressional elections, incumbents usually win.

Question 64

Realignment

Answer 64

The displacement of the majority party by the minority party, usually during a critical election period.

Question 65

Republic

Answer 65

A form of government in which the people select representatives to govern them and make laws.

Question 66

Bipartisan

Answer 66

Two political parties working together to reach a common goal.

Question 67

Discharge petition

Answer 67

A device by which any member of the House, after a committee has had a bill for thirty days, may ask to have it brought to the floor. If a majority of the members agree, the bill will leave the committee. This was designed to prevent a committee from killing a bill by holding it for too long