[TERMS] Introducing Government in America

Question 0

collective goods

Answer 0

goods and services that by their nature cannot be denied to anyone (i.e. clean air/water)

Question 1

government

Answer 1

institutions through which public policies are made for a society

Question 2

politics

Answer 2

• process determining the leaders we select and the policies they pursue
• produce authoritative decisions about public issues

Question 3

political participation

Answer 3

activities by which citizens attempt to influence the selection of political leaders and the policies they pursue
(i.e. voting, contacting public officials, protest, civil disobedience)

Question 4

single-issue groups

Answer 4

have a narrow interest, tend to dislike compromise, and often draw membership from people new to politics

Question 5

policymaking system

Answer 5

• constantly evolving cycle in which government responds to priorities of the people
• people’s interests/concerns shape political issues, which shape public policy, which impacts people, generating more interests/concerns

Question 6

linkage institutions

Answer 6

political channels through which people’s concerns become political issues on the policy agenda
(i.e. elections, political parties, interest groups, the media)

Question 7

policy agenda

Answer 7

issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and others who are actively involved in politics at a given time

Question 8

political issue

Answer 8

arises as a result of disagreement over how to fix a problem

Question 9

policymaking institutions

Answer 9

the branches of government charged w/ taking action on political issues
* U.S. Constitution established 3: congress, presidency, courts; today power of the bureaucracy is so great that most political scientists consider it a fourth

Question 10

policy

Answer 10

course of action taken w/ regard to some problem

Question 11

public policy

Answer 11

a choice that government makes in response to a political issue

Question 12

impact

Answer 12

analyzed to see how well a policy has met its goal and at what cost

Question 13

policy impacts

Answer 13

effects a policy has on people/society

* (i.e. congressional statute, presidential action, court decision, budgetary choices, regulation)

Question 14

democracy

Answer 14

system of selecting policymakers and of organizing government so that policy represents and responds to the public’s preferences

Question 15

majority rule

Answer 15

respecting the majority’s desire in choosing policy alternatives
* fundamental principle of traditional democratic theory

Question 16

minority rule

Answer 16

principle that guarantees rights to those who do not belong to majorities
* principle of traditional democratic theory

Question 17

representation

Answer 17

leader/follower relationship is that people’s desires reflected through choice of elected officials
* basic principle of traditional democratic theory

Question 18

pluralism

Answer 18

theory that many groups, each pressing for its preferred policies, compete and counterbalance one another in the political marketplace (no single group dominates)
* groups with shared interests influence public policy by pressing their concerns through organized efforts

Question 19

elitism

Answer 19

theory that upper-class elite holds most of the power and therefore runs the government.

Question 20

hyperpluralism

Answer 20

theory of American democracy that influence of so many different groups cripples the ability of the government to make policy

Question 21

policy gridlock

Answer 21

when interests conflict and no coalition is strong enough to form a majority and establish policy, so nothing gets done

Question 22

political culture

Answer 22

overall set of values widely shared within a society

Question 23

gross domestic product

Answer 23

sum total of the value of all the goods and services produced in a year in a nation