US Government Chapter 1
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21 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 government | institutions that make authoritative public policies for society as a whole |
| functions/duties of government | maintain national defense provide public goods use police power to maintain order furnish public services socialize the young into political culture collect taxes to pay for the services it provides |
| politics | determines whom citizens select as governmental leaders and what policies these leaders pursue |
| political participation | citizens activities in politics |
| policymaking system | set of institutions and activities that link together government, politics, and public policy |
| linkage institutions | institutions that connect the preferences of the citizens to the governments policy agenda. examples include parties, elections, interest groups, and the media |
| policy agenda | The informal list of issues that government officials consider most important for action. the issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actually involved in politics at any given point in time |
| policymaking institutions | institutions that create public policies according to a policy agenda examples include the presidency, Congress, and the courts |
| public policy | a choice that government makes in response to some issue on its policy agenda. this choice can be made through action or inaction. |
| democracy | a means of selecting policymakers and of organizing government so that policy represents and responds to the public's preferences a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them |
| traditional democratic theory | a theory that rests on several principles including: equality in voting, effective participation, enlightened understanding, citizen control of the agenda, and inclusion (the government must include all those subject to its laws). |
| majority rule | Governance according to the expressed preferences of the majority. |
| minority rights | a principle of traditional democratic theory that guarantees rights to those who do not belong to majorities and allows that they might join majorities through persuasion and reasoned argument |
| representation | the relationship between government officials and many followers. the closer the correspondence between representatives and their electoral majority, the closer the approximation to democracy a body of legislators that serve on behalf of some constituency |
| pluralist theory | a theory of American government that contends that many centers of influence compete for power and control over public policy, with no one group or set of groups dominating and that bargaining and compromise are essential ingredients in our democracy. A theory of government and politics emphasizing that politics is mainly a competition among groups, each one pressing for its own preferred policies. |
| elite and class theory | A theory of government that contends that society is divided along class lines and that an upper-class elite rules. Wealth is seen as the basis of power, and a few powerful citizens are the policymakers. Suggests that public interest is rarely translated into public policy. |
| hyperpluralism | "pluralism gone sour" A theory of government that contends that the existence of too many influential groups actually makes it impossible for government to act. Suggests that public interest is rarely translated into public policy. |
| political action committee | these are formed by special interest groups to raise and spend money in support of political aims. channel most of their funds directly into candidates likely to support their interests. |
| policy gridlock | a condition that occurs when no coalition is strong enough to form a majority and establish policy. the result is that nothing may get done. |
| gross domestic product | the dollar amount of all final goods and services produced within a country's borders in a year. |
| individualism | a belief in the importance of the individual and the virtue of self-reliance and personal independence the doctrine that government should not interfere in commercial affairs developed from the desires of immigrants to escape government oppression and from the existence of a western frontier with little government helps account for the relatively small scope of government in the United States |
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