AP go/po basics
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Created by:
sexysenior20 on December 3, 2010
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63 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 judicial branch | interprets laws |
| legislative branch | to make laws |
| executive branch | to enforce laws |
| federalism | sharing of power between the central government and state government |
| 3 levels of government | federal, state, local |
| incumbent | person currently in office |
| litigant | person involved in a lawsuit |
| plantiff | person who brings a case against another in a court of law |
| defendant | individual, company, or institution sued or accused in a court of law |
| Central Intelligence Agency | a US federal agency responsible for coordinating government intelligence activities |
| confederation | an organization that consists of a number of parties or groups united in an alliance or league |
| GOP | means "Grand Old Party"; represents the Republican Party |
| lame duck | elected official who is approaching the end of his or her tenure |
| national transportation safety board | is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation;nvestigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine accidents, pipeline incidents and railroad accidents;is also in charge of investigating cases of hazardous waste releases that occur during transportation |
| protectionism | Policy of erecting trade barriers to protect domestic industry |
| inflation | a rise in the general price lever (and decrease in dollar value) owing to an increase in the volume of money and credit in relation to available goods |
| public policy | specific course of action taken by government to achieve a pubic goal |
| policy agenda | informal list of issues that Congress and the president consider most important for action |
| fiscal policy | government policy that attempts to manage the economy by controlling taxing and spending |
| monetary policy | government policy that attempts to manage the economy by controlling the money supply and thus interest rates |
| national debt | total amount of money the federal government has borrowed to finance deficit spending over the years |
| deregulation | policy promoting cutbacks in the amount of federal regulation in specific areas of economic activity |
| federal reserve system | The system created by Congress in 1913 to establish banking practices and regulate currency in circulation and the amount of credit available. It consists of 12 regional banks supervised by the Board of Governors. |
| regulation | efforts by government to alter the free operation of the market to achieve social goals such as protecting workers and the environment |
| trade deficit | an imbalance in international trade in which the value of imports exceeds the value of exports |
| deficit | the difference between the revenues raised annually form sources of income other than borrowing and the expenditures of government, including paying the interest on past borrowing |
| Roe vs. Wade | legalized abortion in 1973 |
| equal pay for equal work | measure by which men and women are paid equally given similar job descriptions and similar performance evaluations |
| spin | is an attempt by a candidate of his or her staff to frame a message a certain way, generally ignoring the potential negatives to a particular policy |
| CEO | top officer of a corporation |
| judicial review | means that federal courts have the power to review government acts to nullify, or cancel, any that are unconstitutional, or violate a provision of the Constitution |
| unitary government | single, central agency that holds all governmental powers |
| federal government | central government and several local governments that share governmental powers in a division of powers |
| presidential government | divides power between the branches |
| parliamentary government | focuses power on the legislative branch |
| plurality | largest number of votes to be received by any candidate or referendum |
| majority | subset of a group consisting of more than half of the group |
| separation of powers | system of dividing the powers and duties of a government into different branches |
| democracy | political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them |
| direct democracy | form of democracy and a theory of civics in which sovereignty is lodged in the assembly of all citizens who choose to participate |
| checks and balances | system for multiple parties wherein each has some control over the actions of each of the others |
| majority rule | doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole group |
| popular consent | where the people give permission to be ruled in order for them to be protected |
| theocracy | form of government in which a god or deity is recognized as the state's supreme civil ruler |
| liberalism | political orientation that favors social progress by reform and by changing laws rather than by revolution |
| political ideology | set of beliefs about politics |
| conservatism | a political or theological orientation advocating the preservation of the best in society and opposing radical changes |
| representative democracy | a form of government founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, as opposed to either autocracy or direct democracy |
| constitutional democracy | a form of government in which the sovereign power of the people is spelled out in a governing constitution |
| republican party | this party's symbol is the elephant |
| democratic party | this party's symbol is the donkey |
| glass ceiling | reference to the perceived limits that a woman can reach compared her to male counterparts |
| conservative philosophy | is apt to oppose change, to be more religious, to prefer smaller government and the Republican Party; believes that people themselves, not government, should solve their own problems |
| bias | slant on the presentation/interpretation of the laws |
| environmental protection agency | independent federal agency established to coordinate programs aimed at reducing pollution and protecting the environment |
| federal deposit insurance corporation | government corporation that insures the deposits of all national and state banks that are members of the federal reserve system |
| federal election commission | independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the united states congress to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the united states |
| national aeronautics and space administration | american governmental agency, founded in 1958 for civil aeronautical research and space exploration |
| national labor relations board | independent agency of the united states government charged with mediating disputes between management and labor unions |
| nuclear regulatory commission | independent federal agency created in 1974 to license and regulate nuclear power plants |
| securities and exchange commission | independent agency which holds primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry, the nations's stock and options exchanges, and other electronic securities markets |
| social security administration | independent agency which implements social programs, including federal old-age pensions and disability insurance |
| tennessee valley authority | federally owned corporation in the united states created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley |
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