Political science
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Created by:
moniquechagolla on October 1, 2011
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77 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Political Efficacy | the ability to influence government and politics |
| Oligarchy | government by a small group that is not accountable to the citizens |
| Totalitarian | governments recognize no limits on their authority |
| Authoritarian | governments recognize no limits on their authority, but they are constrained by other institutions such as business or a church |
| Constitutional | governments are limited both in what they can do(substantive limits) and the methods they can employ (procedural limits) |
| Public Goods | are things that government provides to promote equality such as public education, police protection , clean air, and flood control systems; cannot be restricted to certain groups in society; government cannot discriminate when providing them |
| John Locke | believe that people were rational |
| John Stuart Mill | helped shape these evolving ideasabout liberty and political rights |
| Initiatives | a procedure by which a specified number of voters may propose a statute, constitutional amendment or ordinance and compel a popular vote on its adoption b. the general right or ability to present a new bill or measure as in legislature |
| Referenda | the practice of referring a measure proposed or passed by a legislature to the vote of the electorate for approval or rejection |
| Pluralism | the theory that all interests are andshould be free to compete for influence in the government; the outcome of this competitions is compromise and moderation |
| Majority rule , minority rights | the democratic principle that a government follows the preferences of the majority of voters but in protects the interest of the minority |
| Interest groups | a group of people drawn or acting together in support of a common interest or to voice a common concern; political interest groups seek to influence legislation |
| Political culture | shared values beliefs and attitudes that form and hold the united states and its people together date back to the time of the founding union |
| American creed | 1)government power should be limited 2) government power should be widely dispersed a) seperation of powers and checks and balances b) federalism 3) 4)we place emphasis on the individual |
| Liberty | freedom from governmental control a) personal freedom b) economic freedom |
| Equality | equality of access to public institutions,equality of opportunity in private life; how we rectify past official discrimination ,equality of outcomes |
| Equality or opportunity vs. equality of outcomes | is a controversial political concept and not always clearly defined term describing a state in which people have approximately the same material wealth; the notion that each person should be given a fair chance to go as far as his or her talents will allow |
| Laissez-faire capitalism | an ecomnomic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately owned and operated for profit with minimal or no government interference |
| Declaration of Independence | defined three inalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; philisophical document stating some rights inalienable |
| Bill of Rights | the first ten amendments to the U.S Constitution, ratified in 1791; they ensure certain and liberties to the people |
| Articles of confederation | created a confederation of thirteen states |
| Reason why they were weak | prevented the colonies from creating treaties as unified whole; lack of an army or navy provided difficulty in protecting citizens; also meant states were able to target the wealthy who formed a small minority |
| Shays Rebellion | goal was to prevent the court from repossessing debt-ridden lands held by poor farmers in western massachusetts |
| Unitary system | a centralized government system in which lower levels of government have little power independent of the national government |
| Confederation system | a system of government in which states retain sovereign authority except for the powers expressly delegated to the national government |
| Federal system | a system of government in which national government shares power with lower levels of government such as states |
| James Madison | mutability in the public councils arising from rapid succession of new members |
| Federalist papers | a series of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay supporting the ratification of the constitution |
| Compromises that were negotiated at the constitutional convention | interest: the financial interest of the wealthy were better protected under the new constitution principles: the new constitution leading political theories of the time regarding liberty, equality, and democracy |
| New Jerssey Plan vs. Virginia Plan | states would have delegates proportionate to population or wealth; each state would have equal representation |
| Conneticut Compromise | equal representation in the senate, proportional in the house of representatives |
| Bicameralism | having a legislative assembly composed of two chambers or houses; opposite of unicameral |
| Apportionment | the process, occuring after every decennial census, that allocates congressional seats among the fifty states |
| Three-fifths Compromise | the agreement reached at the constitutional convention of 1787 that stipulated that for purposes of the apportionment of congressional seats every slave would be counted as three fifths of a person |
| Electoral College | the presidential electors from each state who meet after the popular election to cast ballots for president and vice president |
| Seperation of Powers | the division of governmental power among several institutions that must cooperate in decision making |
| Checks and Balances | mechanisms through which each branch of government is able to participate in and influence the activities of the other branches; ex. presidential vetos, power over congressional legisltation |
| Judicial Review | the power of the courts to review and, if necessary, declare actions of the legislative and executive branches invalid or unconstitutional; supreme court asserted this power in Marbury vs. Madison |
| "Power of the Purse" | the influence that legislatures have over public policy because of their power to vote money for public purpose |
| Commerce Clause | Article 1 section 8, of the constitution which delegates to congress the power "to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states with the indian tribe" clause interrupted by supreme court in favor of national power over the economy |
| Elastic Clause | Article 1 section 8, of the constitution, (aka as the necessary and proper clause) which enumerates the powers of congress and provides congress with the authority to make all laws "necessary and proper" to carry them out |
| Tenth Amendment | limits on national government; the powers not delegated to the united states by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively or to the people |
| Supremacy Clause | Article 6 of the constitution, which states that laws passed by the national government and all treaties are the supreme law of the land and superior to all laws adopted by any state or any subdivison |
| Full Faith and Credit Clause | provision from article 4 section 1, of the constitution, requiring that the states normally honor the public acts and judicial decisions that take place in another state |
| Article 1, Section 9 | the privilege of the wait of Habeus Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when it cases of rebellion on invasion the public safety may require it |
| Article 4, Fugitive Slave Clause | an effort to provide a means to enforce the constitutional clause concerning escaped slaves |
| Staggered Terms | every 2 years theres a congressional election 1/3 of the senate is up for election every 2 years |
| Mid-term Election | is a vote that does not coincide with a presidential election; occur every 2 years |
| Dual Federalism vs. Cooperative Federalism | had seperate levels of government concerned with distinct policy areas, like layer cakes; has the federal government, states, localities working together like a marble cake |
| Understand how we evolved from dual to cooperative | ... |
| McCulloch vs. Maryland | case decided in 1819 by the U. S. Supreme Court dealing specifically with the constitutionalityof a congress chartered corporation and more generally with the dispersion of power between state and federal governments |
| Gibbons vs. Ogden | reinforced this nationalistic interpretation of the constitution; was about whether the state of new york could grant a monopoly to robert fultons steamboat company to operate exclusively between new york and new jersey |
| The New Deal | signaled the rise of a more active national government |
| The Great Society | The Great Society rests on abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice, to which we are totally committed in our time. But that is just the beginning. |
| President Nixon's "New Federalism" (futher articulated by Reagan) | block grants, general revenue sharing, smaller federal spending and interference |
| Devolution Revolution | return of authority back to the states |
| States vs. Lopez | The Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 (GFSZA) made it unlawful for any individual knowingly to possess a firearm at a place that he knew or had reasonable cause to believe was a school zone |
| Republican Controlled Congress | ... |
| Types of Grants | categorical grants, project grants, formula grants |
| Article 1 section 8 expressed powers | grant the legislative branch a huge amount of authority over American national policy, both foreign and domestic |
| Civil Liberties vs. Civil Rights | rights to personal liberty established by the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. constitution and certain Congressional acts, especially as applied to an individual or a minority group; the freedom of a citizen to exercise customary rights, as of speech or assembly, without unwarranted or arbitrary interference by the government |
| 14th Amendment Freedom of Speech | secures the free exercise of religion, section one of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits discrimination, including on the basis of religion, by securing "the equal protection of the laws" for every person |
| Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause | the first amendment clause that says that "congress shall make no law respecting an establishmentof religion" this means that a wall of separation exsists between state and church; the first amendment clause that protects a citizens right to believe and practice whatever religion he or she chooses |
| Lemon vs. Kurtzman | a rule articulated that government action toward religion is permissible if it is secular in purpose, neither promotes nor inhibits the practice of religion and does not lead to excessive entanglement with religion |
| Freedom of Speech | The word speech in the First Amendment has been extended to a generous sense of "expression" verbal, non-verbal, visual, symbolic. The artistic work supported by the NEA includes a variety of types of expression enjoying this broad protection; Various exceptions to free speech have been recognized in American law, including obscenity, defamation, breach of the peace, incitement to crime, "fighting words," and sedition. |
| Miller vs. California | was an important United States Supreme Court case involving what constitutes unprotected obscenity for First Amendment purposes. The decision reiterated that obscenity was not protected by the First Amendment and established the Miller test for determining what constituted obscene material. |
| Clear and Present Danger | test to determine whether speech is protected or unprotected based on its capacity to present a clear and present danger to society |
| Selective incorporation | the process by which different protections in the bill of rigths were incorporated into the fourteenth amedment thus guaranteeing citizens protection from state as well as national governments |
| Miranda vs Arizona | the requirement articulated by the supreme court that persons under arrest must be informed prior to police interrogation of theirs rights to remain silent and to have the benefit of legal counsel |
| Gideon vs. Wainwright | is the perfect cae study because it involved a disreputable person who seemed patently guilty of the crime of which he was convicted |
| Exclusionary Rule and the Good Faith Exception | the ability of courts to exclude evidence obtained in violation of the fourth amendment; is an exception to the exclusionary rule provides that illegally gathered evidence can be admitted at trial if police officers have reason to believe their actions are legal |
| 9th Amendment | It provides that the naming of certain rights in the Constitution does not take away from the people rights that are not named |
| Right to Privacy | The right to privacy is fundamental—almost intuitive—to most Americans, and over the past century, the courts have defined an extensive body of protections for it |
| Griswold vs. Conneticut | was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Constitution protected a right to privacy. The case involved a Connecticut law that prohibited the use of contraceptives. By a vote of 7-2, the Supreme Court invalidated the law on the grounds that it violated the "right to marital privacy". |
| Roe vs. Wade and privacy | was a landmark controversial decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion; The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that right must be balanced against the state's two legitimate interests for regulating abortions: protecting prenatal life and protecting the mother's health |
| Similarities between the 4th 5th and 9th Amendments | ... |
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