LECTURE GUIDES GOVERNMENT FINAL

Cabinet-Level Departmentsgovernmental group composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States who are generally the heads of the federal executiveIndependent Regulatory Commissionsfederal agencies created by an act of Congress that are independent of the executive departmentsFederal Registerofficial journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public noticesAdministrative Adjudicationprocess of interpreting the law for potential violations and deciding the appropriate penalties when violations are foundCitizen Advisory Counciladvisory panel in each police district that provides the district commander with information and recommendations from the community on the public's safety problems and police service needs.Sunshine Lawsa law requiring certain proceedings of government agencies to be open or available to the public.Freedom of Information Actfederal freedom of information law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States governmentPrivacy Act of 1974establishes a code of fair information practices that governs the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of information about individuals that is maintained in systems of records by federal agenciesSubstantive Lawcontent defines what we can and can not doProcedural Lawhow the law is to be used, applied, or enforcedCriminal Lawprohibit specific behaviors that the government says are not conducive to public peaceCivil Lawregulate interactions between individualsConstitutional Lawrefers to judicial decisions determining what the constitution means and how to interpret itStatutory Lawlaws made by legislaturesChief Justice John Marshallheaded the court from 1801-1835, he brought much needed respect and prestige to the courtJudicial Reviewreview from the supreme court of the constitutional validity of a legislative actJudicial Activismphilosophy of judicial decision making which holds that courts should be lawmaking, policymaking bodies and judges should use their power broadly to further justiceJudicial Restraintphilosophy of judicial decision making which holds that the courts should reject any law making functions and should allow the decisions of other branches of government to stand, even when they offend a judge's own principalsOpinona statement, or set of statements, in which the majority explains the rationale for its decision, and the minority articulates why it dissentsMajority Opinionissued by a majority of the justices in agreement on the legal basis of a decisionConcurring Opinionseparate statement written by a justices who votes with the majority but disagrees with all or part of its reasoningDissenting Opinionstatement issued by a justice on the losing side explaining the reasons for disagreeing with the majority positionPolitical Partyorganization that seeks, under a common ideology, to promote its ideas and policies by gaining control of government through the nomination and election of candidates for officeDuverger's LawWe all have a plurality or winner takes all systemFirst Party SystemDivisions and causes of the first parties -strict and loose constitution -french revolution; foreign policy -whisky rebellion Federalists and RepublicansEra of good feelingsThe second party system -collapse of the federalists -John Adams VS Andrew Jackson Democrats and WhigsWhigssought the supremacy of Parliament and was eventually succeeded in the 19th century by the Liberal PartyThird party systemThe "Golden Age" -evenly divided -higher voter turnout -similar party platforms -divisions between partiesFourth Party SystemThe reaction to the agrarian takeover of the democrats left the republicans a clear national majority for the next generationFifth Party SystemModern Politics -much of the 20th century -a period of dealignmentDealignmentA trend among voters to identify themselves as independents rather than as members of a major partyPublic OpinionThe collective attitudes and beliefs of individuals on one or more issuesPolitical Socializationpeople form their ideas about politics and acquire political valuesSplit ticketvoting for one partys presidential candidate and for the other partys congressional candidatetop-two primaryform of primary in which candidates are listed on the same ballot without regard to the partymedian voter theoremholds that, if there are two parties, the parties themselves can maximize their vote only if they position themselvesBull Moose Partythe most electorally successful 20th century factional partyplurality systemelection system in which the candidate with the most votes in a district wins the officeselective perceptionthe process whereby people selectively choose from incoming information those aspects that support what they already believeprobability samplinga sample in which each individual in the population has a known probability of being chosensampling errorthe degree to which the sample estimates might differ from what the population actually thinkspolitical socializationprocess by which individuals learn or acquire their political orientationpopulistterm used to describe an individual who is an economic liberal and a cultural conservativefocus groupssmall groups of voters brought together to discuss at length their thoughts on the candidates and issuessocial capitalexplained by robert putnam as the sum of face to face civic interactions among citizens in a society26th amendmentchange to the U.S constitution which lowered the voting age to 18 yearssuper PACorganizations that can raise and spend money freely on campaigns as long as they do not coordinate their efforts with those of the candidate they supportpackagingcampaign strategy that highlights those aspects of a candidate policy positions and personality that are thought to be most attractive to votersincumbentscandidates that have a distinct advantage in fundraising allowing them to outspend their challenges by more than two to onealienationa feeling of powerlessness rooted in the belief that the government pays no attention to their interestsmotor voter turnout1993 law which requires states to allow people to register when they apply for a drivers licensecivic dutya belief that ought to participate in public affairsretrospective votingmethod in which voters respond to the past performance of the party that currently holds powerprospective votingmethod in which voters are swayed by what candidates promise to do if electedsocial movementsa way for citizens disenchanted with governments policy to actively express their oppositionfederal court myththe false understanding in which holds that the federal judiciary is the most significant part of the judicial systemCourt of appeals for the federal circuitappeals court that has jurisdiction over appeals involving patents and international trademarbury V madisonsupreme court case which established the principle of judicial reviewmerit planalso called the missouri planjudicial conferencemeeting followed by the oral session which is attended only by the nine justiceswrit of certioraria request to the lower court to submit ti the supreme court a record of the caseprecedentterm that refers to the previous court rulings on similar casessenatorial courtesya tradition that dates back to the 1840's and holds that a senator from the state in which a vacancy has arisenupper court myththe false view that lower courts dutifully follow the rulings handed down by the courts above themappellate jurisdictionthe authority to review cases that have already been hearddepartment of educationthe smallest cabinet department with 4,500 employeesmerit systemsystem by which civil servants are hiredneutral competencelegislation that prohibits strikes by federal employees and permits the firing of striking workerspolicy implementationthe main task of administrative agenciessunset provisionprovisions that est. specific dates when all or part of a law will expire unless extended by congesssenior executive servicecompromised of 7000 top level career civil servants who qualify to receive a higher salary than their peerswhistleblowingact of reporting instances of official mismanagementhierarchial authoritychain of command whereby the officials and unit at the top of a bureaucracyformalized rulesest. procedures and regulations by which a bureaucracy conducts its operationsclientele groupsgroups formed around a particular interest that benefit directly from an agencys programsinvisible primaryearly attempts to raise money, hire campaign consults, generate media attention, and get commitmentsparty caucuslocal gatherings of party members to choose delegates to the national conventionpresidential primaryelection by which voters choose delegates to the national convention who are committed to voting for a candidateelectoral collegerepresents each state who cast the final ballots that actually elect a presidentfaithfuless electorsvote their own preference instead of who they are supposed tovalence issuespolicy making on which most votes and candidate share the same positionpositions issuesissues on which the parties differ in their perspectives ans propose solutionswedge issuesdivisive political issue, especially one that is raised by a candidate for public office in hopes of attracting or alienating an opponent's supporters.hard moneycampaign funds donates directly to candidates and amounts are limited by federal election lawsmccutcheon v feccourt stuck down limit on total sum of money spent but uphold the amount given to individuals campaignssoft moneyunregulated campaign contributions that do not directly support individual candidatescitzens unites v fecsupreme court case ruled that federal restricting campaign spending by corporations and unions violate their right of free expressionredistributive policyshift resources from middle or high tax payers to lower poorer familiesdistributive policypolicies funded by the whole tax payer base that address the needs of particular groupsregulartory policydesigned to restrict the behaviors of certain groups of individualssocial policydistributive and redistributive policies that aim to approve the life of citizenssocial welfare policiesPulse is that provide benefits, cash or in-kind, to individuals, based on either entitlement or means testingsocial insurance programsinclude Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance benefits, Medicare benefits, and unemployment benefits.subsidiesfinancial incentives given by the government to corporations or individuals in order to encourage activity and behaviorcapitalismprivate ownership of capital; competition drives economic activity; relies on marketssocialismcollective ownershp of the means of production; emphasizes the distribution of profit for the benefit of societymarketinteractions between the forces of supply and demandcapitalmeans of productioneconomic policyall the different strategies that government officials employ to solve economic problemsfiscal policyeconomic policy in which the government regulates the economy through its powers to tax and spendmonetary policyeconomic policy in which the government regulates the economy by manipulating interest rates to control the money supplykeynasian economicsjohn maynard kyenes; government intervention can stabalize the economy through fiscal policu

LECTURE GUIDES GOVERNMENT FINAL

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