click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
AP Gov Vocab 2
Key Terms and Definitions
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Amicus curiae brief | "friend of the court" brief filed by an interest group to influence a Supreme Court decision |
Dealignment argument | contention that parties are less meaningful to voters, who have abandoned the parties in greater numbers to become independents. |
Divided Government | government in which one party controls the presidency while another party controls the Congress. |
Elite Theory | theory that upper class elites exercise great influence over public policy. |
Factions | term used by Madison to denote what we now call interest groups. |
Fairness Doctrine | FCC rule (no longer in effect) that required broadcasters to air a variety of viewpoints on their programs. |
Feeding Frenzy | the media "attack" when they sense wrongdoing or scandal in government, and devote great amounts of coverage to such stories. |
Free Rider problem | the problem faced by interest groups when citizens can reap the benefit of interest group action without actually joining, participating in, or contributing money to such groups |
Horse race coverage | the tendency of the media to report on an election campaign as if it were a horse race, i.e., who is ahead, who is behind, who is gaining group |
iron triangle | an informal association of federal agency, congressional committee, and interest group that is said to have heavy influence over policy making. |
Litigation | the act or process of carrying out a lawsuit. |
Lobbying | attempting to influence policy makers. |
Nonpartisan elections | elections in which candidates are not identified by party membership in the ballot. |
office column ballot | ballot in which candidates are arranged by office rather than party. Encourages split ticket voting. |
Party column ballot | ballot in which candidates are arranged by party rather than office. Encourages straight ticket voting. |
Photo opportunity | a staged campaign event that attracts favorable visual media coverage, e.g., a candidate reading to a group of school children. |
Pluralism | theory that policy making is the result of interest group competition |
Political Action Committee (PAC) | an interest group that raises funds and donates to election campaigns. |
Patronage | appointing loyal party members to government positions |
Revolving door | the cycle in which a person alternately works for the public sector and private sector, thus blurring the individual's sense of loyalty |
Selective exposure | the practice of selectively choosing media sources which are in harmony with one's own beliefs |
Selective perception | the practice of perceiving media messages the way one wants to. |
Sound bite | a short, pithy comment that is likely to attract media attention (ex. Ronald Reagan) |
Spin control | placing a certain slant on a story to deflect negative public attention against a candidate or office holder |
Unit Rule | an abandoned rule of the Democratic party national convention in which the candidate with the most delegates from a state won all of that state's convention votes |