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AP USGov. - U1S1
Unit 1, section 1
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Authority | The power to enforce laws, command, or judge, usually because of ascribed legitimacy. For most societies, government is the ultimate authority. |
| consent of the governed | The idea that governments and laws derive their legitimacy from the approval and acceptance (consent) of the people (the governed). |
| data | Factual information about political behavior and political decision making, organized to provide a basis for testing hypotheses. |
| democracy | A system of government placing the ultimate political authority in the people. Derived from the Greek words demos (the people) and kratos (authority). |
| direct democracy | A system of government in which the people, rather than elected representatives, directly make political decisions. This system is probably possible only in small political communities. |
| divided government | A system in which presidential administrations of one party are opposed by Congressional majorities of the opposing party. The term is used to describe the persistence of such election results over time, with either party controlling the presidency. |
| elite theory | A political view that society is ruled by a small number of people who exercise power in their self-interest. |
| government | The formal institutions and procedures through which a land and its people are ruled. |
| democracy | Governments in which decisions are made by majority. |
| oligarchy | Governments in which decisions are made by a small minority. |
| autocracy | Governments in which decisions are made by a single individual. |
| constitutional (liberal) government | A system of rule in which formal and effective limits are placed upon the powers of the government. |
| authoritarian government | A system of rule in which the government recognizes no formal limits but may nevertheless be restrained by the power of other social institutions. |
| totalitarian government | A system of rule in which the government has no formal limits and seeks to absorb or eliminate other institutions that might challenge it. |
| hyperpluralism | Extremely pluralistic government that's very decentralized. Its authority is so fragmented and pressures from competing interest groups are so diverse that it gets very little done. |
| institution | An established organization that performs a role within society, especially one related to education, public service, or culture. Also, customs, relations, and behaviors that play a significant role in a community. |
| legislature | eA government body responsible for making laws. In the U.S.A., the legislature includes both houses of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The legislative branch is one of three branches of the U.S. government. |
| legitimacy | Acceptance of a government's right to rule by its citizens. It rises from belief that the government makes decisions within a proper role. People regard legit government as valuable, its actions as valid and binding. |
| limited government | A gov. in which the people grant the gov. the right to rule. The gov's powers are clearly limited in some publicly understood form. Limited gov's have checks and balances to prevent constituents from putting selfish interests ahead of public interest. |
| majority rule | A principle of democracy asserting that a simple majority, defined as 50 percent plus one in most cases, should select public officials and determine the policies and actions of their government |
| natural rights | The doctrine that humans have certain inalienable rights in a "state of nature" and that government's role is to protect these rights. American political culture claims that all people hold these rights and a government can't infringe on them. |
| Locke's natural rights | Life, Liberty, Property |
| pluralist theory | A theory holding that policy is the product of group conflict and that the public interest tends to emerge out of the welter of competing individual and group claims as these groups bargain and compromise to make decisions. |
| political science | The formal, scientific study of the processes, principles, and structure of government and political institutions. Political science differs from descriptive studies of politics in that it relies on data to test theoretically derived hypotheses. |
| politics | The method in which decisions are made, either by or for a society, to allocate resources, distribute benefits, and impose costs. |
| power | Ability to influence people to benefit excerciser of power. People can exert power through many means friendship, persuasion, propaganda, threats, and more. Power can be divided into political, social, economic, and military categories. |
| power elite | Theoretical group of corporate, political, and military leaders who together form an interlocking, highly centralized, decision-making structure. |
| representative democracy | Form of government in which citizens vote for officials to represent them. |
| republic | A government in which ultimate sovereignty belongs to the people, and the people elect officials to represent them in government decisions. |
| theory | A supposition about how or why events occur. Political scientists test theories of political behavior and relationships through observation and data analysis. |
| tyranny | A government in which a single ruler is vested with absolute power; absolute power, especially when exercised unjustly or cruelly. |
| universal suffrage | The right of all people to vote. |
| conscription | Government requires certain involuntary services of its citizens, such as military service. |
| coercion | Americans can be coerced legally to serve on juries, appear before tribunals when summoned, file official reports (ex. taxes), attend school, send children to school |
| free riding | Enjoying the actions of some good or action whilst letting others bear the cost. |
| public good | A good that may be enjoyed by anyone if provided and may not be denied to anyone once it has, ex. National Defense |
| rationality principle | All political behaviour has a purpose. |
| instrumental behavior | done with purpose, sometimes with forethought and even calculation |
| informal bargaining | bargaining based upon preferences of bargainers |
| formal bargaining | bargaining interactions goverened by specific rules |
| Collective action principle | all politics is collective action |
| collective action | The pooling of resources and the coordinated effort and activity by a group of people to achieve common goals. |
| by-product theory | The idea that groups provide members with private benefits to attract membership. The possibility of group collective action arises as a consequence. |
| selective benefits | Benefits that are distributed only to those that contribute to the group enterprise. |
| Institution Principle | Institutions routinely solve collective-action problems. |
| agenda power | The control over what a group will consider for discussion |
| veto power | The ability to defeat something even if it has made it onto the agenda of an institution. |
| delegation | The transmission of authority to some other official or body for the latter's use. |
| principal-agent relationship | The relationship between a principal and their agent. Self-interest can cause interests to no be well aligned. |
| transaction costs | the cost of clarifying each aspect of a PA relationship and monitoring it to make sure arrangements are complied with. |
| Policy principle | political outcoes are the products of Indiv. preferences and Institutional procedures |
| history principle | history matters |
| path dependency | The idea that certain possibilities are made more or less likely because of the historical path taken. |
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