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CST
Civics
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Political Science | focuses on studying different governments and how they compare to each other, the study of elections, governmental administration at various levels, development and action of political parties and how values such as freedom, power justice and equality are |
| Political Theory | is put into action how nations and governments interact with each other and a general study of governmental structure and function |
| Political Science Elements | history, sociology, anthropology, economics |
| History | how historical events shaped political thought and process |
| Sociology | the effects of various stages of social development on the growth and development of government and politics |
| Anthropology | the effects of government process on the culture of an individual group and its relationships with other groups |
| Economics | how government policies regulate distribution of products and how they can control and/or influence the economy in general |
| Four Major Purposes of any Given Government | ensuring national security, providing public services, ensuring social order, making decisions regarding the economy |
| Ensuring National Security | the government protects against international, domestic, and terrorist attacks and also ensures ongoing security through negotiating and establishing relationships with other governments |
| Providing Public Service | the government should “promote the general welfare” as stated in the Preamble to the US Constitution, by providing whatever is needed to its citizens |
| Ensuring Social Order | the government supplies means of settling conflicts among citizens as well as making laws to govern the nation, state or city |
| Making Decisions Regarding the Economy | law’s help form the economic policy of the country, regarding both domestic and international trade and related issues, the government also has the ability to distribute goods and wealth to some extent among its citizens |
| Four Main Theories Regarding the Origin of the State | evolutionary, force, divine right, social contract |
| Evolutionary | the state evolved from the family, with the head of state the equivalent of the family’s patriarch or matriarch |
| Force | one person or group of people brought everyone in an area under their control, forming the first government |
| Divine Right | certain people were chosen by the prevailing deity to be the rulers of the nation, which is itself created by the deity or deities |
| Social Contract | there is no natural order, the people allow themselves to be governed to maintain social order, while the state in turn promises to protect the people they govern, if the government fails to protect its people, the people have the right to seek new leader |
| Aristotle/Plato | ancient greek philosophers, believed that political science would lead to order in political matters, and that this scientifically organized order would create stable just societies |
| Thomas Aquinas | adapted the ideas of Aristotle to a Christian perspective, his ideas stated that individuals should have certain rights, but also certain duties and that these rights and duties should determine the type and extent of government rule, in standing that law |
| Niccolo Machiavelli | author of “The Prince” was a proponent of politics based on power, he is often considered the founder of modern political science |
| Thomas Hobbes | author of “Leviathan(1651)” believed that individual’s lives were focused solely on a quest for power, and that the state must work to control this urge, Hobbes felt that people were completely unable to live harmoniously without the intervention of a pow |
| John Locke | published “Two Treatises of Government” in 1689, this work argued against the ideas of Thomas Hobbes, he put forth the theory of tabula rasa, he also believed that all men should be independent and equal, many of Locke’s ideas found their way into the Con |
| The Theory of Tabula Rasa | made by John Locke, that people are born with minds like blank slates, individual minds are molded by experience, not innate knowledge or intuition |
| Montesquieu/Rousseau | two french philosophers, heavily influenced the French Revolution (1789-1799), they believed in liberalism, Rousseau in particular directly influenced the Revolution with writings such as “The Social Contract (1762)” and “Declaration of the Rights of Man |
| Liberalism | belief that government policies and ideas should change to alleviate existing problems |
| Other Ideas of Montesquieu and Rousseau | individual freedom and community welfare are of equal importance, man’s innate goodness leads to natural harmony, reasons develops with the rise of civilized society, individual citizens carry certain obligations to the existing government |
| David Hume and Jeremy Bentham | believed politics should have as its main goal maintaining “the greatest happiness for the greatest number” Hume also believed in empiricism, Hume was a natural skeptic and always sought out the truth of matters rather than believing what he was told |
| Empiricism | that ideas should not be believed until the proof has been observed |
| John Stuart Mill | a British philosopher as well as an economist, believed in progressive policies such as women’s suffrage, emancipation, and the development of labor unions and farming cooperatives |
| Johann Fichte and Georg Hegel | German philosophers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, supported a form of liberalism grounded largely in socialism and a sense of nationalism |
| Four Main Political Orientations | liberal, conservative, moderate, libertarian |
| Liberal | liberals believe that government should work to increase equality, even at the expense of some freedoms, government should assist those in need, focus on enforced social justice and free basic services for everyone |
| Conservatives | a conservatives believes that government should be limited in most cases, the government should allow its citizens to help one another and solve their own problems rather than enforcing solutions, business should not be over regulated, allowing a free mar |
| Moderate | this ideology incorporates some liberal and some conservative values, generally falling somewhere between in overall belief |
| Libertarian | libertarians believe that the government’s role should be limited to protecting the life and liberty of citizens, government should not be involved in any citizen’s life unless that citizen is encroaching upon the rights of another |
| Six Major Principles of Government | federalism, popular sovereignty, separation of powers, judicial review, checks and balances, limited government |
| Federalism | the power of the government does not belong entirely to the national government, but is divided between federal and state governments |
| Popular Sovereignty | the government is determined by the people, and gains its authority and power from the people |
| Separation of Powers | the government is divided into three branches, executive, legislative, and judicial, with each branch having its own set of powers |
| Judicial Review | courts at all levels of government can declare laws invalid if they contradict the constitutions of individual states, or the US Constitution, with the Supreme Court serving as the final judicial authority on decisions of this kind |
| Checks and Balances | no single branch can act without input from another, and each branch has the power to “check” any other, as well as balance other branches powers |
| Limited Government | governmental powers are limited and certain individual rights are defined as inviolable by the government |
| The Structure of the US Government | divides power between national and state governments |
| Powers Delegated to the Federal Government | expressed powers, implied powers, inherent powers |
| Expressed Powers | powers directly defined in the Constitution, including power to declare war, regulate commerce, make money and collect taxes |
| Implied Powers | powers the national government must have in order to carry out the expressed powers |
| Inherent Powers | powers inherent to any government not expressly defined in the Constitution |
| States’ Rights | those favoring the states’ rights position feel that the state governments should take the lead in performing local actions to manage various problems |
| Nationalist | those favoring a nationalist position feel the national government should take the lead to deal with those same matters |
| Federalism | Three Major Effects on Public Policy- determining whether the local, state, or national government originates policy, affecting how policies are made, ensuring policy-making functions under a set of limitations |
| Federalism Influences on the Political Balance of Powers | making it difficult if not impossible for a single political party to seize total power, ensuring that individuals can participate in the political system at various levels, making it possible for individuals working within the system to be able to affect |
| The Three Branches of Government | legislative, executive, judicial |
| Legislative Branch | this consists of the two Houses of Congress: the House of Representatives and the Senate, all members of the Legislative Branch are elected officials |
| Executive Branch | this branch is made up of the President, Vice President, Presidential advisors, and other various cabinet members, advisors and cabinet are appointed by the President, but must be approved by Congress |
| Judicial Branch | the federal court system, headed by the Supreme Court |
| Legislative Branch Role | is largely concerned with law making, all laws must be approved by Congress before they go into effect, they are also responsible for regulating money and trade, approving presidential appointments and establishing organizations like the postal service an |
| Executive Branch Role | carries out laws, treaties, and war declarations enacted by Congress, the President can also veto bills approved by Congress, and serves as commander-in-chief of the US military, the President appoints cabinet members, ambassadors to foreign countries and |
| Judicial Branch Role | makes decisions on challenges as to whether laws passed by Congress meet the requirements of the US Constitution, the Supreme Court may also choose to review decisions made by lower courts to determine their constitutionality |
| US Citizenship | anyone born in the US, born abroad to a US Citizen or who has gone through a process of naturalization is considered a citizen of the United States |
| Losing US Citizenship | as a result of conviction of certain crimes such as treason, citizenship may also be lost if a citizen pledges an oath to another country or serves in the military of a country engaged in hostilities with the US |
| Dual Citizenship | a US citizen can also choose to hold dual citizenship, work as an expatriate in another country without losing US citizenship or even to renounce citizenship if he or she so chooses |
| US Citizens Duties | paying taxes, loyalty to the government(though the US does not prosecute those who criticize or seek to change the government), support and defense of the Constitution, serving in the Armed Forces when required by law, obeying laws as set forth by the var |
| Responsibilities of a US Citizen | voting in elections, respecting one another’s rights and not infringing on them, staying informed about various political and national issues, respecting one another’s beliefs |
| The Bill of Rights | the first ten amendments of the US Constitution, these amendments prevent the government from infringing upon certain freedoms that the founding fathers felt were natural rights that already belonged to all people, many of these rights were formulated in |
| The First Ten Amendments | were passed by Congress in 1789, three-fourths of the existing states had ratified them by December of 1791, making them official additions to the Constitution |
| 1st Amendment | freedom of religion, speech, freedom of the press, and the right to assemble and to petition the government |
| 2nd Amendment | the right to bear arms |
| 3rd Amendment | Congress cannot force individuals to house troops |
| 4th Amendment | protection from unreasonable search and seizure |
| 5th Amendment | no individual is required to testify against himself, and no individual may be tried twice for the same crime |
| 6th Amendment | right to criminal trial by jury, right to legal counsel |
| 7th Amendment | right to civil trial by jury |
| 8th Amendment | protection from excessive bail or cruel and unusual punishment |
| 9th Amendment | prevents rights not explicitly named in the Constitution from being taken away because they are not named |
| 10th Amendment | any rights not directly delegated to the national government, or not directly prohibited by the government from the states, belong to the states or to the people |
| Government Restrictions on the 1st Amendments | in some cases the government restricts certain elements of the first amendment such as freedom of religion, speech and the press |
| Restrictions on Freedom of Religion | when a religion espouses illegal activities, the government often restricts these forms of religious expression, examples include polygamy, animal sacrifices, and use of illicit drugs or illegal substances |
| Restrictions on Freedom of Speech | this can be restricted if exercise of free speech endangers other people |
| Restrictions on Freedom of the Press | laws prevent the press from publishing falsehoods |
| Emergency Situations | such as wartime, stricter restrictions are sometimes placed on these rights, especially rights to free speech and assembly and freedom of the press, in order to protect national security |
| Rights of Criminals | or anyone who has transgressed established laws, those accused of crimes must also be protected and their basic rights as individuals preserved |
| The Constitution and Law Enforcement | in addition the Constitution protects individuals from the power of authorities to prevent police forces and other enforcement organizations from becoming oppressive |
| “All men are created equal” | what the founding father wrote in the Constitution, they actually were referring to men, and in fact defined citizens as white men who owned land |
| Equality | does not mean all people are inherently the same, but it does mean they all should be granted the same rights and should be treated the same by the government |
| Equal Protection | the Supreme Court evaluated various laws and court decisions to determine if they properly represent the idea of equal protection an example would be Brown v. Board of Education in 1945 |
| Challenges to Existing Law | major issues in today’s political climate include: continued debate over women’s rights especially regarding equal pay for equal work, debate over affirmative action to encourage hiring of minorities, debate over civil rights of homosexuals including marr |
| Civil Liberties | defines the role of the state in providing equal rights and opportunities to individuals within that state, an example is non-discrimination policies with regards to granting citizenship |
| Civil Rights | defines the limitations of governmental rights, describing those rights that belong to individuals and which cannot be infringed upon by the government, examples of these rights include freedom of religion, political freedom, and overall freedom to live a |
| Suffrage and Franchise | both refer to the right to vote, as the US developed as a nation, there was much debate over which individuals should hold this right, in the early years only white male landowners were granted suffrage, by the 19th century most states had franchised or g |
| 15th Amendment | of 1870 granted suffrage to former slave men |
| 19th Amendment | gave women the right to vote in 1920 |
| 26th Amendment | in 1971 expanded the voting rights to include any US citizen over the age of 18 |
| Public Ballot | the first elections in the US were held by public ballot, however election abuses soon became common, since public ballot made it easy to intimidate, threaten or otherwise influence the votes of individuals or groups of individuals |
| Registering Voters | new practice of voting, before elections took place and using a secret or Australian ballot |
| Voting Machine | introduced in 1892, further privatized the voting process since it allowed complete privacy for voting |
| Single Party | or a one-party system, the government is defined by one party, and all policy is based on that party’s beliefs |
| Two Party System | two parties with different viewpoints complete for power and influence, the US is basically a two-party system, with checks and balances to make it difficult for one party to gain complete power over the other |
| Multi-Party System | with three or more parties, in a multiparty system various parties will often come to agreements in order to form a majority and shift the balance of power |
| George Washington & Political Parties | George Washington was adamantly against the establishment of political parties based on the abuses perpetrated by such parties in Britain |
| Major Parties throughout US History | federalist and democratic republicans, democrats and whigs, democrats and republicans |
| Federalists and Democratic Republicans | these parties formed in the late 1700s and disagreed on the balance of power between national and state government |
| Democrats and Whigs | these developed in the 18302 and many political topics of the time centered on national economic issues |
| Democrats and Republicans | the republican party developed before the Civil War, after the collapse of the whig party, and the two parties debated issues centering on slavery and economic issues such as tazation |
| Functions of Political Parties | recruiting and backing candidates for offices, discussing various issues with the public, increasing public awareness, working toward compromise on difficult issues, staffing government offices and providing administrative support |
| Administrative Level of Political Parties | work to ensure that viable candidates are available for elections and that offices and staff are in place to support candidates as they run for office and afterwards when they are elected |
| Processes of Selecting Political Candidates | nominating convention, caucus, primary election, petition |
| Nominating Convention | an official meeting of the members of a party for the express purpose of nominating candidates for upcoming elections, the democratic national convention and the republican national convention, convened to announce candidates for presidency are examples |
| Caucus | a meeting usually attended by a party’s leaders, some states still use caucuses, but not all |
| Primary Election | the most common method of choosing candidates today, the primary is a publicly held election to choose candidates |
| Petition | signatures are gathered to place a candidate on the ballot, petitions can also be used to place legislation on a ballot |
| American Citizens | are able to participate in the political process through several avenues, these include participating in local government, participating in caucuses for large elections, volunteering to help political parties, running for election to local, state, or nati |
| Representatives | who lobby legislators to act in support of their efforts |
| Advertising | where a large quantity of money that funds a political campaign goes toward |
| Sources of Money to Fund a Political Campaign | the candidate’s personal funds, donations by individuals, special interest groups |
| Special Interest Groups | the most significant source of campaign funding, groups in favor of certain policies will donate money to candidates they believe will support those policies, also these groups do their own advertising in support of candidates they endorse |
| The Media | the right to free speech guaranteed in the first amendment to the Constitution allows the media to report on government and political activities without fear or retribution, because the media has access to information about the government, its policies an |
| The Media and Corruption | the media can also draw attention to injustices, imbalances of power and other transgressions the government or government officials might commit |
| Media Outlets | may like special interest groups align themselves with certain political viewpoints and skew their reports to fit that viewpoint |
| Media and the Internet | the rise of the internet has made media reporting even more complex, as news can be found from an infinite variety of sources, both reliable and unreliable |
| Anarchists | believe that all government should be eliminated and that individuals should rule themselves, historically anarchists have used violence and assassination ti further their beliefs |
| Communism | is based on class conflict, revolution and a one-party state, ideally a communist government would involve a single government for the entire world, communist government controls the production and flow of goods and services rather than leaving this to co |
| Dictatorship | involves rule by a single individual, if rule is enforced by a small group, this is referred to as an oligarchy, dictators tend to rule with a violent hand, using a highly repressive police force to ensure control over the populace |
| Fascism | centers on a single leader and is ideologically an oppositional belief to communism, includes a single party state and centralized control, the power of the fascist leader lies in the “cult of personality” and the fascist state often focuses on expansion |
| Monarchy | was the major form of government for Europe through most of its history, a monarchy is led by a king or queen, this position is hereditary and the rulers are not elected |
| Constitutional Monarchy | developed in modern times, where the king and queen still exists but most of the government decisions are made by democratic institutions such as parliament |
| A Presidential System | like a parliamentary system, has a legislature and political parties, but there is no difference between the head of state and the head of government, instead of separating these functions an elected president performs both |
| Election of the President | can be direct or indirect, and the president may not necessarily belong to the largest political party |
| Socialism | the state controls production of goods, though it does not necessarily own all means of production, the state also provides a variety of social services to citizens and helps guide the economy, a democratic form of government often exists in socialist cou |
| Totalitarian System | believes everything should be under the control of the government, from resource production to the press to religion and other social institutions, all aspects of life under a totalitarian system must conform to the ideals of the government, while all tot |
| Authoritarian | governments practice widespread state authority, but do not necessarily dismantle all public institutions |
| Parliamentary System | government involves a legislature and a variety of political parties, the head of government, usually a Prime Minister is typically the head of the dominant party, the head of state can be elected or this position can be taken by a monarch, as in Great Br |
| Democratic System of Government | the people elect their government representatives, democracy can exist as a parliamentary system or a presidential system, the US is a presidential, indirect democracy |
| Democracy | is a greek term that means “rule of the people” |
| Two Forms of Democracy | direct and indirect |
| Direct Democracy | each issue or election is decided by a vote where each individual is counted separately |
| Indirect Democracy | employs a legislature that votes on issues that affect large numbers of people whom the legislative members represent |
| Realism | the theory of realism states that nations are by nature aggressive and work in their own self-interest |
| Relations between Nations | are determined by military and economic strength, the nation is seen as the highest authority |
| Liberalism | believes states can cooperate and that they act based on capability rather than power, this term was originally coined to describe Woodrow Wilson’s theories on international cooperation |
| Institutionalism | institutions provide structure and incentive for cooperation among nations, institutions are defined as a set of rules used to make international decisions, these institutions also help distribute power and determine how nations will interact |
| Constructivism | like liberalism is based on international cooperation, but recognizes that perceptions countries have each other can affect their relations |
| Foreign Policy | is a set of goals, policies and strategies that determine how an individual nation will interact with other countries, these strategies shift, sometimes quickly and drastically, according to actions or changes occurring in the other countries |
| A Nation’s Foreign Policy | is often based on a certain set of ideals and national needs |
| Isolationism | exhibiting a reluctance to become involved in foreign affairs |
| Internationalism | emphasizes cooperation and mutual understanding between nations, advocating for global collaboration on political, economic and cultural issues |
| Today’s Foreign Policy | tends more toward interdependence or globalism, recognizing the widespread effects of issues like economic health |
| US Foreign Policy | is largely determined by Congress and the president, influenced by the secretary of state, secretary of defense, and the national security advisors, executive officials carry out policies |
| US Department of State | the main department in charge of these day to day issues, also referred to as the State Department, carries out policy, negotiates treaties, maintains diplomatic relations, assists citizens traveling in foreign countries and ensures that the president is |
| Department of Defense | the largest executive department in the US, supervises the armed forces and provides assistance to the president in his role as Commander in chief |
| Two Types of International Organizations | intergovernmental organizations and nongovernmental organizations |
| Intergovernmental Organizations | (IGO), these organizations are made up of members from various national governments, the UN is an example of an intergovernmental organizations, treaties among the member nations determine the functions and power of these groups |
| Nongovernmental Organizations | (NGO), an NGO lies outside the scope of any government and is usually supported through private donations, an example of an NGO is the international Red Cross, which works with governments all over the world when their countries are in crisis, but is for |
| Diplomats | are individuals who reside in foreign countries in order to maintain communications between that country and their home country, they help negotiate trade agreements and environmental policies as well as conveying official information to foreign governmen |
| Diplomats or Ambassadors | are appointed in the US by the president, appointments must be approved by Congress |
| United Nations | (UN), helps form international policies by hosting representatives of various countries who then provide input into policy decisions, countries who are members of the UN must agree to abide by all final UN resolutions, but this is not always the case in p |
Created by:
Mr. Rafferty