Ap Us Go Po: Ch 1 Intro To Government And Politics

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Government

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The institutions and and processes through which public policies are made for a society.

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Public Goods

Back 2

Goods, such as clean air and clean water, that everyone ,ust share..

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Politics

Back 3

The process by which we select our governmental leaders and what policies these leaders pursue. Politics produces authoritative decisions about public issues.

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Political Participation

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All the activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue. Voting is the most common but not the only means of political participation in a democracy. Other means include protest and civil disobedience.

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Single-Issue Groups

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Groups that have a narrow interest, tend to dislike compromise, and often draw membership from people new to politics. These features distinguish them from traditional interest groups.

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Policymaking System

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The process by which policy comes into being and evolves over time. People's interests, problems, and concerns create political issues for government policymakers. These issues shape policy, which in turn impacts people, generating more interests, problems, and concerns.

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Linkage Institutions

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the political channels through which people's concerns become political issues on the policy agenda; linkage institutions include elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media.

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Policy Agenda

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The issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actually involved in politics at any given point in time. NOTE the media's role in setting the policy agenda -- the media may not tell us what to think, but they certainly tell us what to think about

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Political Issue

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An issue that arises when people disagree about a problem and how to fix it.

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Policymaking Institutions

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The branches of government charged with taking action on political issues. The U.S. Constitution established three policymaking institutions-the congress, the presidency, and the courts. Today, the power of the bureaucracy is so great that most political scientist consider it a fourth policy making institution

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Public Policy

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A choice that government makes in response to a political issue. A policy is a course of action taken with regard to some problem.

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Democracy

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A system of selecting policymakers and of organizing government so that policy represents and responds to the public's preferences

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Majority Rule

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A fundamental principle of traditional democratic theory. in a democracy, choosing among alternatives requires that the majority's desire be respected.

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Minority Rights

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A principle of traditional democratic theory that guarantees rights to those who do not belong to majorities and allows that they might join majorities through persuasion and reasoned argument

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Representation

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A basic principle of traditional democratic theory that describes the relationship between the few leaders and the many followers.

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Pluralist Theory

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A theory of government and politics emphasizing that politics is mainly a competition among groups, each one pressing for its own preferred policies. Compare elite and class theory, hyperpluralism, and traditional democratic theory.

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Elite and Class Theory

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A theory of government and politics contending that societies are divided along class lines and that an upper-class elite will rule, regardless of the formal niceties of governmental organization.

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Hyperpluralism

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A theory of government and politics contending that groups are so strong that government is weakened. Hyperpluralism is an extreme, exaggerated, or perverted form of pluralism.

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Policy Gridlock

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A condition that occurs when no coalition is strong enough to form a majority and establish policy. The result is that nothing may get done.

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Political Culture

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An overall set of values widely shared within a society.

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Gross Domestic Product

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The sum total of the value of all the goods and services produced in a nation.

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Direct Democracy

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(as opposed to INDIRECT or REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY) a form of democracy that emphasizes broad, direct participation in politics and civil society, in which most or all citizens participate in politics directly. It can be by ASSEMBLY of all the people as in ancient Athens. It can be used in a REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY through aINITIATIVE (bottom up) or REFERENDUM (top down) in which people vote directly on law/policy.

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Participatory democracy*

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Sometimes used as a synonym for direct democracy, ______ democracy implies much more than original consent or periodic elections. It denotes extensive and active engagement of citizens in the governing process, often through initiatives and referenda, and emphasizes the role of the citizen as an active agent in self-legislation and a real stakeholder in governance.

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Civil Society*

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refers to the arena of uncoerced collective action around shared interests, purposes and values. In theory, its institutional forms are distinct from those of the state, and market, though in practice, the boundaries between state, civil society, and market are often complex, blurred and negotiated. It's populated by organizations such as registered charities, development non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community groups, women's organizations, faith-based organizations, professional associations, trade unions, self-help groups, social movements, business associations, coalitions and advocacy groups.

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Social Capital*

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refers to people’s ability to work together in groups; any instance in which people cooperate for common ends on the basis of shared informal norms and values; a key ingredient in both economic development and stable liberal democracy