Government Ch. 7-10

Front 1

Political participation

Back 1

Actions of private citizens by which they seek to influence or support government and politics.

Front 2

Conventional participation

Back 2

Relatively routine political behavior that uses institutional channels and is acceptable to the dominant culture.

Front 3

Unconventional participation

Back 3

Relatively uncommon political behavior that challenges or defies established institutions and dominant norms

Front 4

Terrorism

Back 4

Premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetuated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents.

Front 5

Direct action

Back 5

Unconventional participation that involves assembling crowds to confront businesses and local governments to demand a hearing.

Front 6

Supportive behavior

Back 6

Action that expresses allegiance to government and country

Front 7

Influencing behavior

Back 7

Behavior that seeks to modify or reverse government policy to serve personal interests.

Front 8

Class action suit

Back 8

A legal action brought by a person or group on behalf of a number of people in similar circumstances.

Front 9

Voter turnout

Back 9

The percentage of eligible citizens who actually vote in a given election

Front 10

Suffrage

Back 10

The right to vote

Front 11

Franchine

Back 11

The right to vote

Front 12

Progressivism

Back 12

A philosophy of political reform based on the goodness and wisdom of the individual citizen as opposed to special interests and political institutions.

Front 13

Direct primary

Back 13

A preliminary election run by the state government in which voters choose each party's candidates for the general election

Front 14

Recall

Back 14

The process for removing an elected official from office

Front 15

Referendum

Back 15

An election on a policy issue

Front 16

Initiative

Back 16

A procedure by which voters can propose an issue to be decided by the legislature or by the people in a refferendum. (Signing a petition)

Front 17

Standard socioeconomic model

Back 17

A relationship between socioeconomic status and conventional political involvement. People with higher status are more likely to participate than those with lower status

Front 18

Nomination

Back 18

Designated as an official candidate of a political party

Front 19

Political system

Back 19

A set of interrelated institutions that link people with government

Front 20

Caucus

Back 20

A closed meeting of the members of a political party to decide questions of policy and the selection of candidates for office

Front 21

National convention

Back 21

A gathering of delegates of a single political party from across the country to choose candidates for president and vice President and adopt a party platform

Front 22

Party platform

Back 22

The statement of policies of a national political party

Front 23

Critical election

Back 23

An election that produces a sharp change in the existing pattern of party loyalties among groups of voters

Front 24

Electoral realignment

Back 24

The change in voting patterns that occurs after a critical election.

Front 25

Electoral dealignment

Back 25

A lessening of the importance of party loyalties in voting decisions

Front 26

Majority representation

Back 26

The system by which one office, contested by two or more candidates is won by the single candidate who collects the most votes

Front 27

Proportional representation

Back 27

The system by which legislative seats are awarded to a party in proportion to the vote that party wins in an election

Front 28

Party identification

Back 28

A voters sense of psychological attachment to a party

Front 29

Congressional campaign committee

Back 29

An organization maintained by a political party to raise funds to support its own candidates in congressional elections

Front 30

Party machine

Back 30

A centralized party organization that dominates local politics by controlling elections

Front 31

Responsible party government

Back 31

A set of principles formalizing the ideal role of parties in a majoritarian democracy

Front 32

Presidential primary

Back 32

A special primary election used to select delegates to attend the party's national convention, which in turn nominates the presidential candidate.

Front 33

Caucus/convention

Back 33

A method used to select delegates to attend a party's national convention. Generally, a local meeting selects delegates for a county level meeting which in turn selects delegates for a higher level meeting. The process culminated in a state convention that actually selects the national convention delegates.

Front 34

Front loading

Back 34

States practice of moving delegate selection primaries and caucuses earlier in the calendar year to gain media and candidate attention

Front 35

Fec

Back 35

A bipartisan federal agency of six members that oversees the financing of national election campaigns

Front 36

Pac

Back 36

An organization that collects campaign contributions from group members and donated them to candidates for political office

Front 37

527 committees

Back 37

Committees named after section 527 of the internal revenue code; they enjoy tax-exempt status in election campaigns if they take positions on issues, not candidates.

Front 38

501 social welfare organizations

Back 38

Groups named after section 501 of the internal revenue code that operates for promotion of social welfare. Also tax exempt if they spend on issues not candidates.

Front 39

Interest group

Back 39

An organized group of individuals that seeks to influence public policy also called lobby

Front 40

Lobbyist

Back 40

Representative of an interest group

Front 41

Agenda building

Back 41

The process by which new issues are brought into the political limelight

Front 42

Program monitoring

Back 42

Keeping track of government programs usually done by interest groups

Front 43

Interest group entrepreneur

Back 43

Interest group organizer or leader

Front 44

Trade association

Back 44

An organization that represents firms within a particular industry

Front 45

Direct lobbying

Back 45

Attempts to influence a policymaker through personal contact with that individual

Front 46

Grassroots lobbying

Back 46

Lobbying activities performed by rank and file interest group members and other supporters

Front 47

Coalition building

Back 47

The banding together of several interest groups for the purpose of lobbying

Front 48

Citizen group

Back 48

Lobbying organization built around policy concerns unrelated to members vocational interests