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80 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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sequential runoff
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• Alternative with fewest votes is eliminates and balloting reapeated; this elemination procedure continues until one alternative remains
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single non transferable vote
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• an electoral system used in multi-member constituency elections where posts are filled by the members with the most votes. For example, If there were three seats available and ten people running for the positions, then the three voters with the most votes in the election would be given these spots.
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proportional representation
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• What ever percent of the vote a party receives, the party will receive the same percentage of seats in the legislature
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incumbency advantage
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• The electoral benefit a candidate enjoys by being an incumbent, over and above his or her other personal and political characteristics. Incumbancy advantage surged in the 1960’s then leveled off and declined slightly before spiking again recently. Relates to constituency service.
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Shaw's Importance of Campaigns
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• Campaigns are usually conceived of as essential contact points between voters and public officials in the United States. They are thought to be the means by which candidates articulate the issue positions and policy commitments that are validated by elections and bind officeholders to a course of action.
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Median Voter Theorem
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• An economics based theory of how candidates appeal to voters. Candidates will attempt to appeal to the median voter in order to gain the most votes. Candidates will position their policy stances as close to the median voter as possible. The candidate who is closest to the median voter has the highest probability of winning. Concern: abstention – the idea that the median voter wont vote, because it doesn’t matter who wins. Both parties are right on the line and concern themselves with all of your issues. Abstention says you need to move a bit away from the median in order to draw voters out, and create a difference between who the voters want to win.
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Exceptions to Winner Takes All
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• Winner Take All Voting: Any voting procedure in which the side with the most votes gets all of the seats or delegates at stake. The exceptions are Maine (4 electoral votes) and Nebraska (5 electoral votes) where the winner of each congressional district is given that electoral vote and the statewide winner the two other votes.
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Negative Campaign Adds
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• Negative ads are seen as advantageous to the attacker because they capture the publics attention and actually work. The attacker is able to effectively send information to the public and this information is believed to benefit them, while degrading their opponent. However, Negative ads hurt both the opponent and the attacker and they do not reduce voter turnout
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Emotional Appeals
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• A campaign tactic in which a candidate appeals to the emotions of the voters instead of the logic behind what they are proposing.
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God Strategy
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• The God Strategy acts as a political priest by speaking the language of the faithful. Fuses God and country by linking America and the divine will. Embraces certain important religious symbols, practices and rituals. Engages in morality politics by trumpeting bellwether issues. Finds that Christian religious appeals by candidates do affect the perception of the candidate from those who identify as Christians
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R=pB-C
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• R is the probability that the voter will turn out
• p is the probability of the vote “mattering” • B is the utility benefit of voting – benefit of one candidate winning over the other • C is the cost of voting • Since the probability of your vote mattering is 0 the benefit of voting becomes 0. Leaving, R=C. |
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Voter Mobilization
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• Consists of the efforts of parties, groups and activists to turn out their potential supporters. For example campaign workers may provide babysitting or transportation to the poles, which lessens the individual costs of voting.
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Prior Restraint Doctrine
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• Legal doctrine that gives individuals the right to publish without prior restraint—that is, without first submitting material to a government censor. This is a way to which implements the first amendment.
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Fighting Words Doctrine
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The principle, endorsed by the Supreme Court in Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942), that some words constitute violent acts and are therefore not protected under the First Amendment. For example threats!
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Lemon Test
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• Supreme Court standard for determining whether the First Amendment’s establishment of religion clause has been violates. The Court required all laws to have clear secular purposes, did not permit laws to advance or inhibit either one religion or religion in general, and considered it one sign of a religious establishment if they law entangled public officials with religious institutions or activities.
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Political Church
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• Political churches are churches that tell you to go out and vote. Churches that “communicate political activity as a norm”. Churches that provide a setting to encourage political knowledge and skills. Political churches have been shown to boost all forms of political participation.
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1965 Voting Rights Act
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• Many scholars in the 1940’s and 1950’s argued that the reason that Blacks in the South did not vote was because they were apathetic. But the reason that they did not vote was because of voting laws that discriminated against them: Poll Taxes, Literacy Tests, White Primaries, Intimidation, Grandfather Clause. The Voting Rights Act worked to eliminate these barriers.
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Vote Dillution
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• Occurs when a redistricting plan is drawn in such a way that diminishes minority voting strength, by either condensing them all into one district or spreading them thin among many districts in which they cannot win the vote. In relation to gerrymandering
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Twenty Third Amendement
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• The 23rd Amendment to the constitution was ratified in 1961, it granted the residents of the District of Columbia the right to vote for presidential electors. At this point in time, by law all mentally competent, law abiding Americans of voting age now had the right to vote for president!
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Poll Taxes
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A fee one must pay in order to be allowed to vote.
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Nineteenth Amendement
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• The suffrage movement won its crowning victory in 1920 when the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote in every state
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Oregon v. Smith
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• A Court case which ruled that peyote-smoking members of a Native American church could be denied unemployment compensation under Oregon law after getting fired from their jobs as drug rehabilitation counselors.
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Wisconsin v. Yoder
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• Was an extention on the free exercise of religion clause, Wisconsin v. Yoder disallowed the application of a compulsory public school attendance law to two Amis children, whose parents opposed their attendance on religious grounds.
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Positive Rights
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• Obligations imposed on the government or other people. The right to have something. Examples include the right to adequate nutrition and the right to housing. Contrasts the idea of negative rights. Libertarian argument: the government should only enforce negative rights, as long as people are free to fulfill their needs, there is no need for positive rights. The opposing argument: What about those individuals that are unable to fulfill their own needs (children).
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Negative Rights
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• Restrictions on what the government or other people can do to you. The right to be left alone. Examples include freedom of speech and freedom of religion, “civil liberties” too are negative rights. In contrast to positive rights
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The Warren Court
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• Refers to the Supreme Court of the United States between 1953 and 1969, when Earl Warren served as Chief Justice. Warren led a liberal majority that used judicial power in dramatic fashion, to the consternation of conservative opponents. The Warren Court expanded civil rights, civil liberties, judicial power, and the federal power. For example, the case of Brown vs Board of Education.
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Lawrence v Texas
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• Supreme Court case in which the Court struck down the sodomy law in Texas and, by proxy, invalidated sodomy laws in the thirteen other states where they remained in existence, thereby making same-sex sexual activity legal in every state and territory of the nation.
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Gerrymandering
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• Drawing boundary lines of congressional districts in order to confer and advantage on some partisan or political interest. In contrast to reapportionment.
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Gideon v Wainwright
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• Supreme Court decision in 1963 stating that all citizens accused of serious crimes, even the indigent are constitutionally entitled to legal representation. If the accused is too poor they will be assigned one by the court. This has caused many states to create the office of the public defender, an attorney whose full time responsibility is to provide for the legal defense of indigent criminal suspects.
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Reapportionment
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Redrawing of the electoral district lines to reflect population changes. In contrast to gerrymandering.
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Equal Protection Clause
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Fourteenth Amendment clause specifying that no state can deny any of its people equal protection under the law.
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Black Codes
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• Restrictive laws, passed in some southern states after the Civil War, that applied to newly freed slaves but not to whites. For example, some black codes denied African Americans access to the courts of the right to hold property, except under special circumstances. Again, in relation to Jim Crow laws
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States Action Doctrine
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• Supreme Court rule stating that only the actions of state and local governments not those of private individuals must conform to the equal protection clause. Jim Crow Laws.
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Jim Crow Laws
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• Laws, passed by southern states after Reconstruction, enforcing segregation. Jim Crow laws required African Americans to attend segregates schools, sit in separate areas on public trains and buses, eat in separate restaurants, and use seperate public facilities. In relation to the Separate but equal doctrine.
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The Warren Court
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• Refers to the Supreme Court of the United States between 1953 and 1969, when Earl Warren served as Chief Justice. Warren led a liberal majority that used judicial power in dramatic fashion, to the consternation of conservative opponents. The Warren Court expanded civil rights, civil liberties, judicial power, and the federal power. For example, the case of Brown vs Board of Education.
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Separate But Equal Doctrine
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• Supreme Court rule states that the equal protection clause was not violated by the fact of state mandated racial segregation alone, provided that the separate facilities were equal. In relation to Jim Crow laws.
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Lawrence v Texas
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• Supreme Court case in which the Court struck down the sodomy law in Texas and, by proxy, invalidated sodomy laws in the thirteen other states where they remained in existence, thereby making same-sex sexual activity legal in every state and territory of the nation.
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Gerrymandering
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• Drawing boundary lines of congressional districts in order to confer and advantage on some partisan or political interest. In contrast to reapportionment.
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Gideon v Wainwright
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• Supreme Court decision in 1963 stating that all citizens accused of serious crimes, even the indigent are constitutionally entitled to legal representation. If the accused is too poor they will be assigned one by the court. This has caused many states to create the office of the public defender, an attorney whose full time responsibility is to provide for the legal defense of indigent criminal suspects.
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Reapportionment
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Redrawing of the electoral district lines to reflect population changes. In contrast to gerrymandering.
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Equal Protection Clause
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Fourteenth Amendment clause specifying that no state can deny any of its people equal protection under the law.
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Black Codes
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• Restrictive laws, passed in some southern states after the Civil War, that applied to newly freed slaves but not to whites. For example, some black codes denied African Americans access to the courts of the right to hold property, except under special circumstances. Again, in relation to Jim Crow laws
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States Action Doctrine
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• Supreme Court rule stating that only the actions of state and local governments not those of private individuals must conform to the equal protection clause. Jim Crow Laws.
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Jim Crow Laws
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• Laws, passed by southern states after Reconstruction, enforcing segregation. Jim Crow laws required African Americans to attend segregates schools, sit in separate areas on public trains and buses, eat in separate restaurants, and use seperate public facilities. In relation to the Separate but equal doctrine.
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Separate But Equal Doctrine
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• Supreme Court rule states that the equal protection clause was not violated by the fact of state mandated racial segregation alone, provided that the separate facilities were equal. In relation to Jim Crow laws.
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Suspect Classifications
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• Categorization of a particular racial or ethnic group that will be closely scrutinized by the courts to see whether its use is unconstitutional.
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Civil Rights Act of 1964
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• The act banned all segregation in places of public accommodation, prohibited federal money from being used to support segregated programs, and created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commision to gaurs against employment discrimination. The law brought about major changes in race relations throughout the South.
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Grutter v Broinger
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• Ruled that the University of Michigan Law School had a compelling interest in promoting class diversity and that its "plus" system did not amount to a quota system that would have been unconstitutional under Regents of the University of California v. Bakke.
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Brown vs. Board of Education
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• Supreme court decision declaring racial segregation in schools unconstitutional. Connect to civil rights act or jim crows laws
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Rally 'Round the Flag Effect
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• is a concept used in political science and international relations to explain increased short-run popular support of the President of the United States during periods of international crisis or war. For example, after 9/11 President Bush’s support rose to a high in his presidency, while shortly after it fell drastically
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Youngstown Sheet Case
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Case in which the Supreme Court placed limits on the executive power of the president. Relate to curtiss-wright
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War Powers Resolution
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• The 1973 congressional resolutions requiring the president to notify Congress formally upon ordering US troops into military action.
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National Security Council
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• A White House agency responsible for coordinating US foreign policy formed in response to the Cold War policy, because it required so many agencies to work together.
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Director of National Intelligence
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• An office that coordinates intelligence gathering among the CIA, the FBI, and other intelligence agencies formed in response to the 9/11 attacks.
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Curtiss Wright
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• Supreme court decision in which Congress was given the authority to delegate foreign policy responsibilities to the president. Relate to Youngstown sheet
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Civil Engagement
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• Individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern. In relation to civil disobedience.
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Medgar Evans
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• Was an African American civil rights activist from Mississippi involved in efforts to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi.
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Montgomery Improvement Association
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• Formed on December 5, 1955 by black ministers and community leaders in Montgomery, Alabama. Under the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Edgar Nixon, the MIA was instrumental in guiding the Montgomery bus boycott, a successful campaign that focused national attention on racial segregation in the South and catapulted King into the national spotlight
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Ethnocentrism
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The tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own. The ethnocentric individual will judge other groups relative to his or her own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, behavior, customs, and religion.
A belief that one’s country is superior to all the others – contributes to stronger support for militarism, isolationism, and anticommunism. |
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Militarism
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A desire that the government assume an assertive, militant foreign policy posture through military strength. Morality of Warfare contributes to militarism while decreasing support for isolationism. Militarism supports defense spending and sending troops overseas.
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Stopler Samuelson Theorem
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• Trade openness benefits those owing factors of productions with which their economy is relatively well endowed while hurting others. High skilled workers perceive trade openness as a benefit while unskilled workers perceive trade openness as a burden and treat.
Those with higher levels of education and training, such as the college educated, are more supportive of globalization than those with lower levels of education. |
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Professional Legislature
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• Legislature whose members serve full-time and for long periods. Congress is the worlds foremost example of what a professional legislature is.
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Coattails
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• Polisitve electoral effect off a popular presidential candidate on congressional candidates of the presidents party. For example, when a party won the presidency, many of its congressional candidates would ride into office on the presidents coattails.
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Constituency Service
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• Efforts by members of Congress to secure federal funding for their districts and to help constituents when they have difficulties with federal agencies. Such activities please voters back home regardless of their party identification or idealogy and therefore identifies this term with incumbent advantage.
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Bloc Voting
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• Voting in which nearly all members of an ethnic or racial group vote for the same candidate or party. Relate to party identification.
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Electoral Vote
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• Cast by electors, with each state receiving one vote for each of its members in the House of Representatives and one vote for each of its members in the Senate. This makes it possible for a candidate to win the popular vote but not receive the office because of the distribution of electoral votes
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Winner Take All Elections
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• Any voting procedure in which the side with the most votes gets all of the seats or delegates at stake. Importance: relate to its restrictions.
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Party Identification
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• A persons subjective feeling of affiliation with a party. Relate to bloc voting.
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Retrospective Voting
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• Voting on the basis of the past performance of the incumbent administration. In contrast to prospective voting, voting on the basis of the candidates policy promises.
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Separation of Church and State Doctrine
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• Principle that a wall should separate the government from religious activity. For example, in Meek v. Pittenger the court struck down most forms of aid that Pennsylvania provided to religious schools as part its federally funded compensatory education program.
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Tyranny of the Majority
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The suppression of minority opinions by those who voted into power by the majority. Relate to how the winner takes all.
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Writ of Habeaus Corpus
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• A judicial order that a prisoner be brought before a judge to determine the legality of his or her imprisonment. A prisoner may petition for such a hearing for a variety of reasons, usually having to do with violation of procedural rights, and may do so before trial, during a trial, or after conviction.
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Affirmative Action
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• Programs designed to enhance opportunities for race or gender based groups that have suffered discrimination in the past. Developed in response to civil rights groups calling upon government agencies, universities and businesses to rectify past discrimination by taking steps to provide increased educational and job opportunities for African Americans.
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Glass Ceiling
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• The invisible barrier which has limited women’s opportunities for advancement to the highest ranks of politics, business, and the professions. Relate to affirmative action.
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Civil Disobedience
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• A peaceful, well-publicized violation of a law designed to dramatize that law’s injustice. In December of 1955, Rosa Parks engaged in an extraordinarily successful act of civil disobedience when she was arrested for her refusal to vacate her seat in the white section of a segregate bus. Her arrest led Martin Luther King Jr. to lead a bus boycott.
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White Primary
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• A primary election, help by the Democratic Party after Reconstruction that excluded nonwhites from participation in many southern states. In relation to Jim Crow laws.
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Diplomacy
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• The conduct of negotiations between representative of different nations. The art of diplomacy can include everything from formal treaty negotiations to informal communications about topics of shared interest to carefully worded public statements that signal the US position on international issues.
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Realists
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• Those who say that US foreign policy best protects democracy when it safeguards its own economic and military strength. The opposite of idealist
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Idealists
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• Those who say that US foreign policy should be guided primarily by democratic principles – the spread of liberty, equality, human rights, and respect for international law throughout the world. The opposites of realists
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Glovalization
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• The intensification of world-wide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away. For example, what happens in Dallas can affect Paris. We try and increase trade across the world, by increasing international relations.
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