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64 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Concept of rationality |
individuals have wants and beliefs, both of which affect their behavior |
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Collective action problems arise when... |
rational people work in a group to reach and implement agreements |
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Three things to consider under the concept of rationality |
Preferences, uncertainty, beliefs |
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Two barriers to collective action |
coordination problems
prisoner's dilemma
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How to overcome coordination problems and prisoner's dilemma |
coercion |
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Way to do coercion |
Create institutions to help individuals profit through cooperation and guarantee that agreements are honored |
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Framers recognized that groups of citizens may seek to pursue __________ __________ that is adverse to the interests of others or the country as a whole |
common interest |
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Where these institutions are made |
in electorate
in government
among government |
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Federalism |
Both states and national government possess authority |
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Over time, the country has moved towards __________ federalism |
shared |
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Why this shift? |
Because of national government growth
supremacy clause, elastic clause, commerce clause |
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Two things that protect citizens from government |
civil liberties and civil rights |
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Main difference between civil liberties and civil rights |
Civil liberties require government not to act
Civil rights require government to act |
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Amendments that deal with civil rights |
13th, 14th, 15th |
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Congressmen are single minded... |
reelection seekers |
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Congress serve constituencies in attempt to win... (3) |
Geographical
Primary
Personal |
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Delegate vs. trustee |
Delegate = mouthpiece for the wishes of the constituency
Trustee = decides what is best for constituency |
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Three strategies of Congressmen |
position taking
credit claiming
advertising |
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What do committees help with? (3) |
Information
Distributive
Party Power |
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Theories of parties (3) |
Cartel theory
Conditional party government
No party |
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Cartel theory |
Individual legislators are focused on reelection, but the party has power over them |
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Conditional party government |
As Congressmen become more similar, they are more likely to give the party power |
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No party theory |
In reality, we don't know what parties do as far as voting...towards preferences or because the party leadership wants them to vote a certain way? |
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All presidents want to maximize their effective influence on ___________________ ___________ |
governmental outcomes |
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How do presidents acquire power? (4) |
Constitution, bargaining, public opinion, bureaucracy |
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Judiciary is the only Supreme Court guaranteed by the ________________- |
Constitution |
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Theories of how judges make decisions (3) |
Legal
Attitudinal
Strategic |
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Legal model |
Judicial decisions are made in light of the law |
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Attitudinal model |
Judicial decisions are made in light of ideology, and they will find a law to support beliefs |
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Strategic model |
Strategically act on their preferences given the current institutions |
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Procedural requirements of a case to Supreme Court (4) |
Case or controversy
Not political question
Injury
Unresolved |
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Substantive requirements of a case to Supreme Court (2) |
Court has power over person
Court has power over issue |
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Political parties developed as an institutional response to _____________ __________ problems inherent in government |
collective action |
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Duverger's law |
parties have an incentive to combine |
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Endogenous institutions |
Political actors shape parties, at the same time parties shape actors |
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Three interacting parts of parties |
Party in organization
Party in government
Party in electorate |
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Party in organization |
People that help officials get elected |
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Party in government |
People that actually get elected |
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Party in electorate |
People who identify with the party |
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Three functions of political parties |
Elect candidates
Govern
Educate citizens |
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Definition of public opinion |
Those opinions held by private persons which government finds it prudent to heed |
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How is public opinion measured? |
Through polling.
The larger the sample, more closely sample answers will approximate the entire population |
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Must understand opinions on an _______________ level and in ______________ |
individual
aggregate |
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Individual opinion |
expressed opinions reflect underlying attitudes |
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Political ideologies are... |
organized sets of attitude |
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How attitudes are developed |
collective experiences
information |
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Aggregate opinion |
Sum of all individual opinions is stable and coherent |
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Changes tend to reflect ________________ _________ or responses to _____________ conditions |
historical trends
changed |
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This change can be caused by... |
new information
movement of elites |
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Why do we care about public opinion? |
Public opinion affects political behavior and voting
Politicians adjust their behavior based on beliefs about public opinion |
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Why are elections important? (3) |
Give ordinary citizens a way of participating
Give officeholders motive to be responsive
Provide incentives for watchdogs |
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Candidates look at voters as falling into one of three categories... |
Want to win undecideds
Want to mobilize supporters
Don't bother with opponents |
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How individuals decide whether to vote or not |
See if benefits outweigh costs |
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Individuals decide for whom to vote by...(3) |
Party ID
issue voting
retrospective voting |
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In general, number of interests and number of people involved in interests are... |
relatively small |
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Number of interest groups has __________ over time |
grown |
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Why has the number of interest groups grown? (3) |
Government has grown
Successful groups inspire others
Technology |
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What do interest groups do? (2) |
Provide information
Try to change |
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Who do interest groups provide information to? |
To electorate
To government |
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How do interest groups try to change things? (3) |
Litigation
Participate in electoral politics
Allocate money |
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Citizens are only able to react critically to political affairs if they are... |
knowledgeable |
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______________ provides information about politics |
media |
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Who can information provided by media be affected by? |
Politicians and producers |
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Over time, coverage has shifted towards... |
entertainment |
