Ap U.s. Government And Politics Origins Of The American Government

Front 1

Government

Back 1

the organization of power within a country of formal and informal institutions, people, and processes used to create and conduct public policy, maintain a national defense, provide public services, preserve order, socialize the young, and collect taxes.

Front 2

Public Goods

Back 2

a good that benefits everyone, not just some; also called collective good. a commodity or service that is provided without profit to all members of a society, either by the government or a private individual or organization with goods, such as clean air and clean water, that everyone must share.

Front 3

Politics

Back 3

the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power. it is the process by which goverment decisions are made. method of maintaining, managing, and gaining control of government ( who gets what when and how)

Front 4

Political Participation

Back 4

is the action that influences the distribution of social good and values. people can vote for representatives, they can take part in organizations that work to directly influence policies made by government officials. communicate their interests, preferences, and needs to government by engaging in public debate. Such political activities can support government officials, institutions, and policies, our aim to change them.

Front 5

Single-Issue Groups

Back 5

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

Front 6

Policy Making System

Back 6

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.

Front 7

linkage institutions

Back 7

the political channels or access points through which issues and people's concerns become political issues in the policy agenda. in the United states, linkage institutions include elections, political parties, interest groups, and the mass media are the three main linkage institutions. this means by which individuals express preferences regarding the development of pubLic policy.

Front 8

Policy Agenda

Back 8

a set of policies, issues, problems our subjects that get viewed by/attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actively involved in politics/Policy making at the time to be addressed or pursued by an individual group; also a set of underlying motives for political policy.

Front 9

Political issue

Back 9

an issue that arises related to politics when people disagree about a problem and how to fix it.

Front 10

Policy Making Institution

Back 10

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

Front 11

Public Policy

Back 11

a choice that government makes in response to a political issue. a policy is a course of action taken wIth regard to some problem. the impact of public policy on the American public is that it either creates a solution or makes a bigger problem, and it does depend on weather or not it is public or private.

Front 12

Democracy

Back 12

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

Front 13

Majority Rule

Back 13

a fundamental principle of traditional democratic theory. In a democracy, choosing among alternatives requires that the majority's desire be respected (the idea that the government should act in accordance with the will of the majority of people)

Front 14

Minority Rights

Back 14

a principle of traditional democratic theory that guarantees rights to those who do not belong to majorities. having minority rights allows mobacracy (Plato) -where the majority will rob the minority of all rights-not to happen.

Front 15

Representation

Back 15

a basic principle of traditional democratic theory that describes the relationship between the few leaders and the many followers. it is the method or process of enabling the citizenry, our some of them, to participate in the shaping of legislation and governmental policy.

Front 16

Pluralist Theory

Back 16

a theory of government and politic semphasizing that politics is mainly a competition among groups, each one passing for its own preferred policies. basically a society compromised of competing groups (social, economic, etc. ) where the groups access government from various points and political priorities are different due to interests.

Front 17

Elite and Class Theory

Back 17

a theory of American democracy contending that an upper-class elite holds the power and makes policy, regardless of the formal government organization. meaning a small group of wealthy elite dominate policy decisions

Front 18

Hyper Pluralism

Back 18

a theory of American Democracy contending that groups are so strong that government, which gives in to many different groups, is thereby weakened. it is pluralism on steroids where groups gain too much power where government does not function correctly and policy does not represent the people. (pluralism in GRIDLOCK)

Front 19

Policy Gridlock

Back 19

a condition that occurs when interests conflict and no coalition is strong enough to form a majority and establish policy, so nothing gets done.

Front 20

Gross Domestic Product

Back 20

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

Front 21

Individualism

Back 21

the belief that individuals should be left on their own government. One of the primary reasons for the comparatively small scope of American government is the prominence of this belief in American political thought and practice.

Front 22

define government and identify the functions that governments perform. what is the rule of politics I'm government?

Back 22

government is the organization of power within a process used to create and conduct public policy, maintain a national defense, provide public services, preserve order, socialize the young, and collect taxes. When it comes to government and politics there is a formula:Government plus politics equals the creation of public policy. politics is basically the means by which individuals and groups get involved and results in the formal election of officials and government has an impact on our everyday lives because it has those institutions that create public policy. Politics determine who we select as our governmental leaders and what policies these leaders pursue. meaning government goes through politics, which results in public policy.

Front 23

what are the principle components of the policymaking system? explain how a political issue travels through the policymaking system by using an example.

Back 23

the major principle components in the policymaking system are 1) agenda setting (outline interests, problems, concerns, linkage institutions and promoting issues to elected officials) 2) creation of policy (policymaking institutions and policy intangibles) and 3) impact on the American public (shirt term vs long term and private vs public). the way a political issue travels through the policy making system is 1) the people and their interests, 2) people form interest groups, 3) people's concerns enter the linkage institutions, 4) Linkage institutions institutes shape policy agenda, 5) the political issue is added to policy agenda, and 6) policymakers scan the issues on the policy agenda, select those they consider important and make policies to address them.

Front 24

What is the definition of democracy? What are the basic principles of traditional democratic theory?

Back 24

democracy is rule by the people, a system of selecting policymakers and of organizing government so that policy represents and responds to the public's preferences. the basic principles of the traditional democratic theory are, equally in voting(One person, one vote, no one's vote should count more than anyone else's), effective participation (citizens must have adequate and equal opportunities to express their preferences), enlightened understanding (a marketplace of ideas, a free press and free speech are essential to civic understanding), citizen control of the agenda (citizens should have a collective right to control the government's policy agenda) and inclusion (the government must include, and extend rights, all those subject to its laws.)

Front 25

Compare, contrast, and critically evaluate the three theories of American democracy:pluralist theory, elite and class theory, and hyperpluralism.

Back 25

pluralism is based on the belief that different interest groups work together to determine the political agenda. hyperpluralism is Just the opposite because it believes that different interest groups can't work together to determine the political agenda, and it only creates political Gridlock. the elite and class theory simply says the rich control the political agenda. but they are all similar in that they have a group or groups outside of the common/average citizen determine the political agenda.