AP United States Government and Politics Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards from the AP United States Government and Politics Study Guide.

Direct democracy

Allows citizens to directly govern and make laws, considered chaotic and inefficient.

Participatory democracy

Values broad based public participation in governing, keeps government close to the people.

Representative democracy/republicanism

Citizens elect representatives who then govern for them, efficient system.

Elite democracy/elitism

Allows the best educated and most qualified members of society to govern.

Majoritarian democracy

Promotes majority rule, allows them to govern based on their ideals.

Consensus democracy

Promotes the sharing of power across diverse groups, requires compromise.

Natural rights

Rights that exist in a “state of nature,” life, liberty, and property.

Popular sovereignty

People are the highest level of power in society. The power of government to govern comes from the people.

Social contract theory

People should consent to be governed and in exchange the government will provide protections and certain public goods to the people.

Confederation

Form of government where smaller government units are sovereign.

Enumerated powers

Powers specifically listed in the Constitution.

Implied powers

Powers that are not specifically mentioned but implied in certain phrases in the constitutional text.

Separation of powers

National government separated into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. Each branch has unique powers.

Checks and balances

Each branch of government was given certain powers over the other branches.

Federalism

Government power in the United States is divided between the federal government and state governments.

Dual federalism

State power and federal government power and responsibility should be strictly divided and no sharing of power or responsibility should be undertaken.

Cooperative federalism

Federal government and state governments should share power and responsibility.

Delegate model

Representatives should vote with the will of the people of the district.

Trustee model

Representative is in the best position to have an informed opinion on a policy issue and therefore should use their best judgment when voting for the districts they represent.

Administrative law

Rules created by the executive branch under the delegation of authority by Congress.

Bureaucratic capture

Trend of industry leaders being appointed to government independent oversight agencies and then providing favorable oversight, rulemaking, and regulatory decisions for the industry.

Literalist doctrine

President has only those powers specifically mentioned in the Constitution’s Article II.

Stewardship doctrine

Unless the constitution specifically prohibits a president from a certain action, then the president is free to exercise that power.

Unitary executive theory

President has total authority within the executive branch to create rules and policies as he or she sees fit.

Executive agreements

Agreements between a president's administration and other countries or international organizations.

Bully pulpit

Ability of the president to command media coverage and focus the public's attention on issues he or she wishes to prioritize.

Civil service

Everyday workers employed by the federal government to perform the government's duties.

Spoils system

Practice of hiring all government employees based upon political loyalties and favors.

Party-line voting

Voter may mark their ballot in one place and vote for all candidates of one party.

Rational choice selection

Vote based on which candidate will be best for their individual interests.

Retrospective voting

Making choices based on a candidate's history in office, or how a candidate has performed in the past.

Prospective voting

Making a candidate selection based on how a voter thinks the candidate will perform in the future.

Closed primaries

Elections only open to registered members of the political party.

Open primaries

Elections open to any voter who wants to vote on the ballot of that party.

Political parties

Official organizations designed to bring like-minded people together in order to elect members of the party.

Party coalition

Different people, interests, and groups affiliated with a political party.

Heuristic

Mental shortcut, to determine how they will vote when they are not familiar with certain candidates in certain races.

Political action committees (PACs)

Organizations wishing to contribute directly to candidate campaigns are.

Independent expenditure organizations

Organizations wishing to advertise through television, radio, mail, and via the Internet who do not wish to contribute directly to candidates.

Interest group

Organization or group of individuals or entities who seek to influence politics, government, and policy but are not a political party.

Pluralism theory

Interest groups overall have a positive effect on government.

Elitism theory

Interest groups may not provide universal representation on all issues.

Lobbying

Act of talking directly to policy makers and building relationships with them in order to influence policy.

Grassroots efforts

Actions taken to affect public opinion on an issue.

Public opinion

Collection of attitudes and preferences held by the general public.

Benchmark polls

Take a snapshot of the public opinion at any given time.

Tracking polls

Done continuously over a given period of time to measure how public opinion is changing from day to day, week to week, month to month, or even year to year.

Priming

Process through which certain issues are prioritized in the public's mind over other issues.

Framing

Process of establishing context in which a certain issue is understood by the public.

Bias

Preconceived ideas and feelings that the individual brings to an issue before being presented with new information on the issue.

Confirmation bias

Individual seeks out or interprets new information to confirm what they already believe to be true.

Availability bias

Readily available examples of something are mistaken for being more representative than they are.

Cognitive dissonance

Discomfort felt by individuals in being presented with information that conflicts with their previously held beliefs.

Ideology

Set of ideas or values the voters and individuals may identify with based on how they feel about a wide variety of issues and their general attitude toward the role of government.