POS 2041: Government of the United States Exam #3 Vocabulary Flashcards

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards based on the study guide for Government of the United States, covering chapters 12-16, major court cases, and key terminology.

New York Times v. U.S. (1971)

A landmark Supreme Court case that affirmed the right to free press against prior restraint by the government, allowing the publication of the Pentagon Papers.

Boumediene v. Bush (2008)

A major court case involving legal rights and foreign policy constraints.

Citizens United v. FEC (2010)

A landmark court case that impacted campaign finance and source funding rules.

McCutcheon v. FEC (2014)

A major court case relating to campaign finance limitations.

Primary Election

A type of election used in the nominating process to select a party's candidate.

General Election

The main election in which candidates for office are chosen by the voters.

Closed Primary

An election where only registered members of a specific political party can vote to choose that party's candidates.

Open Primary

An election where voters are not required to be registered with a specific party to participate in the nominating process.

Initiative

A procedure by which voters can propose a law or a constitutional amendment.

Referendum

A process that allows citizens to approve or reject laws passed by a legislature.

Winner-take-all Primary

A nominating process where the candidate who receives the most votes wins all of that state's delegates.

Proportional Representation Primary

A nominating process where delegates are awarded to candidates based on the percentage of the vote they received.

Caucus

A traditional nominating process involving a meeting of party members to select candidates.

Electoral College

The system that determines the presidency based on a specific number of electors per state and a minimum number of electoral votes to win.

Incumbency Advantage

The structural and political causes that make it more likely for current officeholders to win re-election.

Inoculation Ads

Campaign advertisements designed to counteract the anticipated attack of an opponent before it happens.

PACs (Political Action Committees)

Organizations created to raise money for political campaigns with specific legal limitations on funding.

Super PACs

Political action committees that can raise unlimited sums of money but are restricted in how they coordinate with candidates.

Retrospective Judgment

A voter's evaluation of a candidate based on their past performance in office.

Prospective Judgment

A voter's evaluation of a candidate based on what they pledge to do in the future.

26th Amendment

The constitutional amendment that lowered the legal voting age from $21$ to $18$.

Front-loading

A critique of the election system where states move their primary dates earlier in the year to gain more influence.

Yellow Journalism

A style of reporting that emphasizes sensationalism over facts, prevalent in the history of news media.

Muckraking

A form of investigative journalism focused on exposing corporate and political corruption.

Agenda Setting

A media effect where news coverage influences which issues are viewed as significant by the public.

Framing

A media effect where the phrasing or context of a news story influences how the public interprets information.

Equal Time Rule

A journalistic standard requiring broadcasters to provide equivalent opportunities for airtime to opposing political candidates.

Media Consolidation

A trend where a small number of media chains account for $90\%$ of news content.

Narrowcasting

The practice of targeting media programming toward a specific, often partisan or niche, audience.

Infotainment

A trend in digital and broadcast media that blends informative news with entertainment elements.

Interest Group

An organized collection of people or organizations that seeks to influence public policy.

Pluralist Theory

A theory of interest group formation suggesting that power is distributed among a wide array of competing groups.

Disturbance Theory

A theory suggesting that interest groups form as a reaction to changes or 'disturbances' in the political environment.

Transactions Theory

A theory of interest group formation suggesting that individuals will not join groups unless they receive specific benefits, often favoring elite interests.

Free Riders

Potential members who fail to join or contribute to an interest group because they can receive the benefits without active participation.

Two-year Waiting Period

A legal restriction on lobbying that prevents individuals from lobbying their former agency for $2\text{ years}$ after leaving the executive branch.

Elite Theory

A theory of policy-making that suggests a small minority of the economic elite and policy-planning networks hold the most power.

Bureaucratic Theory

A theory suggesting that the power in policy-making lies within the government's administrative agencies.

Special Interest Theory

A policy-making theory focusing on the influence of specialized groups over public outcomes.

Laissez-faire

An economic theory that opposes government interference in the free market.

Keynesian Economics

spending by the government equals more economic growth and employment.

Supply-side Economics

An economic theory focused on reducing taxes and regulation to encourage production and growth.

Federal Reserve System (The Fed)

The government entity that handles most U.S. monetary policy and operates under two main mandates.

Medicare

A federal program that provides health insurance primarily for the elderly.

Medicaid

A state and federal program that provides health coverage primarily for people with low incomes.

Social Security Act

Legislation that created a social insurance program for the elderly, survivors, and the disabled.

Means-tested Social Welfare Programs

Government programs that provide benefits only to individuals whose income falls below a certain level.

Non-means tested Social Welfare Programs

Government programs that provide benefits regardless of a recipient's income or wealth.

Isolationism

An American foreign policy approach characterized by avoiding international entanglements, dominant in the pre-$WWII$ era.

Internationalism

An American foreign policy approach characterized by active global involvement, dominant in the post-$WWII$ era.

Monroe Doctrine

A principle of US policy that any intervention by external powers in the politics of the Americas is a potentially hostile act.

Containment

A Cold War strategy intended to stop the expansion of an enemy's influence, particularly communism.

Deterrence

A defense policy strategy of maintaining a strong military to prevent an enemy attack.

Truman Doctrine

An American foreign policy that pledged support for nations threatened by Soviet communism.

Marshall Plan

An American initiative to provide economic aid to help rebuild Western Europe after $WWII$.

NATO

A collective defense alliance formed between North American and European nations.

Détente

A period of improved relations and reduced tension between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

War Powers Resolution

A federal law intended to check the U.S. president's power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of Congress.

Realism

An international relations theory that focuses on the competitive and conflictual side of world politics and the pursuit of national interests.

Idealism/Liberalism

An international relations theory that emphasizes international cooperation and the importance of morality and international law.

Protectionism

A trade policy of shielding a country's domestic industries from foreign competition by taxing imports.

Kyoto Protocol

An international treaty from the $1990\text{s}$ regarding global climate change.

Paris Climate Agreement

A recent international agreement aiming to address climate change and its negative impacts.