Democracy and American Politics Exam 1 Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key political terms, constitutional compromises, federalism models, and state/local government structures from Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 14.

Government

How a society organizes itself and allocates authority for collective goals.

Politics

How we decide who gets what, and how.

Political power

Influence over institutions, leadership, or policies.

Private goods

Goods that individuals must pay to use.

Public goods

Goods that are free to all.

Toll goods

Goods that are plentiful but gated by price.

Common goods

Goods that are open to all but scarce.

Monarchy

A form of government ruled by one hereditary ruler.

Oligarchy

A form of government run by a few elites.

Totalitarianism

A form of government in which citizens have no rights.

Elite theory

The theory that a small elite governs society, as posited by Mills.

Pluralist theory

The theory that political power is held by competing interest groups through access points, as posited by Dahl.

Tradeoffs

The view that public policy is a compromise among elites and groups.

Popular sovereignty

A democratic benchmark characterized by competitive elections, free and fair elections, participation, information quality, majority rule, and policy reflecting public wishes.

Articles of Confederation

The 1781 framework of government that lacked authority to tax, regulate interstate commerce, raise an executive, create interstate courts, or coin one currency, and was ended following Shay's Rebellion.

Virginia Plan

A Constitutional Convention proposal favoring large states with representation based on population across two legislative houses.

New Jersey Plan

A Constitutional Convention proposal favoring small states with one vote per state in a single-house legislature.

Great Compromise

The agreement establishing a bicameral legislature with representation by population in the House and equal representation in the Senate.

Three-Fifths Compromise

An agreement counting all free people and 60% of enslaved people for both taxation and congressional representation.

Federalism

A system of government with two autonomous levels where neither controls the other.

Supremacy clause

A constitutional provision that settles conflicts between levels of government by making federal law supreme.

Enumerated powers

Explicitly listed national powers that limit government authority.

Necessary and proper clause

A constitutional clause granting Congress flexibility to execute its enumerated powers.

Commerce clause

A constitutional provision regulating trade among states, used expansively to expand federal power.

Dual federalism

An era of federalism (1870s-1930s) characterized by clear, separate spheres of government authority, described as layer cake federalism.

Cooperative federalism

An era of federalism from the New Deal onward characterized by blended state and federal responsibilities, described as marble cake federalism.

New federalism

An era of federalism under Nixon and Reagan characterized by looser strings on federal money provided to states.

Categorical grants

Federal grant money provided to state or local governments with specific conditions or strings attached.

Block grants

Federal grant money provided to states with flexible discretion on spending.

Creeping categorization

The process by which federal strings and requirements gradually attach back onto block grants.

Dillon's rule

The legal principle that state power stands above local government, meaning cities exist at the state's pleasure and are not sovereign.

Home rule

A degree of local independence from state government over policy or taxing decisions, defined by a local charter.

Ordinary veto

A governor's executive action that completely kills a passed bill.

Line-item veto

A governor's power to strike specific parts of a bill while allowing the rest to become law.

Amendatory veto

A governor's power to return a bill to the legislature requesting specific amendments.

Reduction veto

A governor's power to cut a specific budgeted spending amount within a bill.

Plural executive

An executive branch arrangement where officers such as the lieutenant governor and attorney general are elected independently rather than appointed.

Delegate legislator

A representative who votes according to constituents' expressed will, even if it goes against their personal judgment.

Trustee

A representative who exercises independent personal judgment when making legislative decisions.

Consecutive term limits

A rule capping continuous legislative service, after which a member must sit out before becoming eligible to run again.

Lifetime ban

A strict term limit rule allowing a legislator to serve only one allotment of time ever in their lifetime.

Mayor-council system

A city government structure where voters elect both the mayor and city council members.

Council-manager system

A city government structure where an elected council appoints a professional city manager to handle operations.