Test 1 - Politics

substantive limits

what the government is permitted to control

procedural limits

how they go about governance

Bicameral system

two chambers: senate and house

first face of power

direct conflict: A makes B do what they want them to do

Second Face of Power

non decision making: agenda setting, deciding what comes to the house floor, it’s not that minority party doesn’t want to do something, its that they can’t

Third face of Power

manipulating consciousness: A shaped how B views the world, marixism, feminism

utility

measure of benefits in a citizens mind which he uses to decide among alternative courses of action

current party differential

the difference between the utility income he actually received and what he would have received if the opposition had power

reward-punishment (Retrospective Voting)

throwing out poor performers and vice versa

Competency (Retrospective Voting)

choose to re-elect competent over unknown

cognitive and emotional biases (Retrospective Voting)

voters rely on cognitive shortcuts to process information like “how is the economy right now?”; mood effects what voters remember and accredit to candidates

Median Voter theorem

the median voter is determining policy

Blind Retrospection (retrospective voting)

people reward and punish politicians for things out of their control

Myopia (retrospective voting)

shortsightedness, focus on recent events too much, should be considering entire period, politicians make seek to exploit this

Partisanship (retrospective voting)

doesn’t matter how things are going, will vote for candidate who represents their party

By-product learning

learn something while doing other things

Legislative Centered theories of party (Schwartz-Aldrich)

(A,B,C) for (X,Y,Z): by forming a coalition, (A and B in favor of X and Y, against Z) payoffs are increased

Rational Ignorance

cede responsibilities of learning everything to other people, news outlets and journalists, they will collect and analyze for you

heuristics

informational shortcuts (ex. political party)

invisible primaries

interest groups having influence on who is running before primaries happen

casual chain

the mechanism that connects a congressional decision with actual changes in the incidence of cost and benefits

“Saints”

legislators who prioritize policy over re-election

Filibuster

attempt to delay or block a vote on a piece of legislation or a confirmation

Cloture Rule (Rule XXII)

makes it possible to break filibuster with 2/3 majority

Silent Filibuster

group of 41 or more threaten to filibuster, majority leader declines to call a vote