PSC 102 - Chapter 1 Notes - Intro to State and Local Government

PSC 102 - Chapter 1 - Intro to State and Local Government Notes

True

True or False:
In a democracy, the people determine a region’s political culture which in turn determines how much and to what end a government acts. Political scientist Daniel Elazar identified three types: moralistic, individualistic, and traditionalistic, typified here.

State

_______ governments determine the violations and punishments that constitute criminal law.

Local

________ governments are responsible primarily for law enforcement and fire protection.

providing free bus services

This video discusses the political initiatives in the city of Boston. Which action discussed provides the best example of the primary purpose of city governments?

changing the budget process

building policy teams

talking with residents

providing free bus services

a significant role in

City governments are best characterized as having ______ the lives of citizens.

minimal interaction with

a significant role in

almost complete control over

no impact on

local

In the video, Michelle Wu works in which level of the government?

federal

state

local

regional

local

Which level of government is primarily responsible for providing both law enforcement and fire protection services to their respective populations?

local

state

municipal

national

state

Public colleges and universities are created and supported by which level of government?

federal

municipal

local

state

provide services to their respective populations

One of the primary purposes of state and local government is to ______.

establish and implement laws

provide services to their respective populations

regulate large areas of a person’s life

represent their citizens

False

True or False:
States presently cover most students' costs to attend a public university.

comparative method

A learning approach based on studying the differences and similarities among similar units of analysis (such as states).

Variance

The difference between units of analysis on a particular measure.

local governments

Governments below the state level, such as county boards of commissioners and city councils are known as _______.

True

True or False:
All the governmental structures in all 50 states are roughly the same.

the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government

All 50 states have a basic division of powers among which three levels of government?

U.S. Constitution

All 50 states and their levels of governments have to operate within the broad confines of the single set of rules that is the ______________.

local

Counties, municipalities, townships, and so forth are defined as ________ governments.

their respective state constitutions.

There’s a bit more variety below the state level, with many different kinds and levels of local government (counties, municipalities, townships, and so forth), but broadly speaking, all these governments share a basic set of responsibilities, and all have to operate within the rules set down within:

down

As the per-student state appropriation—the amount the state kicks in per student—goes up, the average tuition bill goes ______.

up

As the per-student state appropriation—the amount the state kicks in per student—goes _______ , the average tuition bill goes down.

sales tax

What you pay depends on not just what you buy, but where you buy it. Why is that?

comparative method

Your tuition bills to the price of soda, differences among political jurisdictions make a difference in the daily lives of citizens and these differences are known as __________.

True

True or False:
How much a state gives to higher education helps determine how much you pay in tuition.

state

How much a _____ gives to higher education helps determine how much you pay in tuition.

They all have roughly the same governmental structures.

Which of the following statements expresses a commonality among all fifty U.S. states?

They all contribute the same amount of funding to support services.

They all have roughly the same governmental structures.

With only slight variations, their policy choices are extremely similar.

The basic taxation structure is consistent across states.

True

True or False:
The differences between comparable units of analysis are referred to as variance.

variance

The differences between comparable units of analysis are referred to as _______.

False

True or False:
The primary differences between the structure of state and local governments are the ways that taxes are assessed and the ways that elections are conducted.

comparative method

Which type of approach uses similarities and differences as the basis for explaining why the world is the way it is?

experimental method

comparative method

case study method

statistical method

comparative method

Which method is based on the idea that a person can learn more about apples by likening them to other apples than they can by likening them to oranges or bananas?

experimental method

statistical method

comparative method

case study method

True

True or False:
Systematic differences between states can account for why basic goods and services have significantly different costs between states, even those that neighbor one another.

Sociodemographics

The characteristics of a population, including size, age, and ethnicity.

Sociodemographics

The characteristics of a population, including size, age, and ethnicity is known as ____________.

False; They change

True or False:
Population characteristics often stay the same.

expansion ; contraction

Population _______ and population _________ create very different problems and policy priorities for local governments—the struggle to accommodate new growth in a fast-developing area versus the challenge of managing decline.

political culture

Identifiable general attitudes and beliefs about the role and responsibility of government

moralistic, individualistic, and traditionalistic.

The three distinct migration patterns that created three different types of state political cultures are:

Moralistic culture

A political culture that views politics and government as the means to achieve the collective good.

moralistic cultures

States with ___________ are those in which politics is the means used to achieve a good and just society.

moralistic

The states that are said to have _______ cultures tend to be clustered in the northern parts of the country (New England, the upper Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest)

Individualistic culture

A political culture that views politics and government as just another way to achieve individual goals.

individualistic cultures

States with ________________ have a different view of government and politics. In individualistic cultures, people view government as an extension of the marketplace, something in which people participate for individual reasons and to achieve individual goals.

individualistic cultures

Government should provide the services people want, but it is not viewed as a vehicle to create a “good society” or intervene in private activities is beliefs that fall under which culture? .

individualistic

In ____________ states, politics is viewed the same as any other business. Officeholders expect to be paid like professionals, and political parties are, in essence, corporations that compete to provide goods and services to people

individualistic

As long as the roads are paved and the trains run on time, folks in ___________ states tend to tolerate a certain level of corruption in government.

individualistic

Illinois is a classic _________ culture state—and 4 of its last 10 governors have served jail terms for corruption, bribery, and fraud.

Illinois

__________ is a classic individualistic culture state—and 4 of its last 10 governors have served jail terms for corruption, bribery, and fraud.

traditionalistic culture

In a _____________, politics is the province of elites, something that average citizens should not concern themselves with.

traditionalistic culture

A political culture that views politics and government as the means of maintaining the existing social order.

Traditionalistic

___________ states are, as their name suggests, fundamentally conservative, in the sense that they are concerned with preserving a well-established society.

conservative

Traditionalistic states are, as their name suggests, fundamentally _________, in the sense that they are concerned with preserving a well-established society.

traditionalistic

Like moralistic states, ___________ states believe that government serves a positive role.

Traditionalistic

_____________ states believe the larger purpose of government is to maintain the existing social order.

traditionalistic

In __________ cultures, those at the top of the social structure are expected to play a dominant role in politics, and power is concentrated in the hands of these elites.

Traditionalistic

__________ states tend to be rural (at least historically); in many of these states, agriculture, rather than a broader mix of competing commercial activities, is the main economic driver.

Traditionalistic

___________ cultures tend to be concentrated in the Deep South.

tradition and history

In the deep south is where you will find Traditionalistic cultures. In these areas, politics are shaped by _______ and ___________.

True

True or False:
Many states these days tend to encompass a mix of two or even all three cultures.

True

True or False:
Political culture is remarkably resilient.

Daniel Elazar

Who was the political culturalist that noted three distinct political cultures?

moralistic

Policy change and innovation are more likely in _________ states.

Individualistic

___________ states are more likely to offer businesses tax breaks.

Traditionalistic

__________ states tend to commit less public money to areas such as education.

True

True or False:
Culture and history matter in majority of states when politics come into play.

Moralistic

__________ states spend about 13 percent more per capita on colleges and universities than do states with the other two cultures.

size ; health

The relative _____ and _______ of a state’s economy has a huge impact on its capacity to govern and provide public services

economy

The relative size and health of a state’s _________ has a huge impact on its capacity to govern and provide public services .

economic

Regional __________ differences do not determine only tax burdens and the level of public services; they also determine the relative priorities of particular policy and regulatory issues.

less

States with above-average incomes tend to spend ______ per capita on higher education.

comparative method

It shows that the obvious assumptions are not always the correct ones.

True

True or False:
Geographical and population differences often not only shape the answers to such difficult policy issues but also pose the questions.

Wyoming and Vermont

Which states had the lowest gross state product in 2022?

Iowa and Hawaii

Arizona and Maryland

Ohio and Michigan

Wyoming and Vermont

Alaska and Montana

Which states have small economies despite being geographically large?

New York and Texas

Florida and California

Massachusetts and New Jersey

Alaska and Montana

100 to 499.9

According to the map, the majority of states have a state economy that falls within ______ billion dollars.

500 to 999.9

50 to 99.9

1,000 to 3,000

100 to 499.9

True

True or False:
Geographical and topographical variation presents different challenges to governments.

political culture

Which term best describes the identifiable general attitudes and beliefs about the role and responsibility of government?

devolution

political culture

sociodemographic

variance

moralistic

States with ______ cultures are those in which politics is the means used to achieve a good and just society.

individualistic

traditionalistic

moralistic

parochialistic

False

True or False:
Greater state wealth routinely translates into more support for public programs, such as higher education.

sociodemographics

The varying characteristics of states' or localities' populations are referred to as ______.

units of analysis

sociodemographics

variances

geographics

State ; local

________ and _______ governments employ more people and buy more goods and services from the private sector.

State ; local

_____ and _____ governments have the primary responsibility for addressing many of the issues that people care about the most, including education, crime prevention, transportation, health care, and the environment.

535

Only _____ elected legislators serve in the U.S. Congress.

U.S. Congress

Only 535 elected legislators serve in the _________.

network ; hierarchy

Governance in the United States is more of a _____ than a _______.

True

True or False:
The policies and politics of any single level of government are connected and intertwined with the policies and politics of the other levels of government in a complex web of interdependent relationships.

states ; localities

What ______ and _______ do, and how they go about doing it, turns out to shape national life overall, as well as the lives of individual citizens.

Louis Brandeis

U.S. Supreme Court justice ____________ famously described the states as laboratories of democracy.

laboratories of democracy

U.S. Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis famously described the states as _______________.

laboratories of democracy

A metaphor that emphasizes the states’ ability to engage in different policy experiments without interference from the federal government.

laboratories of democracy

This metaphor refers to the ability of states—and, to a lesser extent, localities—to experiment with policy.

devolution

For much of the past 30 years, state–federal relations have been characterized by _________.

Devolution

The process of taking power and responsibility away from the federal government and giving it to state and local governments.

True

True or False:

The U.S. Constitution, federal laws and regulations, nationwide recessions, and the like constrain what states and localities can and cannot do. Internal factors, such as the characteristics of a particular state, also play a critical role in setting limits on what the state decides to do.

internal

Characteristics of a particular state are (external/internal) factors.

money

For states and localities, _____ is the biggest factor limiting independent policy action

Political system

__________ characteristics are the elements of the political environment that are specific to a state.

innovative

States in which the government perceives an electoral mandate to reform government are more likely to be _______ than are states in which the government perceives an electoral mandate to retain the status quo.

Organized interest group

______ _______ _______ activity helps determine what sorts of policy demands government responds to.

Organized interest groups

Those individuals who organize to support policy issues that concern them are known as:

they typically are not sovereign governments.

Localities face more policymaking constraints than states do because: