Gov Vocab- Unit 3

Federal System

A government structure with two levels of government in which each level has sovereignty over different policy matters and geographic areas; asystem of government with sual sovereignty

Unitary system

A government structure in which one central government is the sovereign government and it creates other, regional governments to which it delegates some governing powers and responsibilities; however, the central government retains ultimate authority (sovereignty)

Confederal sysetm

A government structure in which several independent sovereign states agree to cooperate on specified policy matters by creating a central governing body; each sovereign state retains ultimate authority over other governmental matters within its borders, so the central government body is not a sovereign body.

Intergovernmental relations (IGR)

Collaborative efforts of two or more levels of government working to serve the public

Concurrent powers

Basic governing functions that are exercised by the national and state governments independently, and at the same time, including the right to make a policy, raise revenue, implement policy, and establish courts

Enumerated powers

Powers of the national government that are listed in the constitution

Implied Powers

Powers of the national government that are not in the constitution but that Congress claims they are necessary and proper for the national government to fulfill its enumerated powers in accordance with the necessary and proper clause of the constitution.

Necessary and Proper Clause (elastic clause)

A clause in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do whatever it deems necessary and constitutional to meet its enumerated obligations; the basis for implied powers.

Supreme law of the land

The constitutions description of its own authority, meaning that all laws made by governments within the United States must be in compliance with the Constitution

Reserved Powers

The matters referred to in the Tenth Amendment over which states retains their sovereignty

Police Matters

The states’ reserved Powers to protect the health, safety, lives, and properties of residents in a state

McCulloch v. Maryland

Established that the necessary and proper clause justifies broad understandings of enumerated powers

Horizaon federalism

The state-to-state relationships created by the U.S. Constitution

Intersate Compacts

Agreements between states that Congress has the authority to review and reject

Extradition

The return of individuals accused of a crime to the state in which the crime was committed, upon the request of that state’s governor

Privileges and Immunities Clause

The constitution’s requirement that a state extended to other states’ citizens the privilege and immunities it provides for its own citizens

Full Faith and Credit Clause

The constitutional clause that requires states to comply with and uphold the public acts, records, and judicial decisions of other states

Judicial Federalism

State courts’ use of the state constitutions ti determine citizens rights, particularly when state constitutions guarantee greater protections than does the U.S. Constitution

Dual Federalism

The initial model of national and state relations in which the national government takes care of its enumerated powers while the state governments independently take care of their reserved powers.

Grant-in-aid

Transfer of money, from one government to another government, that does not need to be paid back

Cooperative Federalism

Intergovernmental relations in which the national government supports state governments’ efforts to address the domestic matters reserved to them

Centralized Federalism

Intergovernmental relations in which the national government imposes its policy on state and local governments

Devolution

The process whereby the national government returns policy responsibilities to state and/or local governments

Conflicted Federalism

Intergovernmental relations in which elements of dual federalism, cooperative federalism, and centralized federalism are evident in the domestic policies implemented by the state and local governments

Fiscal Federalism

The relationship between the national government and state and local governments whereby the national government provides grant money to the state and local governments

Categorical Formula Grant

A grant-in-aid for a narrowly defined purpose, whose dollar value is based on a formula

Matching funds requirement

A grant requirements that obligates the government receiving the grant to spend some of its own money to match a specified percentage of the grant money provided

Categorical project grant

A grant-in-aid for a narrowly defines purpose for which governments compete with each other by proposing specific projects

Block grant

A grant-in-aid for a broadly defines policy area, whose funding amount is typically based on a formula

Mandates

Clauses in legislation that direct state and local governments to comply with national legislature and national standards

Preemption

A constitutionally based principle that allows a national law to supersede state or local laws