PSC 314 Chapter 6

Earmarks

Specific projects that are attached to pieces of legislation by individual lawmakers, usually to appeal to their local constituencies. Usually insulated from any formal review.

“Pork" (Pork-Barrel Politics)

The use of government funds for projects designed to please voters and win votes.

Aggregating Preferences

The process in which the beliefs and opinions of many actors (individual preferences) are organized into the preferences as a group as a whole (often are as a prerequisite for making a communal decision).

Direct Democracy

A type of political system that allows for all actors to have a voice in the decision-making process by voting directly on matters being considered.

Comparative Politics

The study of how different political systems operate around the world.

Representative democracy

A form of government in which voters chose representatives who make decisions on their behalf.

At-large legislature

Districts in which all of the representatives are elected by all of the eligible voters in the relevant geographic area.

Single-member legislative districts

A method of electing a legislature in which the relevant geography is divided into individual districts, with one representative elected by the members of each district.

Plurality

A system in which the candidate with the most votes wins, regardless of whether that candidate achieves a majority or not.

Gerrymandering

The process of drawing electoral boundaries in ways that give a political advantage to a political group or individual.

Separation of Powers

The distribution of powers across different governmental institutions to provide a system of “checks and balances”

Vote of no confidence

An action taken by the Governing party or parties in a parliamentary system to remove a prime minister and replace them with a new leader.

Coalition Government

The government formed in a parliamentary system when no single party controls a majority of parliament seats. Two or more parties must join together to support a Prime Minister.

Committee Markup (marking up)

The process in which Congressional Committees do much of the work related to writing and revising legislation before a bill is voted out of committee for consideration by all of Congress.

Reporting Legislation

The process by which a bill goes from committee to the full legislature for consideration, along with a committee report that includes background information on the legislation.

Roll-Call Vote

A type of vote that requires every member of a legislative body to go on record for or against a measure.

Voice Vote

A type of vote that merely records whether a measure has passed or not rather than recording the specific vote cast by each legislator.

Gatekeepers

Individuals whose institutional powers give them disproportionate influence over legislative outcomes.

Byrd Rule

Created by West Virginia Senator; a rule that requires that only legislation relevant to the budget should be included in the budget reconciliation bill. To prevent this bill (which is immune from the filibuster) from being used for other legislative purposes.

Median Voter Theory

A theory suggesting that under certain circumstances politicians can maximize the number of votes they receive by adopting the positions favored by the median voter (voters in the midpoint of a distribution of voting numbers).

Intensity of Preferences

A measure of how strongly a person or a group feels about a certain issue or situation and their respective costs or benefits derived from that issue or situation.

Logrolling

The process in which politicians trade and withhold favors in order to advance their own political goals.

Rent-Seeking

The process by which political interests use the powers of government, such as regulation or taxation, to secure some kind of economic advantage.

Economic Rent

An extraordinary profit that is not bid away by normal competitive forces.

Points of Entry

The places in the policy process that a party can seek to influence or change in order to achieve some overarching objective.

Referendum

A direct vote among the entire eligible voting population that accepts or rejects a proposition or measure.