Pol 1101 Georgia Tech

Government

the institutions through which public policies are made for a society; How should we govern? What should government do?

What Governments do

-Maintain a national defense

-Provide public goods and services

-Preserve order

-Socialize the young

-Collect taxes

Collective goods

goods and services, such as clean air and clean water, that by their nature cannot be denied to anyone

Politics

the process determining the leaders we select and the policies they pursue. Politics produces authoritative decisions about public issues

Political participation

all the activities by which citizens attempt to influence the selection of political leaders and the policies they pursue. Voting is the most common means of political participation in a democracy. Other means include contacting public officials, protest, and civil disobedience

Single-issues groups

groups that have a narrow interest on which their members tend to take an uncompromising stance

Policymaking system

the process by which policy comes into being and evolves. People's interests, problems, and concerns create political issues for government policymakers. These issues shape policy, which in turn impacts people, generating more interests, problems, and concerns

Linkage institutions

the political channels through which people's concerns become political issues on the policy agenda. In the US, linkage institutions include elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media

Policy agenda

the issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people involved in politics at a point in time

Political issue

an issue that arises when people disagree about a problem and how to fix it

Policymaking institutions

the branches of government charged with taking action on political issues. The US Constitution established three policymaking institutions- Congress, the presidency, and the courts. Today, the power of the bureaucracy is so great that most political scientists consider it a fourth policymaking institution

Public policy

a choice that government makes in response to a political issue. A policy is a course of action taken with regard to some problem

Policy impacts

the effect a policy has on people and problems. Impacts are analyzed to see how well a policy has met its goal and at what cost

Democracy

a system of selecting policymakers and of organizing government so that policy represents and responds to the public's preferences

What Democracy entails

-Equality in voting

-Effective participation

-Enlightened understanding

-Citizen control of the agenda

-Inclusion

Majority rule

a fundamental principle of traditional democratic theory. In a democracy, choosing among alternatives requires that the majority's desire be respected

Minority rights

a principle of traditional democratic theory that guarantees rights to those who don't belong to majorities

Representation

a basic principle of traditional democratic theory that describes the relationship between the few leaders and the many followers

Pluralism

a theory of American democracy emphasizing that the policymaking process is very open to the participation of all groups with shared interests, with no single group usually dominating. Pluralists tend to believe that as a result, public interest generally prevails

Elitism

a theory of American democracy contending that an upper-class elite holds the power and makes policy, regardless of the formal governmental organization

Hyperpluralism

a theory of American democracy contending that groups are so strong that government, which gives in to the many different groups, is thereby weakened

Challenges to Democracy

-Increased complexity of issues

-Limited participation in government

-Escalating campaign costs

-Diverse political interests

Policy gridlock

a condition that occurs when interests conflict and no coalition is strong enough to form a majority and establish policy, so nothing gets done

Political culture

an overall set of values widely shared within a society

Martin Lipset

said the American creed can be summarized by five elements: liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, laissez-faire, and populism

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

the sum total of the value of all the goods and services produced in a year in a nation

Federalism

a way of organizing a nation so that two or more levels of government have formal authority over the same land and people. It is a system of shared power between units of government

Unitary governments

a way of organizing a nation so that all power resides in the central government. Most national governments today are unitary governments

Confederation

the national government is weak, and most or all power is in the hands of the country's components; for example, states

Intergovernmental relations

the workings of the federal system-the entire set of interactions among national, state, and local governments, including regulations, transfers of funds, and the sharing of information

Supremacy clause

the clause in article VI of the Constitution that makes the Constitution, national laws, and treaties supreme over state laws as long as the national government is acting within its constitutional limits

The tenth amendment

the constitutional amendment stating, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people"

The eleventh amendment

prohibits federal courts, state courts, or federal administrative agencies from hearing cases in which a private party names a state as a defendant or seeks monetary relief from a state officer in his or her official capacity unless the state gives consent

McCulloch v. Maryland

an 1819 Supreme Court decision that established the supremacy of the national government over state governments. The Court, led by Chief Justice John Marshall, held that Congress had certain implied powers in addition to the powers enumerated in the Constitution

Enumerated powers

powers of the federal government that are specifically addressed in the Constitution; for Congress, including the powers listed in article I, Section 8, for example, to coin money and regulate its value and impose taxes

Implied powers

powers of the federal government that go beyond those enumerated in the Constitution, in accordance with the statement in the Constitution that Congress has the power to "make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution" the powers enumerated in article I

Elastic clause

the final paragraph of article I, section 8, of the Constitution, which authorizes Congress to pass all laws "necessary and proper" to carry out the enumerated powers

Gibbons v. Ogden

a landmark case decided in 1824 in which the Supreme Court interpreted very broadly the clause in Article I, section 8, of the Constitution giving Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce as encompassing virtually every form of commercial activity

Full faith and credit

a clause in article IV of the Constitution requiring each state to recognize the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of all other states

Extradition

a legal process whereby a state surrenders a person charged with a crime to the state in which the crime is alleged to have been committed

Privileges and immunities

the provision of the Constitution according to citizens of each state the privileges of citizens of other states

Dual federalism

a system of government in which both the states and the national government remain supreme within their own spheres, each responsible for some policies

Cooperative federalism

a system of government in which powers and policy assignments are shared between states and the national government; shared cost, federal guidelines, and shared administration

Devolution

transferring responsibility for policies from the federal government to state and local governments

Fiscal federalism

an elaborate assortment of federal grants-in-aid to the states and localities

Fiscal federalism (cont.)

the pattern of spending, taxing, and proving grants in the federal system; it is the cornerstone of the national government's relations with state and local governments

Categorical grants

federal grants that can be used only for specific purposes, or "categories", of state and local spending. They come with strings attached, such as nondiscrimination provisions

Categorical grants- project grants

federal categorical grants given for specific purposes and awarded on the basis of the merits of applications

Categorical grants- formula grants

federal categorical grants distributed according to a formula specified in legislation or in administrative regulations

Block grants

federal grants given more or less automatically to states or communities to support broad programs in areas such as community development and social services

Civil rights

policies designed to protect people against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by government officials or individuals

Fourteenth amendment

the constitutional amendment adopted after the Civil War that states, "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the US; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws"

Equal protection of the laws

part of the fourteenth amendment emphasizing that the laws must provide equivalent "protection" to all people

Scott v. Sandford

the 1857 Supreme Court decision ruling that a slave who had escaped to a free state enjoyed no rights as a citizen and that Congress had no authority to ban slavery in the territories

Thirteenth amendment

the constitutional amendment ratified after the Civil War that forbade slavery and involuntary servitude

Plessy v. Ferguson

an 1896 Supreme Courts decision that provided a constitutional justification for segregation by ruling that a Louisiana law requiring "equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races" was constitutional

Brown v. Board of Education

the 1954 Supreme Court decision holding that school segregation was inherently unconstitutional because it violated the fourteenth amendment's guarantee of equal protection. This case marked the end of legal segregation in the US

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

the law making racial discrimination in hotels, motels, and restaurants illegal and forbidding many forms of job discrimination

The Civil Rights Act of 1964- what it did

-Made racial discrimination illegal in hotels, motels, restaurants, and other places of public accommodation

-Forbade discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, or gender

-Created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to monitor and enforce protections against job discrimination

-Provided for withholding federal grants from state and local governments and other institutions that practiced racial discrimination

-Strengthened voting rights legislation

-Authorized the US Justice Department to initiate lawsuits to desegregate public schools and facilities

Suffrage

the legal right to vote, extended to African Americans by the fifteenth amendment, to women by the nineteenth amendment, and to 18- to 20-year-olds by the twenty-sixth amendment

Fifteenth amendment

the constitutional amendment adopted in 1870 to extend suffrage to African Americans

Poll taxes

small taxes levied on the right to vote. This method was used by most Southern states to exclude African Americans from voting. Poll taxes were declared void by the Twenty-fourth amendment in 1964

White primary

primary elections from which African Americans were excluded, an exclusion that, in the heavily Democratic South, deprived African Americans of a voice in the real contests. The Supreme Court declared white primaries unconstitutional in 1944

Twenty-fourth amendment

the constitutional amendment passed in 1964 that declared poll taxes void in federal elections

Voting Rights Act of 1965

a law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African American suffrage. Under the law, hundreds of thousands of African Americans were registered, and the number of African American elected officials increased dramatically

Hernandez v. Texas

an 1954 Supreme Court decision that extended protection against discrimination to Hispanics

Korematsu v. United States

a 1944 Supreme Court decision that upheld as constitutional the internment of more than 100,000 Americans of Japanese descent in encampments during WWII

Nineteenth amendment

the constitutional amendment adopted in 1920 that guarantees women the right to vote

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

a constitutional amendment originally introduced in Congress in 1923 and passed by Congress in 1972, stating "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the US or by any state on account of sex." Despite public support, the amendment fell short of the three-fourths of state legislatures required for passage

Reed v. Reed

the landmark case in 1971 in which the Supreme Court for the first time upheld a claim of gender discrimination

Craig v. Boren

the 1976 ruling in which Supreme Court established the "intermediate scrutiny" standard for determining gender discrimination; The court would not presume gender discrimination to be either valid or invalid

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

a law passed in 1990 that requires employers and public facilities to make "reasonable accommodations" for people with disabilities and prohibits discrimination against these individuals in employment

Affirmative action

a policy designed to give special attention to or compensatory treatment for members of some previously disadvantaged group

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke

a 1978 Supreme Court decision holding that a state university could weigh race or ethnic background as one element in admissions but could not set aside places for members of particular racial groups

Adarand Constructors v. Pena

a 1995 Supreme Court decision holding that federal programs that classify people by race, even for an ostensibly benign purpose such as expanding opportunities for minorities, should be presumed to be unconstitutional

Public opinion

the distribution of the population's beliefs about politics and policy issues

Demography

the science of population changes

Census

an "actual enumeration" of the population, which the Constitution requires that the government conduct every 10 years. The census is a valuable tool for understanding demographic changes

Melting pot

a term often used to characterize the US, with its history of immigration and mixing of cultures, ideas, and people

Minority majority

the situation, likely beginning in the mid-twenty-first century, in which the non-Hispanic whites will represent a minority of the US population and minority groups together will represent a majority

Reapportionment

the process of reallocating seat in the House of Representatives every ten years on the basis of the results of the census

Political socialization

the process through which individuals in a society acquire political attitudes, views, and knowledge, based on inputs from family, schools, the media, and others

Political socialization includes:

*Family-central because of its monopoly on two crucial resources in the early years (time and emotional commitment)

*Mass media-the "new parent", mass media displaces parents as the chief source of information

*School-governments often use schools to promote national loyalty and support for their basic values

Sample

a relatively small proportion of people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the whole

Random sampling

the key technique employed by survey researchers, which operates on the principle that everyone should have an equal probability of being selected for the sample

Sampling error

the level of confidence in the findings of a public opinion poll. The more people interviewed, the more confident one can be of the results

Random-digit dialing

a technique used by pollsters to place telephone calls randomly to both listed and unlisted numbers when conducting a survey

Exit poll-public opinion surveys

used by major media pollsters to predict electoral winners with speed and precision

Political ideology

a coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose, which helps give meaning to political events

Gender gaps

the regular pattern in which women are more likely to support Democratic candidates, in part because they tend to be less conservative than men and more likely to support spending on social services and to oppose higher levels of military spending

Conventional participation

includes many widely accepted modes of influencing government like voting, trying to persuade others, ringing doorbells for a petition, running for office, and so on

Unconventional participation

includes activities that are often dramatic, such as protesting, civil disobedience, and even violence

Protest

a form of political participation designed to achieve policy change through dramatic and unconventional tactics

Civil disobedience

a form of political participation based on a conscious decision to break a law believed to be unjust and to suffer the consequences