PSCI 3061- State Govt and Politics, Midterm 1

Federalism

diving power between levels of government (in the US: national level, state level, local level

Dual Federalism

completely different levels with different responsibilities/ services provided

Cooperative Federalism

levels work together to provide services (marble cake)

Fiscal Federalism

Federal funds are allocated to lower levels of govt through grants/ transfer payments

Picket Fence Federalism

National and state-level governments work together within specific policy areas (ex. roadways, education)

Coercive Federalism

National Government forces states to change policy to match theirs using regulations or mandates

Benefits ot Federalism

• Promotes policy innovation + states acting as labs for democracy

• Promotes political participation

• Accommodates diversity of need and opinion

• Checks to national power

Drawbacks of Federalism

• Disparities across states

• Race to the Bottom Dynamics

• Difficulty taking action on issues of national importance

• Some states lack the resources/ ability to handle additional responsibilities, leading to bullet point #1

Structural Contexts

the institutions, policies, and practices that shape economic/ social opportunities, benefits, and burdens

Policy Diffusion

states adopting new policies already adopted and proven by other states

Top-down vertical policy diffusion

when policies diffuse down to states from the national government, or when they diffuse from states to localities

Bottom-up vertical policy diffusion

When policies diffuse up from localities to the state level or from the state level to the national level

Horizontal policy diffusion

When policies diffuse across the same level of government (locality → locality, state → state, country → country)

Policy Innovation

The adopting of a policy that is new to that state, even if it’s been developed or used in other states

The reasons states innovate

1. Coercion- pressured or mandated to adopt a policy

2. Learning- states adopting a policy after seeing it’s effect

3. Imitation- states borrowing policies from states that have similar attributes or attributes they want to have

4. Competition- states adopting policies to gain advantages over other states

What causes policy diffusion across states?

• Geography

• Nationalization

• State Resources

• Interest Groups

• Policy Characteristics

• Policy Entrepreneur

Contagion effect

state adopting a neighboring state’s policies after seeing it’s positive effects (Geography)

Interest group

a group of individuals and organisations attempting to influence policy decisions

Complexity

how sophisticated/ hard to implement a policy would be (Policy Characteristics)

Salience

how much attention/ public importance an issue/ policy has (Policy characterists)

Observability

How easily a state adopting a policy can be witnessed by other policymakers in other states (policy characteristics)

Relative Advantage

how much adopting a new policy would improve conditions vs how it currently is (Policy Characteristics)

Trialability

How easily a policy can be experimented with, with little cost to the state (Policy Characteristics)

Policy Entrepreneur

Advocates who invest time/ energy/ resources to promote specific policy

Direct Democracy

Allows citizens to vote directly on laws and constitutional amendments, engage directly in democracy

Ballot Initiative

Enables citizens to bypass their state legislature by placing proposed statutes and, in some states, constitutional amendments on the ballot

Constitutional Initiatives

lets citizens bypass state legislature by placing proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot with a public petition process

Statutory Initiatives

an initiative that proposes a new law or to amend a law that qualifies for the ballot with a public petition process

Direct initiatives

ballot measure to change laws or constitutions that are placed directly on the ballot via a public petition process

Indirect Initiatives

measures that will first be considered by a legislature before it’s put on the ballot for citizens to vote on

Ballot referendum

allows voters to approve or repeal an act of the legislature

Legislative referendum

measures placed on the ballot by elected legislators asking voters to enact or reject something passed by a legislature

Popular referendum

measures that qualify for the ballot through the popular petition process asking voters to reject or approve something passed by legislature

Recall

how citizens remove elected officials before their term is completed

Agenda setting

how specific issues are chosen to be considered and discussed, vs ignored

4 steps of the initiative process

1. proposal is drafted

2. proposal is forwarded to a state office for review, gets an official title and summary

3. proponents circulate petitions that include the title and summary, as well as the full text of the law

4. a state office verifies the correct number of signatures was gathered, and then the proposal goes to the ballot

Morality Policies

debates over basic values in which one side portrays the issue as involving morality/ sin

Supermajority

requirement that laws are approved with more than a 51% simple majority

Descriptive Representation

demographic features of a constituency is reflected by their representative politicians

Substantive Representation

how well an elected official represents the political/ policy preferences of their constituency

Dynamic Representation

how policy responds to public opinion changing

Policy Responsiveness

when public preferences are indicative of subsequent policy change

Policy Congruence

when policies favored by a majority of the public are subsequently enacted

How to measure voter preference

public opinion, state polls, demographic information, mass partisanship/ ideology, policy mood, specific opinions, current performance, guessing

Policy Mood

the public’s general disposition towards government

Specific Opinions

the views that members of the public hold on individual topics, rather than overall ideology

Capacity

an institution’s ability to assess/ respond to public opinions

Majoritarianism

the political party or voting group with the most votes—or a simple majority (51% or more)—should have the primary power to make and enforce laws

Political Parties

coalition of individuals and organizations that assist candidates in the election process

Invisible Primary:

the time period before the primary election season where would-be primary candidates test whether they would be viable in the upcoming election

Primary Election

election held between candidates of the same party to see who will become the party’s nominee for the general election

General Election

election held in November between the respective party nominees

Federal Elections

President is elected by the electoral college via majority vote in a single winner contest

State Elections

State legislators and executives are elected via single-winner contests by plurality voting

Election Administration

makiing, application, and implementation of rules/ regulations about how elections are conducted

Electoral Ecosystem

The set of rules, procedures, technologies, and local officials that shape individual level registration and turnout

Pre-Election Administration

First stage of election administration; includes voter registration, poll worker training, polling place configuration, etc

Election Period Administration

Second stage of election administration; includes voting, election observation, ballot counting, etc

Post-Election Administration

Third stage of election administration; election aut=dits, recounts, election data reporting, etc