American Politics Miderm Review

Politics

Any process by which people reach agreement on a course of action when they disagree about the goals; it forces compromise over how goods are distributed.

Collective Action

A group acting together toward a common goal (e.g., voting, lobbying, monitoring, fighting wars).

Collective Action Problem

A situation where individuals would benefit from cooperating, but barriers like conflict, coordination failure, free riding, or commons overuse keep them from doing so.

Conflict (barrier)

A collective action barrier where participants disagree about the goal itself, so the group must first decide what it wants (e.g., healthcare reform). Fixed by institutions like Congress, the Electoral College, and ballot measures.

Coordination Problem

A barrier where people's choices must fit together to succeed, so they need shared rules or cues (e.g., a common currency). Fixed by traffic laws and air traffic control.

Prisoner's Dilemma

A situation where each person's incentive to defect (act selfishly) prevents cooperation that would leave everyone better off. Free riding and the tragedy of the commons are both forms of it.

Public Good

A good that is non-rival and non-excludable, so anyone can use it without reducing it and no one can be kept out (e.g., national defense, clean air).

Free Riding

Benefiting from a non-rival public good without contributing to it, so the good may never get made (e.g., national defense, public radio). Fixed by taxes, selective incentives, and the IRS.

Tragedy of the Commons

Overuse of a rival shared resource, because each user gains privately while depletion costs are shared (e.g., New England cod fisheries, traffic). Fixed by quotas, licenses, property rights, and the EPA.

Selective Incentives

Private benefits or penalties given only to people who contribute, used to overcome free riding in large groups (Olson).

Transaction Costs

The time, energy, and resources needed to reach and carry out a collective decision. They grow with group size and with how much agreement the decision rule requires.

Conformity Costs

The gap between what an individual prefers and what the group decides. They are highest when few people decide (dictatorship) and lowest under unanimity.

Transaction–Conformity Tradeoff

Transaction and conformity costs move in opposite directions. Dictatorship has low transaction and high conformity costs, majority rule is medium on both, and unanimity has high transaction and low conformity costs. Institutions choose a point on this tradeoff.

Delegation

A body authorizing another body to act on its behalf (e.g., voters to representatives). It reduces transaction costs but creates agency loss.

Institution

An enduring set of rules and roles that exists independently of the people in it and is designed to solve collective action problems (e.g., House committees).

Principal

The person or group who delegates authority to an agent to act on its behalf (e.g., voters, an employer, Congress).

Agent

The person given authority to act on the principal's behalf (e.g., elected representatives, an employee, a doctor).

Agency Loss

The gap between what the principal wants and what the agent actually does.

Adverse Selection

Hidden information. Before delegation, the agent has private information, so the principal may choose an unqualified or unfaithful agent (e.g., an unskilled contractor; Michael Brown at FEMA). Controlled by screening.

Moral Hazard

Hidden action. After delegation, the principal cannot observe what the agent does (e.g., a cheating mechanic; a member who skips committee meetings). Controlled by monitoring, incentives, and sanctions.

Agency Costs

The money, time, and resources spent screening, monitoring, sanctioning, or giving incentives to agents to limit agency loss. Delegation always balances agency loss against agency costs.

Olson (Logic of Collective Action)

Argues shared interests do not ensure contributions. Large groups often need coercion or selective incentives to provide collective goods.

Hardin (Tragedy of the Commons)

Argues shared resources will be overused when individuals rationally pursue private gain while sharing the costs of depletion.

Ostrom

Argues that users can sometimes build workable institutions to manage shared resources themselves, so neither state control nor privatization is a universal solution.

Mansbridge (What is Political Science For?)

Argues that negotiation and legitimate coercion help groups act collectively, but institutional design must also guard against abuse of power.

Mayflower Compact

An early colonial self-governance agreement in which the Pilgrims covenanted to form a "civil Body Politick."

Colonial Charters

Gave colonies limited self-rule with elected assemblies, while Britain appointed governors and judges, regulated commerce, and provided defense. They gave the founders experience with self-government but little with collective action across colonies.

Articles of Confederation

The first national government, a loose confederation with a unicameral Congress, equal state votes, no executive or courts, and no enforcement power. Congress relied on the states to carry out its decisions.

Articles of Confederation (Problems)

No common currency, trade wars between states, and competition in foreign commerce (coordination problems); inability to raise revenue (free riding); no way to execute policy or stop rebellions; unanimity required to amend.

"Excessive Democracy"

The founders' complaint about early state governments. Legislatures dominated with no real checks on popular passions, and some undermined property rights (e.g., Pennsylvania).

Madison's Dilemma

"You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." Government needs enough power to solve collective action problems but must be limited to control agency loss and conformity costs.

Virginia Plan

Madison's plan, backed by large states and nationalists. It proposed a bicameral legislature with representation by population, broad national lawmaking power, and a Council of Revision.

New Jersey Plan

Paterson's plan, backed by small states and states' rights advocates. It proposed a unicameral legislature with equal state representation, Articles-level powers plus taxing and commerce power, and a plural executive chosen by Congress.

British Plan

Hamilton's plan, with an upper house and executive serving for life, an absolute veto, and states' sovereignty all but eliminated. No one supported it.

Great Compromise

Created a bicameral Congress, with House seats based on population (and the House originating revenue bills) and equal state representation in the Senate.

Electoral College (Compromise)

The compromise over choosing the executive. State legislatures decide how electors are chosen, and the House picks the president if no candidate wins a majority.

Three-Fifths Compromise

Counted each enslaved person as 3/5 of a person for apportionment, giving slaveholding states extra representation.

Slave Trade Compromise

Barred Congress from banning slave imports before 1808. Paired with a fugitive slave clause (Northern states had to return escaped slaves) and congressional power to set tariffs.

Article V (Amendment Process)

Amendments are proposed by 2/3 of both houses of Congress, OR by a national convention called at the request of 2/3 of state legislatures. They are ratified by 3/4 of state legislatures OR conventions in 3/4 of states, and Congress chooses the method.

Article VII

Ratification by conventions in 9 states put the original Constitution into effect among the ratifying states.

Taxing and Spending Clause (Art. I, §8, cl. 1)

Lets Congress raise revenue and spend for the common defense and general welfare, including through grants to states. It solved the Articles' free-rider revenue problem.

Commerce Clause (Art. I, §8, cl. 3)

Lets Congress regulate interstate, foreign, and tribal commerce.

Coinage Clause (Art. I, §8, cl. 5)

Lets Congress coin money, regulate its value, and set weights and measures, solving the currency coordination problem. States are barred from coining money (Art. I, §10).

Necessary and Proper / Elastic Clause (Art. I, §8, cl. 18)

Lets Congress make laws to carry out its granted powers, including means not expressly listed. "Necessary" means appropriate, not indispensable.

Admission of States (Art. IV, §3)

Gives Congress the power to admit new states to the Union.

Supremacy Clause (Art. VI)

The Constitution and valid federal law prevail over conflicting state law, but Congress still needs constitutional authority to enact that law.

Enforcement Clauses (13th §2, 14th §5, 15th §2)

Give Congress power to enforce the Reconstruction Amendments' bans on slavery, denial of due process and equal protection, and racial voting discrimination.

Expressed/Enumerated Powers

Powers explicitly granted to Congress in the Constitution (17 listed in Art. I, §8).

Implied Powers

Powers inferred as means of carrying out enumerated powers (e.g., chartering a national bank to carry out the taxing and borrowing powers).

Article I, Section 9

Lists powers Congress may not exercise. Together with the Bill of Rights, it limits national power.

Article I, Section 10

Lists powers states may not exercise (e.g., coining money, making treaties, entering foreign alliances).

Tenth Amendment (Reserved Powers)

Powers not delegated to the national government or prohibited to the states are reserved to the states or the people (e.g., police power, public services, local government).

Police Power

The states' reserved power to regulate health, safety, welfare, and morals.

Concurrent Powers

Powers shared by the national and state governments (e.g., taxing, militias). Granting a power to Congress does not automatically bar states from using it.

Full Faith and Credit (Art. IV, §1)

Requires states to recognize the laws, records, and court rulings of other states.

Privileges and Immunities (Art. IV, §2)

Bars states from discriminating against residents of other states or giving special privileges to their own residents, to promote national unity.

Dormant Commerce Clause

An implied limit on states, which may not place an undue burden on interstate commerce even where Congress has not acted.

Dillon's Rule

Local governments have no constitutional status and are legally the agents, creatures, and delegates of their state governments.

Home Rule

Protection from state interference in local affairs, granted to large cities in most states through state constitutions.

Anti-Federalists

Opponents of ratification who feared high conformity costs, including a large consolidated republic, aristocracy, a standing army, judicial tyranny, taxes, and no bill of rights. After ratification they became a loyal opposition (states' rights, term limits).

Federalist 10 (Madison)

Factions are a "mortal disease" that cannot be removed in a free society. A large republic with representation contains many factions (pluralism), which makes a stable majority faction, and so majority tyranny, unlikely.

Federalist 51 (Madison)

A structural answer to tyranny. Separation of powers, checks and balances, different bases of election, and federalism let "ambition counteract ambition" and control government after power is delegated.

Brutus III (Anti-Federalist)

Argues that a small, distant legislature will be captured by wealthy elites and cannot reflect varied social interests. Calls for a larger, more representative legislature.

Kernell (Reassessing Madison)

Argues Federalist 10 trusts competition in the popular legislature, while Federalist 51 treats legislative dominance as a danger needing checks. The politics of ratification explains the shift.

Faction (Madison)

A group united by a common interest or passion adverse to the rights of others or to the interests of the community as a whole.

Pluralism

The Federalist 10 idea that many competing interests in a large republic keep any one faction from dominating.

Election of 1800

Adams (Federalist) vs. Jefferson (Democratic-Republican). A Jefferson–Burr tie took 35 House ballots to resolve, then the Federalists gave up power peacefully, the first real test of the Constitution.

Federalism

A system in which national and state governments govern the same people and territory, each with its own elected officials and independent authority protected by the Constitution. Distinct from a unitary system or a confederation.

Dual Federalism ("Layer Cake")

1789–1937, when national and state governments were sovereign in largely separate spheres, with tension rather than collaboration. The national government handled tariffs, public lands, and foreign policy; states handled elections, civil and property rights, banking, and internal improvements.

Cooperative Federalism ("Marble Cake")

1937 onward, when national, state, and local governments share responsibility for nearly all functions. Launched by the New Deal and expanded by the Great Society.

Regulatory Federalism

1970s to today, when Washington sets the terms for states through grant conditions, cross-over sanctions, unfunded mandates, and preemption.

Federalism by Extortion

Threatening funds, prosecutions, or federal agents to force states into one-on-one deals on the administration's terms.

Nullification

The claim by states' rights advocates that state legislatures could invalidate acts of Congress. Settled against the states by the Civil War.

Compact Theory

The view that the Union is a compact among states, so states could secede. Rejected by the outcome of the Civil War.

16th & 17th Amendments

The 16th created the federal income tax and the 17th the direct election of senators. Both strengthened national power at the expense of the states.

Interstate Commerce Act (1887) / Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

Early national regulation of a national economy, responding to problems states could not solve alone.

New Deal

FDR's 1930s programs, plus the 1937 "switch in time" on the Supreme Court, which expanded national economic management and began cooperative federalism.

Political Logic of Nationalization

Groups take causes to Washington because lobbying one Congress beats lobbying 50 legislatures (e.g., MADD and the drinking age), and some causes can only win nationally (e.g., civil rights, environmental protection).

Grants-in-Aid

Federal money given to states with conditions attached, using the taxing and spending power to influence state policy (the "carrot"). Distribution is political.

Categorical Grants

Grants for specific, narrowly defined purposes with strict conditions. The Great Society created more than 100 of them.

Cross-Over Sanctions

Grant conditions that withhold funds in one program unless a state adopts policy in another area (e.g., highway funds tied to a drinking age of 21).

Matching Grants

Federal funds that match state spending at a set ratio, so each added state dollar draws federal money. This encourages program expansion.

Fixed Block Grants

A set federal allocation that does not change with state spending, so the state pays the full marginal cost of any expansion.

Unfunded Mandates

Federal requirements imposed on states without reimbursement (the "stick"), relying on the Commerce and Supremacy Clauses (e.g., REAL ID Act 2005, PFAS water rule 2024).

Preemption

Federal law that displaces conflicting state law or occupies an entire policy field, limiting state discretion. Used by both parties (AI may be the next frontier).

Anti-Commandeering Principle

Congress cannot force state officials to administer or enforce federal law.

Coercive Grant Conditions Limit

Conditions on federal grants must be clear, related to the grant's purpose, and not coercive (NFIB v. Sebelius).

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Upheld Congress's implied power (through Necessary and Proper) to charter a national bank, and held that Maryland could not tax it. "Necessary" does not mean indispensable.

Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)

Defined commerce broadly as "every species of commercial intercourse," including navigation. Struck down New York's steamboat monopoly and established national supremacy over interstate commerce.

United States v. Lopez (1995)

Struck down the Gun-Free School Zones Act because noncommercial gun possession had no required connection to interstate commerce. The commerce power cannot become a general federal police power.

NFIB v. Sebelius (2012)

Held that threatening states' existing Medicaid funds to force Medicaid expansion was unconstitutionally coercive.

Federalist 39

Argues the Constitution is partly national and partly federal. The House reflects population, the Senate represents states equally, and national authority acts directly on individuals.

Federalist 45

Madison argues that delegated national powers are few and limited, while states keep extensive authority and political advantages in ordinary life.

Kettl (Sorting Out Who Does What)

Argues authority, information, and capacity often sit at different levels of government, so federalism requires constant bargaining and coordination. Disaster response exposes the failures.

Kousser (Devolution Revolution)

Argues grant design changes fiscal incentives. Matching grants encourage expansion, while block grants shift marginal costs and tax burdens to the states.

States as Laboratories

An advantage of federalism, since states can experiment with policies that others can copy or avoid.

Advantages of Federalism

Protection from federal oppression (e.g., states opposing the Sedition Act of 1798), states as laboratories, government close to the people, room for regional diversity, competition and efficiency, and states acting when Washington won't (e.g., climate).

Disadvantages of Federalism

Coordination problems (homeland security), free riding (fisheries, aquifers), threats to unity (nullification, secession), race-to-the-bottom competition, and tyranny of local majorities (Jim Crow).

Race to the Bottom

Cutthroat competition between states that drives down protections (e.g., lax environmental standards, low welfare benefits).

Tyranny of Local Majorities

Local majorities oppressing minorities within their states (e.g., Jim Crow), the danger Federalist 10 predicted for small republics.