pol s final

Vb terms

Agency theory

Also called the principal-agent model, the basic premise is that bureaucracies are agents that act on behalf of the legislature- the principal, or "client" - in a relationship similar to a business contract.

agents of political socialization

The sources from which a group learns the political culture, which can include schools, parents, the media, politicians, friends, and religious leaders.

agreement reality

Things that we believe are real even though we have never directly experienced them through our five senses.

alliances

An agreement between groups or individuals to join resources and abilities for a purpose that individually benefits the members of the alliance.

anarchists

Radical ideologues who long for a lack of authority or hierarchy because they believe that human beings are capable of peacefully intermingling and ordering society without broad, formalized governmental structures.

anarchy

The absence of any kind of overarching authority or hierarchy.

appellate jurisdiction

A higher court's authority to review the record from a trial court.

aristocracy

A wealthy landowning class.

Arrow's theorem

The idea that elections cannot be the perfect means of making decisions because the method by which the votes are tallied can significantly alter the outcome.

atomization

The deliberate isolation of people from each other in society to keep them from forming a group that could threaten a leader's hold on power.

authority

Where knowledge, natural ability, or experience makes it rational for people to choose to place themselves in a subordinate position to another individual or group.

authority leakage

When the distortions created by communication down a chain of command make it impossible to control those who act.

balance of power

The way in which the distribution of power across the international system influences the pattern of alliances that tend to form in an anarchical environment.

bandwagoning

Opportunistic international alliances in which nations ally with the bully in order to carve out their own slices of the spoils.

bicameral legislature

A legislature with two houses

bureaucracy

The position within the political administrative structure - the desk, not the person - that defines the role or function to be performed.

capitalism

An economic system based on the free market and individual competition for profits.

central bank

A kinda-sorta government bank that loans imaginary money to real banks.

checks and balances

A system whereby each branch of government can limit the powers of the other branches.

civil law

The branch of law that typically deals with relations among private individuals and groups.

civil law system

System of law based on the proposition that law is a codified, constructed entity that a legislature or some other lawmaking political body has constructed.

classic conservatism

A political ideology that maintains that unrestrained individual human reason cannot take the place of long-standing, traditional institutions.

classic liberalism

A political ideology that emphasizes the belief that people should be generally free from governmental constraints or interference.

cockroach theory of bureaucracy

The idea the bureaucracies serve the public as best as they can and hope to stay hidden from the media and well fed in the darker recesses of an anonymous bureaucratic government.

cockroach theory of politics

The idea that politicians do not want to be spotted anywhere where they might be stomped on; thus, when they see others caught by the media in a scandal, they try to avoid getting noticed for a similar indiscretion.

cognitive frameworks

The set of instinctual and learned filters the human mind uses for sorting the mass of incoming information and selecting which bits it will recognize and pass on to the thinking parts of the brain.

cohabitation

Under the French political system, when the president is from one political party while a different political party controls the legislature.

collective action

Coordinated group action that is designed to achieve a common goal that individuals acting on their own could not otherwise obtain.l

common-law system

Law system characterized by the strong role of the judge in cases and the importance of precedent.

communism

A political ideology that advocates, via revolution, a classless, socialist society in which justice and fairness for the whole prevail over the interests of individuals.

conceptual frameworks

The personal experiences, preferences, and expectations that we all use to make sense of the world.

confederal system

A system in which the local government units have all the real power.

constructivism

A theoretical perspective in international relations that holds as its fundamental claim that human beings construct the reality around them - the reality upon which decisions and choices are made - through language and communication.

criminal law

The branch of law that concerns relationships involving the government and its relationship with individuals and organizations.

crosscutting cleavages

When a group contains many different points of conflict, thus allowing people to find many points of agreement and conflict within the group.

cultural ownership

The idea that something that is part of a group's shared identity can also be owned.

culture

The set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic.

currency

A universally accepted "placeholder" between trades of all the myriad different forms of real wealth, simplifying trade and enabling the fractionalization of whole goods.

deflation

Situation in which the number of currency units is falling relative to available wealth.

delegate

Representative who attempts to do exactly what his or her constituents want.

democracy

Rule by the people, usually through elected representatives, under a constitution that provides protection for basic rights and majority rule.

democratic peace

The observation that liberal democratic political regimes do not fight one another.

democratic socialism

A political ideology that advocates for a socialist state through democratic means.

dictatorship

Form of government in which power is centralized in a single person or possibly a small group of people.

direct democracy

A political system in which all citizens gather together to share perspectives, debate, and vote on policies.

dispute resolution

The role of courts to peacefully settle disputes and keep order in society.

divided government

When one political party controls the presidency and another party controls either all or part of the legislature.

divine right of kings

The principle that earthly rulers receive their authority from God.

dramatic imperative

The need for commercial news outlets to focus on rare and unusual events that have a tremendous impact on people in order to draw and audience.

Electoral College

An election system in which electoral votes are divvied between the states according to population

enlightened self-interest

The idea that people will restrain their self-interest in recognition of the need to preserve a common resource.

experimental reality

Things that we directly experience through our five senses.

fascism

A political ideology that argues for the supremacy and purity of one group of people or nationality in a society.

federal law

The law of the national government.

Federal Reserve rate

The interest rate the Federal Reserve charges on loans to banks.

federal system

Systems in which the final authority for at least some aspects of government are left to the local or subnational level.

feudalism

An economic system under which peasants raise crops and livestock on small plots within the landlord's estate and are obligated to give a substantial percentage of their production to the landlord in exchange for protection.

filibuster

A delaying tactic used by a senator or a group of senators - who indefinitely talk about the bill - to frustrate the proponents of the bill and ensure defeat of the measure.

first-past-the-post

An electoral system in which the candidate with the most votes wins regardless of whether that person has a majority of the votes cast; there is no runoff election.

Foreign Policy Analysis

A theoretical perspective in international relations that holds that understanding how those decisions are made within the structure, process, and context of domestic politics is essential for understanding international politics.

framing

The use of a speech to provide a cognitive framework for understanding an issue, policy, or candidate to predispose people to interpret a myriad of facts and snippets in one way rather than another.

geographic representation

A legislature divided according to geography, in which people are represented by the area they live in.

gerrymandering

The process of intentionally drawing districts to gain a partisan advantage.

going rate

When judges, through past sentencing, set the context for plea bargaining, as defense attorneys and prosecutors negotiate about what the appropriate penalty should be for an offense for which a plaintiff pleads guilty.

government

The creation of institutions or structures to provide the security that people continually need; the result of a group's need to institutionalize, or make permanent, its power.

gridlock

When the checks and balances within the presidential system work too well so that they not only prevent one institution from overwhelming the others but also prevent anyone from doing much of anything.

group identity

The degree to which members identify with a group, and conversely, identify who is not part of that group, a process that affects the group's strength, cohesiveness, and survival.

head of government

The political role of a country's president or ruler as the leader of a political party or group and chief arbiter of who gets what resources.

head of state

The apolitical, unifying role of a country's president or ruler as as symbolic representative of the whole country.

hegemon

A dominant power - either an individual or, in the case of international politics, a country powerful enough to dominate all others.

hereditary monarchies

The most common form of monarchy; used by almost all of the world's existing monarchies. Under a hereditary monarchy, all rulers come from the same family, and the crown is passed along from one family member to another.

hierarchy

A societal structure that elevates someone or some group to a position of authority over others.

humanist

An idealist who is interested in and motivated by concern for the broader human condition and the quality of people's lives.

idealism

A way of looking at the world in which the focus is on what we would like to do or what we would like the world to be; also refers to a theoretical perspective in international relations that stresses the quest for peace.

idealist period

The two decades between the world wars that were marked by the effort to envision and attain a perfectly peaceful world.

ideological representation

Representation in which people's belief is the main concern of leadership.

immobilism

When, because of the complexity and fragility of a ruling coalition, it becomes nearly impossible to enact any kind of coherent policies out of fear that a coalition party will break away and force the government to collapse.

imperial presidency

The accumulation of tremendous power in the presidency at the expense of the other branches of government, especially the legislative branch.

imperialism

The extension of an empire's or nation's rule or authority over foreign countries or the acquisition and holding of colonies and dependencies for the purpose of economic gain.

individual security

Focus on the continued safety of the individual.

inflation

Situation in which the number of currency units in circulation is increased, measured relative to the real stuff of value out there, which reduces the value people place upon each unit of the currency.

initiatives

Questions that are put on the ballot by citizens, usually after some type of qualification process - for example, the collection of a significant number of signatures on a petition.

injunctive power

The power of courts to stop governments, individuals, or groups from acting.

inquisitorial system

In a civil law system, a prolonged pretrial investigative process

institutions

The organizational structures through which political power is exercised.

iron triangle

The situation in which the bureaucracy is captured and redirected to focus on the needs of an interest group rather than on the public interest or even its original mandate

judicial review

The power to declare laws and government acts to be in violation of the nation's constitution or in some other way illegal under the structure of the country.

jurisprudence

A philosophy of law

laissez-faire capitalism

An economic system allowing very little, if any, government involvement, interference, or regulation.

law in action (de facto)

how laws are applied and enforced in the real world.

law in books (de jure)

The laws are they are written.

League of Nations

An international institution created after World War I that attempted to bring nations together to peaceably resolve conflict in a form of collective security.

legal system

A social construction built upon a basic conceptualization of how the law is created and how it functions.

legitimacy

People's voluntary acceptance of their government and its exercise of authority.

Majoritarianism

Rule by the majority.

Karl Marx

A German economist, theorist, sociologist, and philosopher most notable for his works criticizing capitalism and advocating communism - a classless, collective socialist society.

matriarchy

A form of social organization in which the mother is recognized as the head of the family or tribe, and descent and kinship are traced through the mother's side.

means of production

The mechanisms for transforming labor into wealth.

median voter

The one voter in the center of the ideological spectrum.

mediated reality

Reality that comes to us through channels of information flow, primarily through the news media, and our understanding of how information is selected, sorted, and presented to us through the news media.