Unit 3 Review Guide: Political Ideologies, Media, Campaign Finance, and Electoral Systems

Vocabulary flashcards covering core political science concepts from Unit 3, including political socialization, party factions, media roles, campaign finance jurisprudence, electoral structures, and Arizona direct democracy mechanisms.

Family (Political Socialization)

The single agent of political socialization consistently recognized as the strongest predictor of an individual's long-term political party identification and core moral values.

Modern Liberalism

A political ideology located in the bottom-left quadrant of a 2-Axis Political Compass, defined by support for strict federal environmental and economic regulations on corporations paired with strong protection of personal autonomy and opposition to government surveillance.

Libertarian Ideology

A political philosophy that generally agrees with Conservatives on free market economic issues, but agrees with Modern Liberals on personal autonomy and civil liberties.

Party Platform

A political party's complete formal statement of principles and policy goals.

Policy Plank

An individual position on one specific issue contained within a political party's broader platform.

Modern Conservatism (Republican Platform)

A political belief system and party platform generally characterized by free-market capitalism, lower income tax rates, and federalism.

Democratic Party Platform

The formal governing agenda of Modern Liberalism, characterized by expanded federal social safety nets, regulatory safeguards, and progressive taxation.

Ideological Party

A minor political party built around a comprehensive, enduring political philosophy governing all aspects of policy, such as the Libertarian Party or the Green Party.

Single-Issue Party

A third party formed around a single specific public policy concern, such as the Free Soil Party or the Prohibition Party.

Splinter Party

A political party that breaks away from a major party due to an internal leadership or ideological feud; illustrated in 1912 by Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive ("Bull Moose") Party, which split the Republican vote with William Howard Taft and enabled Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win with a plurality.

Federalist vs. Democratic-Republican Constitutional Split

The fundamental constitutional debate between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson over broad versus strict construction—specifically whether the federal government possesses implied powers under the Elastic Clause or is strictly limited by state sovereignty and the 10th Amendment.

Issue Co-optation

The political dynamic wherein major political parties absorb popular policy demands championed by third parties into their own official platforms, such as major parties adopting Ross Perot's 1992 focus on national debt reduction.

Fourth Estate

A concept referring to the press in American democracy, recognized for exercising informal political power through investigative reporting, public transparency, and holding government officials accountable outside the formal three branches of government.

Gatekeeper (Media Role)

The media function performed when news editors and television producers determine which political stories receive lead coverage and which are omitted entirely.

Agenda Setter (Media Role)

The media function of repeatedly broadcasting stories on specific issues (such as inflation or border security), thereby forcing elected officials to publicly address them.

Watchdog (Media Role)

The investigative media role of uncovering and reporting government corruption; exemplified by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein during Watergate, whose reporting exposed illegal White House wiretapping and secret funds, pressuring Congress to initiate oversight hearings and impeachment proceedings.

Prior Restraint Standard (New York Times Co. v. United States)

The Supreme Court legal standard established in the 1971 Pentagon Papers case holding that the First Amendment strictly prohibits government censorship prior to publication unless direct, immediate, and catastrophic harm to national security is proven.

Iron Triangle

A stable, mutually beneficial policymaking alliance composed of three actors: Congressional Subcommittees, Bureaucratic Agencies, and Interest Groups / Lobbyists.

Democratic Deficit (Iron Triangles)

The insulation of policy decisions from public scrutiny, voter influence, and presidential oversight caused by closed, self-serving alliances among congressional subcommittees, bureaucratic agencies, and interest groups that risk regulatory capture and favor special interests over the public good.

Hard Money

Direct campaign contributions given to candidate campaigns that are subject to strict Federal Election Commission (FEC) dollar limits and mandatory public disclosure.

Soft Money

Independent political expenditures raised and spent by outside groups on issue advocacy and advertisements without any candidate campaign coordination.

Traditional PAC Contribution Limit

Under Federal Election Commission (FEC) regulations, the maximum direct contribution a Traditional Political Action Committee can make to a candidate campaign per election is $\$5{,}000$.

Super PAC (Independent Expenditure Committee)

A political committee permitted to accept unlimited contributions because it engages solely in independent spending and is legally prohibited from coordinating directly with candidates, qualifying its expenditures as protected speech under the First Amendment.

Dark Money (501(c)(4) Organizations)

Unlimited funds spent on independent election campaigns by 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations that are not legally or constitutionally required to disclose the identities of their donors to the public or the FEC.

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)

The landmark Supreme Court decision ruling that independent political expenditures by corporations and labor unions constitute political speech protected by the First Amendment, barring the government from limiting independent campaign spending based on corporate identity.

Elections Clause (Article I, Section 4)

The constitutional provision granting state legislatures primary authority to prescribe the times, places, and manner of holding congressional elections, while preserving ultimate power for Congress to alter those regulations or establish national standards.

Twelfth Amendment (Contingent Election)

The constitutional procedure triggered when no presidential candidate attains the required $270$ electoral vote majority, directing the House of Representatives to choose the president from the top three candidates, with each state delegation receiving exactly one vote.

Congressional District Method (Maine and Nebraska)

The presidential elector allocation system used by Maine and Nebraska that awards electoral votes based on the popular vote winner within individual congressional districts, departing from the winner-take-all model.

Plurality

The condition of receiving the highest individual total of votes in an election, even if under $50\%$, which is sufficient to win office in a Single-Member District (SMD) winner-take-all system.

Closed Primary

A primary election system that strictly limits ballot access to voters registered with that specific political party.

Open Primary

A primary election system that permits any registered voter to select and cast a party ballot regardless of their formal party affiliation.

Ranked Choice Voting

An electoral mechanism in which voters rank candidates by preference; if no candidate achieves a majority, lowest-placed candidates are systematically eliminated and their votes redistributed until one candidate secures a majority.

Citizen Initiative

A direct democracy mechanism where grassroots citizens draft proposed laws and collect voter petition signatures to place the proposal directly on the general election ballot.

Legislative Referendum

A ballot measure authored, voted on, and passed by the state legislature that is subsequently referred to the electorate for final approval or rejection.

Arizona Statutory Initiative Threshold

The requirement in Arizona that petition signatures must equal at least $10\%$ of total votes cast in the last gubernatorial election to qualify a statutory measure for the ballot.

Arizona Constitutional Amendment Initiative Threshold

The requirement in Arizona that petition signatures must equal at least $15\%$ of total votes cast in the last gubernatorial election to qualify an amendment to the state constitution for the ballot.

Popular (Veto) Referendum

An Arizona direct democracy process enabling citizens to challenge a newly passed state law by gathering required signatures within $90\text{ days}$ of legislative adjournment, suspending the law until voters decide its fate on the ballot.

Gerrymandering

The deliberate redrawing of legislative and congressional district boundaries to confer an unfair advantage on a particular political party, creating non-competitive safe seats and fueling political polarization.

Packing (Gerrymandering)

A redistricting technique that concentrates opposing party voters into as few districts as possible to dilute their political influence across all other districts.

Cracking (Gerrymandering)

A redistricting technique that disperses opposing party voters across multiple districts to prevent them from securing an electoral majority in any single district.

Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC)

An independent, non-partisan regulatory body created by Arizona voters via Proposition 106 in 2000 to draw state legislative and congressional boundaries and minimize partisan gerrymandering.