AP Government Vocabulary Study Sheet

AP Government Vocabulary

Equal Protection Clause

  • Constitutional basis for civil rights and equality under the law.

Miranda Rule

  • Policy requiring police to inform suspects in custody of their rights.

Exclusionary Rule

  • The rule that evidence obtained by authorities in violation of the Constitution may not be used in court.

Individualism

  • The belief that people should be self-reliant, free from state control, and responsible for their own success of failure.

Equality of Opportunity

  • The idea that the government should provide citizens with the same chance to succeed.

Prospective Voting

  • Voting for a candidate based on predictions about what the candidate will do in the future.

Party-Line Voting

  • Voting for candidates from one political party.

Demographics

  • The statistical characteristics of a population.

General Election

  • An election for president, members of the House of Representatives, and one third of the Senate.

Mid-Term Election

  • An election for members of Congress two years after a presidential election.

Linkage Institutions

  • Elections, interest groups, political parties, and the media.

Critical Election

  • An election where new coalitions of voters have formed, beginning a new party era.

Realignment

  • When voters leave one of the major political parties and join the other major political party.

Gerrymandering

  • Drawing congressional district boundaries to benefit a group, usually a political party.

Redistricting

  • Redrawing congressional district boundaries based on a new census.

Reapportionment

  • Redistributing legislative seats according to the population so that each district has roughly the same population.

Divided Government

  • When the president is from one party and one or both houses of Congress are controlled by a different party.

Lame Duck

  • A president who is at the end of his second term or who has lost an election or decided not to run for a second term.

Executive Order

  • A presidential statement that has the force of law and does not require congressional approval.

Executive Agreement

  • An agreement with a foreign nation that does not require congressional approval.

Signing Statement

  • Signing a bill with a written statement that the executive will not carry out a portion of the bill.

Stare Decisis

  • When a court follows precedent by allowing a previous court decision to stand.

Judicial Activism

  • A philosophy that the Supreme Court should use its authority to make bold new policy.

Judicial Restraint

  • A philosophy that the Supreme Court should limit itself to constitutional interpretation and avoid making bold new policy.

Issue Network/Iron Triangle

  • The relationship between a congressional committee or subcommittee, an interest group, and bureaucratic agency regarding a policy area.

Oversight

  • When a congressional committee holds a hearing to determine how well an agency is doing its job.

Civil Liberties

  • Individual rights protected by law from unjust government interference.

Civil Rights

  • Rights provided by the government to protect groups from discrimination.

Selective Incorporation

  • The process by which the Bill of Rights has been applied to the states on a case-by-case basis through the Fourteenth Amendment.

Symbolic Speech

  • Non-verbal expression protected by the First Amendment, such as wearing an arm band.

Defamatory Speech

  • An untrue statement that damages someone’s reputation, which is not protected by the First Amendment.

Due Process Clause

  • Constitutional basis for individual liberties and fair treatment by the judicial system.

Free Enterprise

  • The idea that businesses should operate in competition, relatively free from government control.

Rule of Law

  • The idea that everyone, including government officials, is subject to well-defined and established laws that are not arbitrary.

Pluralist Democracy

  • A theory emphasizing group-based activism.

Logrolling

  • When members of Congress trade votes for favors in order to get bills they support passed.

Trustee Model

  • The idea that members of Congress should use their expertise and judgement in making policy.

Delegate Model

  • The idea that members of Congress should make the policies favored by their constituents.

Politico Model

  • The idea that members of Congress sometimes use their judgement and sometimes follow the wishes of their constituents in making policy.

Pocket Veto

  • When the president doesn’t sign a bill for 10 days, after Congress has adjourned.

Concurrent Powers

  • Authority that is shared between the national and state governments.

Mandates

  • When the national government requires the states to do something.

Revenue Sharing

  • When the national government distributes tax revenues to the states to spend as they see fit.

Categorical Grants

  • Money given by the national government to the states to be used for a specific, narrowly defined purpose.

Block Grants

  • Money given by the national government to the states to carry out a specific policy, with few restrictions about how it should be spent.

Enumerated Powers

  • Powers that are given to an institution of government directly in the Constitution, such as Congress’s power to coin money and regulate its value and impose taxes.

Implied Powers

  • Powers that are necessary to carry out an expressed power in the Constitution, such as the power of Congress to establish a national bank.

Constituency

  • The voters in a district or state who are represented by a member of Congress.

Winner-Take-All System

  • A system for electing members of the legislature where the person who receives the plurality of votes is awarded the single seat available.

Party Coalition

  • Groups of voters (such as labor unions, business owners, farmers, ethnic minorities, and people living in specific regions) who support one political party over time.

Bipartisan

  • Legislation or policy that has the support of both major political parties.

Open Primary

  • A vote to determine a party’s candidate for office where that party’s members and unaffiliated voters may vote.

Closed Primary

  • A vote to determine a party’s candidate for office where only members registered to a political party are allowed to vote.

Party Caucus

  • Face-to-face meeting of party members at the local or state level to pick their party’s candidate for office.

Incumbency Advantage

  • Those who already hold office are more likely to win than their challengers.

PAC

  • An organization that is registered with the Federal Election Commission that donates money to a candidate or campaign.

Super PAC

  • An organization whose members need not be disclosed that may donate unlimited amounts of money to campaigns.

Independent Expenditure

  • Money spent on ads not sponsored by a candidate or party.

Horse Race Journalism

  • The tendency of the media to focus on which candidate is ahead in the polls rather than focusing on the issues.

Limited Government

  • A government with constrained powers, usually by a constitution.

Natural Rights

  • Humans are entitled to life, liberty and property.

Popular Sovereignty

  • The idea that the right to rule comes from the people.

Republicanism

  • A form of government where people elect representatives to carry out their interests.

Social Contract

  • An agreement between the people, who give up some freedom, in exchange for protection from the government.

Participatory Democracy

  • A theory emphasizing broad citizen involvement in government.

Elite Democracy

  • A theory that the wealthy have more influence.

Federalism

  • A system of government where power is shared between the national government and the states and where the states have some protected.

Exclusive Powers

  • Authority that is given only to the national or state governments.

Filibuster

  • An informal procedure used in the Senate to talk a bill to death.

Cloture

  • A vote by 60 senators to end unlimited debate.

Unanimous Consent

  • An agreement, usually among congressional leaders, setting the terms for considering a bill.

Hold in the Senate

  • A procedure to prevent a bill from reaching the floor.

Discharge Petition

  • A procedure for getting a bill out of committee and onto the floor for a vote.

Discretionary Spending

  • Spending on programs not already required by law.

Mandatory Spending

  • Spending that is required under the law, such as Medicare and interest on the national debt.

Entitlement Programs

  • A program for which funding is required that provides guaranteed benefits to those who qualify, regardless of income.

Budget Deficit

  • An annual shortfall between federal revenues and expenses.

Pork Barrel Legislation

  • A provision in a bill that benefits a relatively small group of people.

Political Socialization

  • The process by which an individual develops his or her political beliefs.

Political Ideology

  • An individual’s set of beliefs about the role of government.

Keynesian Theory

  • A theory that the government should spend money during economic recessions to stimulate demand in the economy.

Supply-Side Theory

  • The theory that the government should cut taxes to stimulate economic growth.

Monetary Policy

  • The government’ use of the money supply to influence economic growth.

Fiscal Policy

  • The government’s use of taxing and spending to influence economic growth.

Liberal Ideology

  • A political view that government should protect individual freedom and civil rights.

Conservative Ideology

  • A political view that supports free enterprise and traditional social values.

Franchise/Suffrage

  • The right to vote.

Rational-Choice Voting

  • Voting for a candidate because they will act in the voter’s best interest.

Retrospective Voting

  • Voting for a candidate based on what he or she has done in the recent past.

Proportional Representation

  • A system for electing members of the legislature by voting for political parties, where seats are awarded to parties based on the percentage of votes received.