Study of power - The ability of persons or institutions to control policy.

Elitist theory of power - The notion that wealthy and well-connected individuals exercise power over certain areas of public policy.

Majoritarian theory of power - The idea that the majority prevails not only in elections but also in determining policy.

Pluralist theory of power - A theory of American politics that holds that society’s interests are substantially represented through the activities of groups.

Social contract - A voluntary agreement by individuals to form a government that is then obligated to work within the confines of that agreement.

Popular sovereignty -

Political equality -

Locke -

Hobbes -

Rousseau -

Constitutional democratic republic - A government that is constitutional in its provisions for minority rights and rule by law; democratic in its provisions for majority influence through elections; and a republic in its mix of deliberative institutions, which check and balance each other.

Tyranny of the majority - The potential of a majority to monopolize power for its own gain and to the detriment of minority rights and interests.

Declaration of Independence -

Federalist Papers -

Supremacy Clause -

Necessary Clause -

Proper Clause -

Federalism - A governmental system in which authority is divided between two sovereign levels of government: national and regional.

Enumerated (expressed) powers - The 17 powers granted to the national government under Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution. These powers include taxation and the regulation of commerce as well as the authority to provide for the national defense.

10th Amendment -

State-centered/ federalism -

Nation-centered federalism -

Fiscal federalism - A term that refers to the expenditure of federal funds on programs run in part through states and localities.

Article I -

Impact of decentralized power -

Perceptions of Congress -

Committee system -

Structure of House and Senate -

Filibuster - A procedural tactic in the U.S. Senate whereby a minority of legislators prevents a bill from coming to a vote by holding the floor and talking until the majority gives in and the bill is withdrawn from consideration.

Cloture - A parliamentary maneuver that, if a three-fifths majority votes for it, limits Senate debate to 30 hours and has the effect of defeating a filibuster.

Partisan voting -

Single-member districts -

Proportional representation -

Political leadership of each chamber -

Article II -

Evolution of presidential power -

Popular support and presidential power -

Honeymoon period - The president’s first months in office, a time when Congress, the press, and the public are more inclined than usual to support presidential initiatives.

Lame duck period -

Impact of centralized power -

Characteristics of bureaucracy -

Bureaucracy - A system of organization and control based on the principles of hierarchical authority, job specialization, and formalized rules.

Article III -

Judicial philosophies -

Writ of certiorari - Permission granted by a higher court to allow a losing party in a legal case to bring the case before it for a ruling; when such a writ is requested of the U.S. Supreme Court, four of the Court’s nine justices must agree to accept the case before it is granted certiorari.

Judicial review - The power of courts to decide whether a governmental institution has acted within its constitutional powers and, if not, to declare its action null and void.

Decision - A vote of the Supreme Court in a particular case that indicates which party the justices side with and by how large a margin.

Appointed judges -

Life tenure (SCOTUS) -

Political socialization - The learning process by which people acquire their political opinions, beliefs, and values.

Agents of socialization - Those agents, such as the family and the media, that have significant impact on citizens’ political socialization.

Political Ideology - A general belief about the role and purpose of government.

(Scientific) Public opinion poll - A device for measuring public opinion whereby a relatively small number of individuals (the sample) is interviewed for the purpose of estimating the opinions of a whole community (the population).

Public opinion - The politically relevant opinions held by ordinary citizens that they express openly.

Forms of political participation -

Frames of reference -

Two-party political system - A system in which only two political parties have a real chance of acquiring control of the government.

Election to public office -

Caucus/primary/general election - A form of election in which voters choose a party’s nominees for public office. In most states, eligibility to vote in a primary election is limited to voters who designated themselves as party members when they registered to vote.

Political party realignment - An election or set of elections in which the electorate responds strongly to an extraordinarily powerful issue that has disrupted the established political order. A realignment has a lasting impact on public policy, popular support for the parties, and the composition of the party coalitions.

Political party de-alignment -

Linkage institution - An institution that serves to connect citizens with government. Linkage institutions include elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media.

Roles of news media -

Agenda setting - The power of the media through news coverage to focus the public’s attention and concern on particular events, problems, issues, personalities, and so on.

Issue framing - The process by which the media play up certain aspects of a situation while downplaying other aspects, thereby providing a particular interpretation of the situation.

Yellow journalism -

Selective perception -

Interest groups - Any organization that actively seeks to influence public policy.

Inside lobbying - Direct communication between organized interests and policy makers, which is based on the assumed value of close (“inside”) contacts with policy makers.

Outside lobbying - A form of lobbying in which an interest group seeks to use public pressure as a means of influencing officials.

Citizen groups - Organized interests formed by individuals drawn together by opportunities to promote a cause in which they believe but that does not provide them significant individual economic benefits.

Economic groups - Interest groups that are organized primarily for economic reasons but that engage in political activity in order to seek favorable policies from government.

Pluralism -

Collective good - Benefits that are offered by groups (usually citizens’ groups) as an incentive for membership but that are nondivisible (such as a clean environment) and therefore are available to nonmembers as well as members of the particular group.

Free Rider - The situation in which the benefits offered by a group to its members are also available to nonmembers. The incentive to join the group and to promote its cause is reduced because nonmembers (free riders) receive the benefits (e.g., a cleaner environment) without having to pay any of the group’s costs.

Linkage institution -

Civil liberties - The fundamental individual rights of a free society, such as freedom of speech and the right to a jury trial, which in the United States are protected by the Bill of Rights.

Civil rights -

U.S. Bill of Rights- The first 10 amendments to the Constitution. They include rights such as freedom of speech and religion and due process protections (e.g., the right to a jury trial) for persons accused of crimes.

Due process procedures - The clause of the Constitution that has been used by the judiciary to apply the Bill of Rights to the actions of state governments.

Selective incorporation - The process by which certain of the rights (e.g., freedom of speech) contained in the Bill of Rights become applicable, through the Fourteenth Amendment, to actions by the state governments.

14th Amendment -

Plessy vs. Ferguson -

Brown vs. Board -