AP GOV Vocab Unit 5

Executive branch - the branch of government charged with putting the nation’s laws into effect

Formal powers - powers expressly granted in the Constitution

Informal powers - powers not laid out in the Constitution but used to carry out presidential duties

Treaty - an agreement with a foreign government negotiated by the president and requiring a two-thirds vote in the senate to ratify

State of the Union Address - the annual speech from the president to Congress updating that branch on the state of national affairs

Veto - formal rejection by the president of a bill that has passed both houses

Pocket veto - an informal veto caused when the president chooses not to sign a bill within ten days, during a time when Congress has adjourned at the end of a session

Presidential pardon - presidential authority to release individuals convicted from a crime of legal consequences and forgive an individual and set aside punishment for a crime

Executive privilege - a right claimed by presidents to keep certain conversations, records, and transcripts confidential from outside scrutiny, especially that of Congress 

Executive agreement - an agreement between a president and another nation that does not have the same durability in the American system as a treaty by does not require Senate ratification

Signing statement - written comments issued by presidents while signing a bill into law that usually consist of political statements or reasons for signing the bill but that may also include a presidents interpretation of the law

Executive order - policy directives issued by presidents that do not require congressional approval

War powers resolution - a law passed over President Nixon’s veto that restricts the power of the president to maintain troops in combat for more than sixty days without congressional authorization

Impeachment - the process of removing a president from office, with articles of impeachment issued by a majority vote in the house of representatives, followed by a trial in the Senate, with a two-thirds vote necessary to convict and remove

Executive Office of the President - a collection of offices within the White House organization designed mainly to provide information to the president

Bargaining and persuasion - informal tool used by the president to persuade members of Congress to support his policy initiatives

Bully pulpit - presidential appeals to the public to pressure other branches of government to support his policies

Going public - a tactic through which presidents reach out directly to the American people with the hope that the people will, in turn, put pressure upon their representatives and senators to press for a president’s policy goals

Federal bureaucracy - the departments and agencies within the executive branch that carry out the laws of the nation

Bureaucrat - an official employed within a government bureaucracy

Political patronage - filling of administrative positions as a reward for support, rather than solely on merit

Pendleton Act - an act of Congress that created the first United States Civil Service Commission to draw up and enforce rules on hiring, promotion, and tenure of office within the civil service

Federal civil service - the merit-based bureaucracy, excluding the armed forces and political appointments

Merit system - a system of hiring and promotion based on competitive testing results, education, and other qualifications rather than politics and personal connections

Iron triangle - coordinated and mutually beneficial activities of the bureaucracy, Congress, and interest groups to achieve shared policy goals

Issue network - webs of influence between interest groups, policymakers, and policy advocates

Implementation - the bureaucracy’s role in putting into action the laws that Congress has passed

Bureaucratic discretion - the power to decide how a law is implemented and, what Congress meant when it passed the law

Regulation - the process through which the federal bureaucracy makes rules that have the force of law, to carry out the laws passed by Congress

Bureaucratic adjudication - when the federal bureaucracy settles disputes between parties that arise over the implementation of federal laws or determines which individual or groups are covered under a regulation or program