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Exam 2
Chapters 7-11
139
Political Studies
Undergraduate 1
11/05/2012

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Term
In the United States, the head of a cabinet level department is usually a...?
Definition
Secretary
Term
What are expressed powers, delegated power, and inherent powers?
Definition
Expressed powers are specific powers granted in article ii, sections 2 and 3 in the constitution. Delegated are powers assigned to one agency in the constitution but exercised by another with the permission of the first. And inherent powers are powers claimed that are inferred but not expressed in the Constitution.
Term
What are specific powers granted to the president under Article II, Sections 2 and 3, of the Constitution?
Definition
Expressed powers.
Term
What are constitutional powers that are assigned to one government agency, but exercised by another agency with the express permission of the first?
Definition
Delegated powers.
Term
What are powers claimed by a president that are not expressed in the Constitution, but are inferred from it?
Definition
Inherent powers.
Term
What are expressed powers of the President?
Definition
Make treaties, grant pardons, nominate judges, etc.
Term
What are delegated powers of the President?
Definition
Congress delegating powers to bureaucratic agencies in the executive branch.
Term
What are inherent powers of the President?
Definition
Executive orders.
Term
What are the eight presidential powers?
Definition
Make treaties, make appointments, veto legislation, execute the laws (bureaucratic agencies), recommend laws, convene congress, issue pardons, commander in chief of armed forces.
Term
What does more president power need in order to be validated.
Definition
2/3 senate and/or house approval.
Term
What is one or more of the houses of Congress are of a different political party than the president?
Definition
Divided Government.
Term
What is when Congress and the president are of the same political party?
Definition
United government.
Term
What are ways presidents avoid being checked?
Definition
Make executive agreement, temporary appointments and unofficial cabinet, pocket veto, federal agencies to institutionalize presidency, executive orders, wars engaged without declaration and consent of congress
Term
What is executive privilege?
Definition
The claim that confidential communications between the president and the president's close advisers should not be revealed without the consent of the president.
Term
What is the claim that confidential communications between the president and the president's close advisers should not be revealed without the consent of the president.
Definition
Executive privilege.
Term
What three factors support presidential power?
Definition
Speed, secrecy, and representation.
Term
What are the downfalls of the three factors of presidency? (Speed, secrecy, and representation)?
Definition
It was not intended for legislation to be passed quickly; congress has already proven to protect national secrets over the year; no clear reason why president was elected as well as electoral college.
Term
What is the name of the president's unofficial cabinet?
Definition
The Kitchen cabinet
Term
What makes up the official cabinet of the presidency?
Definition
Secretaries, or chief administrators, of the major departments of the federal government.
Term
What is the name of the presidential foreign policy advisory council?
Definition
The National Security Council
Term
What is an executive order?
Definition
A rule or regulation issued by the president that has the effect and formal status of legislation.
Term
What is a rule or regulation issued by the president that has the effect and formal status of legislation?
Definition
An executive order.
Term
What is one of the few unchecked powers of the president?
Definition
Pardons.
Term
What is the War Powers Act of 1973?
Definition
If the president has admitted armed forces he must notify Congress within 48 hours and only 60 days can be used without approval.
Term
What forces a president to notify Congress within 48 hours if he admitted armed forced and not have more than 60 days without approval?
Definition
The War Powers Act of 1973.
Term
What is a legislative initiative?
Definition
The president's inherent power to bring a legislative agenda before Congress.
Term
What is a president's inherent power to bring a legislative agenda before Congress?
Definition
Legislative initiative.
Term
What is the Executive Office of the President (EOP)?
Definition
The permanent agencies that perform defined management tasks for the president.
Term
What are the permanent agencies that perform defined management taks for the president?
Definition
The Executive Office of the President (EOP).
Term
For what two purposes does the vice president serve?
Definition
To succeed the president in case of death or incapacitation, and to preside over the Senate in the case of a tie-breaking vote.
Term
What other purpose can the vice president serve?
Definition
Electoral support for the presidenccy.
Term
What are three sources for presidential power?
Definition
Party, public support, and persuasion
Term
What is a signing statement?
Definition
An announcement made by the president when a bill is signed into law.
Term
What is an announcement made by the president when a bill is signed into law.
Definition
A signing statement
Term
Why are signing statement's used?
Definition
To point to sections of the law they deemed improper or unconstitutional and instruct agencies on how they want the law executed.
Term
What are the three myths of expanding presidential power?
Definition
Grounds of superior capacity to respond to emergencies, president's championing national interest and being above the party (personal and political interests can outweigh presidential concern for public interest), and that the presidency is more democratic than congress
Term
What is a bureaucracy?
Definition
The complex structure of offices, tasks, rules, and principles of organization that are employed by all large-scale institutions to coordinate the work of their personnel.
Term
What is the complex structure of offices, tasks, rules, and principles of organization that are employed by all large-scale institutions to coordinate the work of their personnel.
Definition
Bureaucracy.
Term
What is the federal bureaucracy comprised of ?
Definition
15 cabinets.
Term
Who is called the Attorney General?
Definition
The Department of Justice.
Term
Who is the chief justice?
Definition
John Roberts.
Term
What are examples of bureaucracy?
Definition
Oldest: department of state; Largest Department of defence; Newest: department of homeland security; Most everyday: FDA; Most controversial: EPA.
Term
What are the three characteristics of bureaucracy?
Definition
Hierachal: responsibility and accountability at individual levels;
Specialization: experts in policy areas and increased efficiency (can fast-track for life-saving issues); Impersonal rules: Standardized rules for spending funds and hire, promotion, and pay (impersonal because always the same).
Term
What are four ways bureaucracy makes laws?
Definition
Make rules, regulate business and citizens, provide services, and research.
Term
What is the purpose of the Department of Homeland Security?
Definition
To serve and the communication and cooperation cabinet for all cabinet information.
Term
Who serves and the communication and cooperation cabinet for all cabinet information.
Definition
The Department of Homeland Security.
Term
What are the four common misperceptions of the bureaucracy?
Definition
Too many employees (decreased as percentage of workforce); Too much regulation (necessary for safety and uniformity); Too high salaries (paid less than in the private sector for similar work); and Too inefficient (effeicent for what they do with the number of people they have).
Term
What are the three suggestions to fix bureaucracy?
Definition
Privatization (replacing government control in the private sector to save money); Devolution (take power away from national government and devolve it to state and local levels); Termination: (elimination of the program and department).
Term
Who are the two masters of bureaucracy?
Definition
Congress (writes the legislation, rules for agencies, funding, and holds hearings) and The President (oversee legislation implemention, can be directed by executive order, and can be persuaded to follow presidential agenda).
Term
What is the problem of the dual masters of bureaucracy?
Definition
In agreement agencies follow orders however when they disagree agencies follow autonomy and do what they want. (because of this sometimes called fourth branch of government).
Term
What are the four types of bureaucracy?
Definition
Cabinet departments, independent agencies, government corporations, independent regulatory commissions.
Term
What is bureaucratic drift?
Definition
The oft-observed phenomenon of bureaucratic implementation that produces policy more to the liking of the bureaucracy than faithful to the original intention of the legislation that created it, but without triggering a political reaction from elected officials.
Term
What is the phenomenon when bureaucratic implementation produces policy more to the liking of the bureaucracy than faithful to the original intention of the legislation that created it, but without triggering a political reaction from elected officials.
Definition
Bureaucratic Drift
Term
What is oversight?
Definition
The effort by Congress, through hearings, investigations, and other techniques, to exercise control over the activities of executive agencies.
Term
What is the effort by Congress, through hearing, investigations, and other techniques, to exercise control over the activities of executive agencies?
Definition
Oversight.
Term
What does TSA stand for?
Definition
Transportation Security Administration
Term
What are the three courts of the judiciary and in what order does a case move upward?
Definition
Trial courts to Appellate Courts (appeal of trial court decisions) to Supreme Courts.
Term
What percentage of cases are accepted by higher courts for appeals?
Definition
10 percent.
Term
How many judicial circuits are there?
Definition
11-12 california is in 9.
Term
What does the chief justice do?
Definition
Presides over oral arguments, decides who writes the court's opinion, and presides over impeachment trial in Senate.
Term
Who was the first female justice?
Definition
Sandra O'Conner
Term
How do justices get on the Court?
Definition
Appointed for life by president nomination when there is a vacancy. It is then approved by the Senate.
Term
What are the main considerations when appointing a justice?
Definition
Political ideology and diversity.
Term
What are the two interpretations of the Constitution?
Definition
Judicial Restraint (as written) and Judicial Activism (evolving document for modern times).
Term
What is an example of judicial restraint?
Definition
US. v Lopez (1995).
Term
What is an example of judicial activism?
Definition
Roe v. Wade (1973).
Term
What are the two ways a case can get to SCOTUS?
Definition
Appellate Jurisdiction (works it way up) or Original jurisdiction (disputes between high entities like states and branches of government).
Term
What is the Writ of certiorari?
Definition
Ordering lower courts to send records.
Term
What is Rule of Four?
Definition
Four of the nine justices vote to review a lower court's decision.
Term
What is an Amicus Curiae brief?
Definition
"Friend of the Court"; briefs from outside groups that are made in an attempt to weigh in on the decision.
Term
What are the types of opinions of SCOTUS?
Definition
Majority; Concurring (agrees with ruling, but for different reason); and Dissenting (not unanimous with ruling).
Term
What happened in Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964)?
Definition
The "I know it when I see it" ruling. SCOTUS ruled that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment and can be censored.
Term
What happened in Miller v. California (1973)?
Definition
Established the Miller Test.
Term
What consists of the Miller test?
Definition
1) Prurient Interest (complies to community standards; local issue), 2) Patently Offensive (offensive according to state law) , 3) No value (lack of artistic, literary, political, or scientific value).
Term
What are the two cases regarding obscenity?
Definition
Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964), and Miller v. California (1964).
Term
What happened in Marbury v. Madison (1803)?
Definition
Interpreted for itself the power of judicial review. It was the first time the Supreme Court declared something "unconstitutional."
Term
What is judicial review?
Definition
The Court's power to determine the constitutionality of laws.
Term
What is the Court's power to determine the constitutionality of laws?
Definition
The Judicial review
Term
What are three reasons that SCOTUS operates without many checks?
Definition
Appointed for life, salaries cannot be reduced by other branches, and confirmation process from limited public influence.
Term
What are the reasons The Supreme Court became so powerful?
Definition
Decided they had the power to interpret the Constitution and actions of the president. Little constitutional limitations, and claim of judicial review. They upset the balance of checks and balances.
Term
What is criminal law?
Definition
The branch of law that deals with disputes or actions involving criminal penalties (as opposed to civil law).
Term
What is civil law?
Definition
A system of jurisprudence, including private law and governmental action, for settling disputes that do not involve criminal penalties.
Term
What is Stare Decisis?
Definition
"Let the decision stand" The doctrine, whereby a previous decision by a court applies as a precedent in similar cases until overruled.
Term
What means "Let the Decision stand"? A doctrine whereby a previous decision by a court applies as a precedent in similar cases until that decision is overruled.
Definition
Stare decisis
Term
What is due process?
Definition
The guarantee that no citizen may be subjected to arbitrary action by national or state government.
Term
What is The guarantee that no citizen may be subjected to arbitrary action by national or state government?
Definition
Due process.
Term
What is the writ of habeas corpus?
Definition
A court order demanding that an individual in custody be brought into court and shown the cause for detention. Habeas corpus is guaranteed by the Constitution and can be suspended only in cases of rebellion or invasion.
Term
What is a court order demanding that an individual in custody be brought into court and shown the cause for detention and is guaranteed by the Constitution and can be suspended only in cases of rebellion or invasion.
Definition
Writ of Habeas Corpus.
Term
What is senatorial courtesy?
Definition
The practice whereby the president, before formally nominating a person for a federal judgeship, finds out whether the senators from the candidate's state support the nomination.
Term
What is the practice whereby the president, before formally nominating a person for a federal judgeship, finds out whether the senators from the candidate's state support the nomination.
Definition
Senatorial Courtesy.
Term
What is mootness?
Definition
A criterion used by courts to avoid hearing cases that no longer require resolution?
Term
What is a criterion used by courts to avoid hearing cases that no longer require resolution?
Definition
Mootness.
Term
What is the right of an individual or an organization to initiate a court case?
Definition
Standing.
Term
What is standing?
Definition
The right of an individual or an organization to initiate a court case.
Term
What is public opinion?
Definition
It is what the public thinks about an issue, a leader, an institution, or an event.
Term
What are three factors that shape public opinion?
Definition
Individual preferences, individual beliefs (can drive preferences), the choices available.
Term
What are three ways we know about public opinion?
Definition
Public behavior (voting or protests, surveys (can have bias), and media coverage.(gatekeeping)
Term
What are the two sources of error for surveys?
Definition
Sample bias and measurement error.
Term
What is political socialization?
Definition
The induction of individuals into the political culture; the process of learning the underlying beliefs and values on which the political system is based.
Term
What is the induction of individuals into the political culture; the process of learning the underlying beliefs and values on which the political system is based?
Definition
Political socialization.
Term
What are four components of political socialization?
Definition
Information, education, context (family, race, gender), and social pressure.
Term
What are agents of socialization?
Definition
The social institutions, including families and schools, that help shape individual's basic political beliefs and values.
Term
What is the social institutions, including families and schools, that help shape individuals' basic political beliefs and values.
Definition
Agents of socialization.
Term
What is a public-opinion poll?
Definition
The scientific instrument for measuring public opinion.
Term
What is a scientific instrument for measuring public opinion?
Definition
Public-opinion poll.
Term
What is a probability sampling?
Definition
A method used by pollsters to select a representative sample in which every individual in the population has an equal probability of being selected as a respondent.
Term
What is the method used by pollsters to select a representative sample in which every individual in the population has an equal probability of being selected as a respondent?
Definition
Probability Sampling.
Term
What is sample bias?
Definition
A polling eror in which the sample is not representative of the population being studied, so that some opinions are over or underrepresented.
Term
What is a polling error in which the sample is not representative of the population being studied, so that some opinions are over or underrepresented.
Definition
Sample bias.
Term
What is a measurement error?
Definition
The failure to identify the true distribution of opinion within a population because of errors such as ambiguous or poorly worded questions.
Term
What is a failure to identify the true distribution of opinion within a population because of errors such as ambiguous or poorly worded questions.
Definition
Measurement error.
Term
What are salient interests?
Definition
Attitudes or views that are especially important to the individual holding it.
Term
What are attitudes or views that are especially important to the individual holding it.
Definition
Salient interests
Term
What is illusion of salience?
Definition
The impression conveyed by polls that something is important to the public when it is not.
Term
What is the impression conveyed by polls that something is important to the public when it is not?
Definition
Illusion of salience.
Term
What is the bandwagon effect?
Definition
A shift in electoral support to the candidate whom public-opinion polls report as the front-runner.
Term
What is a shift in electoral support to the candidate whom public-opinion polls report as the front-runner?
Definition
Bandwagon effect.
Term
What are three reasons why the government should not follow public opinion?
Definition
Public opinion is inconsistent, public opinion changes rapidly, and public is inattentive or has no opinion at all.
Term
What is gatekeeping?
Definition
Media holds the gate to decide what stories are or are not covered.
Term
What is Rational ignorance ?
Definition
Occurs when the cost of educating oneself on an issue exceeds the potential benefit that the knowledge would provide.
Term
What Occurs when the cost of educating oneself on an issue exceeds the potential benefit that the knowledge would provide?
Definition
Rational ignorance
Term
Why is participation important?
Definition
Citizens can influence government and sustain democracy, government gains a sense of legitimacy and can be held accountable for actions. (Keeps politicians in check).
Term
What is the Australian ballot?
Definition
An electoral format that presents the names of all the candidates for any given office on the same ballot. Introduced at the end of the eighteen century to replace the partisan ballot and facilitate split-ticket voting.
Term
What is An electoral format that presents the names of all the candidates for any given office on the same ballot. Introduced at the end of the eighteen century to replace the partisan ballot and facilitate split-ticket voting?
Definition
The Australian Ballot.
Term
What are the five ways citizens participate?
Definition
Vote (50 %), campaign (25%), communal communtiy group (33%), citizen contacting (25%), and protest (6%).
Term
What is the differences between retrospective and prospective voting?
Definition
Retrospective is made to look at decisions made in the past and Prospective is to look forward and believe in future of policies.
Term
What are three reasons we are not rational voters?
Definition
No candidate reflects all ideas, lack of choice, we don't know how the candidate will act in office.
Term
Who participates most of the time in election processes?
Definition
Higher education, higher income, older, partisan.
Term
What are four ways to increase participation?
Definition
Voting mandatory, voting holiday, relax registration laws, increase organizational membership.
Term
What are the unique characteristics of the American election system?
Definition
Low turnout, two party system, primary elections, and electoral college.
Term
What are the ways the primary process distorts democracy?
Definition
Increased influence of money, reduces turnout, increases media influence, and candidate incentive to change positions.
Term
Why was the electoral college established?
Definition
Founders did not trust citizens to elect president.
Term
What essentially is the Electoral College?
Definition
We vote for a set of electors who promise to vote for a candidate; there is not nationwide popular vote for president.
Term
How many electors are in the Electoral College and how many does a candidate need to be President?
Definition
538; and 270 for president. (55 from California)
Term
What is the differences between "Winner Take All" representation and proportional representation?
Definition
The president who wins in that state earns all of it's Electoral college votes. In proportional representation the nominees earn votes proportional to the percentage of their votes in that state.
Term
Reasons for and against Electoral College?
Definition
For: it ensures small states get represented and it serves as an important part of federalism; Against: undemocratic and outdated.
Term
What is the difference between plurality and majority rule?
Definition
Plurality is an electoral system in which victory goes to the individual with the most votes, but not necessarly the majority of votes cast. A majority rule is to win the candidate must receive a majority of all votes cast.
Term
What is issue voting?
Definition
An individual's propensity to select candidates or parties based on the extent to which the individual agrees with one candidate more than others on specific issues.
Term
What is An individual's propensity to select candidates or parties based on the extent to which the individual agrees with one candidate more than others on specific issues?
Definition
Issue voting.
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