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professor britton csuc... worst teacher in the world
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Political Studies
Undergraduate 1
05/20/2009

Additional Political Studies Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Baby Boomer:
Definition

a person born during a baby boom, esp. one born in the U.S. between 1946 and 1965.

Term
Budget Deficit :
Definition
excess of expenditures over revenues
Term
Capital Gains Tax:
Definition

  tax on unearned income from rents, stocks and interest.

Term
Case Act:
Definition
Requires president to report to congress within 60 days, entering congress agreement
Term
Containment:
Definition
term coined in 1946 by George Kennan, who believed that Soviet aggression must be “contained by the adroit and vigilant application of counterforce by the U.S. 
Term
Demographic Time Bombs:
Definition

-          Potential crisis situation in most countries characterized by an increasing number of older people dependent on pension schemes a direct result of demographic transition.

Term
Discretionary Spending:
Definition

-          the spending congress actually controls; 33% of all spending.

Term
Enlargement:
Definition
is the act or process of making something larger.
Term
Entitlement:
Definition
government-sponsored benefits and cash payments to those who met eligibility requirements. 
Term
Excise Taxes:
Definition

charges on sale or manufacture of products, such as cigarettes, alcohol and gasoline.

Term
GDP:
Definition
gross domestic product, basic measure of an economy's economic performance, is the market value of all final goods and services produced within the borders of a nation in a year.
Term
Geographic Diversity:
Definition

variety of place and geographic identity within a relatively small area. (neighborhood)

Term
Globalism:
Definition

view which the U.S. sphere of influence has expanded beyond the western hemisphere to include virtually every corner of the globe where U.S. interests might be affected.

Term
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution:
Definition

-          Resolution passed by Congress that granted President Lyndon Johnson authority to pursue the war in Vietnam, supposedly based on a naval attack North Vietnamese ships.

Term
Hughes-Ryan Amendment:
Definition

is a 1974 United States federal law that amended the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. The Act required the President of the United States to report all covert operations of the Central Intelligence Agency to one or more Congressional committees within a set time limit.

Term
Imperial Presidency:
Definition

is a term that became popular in the 1960s and describes the modern presidency of the United States. The Imperial Presidency was written out of two concerns; first that the US Presidency was out of control and second that the Presidency had exceeded the Constitutional limits

Term
Impoundment:
Definition
refusal to spend funds appropriated by congress.
Term
Initiative:
Definition
a proposal submitted by the public and voted upon during elections.
Term
Isolationism:
Definition

-          A pattern in which the U.S. fosters economic relations abroad without committing to strategic alliances that might draw the country into war.

Term
Means Testing:
Definition

-          the changing of eligibility for entitlement benefits from everyone receiving benefits to only those with earnings and savings below a predetermined level, in an attempt to save money.  

Term
Medicaid:
Definition
is the United States health program for eligible individuals and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the states and federal government, and is managed by the states.
Term
Medicare:
Definition
is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over, or who meet other special criteria. Medicare operates as a single-payer health care system.
Term
Monroe Doctrine:
Definition

-          A doctrine enunciated by President James Monroe in 1823 that proclaimed North and South America to be in the U.S.  sphere of influence, hence out of bounds for European aspirations. It reinforced growing isolationism by promising not to interfere in the internal concerns of European states.

Term
- National Debt:
Definition
the cumulative total of all budget deficits.
Term
National Security Council:
Definition

-          is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security.

Term
NATO:
Definition

-          North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. The NATO headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, and the organization constitutes a system of collective defense whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.

Term
Plural Executive:
Definition

state positions similar to the president’s “cabinet”

are elective offices rather than appointed by the governor. (This is in sharp contrast to the national executive where the president is allowed to appoint hiscabinet secretaries.) Unique to the states, the plural executive creates a kind of checks and balances system within the executive branch because the governor is not allowed to personally appoint key officials within his executive branch.

 

 

Term
Policy Entrepreneurs:
Definition

-          leaders who invest in, and who create the conditions for a potential group to become an actual interest group. Ralph Nader stands as a classic example of a policy entrepreneur.

Term
*Recall:
Definition
the removal or the right of removal of a public official from office by a vote of the people taken upon petition of a specified number of the qualified electors.
Term
Referendum:
Definition

-          A proposal submitted by a state legislature to the public for a popular vote, often focusing on whether a state should spend money in a certain way.

Term
Regressive Taxes:
Definition
System of taxes in which taxes take a higher fraction of the income of lower income taxpayers; examples are taxes on gasoline, cigarettes, and alcohol.
Term
Progressive Taxes:
Definition
System of taxation in which those who make more money are taxed at a higher rate. An example is income taxes.
Term
Regulatory Policy:
Definition

-          Policy that involves the use of police powers by the federal government to supervise the conduct of individuals, businesses and other governmental agencies.

Term
Social Welfare Policy:
Definition

-          Policy that uses positive incentives (Cash assistance, stipends, entitlements, grants, etc.) to promote or encourage basic social and economic fairness.

Term
Superpower: 
Definition
The disproportionate power – economic and military – the distinguished the U.S. and the Soviet Union from all other countries in the Postwar Era.
Term
Term Limits:
Definition
a legislated limit on the amount of time a political figure can serve in office.
Term
Triggering Mechanism:
Definition
A critical development that converts a routine problem into a widely shared, negative public response.
Term
War Power Resolution:
Definition
A highly controversial measure passed over President Nixon’s veto that stipulated the presidential commitments of the U.S. military forces cannot extend beyond 60 days without specific congressional authorization. 
Term
Welfare State:
Definition

-          a social system whereby the government assumes primary responsibility for the welfare of citizen.

Term
Workfare:
Definition
the requirement that recipients of welfare programs such as AFDC work on public works unless they find employment elsewhere.
Term
Proposition 140:
Definition
or the Limits on Terms of Office, Legislators' Retirement, Legislative Operating Costs Amendment, was one of 28 ballot measures on the California general election ballot in November 1990. It limited the number of terms that California state senators and representatives could stay in office
Term

Social Security:

Definition
a program of old-age, unemployment, health, disability, and survivors insurance maintained by the U.S. federal government through compulsory payments by specific employer and employee groups.
Term
surplus
Definition
 situation in which assets exceed liabilities, income exceeds expenditures, exports exceed imports, or profits exceed losses.
Term
Versailles Treaty: 
Definition
was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919
Term
war on poverty
Definition
is the name for legislation first introduced by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. This legislation was proposed by Johnson in response to a national poverty rate of around nineteen percent.
Term

Almost every type of ecosystem known to the planet can

be found somewhere in the U.S. Thus, across the nation _____________________

Definition

there is extensive

geographic diversity.

Term
most individual states, typically
Definition

are less geographically

diverse, having only a few geographic features e.g. Kansas is mostly flat farmland

Term

In addition to the diversity of economic interests created by topography, the size of the state allows room for other key economic sectors in the state like

Definition

manufacturing

Term
economic diversity of California creates a political landscape as diverse as the state’s topography. Thus, California’s politics are very similar to
Definition

those of the national government in Washington, D.C.

Term
What are the four states where white is the minority?
Definition
California, texas, new mexico, and hawaii
Term
Proposition 1A
Definition

meets 200+ days a year; a total annual budget for leg. operations of $180M

- salary = the highest in the nation, i.e.,

- staff, i.e. legislative assts.

Term
California's 3 levels of federal courts
Definition

 (trial courts, Courts of

Appeal, and state Supreme Court)

Term

Appellate judges (i.e., Court of Appeals and state Supreme Court) are appointed by

Definition

 

The govenor after his required consultation with the 25-

member Commission on Judicial Nominee Evaluation and then approval

by the 3-member Commission on Judicial Appointments

Term

terms for trail judges =

terms for appellate judges =

Definition
6 & 12
Term

3 mechanisms for greater

popular electoral influence

Definition
1. recall 2. referendum 3. initative
Term
Referendum
Definition

approximately half the states (24) allows voters a direct role in either approving or vetoing a specific state policy

Term
Compulsory referendum:
Definition

When state legislatures want to borrow money by

selling bonds or want to add an amendment to the state constitution, nearly every state constitution requires a referendum be presented to voters, in effect, allowing voters to ultimate decide the question.

Term
Petition referendum:
Definition

allows citizens wish to overturn legislation that has

been.passed by the state legislature and signed by the governor. Citizens may circulate petitions, gather signatures of registered voters to put the policy question directly to the voters in the next election.

If enough signatures are gathered, within the specified time period allowed, the voters are able to directly check and balance state institutions by either approving or vetoing the legislative act.

 

Term
Advisory referendum:
Definition

a ballot measurement of the public mood that is nonbinding, i.e., instead of allowing voters to set policy, an advisory referendum is placed on the ballot by local officials merely to ask voters their opinion on a particular policy question. California has all three types of referenda

Term
Initiative process:
Definition

which allows citizens to directly author and approve

legislation and constitutional amendments (24 states)

Term

Domestic Policy

Definition

The single-best measure of the health of a democratic society can be found in the nations distribution of burdens and resources

Term
Tax revenue is less than
Definition
Government spending
Term
who cuts spending and who raises taxes
Definition
conservatives cut spending, liberals raise taxes.
Term
who currently creates surplus
Definition
baby boomers
Term
Solutions for social security
Definition

                                                                 i.      Increase payroll rate or cap.

                                                                  ii.      Increase retiement age

                                                                iii.      Redefine entitlement

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