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| a system of selecting policymakers and of organizing gov. so that policy represents and responds to the public's preferences |
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| A theory of gov. and politics contending that societies are divided along class lines & that an upper class elite will rule, regardless of the formal niceties of governmental organization. |
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| the institutions and processes through which public policies are made for a society |
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| the sum total of the value of all the goods and services in a nation |
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| A theory of gov. & politics contending groups are so strong that gov. is weakened. Hyperpluralism is an extreme, exaggerated, or perveted form of pluralism. |
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| the belief that individuals should be left on their own by the gov. One of the primary reasons for the comparatively small scope of American gov. is the prominence of this belief in American political thought and practice. |
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| a fundamental principle of traditional democratic theory. In a democracy, choosing amond alternatives requires that the majority's desire be respected. |
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| a principle of traditional democratic theory that guarantees rights to those who do not belong to majorities and allows that they might join majorities through persuasion and reasoned argument. |
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| The channels or access points through which issues and people's policy preferences get on the gov.'s policy agenda. In the U.S., elections, political parties, interest groups, and the mass media are the three main linkage institutions. |
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| goods, such as clean air & water, that everyone must share. |
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| produce authoritative decisions about public issues. "Who gets what, when, and how?" |
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| All the activites used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue. The most common, but not the only, means of political participation is voting. Others: protest & civil disobedience. |
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| The process by which political problems are communicated by the voters and acted upon by gov. policymakers. The system begins with people's needs & expectations for governmental actions. When people congront gov. officials with problems that they want solved, they're trying to influence the gov.'s policy agenda. |
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| According to John Kingdon, "the list of subjects or problems to which gov. officials, and people outside of gov. closely associated with those officials, are paying some serious attentionat any given time." |
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| An issue that arises when people disagree about a problem & a public policy choice. |
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| Policymaking Institutions |
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| The branches of gov. charged wih taking action on political issues. The U.S. Constitution establishes 3 policymaking institutions- Congress, the presidency, and the courts. Today, the power of the bureaucracy is so great that most politcal scientists consider it a fourth policymaking institution |
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| A choice that gov. makes in response to a political issue. A policy is a course of action taken with regard to some problem. |
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| A theory of gov. & politics emphasizing that politics is mainly a competition among groups, each one pressing for its own preferred policies. |
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| A condition that occurs when no coalition is strong enough to form a majority & establish policy. The result is that nothing may get done. |
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| A basic principle of traditional democratic theory that describes the relationship between few leaders & the many followers. |
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| groups that have a narrow interest, tend to dislike compromise, and often draw membership from people new to politics. |
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