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L32 Pol Sci 101B Final terms
Chapters 4 & 11-14 bold terms
92
Political Studies
Undergraduate 1
12/09/2006

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Term
bill
Definition
A proposed law (legislative act) within Congress or another legislature.
Term
cloture
Definition
A parliamentary maneuver that, if a three-fifths majority votes for it, limits Senate debate to thirty hours and has the effect of defeating a filibuster.
Term
conference committees
Definition
Temporary committees formed to bargain over the differences in the House and Senate versions of a bill. A committee's members are usually appointed from the House and Senate standing committees that originally worked on the bill.
Term
constituency
Definition
The individuals who live within the geographical area represented by an elected official. More narrowly, the body of citizens eligible to vote for a particular representative.
Term
filibuster
Definition
A procedural tactic in the U.S. Senate whereby a minority of legislators prevent a bill from coming to a vote by holding the floor and talking until the majority gives in and the bill is withdrawn from consideration.
Term
gerrymandering
Definition
The process by which the party in power draws election district boundaries in a way that advantages its candidates.
Term
jurisdiction (of a congressional committee)
Definition
The policy area in which a particular congressional committee is authorized to act.
Term
law (as enacted by Congress)
Definition
A legislative proposal, or bill, that is passed by both the House and the Senate and is either signed or not vetoed by the president.
Term
lawmaking function
Definition
The authority (of a legislature) to make the laws necessary to carry out the government's powers.
Term
logrolling
Definition
The trading of votes between legislators so that each gets what he or she most wants.
Term
open-seat election
Definition
An election in which there is no incumbent in the race.
Term
oversight function
Definition
A supervisory activity of Congress that centers on its constitutional responsibility to see that the executive carries out the laws faithfully and spends appropriations properly.
Term
party caucus
Definition
A group that consists of a party's members in the House or Senate and that serves to elect the party's leadership, set policy goals, and determine party strategy.
Term
party discipline
Definition
The willingness of a party's House or Senate members to act as a cohesive group and thus exert collective control over legislative action.
Term
party leaders
Definition
Members of the House and Senate who are chosen by the Democratic or Republican caucus in each chamber to represent the party's interests in that chamber and who give some central direction to the chamber's deliberations.
Term
pork-barrel projects
Definition
Legislative acts whose tangible benefits are targeted at a particular legislator's constituency.
Term
reapportionment
Definition
The reallocation of House seats among states after each census as a result of population changes.
Term
redistricting
Definition
The process of altering election districts in order to make them as nearly equal in population as possible. Redistricting takes places every ten years, after each population census.
Term
representative function
Definition
The responsibility of a legislature to represent various interests in society.
Term
rider
Definition
An amendment to a bill that deals with an issue unrelated to the content of the bill. Riders are permitted in the Senate but not in the House.
Term
seniority
Definition
A member of Congress's consecutive years of service on a particular committee.
Term
service strategy
Definition
Use of personal staff by members of Congress to perform services for constituents in order to gain their support in future elections.
Term
standing committees
Definition
Permanent congressional committees with responsibility for a particular area of public policy. An example is the Senate Foreign Relations committee.
Term
sunset law
Definition
A law containing a provision that fixes a date on which a program will end unless the program's life is extended by Congress.
Term
veto
Definition
The president's rejection of a bill, thereby keeping it from becoming law unless Congress overrides the veto.
Term
cabinet
Definition
A group consisting of the heads of the (cabinet) executive departments, who are appointed by the president subject to confirmation by the Senate. The cabinet was once the main advisory body to the president but no longer plays this role.
Term
honeymoon period
Definition
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.
Term
legitimacy (of election)
Definition
The idea that the selection of officeholders should be based on the will of the people as reflected through their votes.
Term
momentum
Definition
A strong showing by a candidate in early presidential nominating contests, which leads to a buildup of public support for the candidate.
Term
open party caucuses
Definition
Meetings at which a party's candidates for nomination are voted on and that are open to all the party's rank-and-file voters who want to attend.
Term
presidential approval ratings
Definition
A measure of the degree to which the public approves or disapproves of the president's performance in office.
Term
stewardship theory
Definition
A theory that argues for a strong, assertive presidential role, with presidential authority limited only at points specifically prohibited by law.
Term
Whig theory
Definition
A theory that prevailed in the nineteenth century and held that the presidency was a limited or restrained office whose occupant was confined to expressly granted constitutional authority.
Term
unit rule
Definition
The rule that grants all of a state's electoral votes to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the state.
Term
agency point of view
Definition
The tendency of bureaucrats to place the interests of their agency ahead of other interests and ahead of the priorities sought by the president or Congress.
Term
bureaucracy
Definition
A system of organization and control based on the principles of hierarchical authority, job specialization, and formalized rules.
Term
bureaucratic accountability
Definition
The degree to which bureaucrats are held accountable for the power they exercise.
Term
cabinet (executive) departments
Definition
The major administrative organizations within the federal executive bureaucracy, each of which is headed by a secretary (cabinet officer) and has responsibility for a major function of the federal government, such as defense, agriculture, or justice.
Term
clientele groups
Definition
Special-interest groups that benefit directly from the activities of a particular bureaucratic agency and therefore are strong advocates of the agency.
Term
demographic representativeness
Definition
The idea that the bureaucracy will be more responsive to the public if its employees at all levels are demographically representative of the population as a whole.
Term
executive leadership system
Definition
An approach to managing the bureaucracy that is based on presidential leadership and presidential management tools, such as the president's annual budget proposal.
Term
formalized rules
Definition
A basic principle of bureaucracy that refers to the standardized procedures and established regulations by which a bureaucracy conducts its operations.
Term
government corporations
Definition
Bodies, such as the U.S. Postal Service and Amtrak, that are similar to private corporations in that they charge for their services, but different in that they receive federal funding to help defray expenses. Their directors are appointed by the president with Senate approval.
Term
hierarchical authority
Definition
A basic principle of bureaucracy that refers to the chain of command within an organization whereby officials and units have control over those below them.
Term
independent agencies
Definition
Bureaucratic agencies that are similar to cabinet departments but usually have a narrower area of responsibility. Each such agency is headed by a presidential appointee who is not a cabinet member. An example is NASA.
Term
job specialization
Definition
A basic principle of bureaucracy that holds that the responsibilities of each job position should be explicitly defined and that a precise division of labor within the organization should be maintained.
Term
merit (civil service) system
Definition
An approach to managing the bureaucracy whereby people are appointed to government positions on the basis of either competitive examinations or special qualifications, such as professional training.
Term
neutral competence
Definition
The administrative objective of a merit-based bureaucracy. Such a bureaucracy should be "competent" in the sense that its employees are hired and retained on the basis of their expertise and "neutral" in the sense that it operates by objective standards rather than partisan ones.
Term
patronage system
Definition
An approach to managing the bureaucracy whereby people are appointed to important government positions as a reward for political services they have rendered and because of their partisan loyalty.
Term
policy implementation
Definition
The primary function of the bureaucracy; it refers to the process of carrying out the authoritative decisions of Congress, the president, and the courts.
Term
presidential commissions
Definition
Organizations within the bureaucracy that are headed by the commissioners appointed by the president. An example is the Commission on Civil Rights.
Term
regulatory agencies
Definition
Administrative units, such as the FCC and the EPA, that have responsibility for the monitoring and regulation of ongoing economic activities.
Term
spoils system
Definition
The practice of granting public office to individuals in return for political favors they have rendered.
Term
whistle-blowing
Definition
An internal check on the bureaucracy whereby individual bureaucrats report instances of mismanagement that they have observed.
Term
appellate jurisdiction
Definition
The authority of a given court to review cases that have already been tried in lower courts and are appealed to it by the losing party; such a court is called an appeals court or appellate court.
Term
brief
Definition
A written statement by a party in a court case that details its argument.
Term
civil law cases
Definition
Disputes between parties where no criminal act is alleged and where the parties are making conflicting claims, as in a property dispute.
Term
compliance
Definition
The issue of whether a court's decisions will be respected and obeyed.
Term
concurring opinion
Definition
A separate opinion written by a Supreme Court justice who votes with the majority in the decision ton a case but who disagrees with their reasoning.
Term
criminal law cases
Definition
Disputes in which an individual is charged by government with engaging in an act that is prohibited by law.
Term
decision
Definition
A vote of the Supreme Court in a particular case that indicates which party the justices side with and by how large a margin.
Term
dissenting opinion
Definition
The opinion of a justice in a Supreme Court case that explains his or her reasons for disagreeing with the majority's decision.
Term
facts (of a court case)
Definition
The relevant circumstances of a legal dispute or offense as determined by a trial court. The facts of a case are crucial because they help determine which law or laws are applicable in the case.
Term
judicial activism
Definition
The doctrine that the courts should develop new legal principles when judges see a compelling need, even if this action places them in conflict with the policy decisions of elected officials
Term
judicial restraint
Definition
The doctrine that the judiciary should be highly respectful of precedent and should defer to the judgment of legislatures. The doctrine claims that the job of judges is to work within the confines of laws set down by tradition and by lawmaking majorities.
Term
judicial conference
Definition
A closed meeting of the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court to discuss and vote on the cases before them; the justices are not supposed to discuss conference proceedings with outsiders.
Term
jurisdiction (of a court)
Definition
A given court's authority to hear cases of a particular kind. Jurisdiction may be original or appellate.
Term
laws (of a court case)
Definition
The constitutional provisions, legislative statues, or judicial precedents that apply to a court case.
Term
legitimacy (of judicial power)
Definition
The issue of the proper limits of judicial authority in a political system based in part on the principle of majority rule.
Term
majority opinion
Definition
A Supreme Court opinion that results when a majority of the justices are in agreement on the legal basis of the decision.
Term
opinion (of a court)
Definition
A court's written explanation of its decision, which serves to inform others of the legal basis for the decision. Supreme Court opinions are expected to guide the decisions of other courts.
Term
original jurisdiction
Definition
The authority of a given court to be the first court to hear a case.
Term
plurality opinion
Definition
A court opinion that results when a majority of justices agree on a decision in a case but do not agree on the legal basis for the decision. In this instance, the legal position held by most of the justices on the winning side is called the plurality opinion.
Term
precedent
Definition
A judicial decision in a given case that serves as a rule of thumb for settling subsequent cases of a similar nature; courts are generally expected to follow precedent.
Term
senatorial courtesy
Definition
The tradition that a U.S. senator from the state in which a federal judicial vacancy arises should have a say in the president's nomination of the new judge if the senator is of the same party as the president.
Term
solicitor general
Definition
The high-ranking Justice Department official who serves as the government's lawyer in Supreme Court cases.
Term
writ of certiorari
Definition
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.
Term
Bill of Rights
Definition
The first ten amendments to the Constitution. They include such rights as freedom of speech and trial by jury.
Term
civil liberties
Definition
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.
Term
clear-and-present danger test
Definition
A test devised by the Supreme Court in 1919 to define the limits of free speech in the context of national security. According to the test, government cannot abridge political expression unless it presents a clear and present danger to the nation's security.
Term
due process clause (of the Fourteenth Amendment)
Definition
The clause of the Constitution that has been used by the judiciary to apply the Bill of Rights to the actions of state governments.
Term
establishment clause
Definition
The First Amendment provision that government may not favor one religion over another or favor religion over no religion, and that prohibits Congress from passing laws respecting the establishment of religion.
Term
exclusionary rule
Definition
The legal principle that government is prohibited from using in trials evidence that was obtained by unconstitutional means (for example, illegal search and seizure).
Term
freedom of expression
Definition
Americans' freedom to communicate their views, the foundation of which is the First Amendment rights of freedom of conscience, speech, press, assembly, and petition.
Term
free-exercise clause
Definition
A First Amendment provision that prohibits the government from interfering with the practice of religion or prohibiting the free exercise of religion.
Term
imminent-lawless-action test
Definition
A legal test that says government cannot lawfully suppress advocacy that promotes lawless action unless such advocacy is aimed at producing, and is likely to produce, imminent lawless action.
Term
libel
Definition
The publication of material that falsely damages a person's reputation.
Term
prior restraint
Definition
Government prohibition of speech or publication before the fact, which is presumed by the courts to be unconstitutional unless the justification for it is overwhelming.
Term
procedural due process
Definition
The constitutional requirement that government follow proper legal procedures before a person can be legitimately punished for an alleged offense.
Term
selective incorporation
Definition
The absorption of certain provisions of the Bill of Rights (for example, freedom of speech) into the Fourteenth Amendment so that these rights are protected from infringement by the states.
Term
slander
Definition
Spoken words that falsely damage a person's reputation.
Term
symbolic speech
Definition
Action (for example, the waving or burning of a flag) for the purpose of expressing a political opinion.
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