Term
| Define: political culture |
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Definition
| people’s political beliefs, values, attitudes, and orientations. |
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Term
| What is the significance of political culture? |
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Definition
| It influences the political system and vice versa. |
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Term
| Define: political efficacy |
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Definition
| the belief that one can make a difference in politics by participating in it. It ranges from weak or low to strong or high. |
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Term
| Strong faith in democracy, secularism, political freedoms and rights, limited gov't, suspicion of a centralized gov't, individualism, and toleration of economic inequality are all characteristics of what? |
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Definition
| American political culture. |
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Term
| Define: political socialization |
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Definition
| the process by which people acquire their political beliefs, values, and attitudes. |
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Term
| For whom is political socialization significant? |
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Definition
| Both the individual and the society. |
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Term
| What are the agents through which people acquire their political values and beliefs? |
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Definition
| Schools, family, peers, experiences in the workplace, experiences with the political system, religion, and media. |
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Term
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Definition
| the distribution of people’s views on social and political issues. |
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Term
| What is the significance of the public opinion? |
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Definition
| Especially in a democracy, politicians/policy makers want to know what the public thinks about policies and current issues. It can be politically suicidal for policy makers to ignore the public opinion. |
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Term
| What are the tools used to measure public opinion? |
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Definition
| polls, surveys, and interviews |
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Term
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Definition
| all the people whose opinion a poll/survey is interested in measuring |
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Term
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Definition
| contains people drawn from the universe who are actually polled or surveyed. The typical mean size of a sample is around 1,500 people |
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Term
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Definition
| a special kind of sample where everyone in the universe has the same chance or probability of being polled as any other. If a poll is scientific, it must be random. |
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Term
| What are some of the caveats involved in measuring public opinion? |
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Definition
-The sample must be random
-Questions should be comprehensible to the reader
-Loaded or leading question must be avoided
-Many different shades of public opinion should be captured, which cannot be done by asking questions that prompt dichotomous (2-choice) responses
-Margin of error should be taken into consideration (generally +/- 3 percentage points) |
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Term
| Which public opinion distribution curve shows opinions that are strongly concentrated on one side of an issue? |
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Definition
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Term
| Which public opinion curve shows few opinions at the extremes and most in the moderate center? |
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Definition
| Unimodal or "bell-shaped curve". |
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Term
| Which public opinion curve shows opinions that are concentrated more at the extremes than in the center? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are presidential public approval ratings? |
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Definition
| Public opinions of how well a president is handling his job; measured by polls. |
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Term
| What is the term for the period of high support that presidents often enjoy early in their terms? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the term for an occurrence that temporarily boosts a president's support? |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| An organized group of people who share a common interest or interests and who seek to influence public policy to promote their interests. |
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Term
| In what ways are interest groups similar to political parties? |
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Definition
| both interest groups and political parties convey people’s demands to the government; both serve as linkage institutions. |
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Term
| In what ways are interest groups different than political parties? |
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Definition
| they do not seek to win office or sponsor candidates on their tickets. Their goal is to influence public policy and articulate interests. |
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Term
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Definition
| benefits obtained by an interest group, which are available to its members as well as to those who are not its members. |
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Term
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Definition
| benefits obtained by an interest group which are available only to the members of that group. |
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Term
| Who recognized the "free rider problem" in interest groups? Why did he see it as a problem, and what was his solution to the problem? |
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Definition
| Mancur Olsen; he recognized the human tendency to let others do the work in interests groups, which results in a weakening and even destruction of these interest groups. His solution was to offer selective incentives which members who participated would receive in addition to the public goods. |
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Term
| What is the title of Mancur Olsen's book on the analysis of interest groups? |
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Definition
| "Logic of Collective Action" |
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Term
| What are the three theories of interest groups? |
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Definition
| Pluralism, hyperpluralism, and elitism. |
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Term
| What are the factors that contribute to the success of interest groups? |
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Definition
| Size, money, PACs, cohesiveness, quality of leadership, organizational strength, intensity of commitment, access to decisionmakers. |
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Term
| What are the strategies utilized by interest groups? |
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Definition
| Lobbying, litigation, electioneering, mobilizing the grassroots, and appealing to the people. |
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Term
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Definition
| When interest groups participate in the process of elections by forming Political Action Committees (PACs) in order to influence public policies. They will often promote a certain candidate and/or provide campaign funds. |
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Term
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Definition
| The political persuasion of policymakers (approaching the legislature and executive). |
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Term
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Definition
| a group seeking to elect officeholders under a given label. |
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Term
| What functions do political parties serve? |
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Definition
-act as a bridge between people and the gov’t
-aggregate interests
-integrate people into the political system
-acts as agents of political socialization
-mobilize voters
-organize gov’t |
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Term
| Which party system allows only one party to function? Where does this system exist? |
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Definition
| One Party System; authoritarian/totalitarian governments |
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Term
| Which party system involves two major parties that have about an equal chance of winning? |
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Definition
| Two Party System (examples: U.S. and Britain) |
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Term
| Which party system involves several competing parties? |
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Definition
| Multiparty System (examples: Sweden, Israel, Italy) |
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Term
| In which party system do opposition parties contest elections but seldom win? |
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Definition
| Dominant Party System (examples: India, Japan, Mexico) |
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Term
| Why do we have a two-party system in the U.S.? |
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Definition
| Because of our political socialization- we have always been a two-party system and it is what we're the most familiar/comfortable with. |
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Term
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Definition
| the rules governing elections |
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Term
| How many electoral college votes did Ohio have in the 2008 election? How many does it have in this year's (2012) election? |
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Definition
| 20 votes in 2008; 18 votes in 2012 |
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Term
| Which type of electoral system promotes a two-party system (also known as ‘the winner takes all' system) and allows one member per district based on a plurality (largest number) of votes (NOT a majority greater than 50%)? |
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Definition
| Single-Member District Plurality System |
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Term
| Which type of electoral system encourages a multiparty system and assigns seats in proportion to the percent of popular votes they get? |
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Definition
| Proportional Representational System |
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Term
| Define: party identification |
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Definition
| the party with which one identifies oneself |
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Term
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Definition
| the extent to which a party’s elected members vote along party lines; ranges from weak to strong |
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Term
| Define: party reallignment |
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Definition
| a long- term shift in the party ID of a significant number of voters |
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Term
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Definition
| a period dominated by a particular political party |
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Term
| Define: critical election |
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Definition
| an election that marks the end of one party era and the beginning of another party era |
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Term
| Define: party de-alignment |
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Definition
| an overall long-term decline in the party ID of a significant number of voters (general weakening of party loyalties across all parties) |
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Term
| What are some things that indicate that party de-alignment has taken place? |
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Definition
| More people will identify themselves as independents and there will be an increase in split-ticket voting. |
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Term
| Define: responsible party model |
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Definition
| a model that identifies certain conditions that parties need to meet in order to be considered a responsible party |
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Term
| What are the conditions that a party must meet according to the responsible party model? What is a good example of this model? |
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Definition
parties should:
-present clear and comprehensive programs to the voters
-offer clear choices to the voters
-be able to implement the program if elected to office
-explain what they would do if elected to office
-take responsibility for their performance in office
*The UK is a good example. |
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Term
| What are the two ways to define the framework of a political institution? |
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Definition
1. By the vertical dimension: distribution of power among the different levels of gov’t (local, state, national)
1. By the horizontal dimension: distribution of power among the different branches of gov’t (at the national level) |
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Term
| What are the three types of systems within the vertical dimension, and what are the characteristics of each? |
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Definition
1. confederal system (confederation): Most decentralized, weak center, strong subordinate (subnational) units
2. federal system (federation): both the national (federal) and the subnational levels derive their powers from the constitution (example: US)
3. unitary system: most centralized- strong center, weak states, subnational units created by the center (not the constitution). The gov’t can redraw the boundaries of subnational units or abolish and create new ones. |
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Term
| What are the two types of systems within the horizontal dimension, and what are the characteristics of each? |
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Definition
1. Presidential system: the president is both the head of state and head of gov’t; separation of powers present; checks and balances exist.
2. Parliamentary system: the head of state is separate from the head of gov’t; there is an absence of separation of powers and instead there is fusion of powers; no checks and balances; no judicial review (in the British system). |
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Term
| What are some of the advantages of a Parliamentary system? |
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Definition
-No executive-legislative deadlock; the leaders of the majority party are automatically the country's executives.
-The prime minister and cabinet can be replaced quickly by the parliament before the end of their terms by designating a 'vote of no confidence'. There is no waiting around for impeachment. |
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Term
| Broadly speaking, what is the cost of healthcare in the U.S.? |
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Definition
| It is the most expensive in the world, and the price has risen 340% since 1970. |
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Term
| What are some of the alternative healthcare systems, and what are their features? |
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Definition
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