executive branch test study guids

Describe a Party Platform.

A party platform is a formal set of principle goals which are supported by a political party or candidate, in order to appeal to the public for the purpose of getting the public's support for complicated issues.

How long is the term of the president? How many terms may the president serve? How many years?

A presidential term is four years long, the president can serve two terms before not being allowed to run for office again, meaning the president can serve for up to ten years in office, if said president served less 2 years or less of the previous president's term, after being the former VP.

List, describe, and give examples of a regional alliance.

A regional alliance is an agreement between many different nations in order to work together during foreign affairs. We turn to regional alliances during foreign affairs in order to carry out collective security, and not just so everything on our own. Some examples of a regional alliance would be The UN, which was formed just after WW2, in order to prevent another war from happening and to push for peace, security, and economic development, NATO, which consists of the US, Canada, and other western European countries, to oppose communism, and NAFTA, which was a free trade zone agreement, meaning we didn't have to pay any import or export taxes between the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Describe a Veto.

A veto occurs when a bill has been through all the chambers of congress to become a law, however, the president himself doesn't agree with the bill, so he vetoes it, preventing it from becoming a law, unless ⅔ of each chamber of congress wants it to be passed.

Describe the changing approach of the United States Foreign Policy from the Revolution to the Cold War. What led to shifts between isolationism and interventionism in US Foreign Policy?

All the way back when America just was starting out, after winning a war against the British, they wanted to follow isolationism, and stay out of as many foreign affairs as possible, as mentioned in the Washington Farewell, along with "warns of entangling." By the time of the cold war however, America changed. They were one of the two global superpowers, and needed to follow interventionism to win against the soviet union. And eventually, the US did win this war.

Describe an Executive Order. Why is one given?

An executive order is one of the tools the president has to carry out the laws, and is a rule or regulation that has the power of law, meaning it isn't a law, but is the way the president plans to enforce the law. Executive orders aren't in the constitution, and are just tradition, and they are given usually because a new law has just been passed or has been passed for awhile, and the president wants to make a statement on how this law will be interpreted more specifically, rather than having to make a whole new law going over specifics for the original law. For example, weed is illegal at the national government, but some specific states have it to be legal, so, former president Obama signed an executive order that lets the states which have legalized weed use it without getting in trouble, while the states that haven't legalized weed cannot.

List, explain, and give examples of the eight roles of the president.

Chief of State The chief of state is practically the ceremonial leader of the US government, who does things such as greet foreign leaders, promote national spirit, and throw out the first pitch of the MLB baseball season. Chief Citizen The chief citizen is the representative of the people, and has a moral leadership role. He works to pursue American ideals, by doing things such as comforting, informing, and inspiring the citizens of America during times of crisis, such as 9/11, for example. Chief of Party While also being the leader of their political party, the chief of party's role is to ensure their political party does well in elections, in order to strengthen a congressional majority. For example, trying to support another candidate that is in the same political party as them to get elected into office. Chief Legislator The role of the Chief Legislature makes the president able to heavily influence the congressional agenda, by recommending/directing laws. A good example of this is how the president can veto a bill that he does not favor, even if the bill has made it through both the House and Senate entirely. Chief Executive Being the chief executive, the president enforces the laws which have already been passed by congress. To do this, the president enforces an executive order, which is a directive rule or regulation that has the power of law. This power is not listed in the constitution, and is just tradition. The president often chooses officials and advisors to help him with this, like for example, the IRS, which will come to your door if you fail to pay taxes, rather than the president himself. Chief Administrator of the Bureaucracy The job of this role of the president is to direct the government, employing over 3 million civilian servants. An example of this being how federal employees are granted leave on Christmas Eve. Commander in Chief This is a pretty difficult job for the president, as the Commander in Chief commands the entire US military, and essentially all American security. This is important, because the military is what saves us from being helpless during wars that kill lots of people. The commander in chief can also limit military power too. An example of something the commander in chief can do could be calling out troops to go anywhere in the world to prevent or initiate some sort of military riot, as well as the War Powers Act. Chief Diplomat The chief diplomat controls all foreign affairs,and is basically the spokesperson abroad. He can oversee foreign policy, hold talks with foreign leaders, and negotiate treaties. An example of this is when former president Trump held meetings with Kim Jong-un in North Korea to negotiate.

How many electors are in the Electoral College? How many votes are needed to win?

Each state's number of electors is equal to the House seats in that state + the senate seats in that state, making 538 total throughout all 50 states, including an extra 3 for Washington DC. Our state Michigan currently has 16 votes, and a candidate needs 270 to win the election.

Draw a political spectrum/continuum and label the views of the following: ideology, isolationism/interventionism, human rights, terrorism, and nuclear technologies.

I'm not converting all the text I put up for this into here. just go to https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SQ8hOYKWb1muwmhQAczXYxn2JXzACh3ISbsNxyERYJo/edit

Describe the process of impeachment and removal of the President (see your book).

If a president were to be impeached, he would first have to be convicted of crimes such as treason, bribery, or any other high crimes. Then, in the House, a good amount of members vote to impeach. Then a trial is held in the Senate. During the trial, if at least ⅔ of the senators agree to impeach the president, he will be removed from office.

Identify examples of the president carrying out the Eight Roles of the President in the show "West Wing - Galileo"

In the episode of West Wing, called Galileo, there are examples of the president carrying out each role of the president. The president was the Chief of State when his staff worked to ensure the people of America that the country is working properly, in all aspects. The president was the chief citizen when he answered kids' questions about space in the episode. The president was the chief of party when he and his staff wanted to get re-elected, which is a good way of ensuring their political party does well. The president was the chief legislator when he was reviewing a stamp having to do with Oregon and green beans. The president doesn't like green beans however, meaning he can veto the legislation easily. The president was the chief executive when a stamp having to do with Puerto Rico was being argued over, and the president was able to issue executive orders on it. The president was the chief administrator of the bureaucracy when he managed NASA employees by reviewing the script they wrote for him. The president was the commander in chief when he and his staff were worrying about the military of Puerto Rico, and how they could take over America, not being a state, but a territory of it. And finally, the president was the chief diplomat when an oil refinery exploded in Russia, so he had a talk with a Russian ambassador about it.

Describe and explain the role of independent agencies.

Independent Agencies are agencies that are outside of any of the cabinet departments. The role they play is to administer programs, however, they don't really play any political role.

Describe the difference between isolationism, collective security, imperialism, internationalism and interventionism.

Isolationism is where a country does not involve themselves in any foreign affairs very strictly. Collective security is where a country partakes in foreign affairs, but only together, with other countries. Internationalism is where a country intervenes in foreign affairs for their own national interests. Imperialism is where a country extends their power by forcefully taking over other countries' land. Interventionism is basically where a country joins many foreign affairs, for any reason, all the other things I just explained branching off of it, aside from Isolationism.

In current times, what is usually necessary for the United States to interfere in foreign affairs?

Nowadays, whenever the US gets involved in foreign affairs, collective security is usually the most necessary. The US has a lot of allies, and being a part of the UN, it's obvious the US would deal with foreign affairs in a group effort, rather than doing it by themselves, which is the far riskier option.

Explain the process of a Presidential Appointment. Describe the role the Senate plays.

Presidential Appointments are jobs that are appointed by the president, and can be a lot of different jobs, a few examples being Ambassadors or Diplomats, cabinet members, or judges. The senate's role in presidential appointments is that they approve every appointment the president makes, which needs a ⅔ vote to confirm them.

List examples of independent agencies.

Some good examples are a space agency of any kind, that has a law that states we can have them, but they aren't really political, so there's no point in having them in the cabinet, as well as other unrelated things, such as the Commission of Fine Arts, Postal Rate Commission, National Credit Union Administration, etc.

List and explain the two diplomatic powers (or actions) of the president.

The 2 diplomatic powers of the president are to sign an executive agreement, which is essentially a pact between the president and the foreign head of state, and the power to sign treaties, which need the approval of the senate, and are an agreement between two or more countries.

Describe the duties and role of the bureaucracy. How does it function and how are decisions made?

The Bureaucracy is a large and complex administrative body, which practically runs the government. It functions in a goal oriented manner, needing to pass an exam to get hired, and decisions are made from standard routine and operational tasks, taken through a series of commands inside the organization.

Explain how the Electoral College works.

The Electoral college is essentially what determines who the president will be in the end of the election. Each state has electors, a different amount of them based on the population of the state, and the people vote for the electors, while the electors vote for the president. The candidate who gets the most electoral votes wins the election.

Describe the role of the United Nations in American Foreign Policy.

The United Nations have heavily broadened the scope of foreign policy for America, and made it more quickly responsive and conscious to any political, social, or economical problems, which would eventually affect the interests of the US as a world power.

Explain the difference between a unilateral and multilateral approach to foreign policy.

The difference between a unilateral and multilateral approach to foreign policy, the unilateral approach is when we deal with foreign affairs without working with any other countries, and a multilateral approach is when we work with 3 or more countries to handle foreign affairs.

Describe the systems of checks and balances on the Executive Branch (see your book and ppt)

The executive branch, similar to all other branches, have checks and balances. For example, the Executive branch can check on the Legislative branch by approving or vetoing legislation. The president can also check on the judicial branch by nominating judges to other federal courts. Finally, the president can also check on congress by invoking executive privilege as well.

List the first five people in the Presidential Order of Succession.

The first five people to succeed in the presidential order of succession, are the Vice President, then the Speaker of the House, then the President Pro Tempore, then all the members of the Presidential cabinet, in order of when they were created, which start with the secretary of state, and then the secretary of the treasury.

Describe the duties of the White House Staff.

The main duties that the staff of the White House serve are to report directly to the president about anything important. This also includes the West Wing staff and the senior advisors of the president. Most if not all of the staff are political appointees of the president, meaning they don't require any Senate confirmation, and can be dismissed at any time by the president.

What are the duties of the Executive Branch?

The main duty of the Executive Branch is essentially to carry out or enforce the laws. They are the larger role of the federal government, and not just the President. The other parts of the Executive branch are the Cabinet members, the Bureaucracy, Advisors, and Governors, which are on the state level.

What are the official and unofficial duties of the Vice-President?

The official duties of the vice president are that they are the president of the senate, and also work as a tiebreaker if there is a tie for something in the senate. The unofficial duties of the VP however, are that they are the "President in Waiting," meaning that they will replace the president if the president cannot work anymore for whatever reason, while also serving as a public figurehead.

Describe the two duties of the President's Cabinet.

The president's cabinet has 2 major roles, one individually, and one together. Individually, each member of the cabinet is the head of one of the fifteen executive departments. Together however, they are advisors to the president.

Explain the president's two roles in affecting legislation.

The president's two roles in affecting legislation consist of an official and unofficial role. The official role is that he can sign and veto any legislation, while his unofficial role is that he can make recommendations, which is unofficial because congress doesn't have to listen. However, the president and congress work together often.

Describe the purpose and process of a Presidential Primary.

The purpose of a Presidential Primary is to determine the candidate that will appear on the ballot, representing said party. After all the primaries and caucuses held in each state to pick a candidate, the Presidential primary is held by each major party, to select the official nominee to be on the ballot.

Describe the role of the Executive Office of the President. Who is included in the EOP?

The role of the EOP is to help advise the president, as the president has so many complicated things to deal with, and can't do it on his own. The people who are included in the EOP are made up of key and political staff, who are usually influential aids and key advisors.

Explain the three qualifications necessary to become the President.

The three qualifications that are required to become the president are to be at least 35 years old, be a resident of the United States for at least 14 years, while also being a natural born citizen, meaning you were born here.

Describe the following and list an example: economic assistance, military and humanitarian aid, sanction, military intervention, covert action.

There are two different types of economic assistance when it comes to negotiating foreign policy. There's humanitarian aid, which is where we give money to another country in the hopes they do something favorable to us. A good example is how we give lots of money to countries like Israel and Egypt, because we want them to help us out. And there's sanction, which is a restriction on trade for a country. An example for this is how we blocked trade with North Korea, as we don't approve of their recent decisions. Another type of way to negotiate foreign policy is military intervention, which is where we send in the troops to fight a war. There are pre-emptive strikes, where we attack the other country first, and defensive strikes, where we attack the other country as a response to them attacking us. For example, in the War of Iraq, we did a pre-emptive strike to attack their leader before they attacked us, and during WW2, we did a defensive strike by nuking Japan after they attacked us in pearl harbor. Finally, another option is Covert Action, which is an undercover operation, usually done by the CIA, and we don't widely talk about them. An example of this, is how we overthrew many South American governments, due to them being communist, but we didn't do it openly.