Pols Test 1: Study Guide Questions
What is a coalition?
A coalition is a combination of unlike-minded interests who nonetheless agree, for their own distinct reasons, to a common course of action. Examples include lobbying, legislating, and campaigning for the election of public officials.
What is a constitution? What does it do?
A constitution is a document that outlines the formal rules and institutions of government and places limitations on powers. The constitution of a nation establishes its governing institutions and the set of rules and procedures these institutions must (and must not) follow to reach and enforce collective agreements.
What is a government? Why are they important?
A government is the institutions and procedures through which people are ruled. A government consists of institutions and the legal process for making and enforcing collective agreements. Governments assume various forms, a monarchy, representative democracy, a theocracy, and a dictatorship.
What is a logroll? No, a logroll, not an eggroll.
A logroll is the result of legislative vote trading. For example, legislators representing urban districts may vote for an agricultural bill provided that legislatures from rural districts vote for a mass transit bill.
How do a parliamentary system government and a presidential system government compare?
A parliamentary government is a form of government in which the chief executive is chosen by the majority party or by a coalition of parties in the legislature. This type of government fuses the executive and legislative branch. The legislature elects a cabinet, whose members serve as the premier of prime minister. The presidential government system has a legislative and executive branch and the minority party still has a voice in making government decisions.
What is a representative government? What is direct democracy?
A representative government is a political system in which citizens select government officials who, acting as their agents, deliberate and commit the citizenry to a course of collective action. A direct democracy is a system of government in which citizens make policy decisions by voting on legislation themselves rather than by delegating that authority to their representatives.
What is a republic?
A republic is a form of democracy in which power is vested in elected representatives. It is also designed to allow some degree of popular control and avoid tyranny.
What is the supremacy clause? What did the Founders intend that this clause do?
A supremacy clause is a clause that declares national laws supreme and takes precedence over state laws. The Founders intended for this clause to be the final jurisdiction between the state and national levels of government.
How are these systems of government different: unitary, federation, and confederation?
A unitary government is a system in which a single government unit holds the power to govern the nation. In a federation, the power is divided between a central government and several regional governments. A confederation is a political system in which states or regional governments retain ultimate authority except for those powers they expressly delegate to a central government.
What events led to the dismantling of colonial home rule? What was the response to this by the British government, the colonies in general?
After the French and Indian War, Britain was left with a large amount of debt. Because of this debt, Britain decided to impose taxes and violate home rule. The colonies were angered by the imposed taxes and adopted the slogan, "No Taxation without Representation". Colonial assemblies passed resolutions demanding the tax be repealed and they sent delegates to a National Congress. Britain's response to the colonies was imposing half a dozen more tax administrative laws designed to weaken their assemblies.
What is agency loss? Why does it occur?
Agency loss is the discrepancy between what citizens ideally would like their agents to do and how the agents actually behave. Agency loss might arise "accidentally" by incompetence or the principal's failure to communicate goals clearly. It also might occur when there are inherent differences between the goals of a principal and its agents.
Why were we well situated to break with the monarchy?
America was well situated to break from the monarchy because it was used to having home rule and held the power of taxation. Thus, because of home rule, for over a century the colonists had routinely elected their own leaders and held them accountable for local policies and taxes.
What is authority? How is it different from power?
Authority is the acknowledged right to make a particular decision. Power refers to an officeholder's actual influence with other officeholders and, as a consequence, over the government's actions. An office's authority is an important ingredient in its occupant's power, but an officeholder's power includes the skill to deploy that authority when dealing with other officeholders and politicians.
What does the Constitution say about federalism- how does it promote it?
Because members of Congress come from the states, the majority opinion concluded, "the political process ensures the laws that unduly burden the states will not be promulgated". (Favoring state's rights)
What types of grants are there and how are they different?
Block grants: gives each state or local government an exact amount of money to spend for some purpose. Matching grants: the federal government promises to provide matching funds, usually between one and four dollars between every dollar that a state spends in some area.
What are checks and balances?
Checks and balances are a constitutional mechanism that gives each branch some oversight and control of the other branches.
What is collective action?
Collective action is an action taken by a group of like-minded individuals to achieve a common goal
Why are the problems with collective action hard to overcome?
Collective action problems are hard to overcome because there are two fundamental barriers that block collective action from being effective, coordination and prisoner's dilemmas.
What was Common Sense? Why was it important to the cause?
Common Sense was a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that moved the independence issue to center stage. Within three months of its publication, 120,000 copies were sold, and Americans were talking about Paine's argument that only in the creation of an independent republic would the people find contentment.
Why were women left out of the Constitution?
Congressional convention mainly concerned with making a functional gov, not individual rights Drafted to be as free of gender bias as possible Women's political rights had not become an issues yet
What is coordination? Make sure you can define coordination and why it is an important aspect of collective action.
Coordination is the act of organizing a group to achieve a common goal. Coordination remains a prerequisite for effective collective action even after the disincentives to individual participation have been solved.
Give an example of the coordination problem faced by the states? An example of reneging and shirking? An example of cutthroat competition?
Coordination: Until 1986 each state administration had its own driver's license laws, but then Congress passed the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act, which standardized driver's licenses for interstate truckers and created a bureau with in the DOT to centralize traffic violation records Reneging and Shirking: failing to reduce air pollution (leads to climate change) Cutthroat Competition: competition among states for better international trade markets, a business relocating to a new city because of better benefits
What is the difference between dual and shared federalism?
Dual federalism separates the powers of the national and state governments. Shared Federalism recognizes that the national and state governments jointly supply services to the citizens.
What is federalism?
Federalism is a system of government in which power is divided between a central government and several regional governments. In the United States, the division is between national government and the states.
Why are Federalist 10 and 51 so critical to our understanding of the Constitution?
Federalist papers No. 10 and 51 are critical to our understanding of the Constitution because they tackle the fundamental problem of self-governance.
What were the Federalists Papers and why were they so critical to ratification of the Constitution?
Federalists Papers were papers written by James Madison that support ratification of the Constitution. The papers were critical because their publication served as a way for the public to fully understand how the Constitution would change the United States for the better.
What was Franklin's Plan of the Union?
Franklin's Plan of the Union was the first serious proposal for a national government. The plan called for an American army to provide for the colonies' defense, a popularly elected national legislature with the power to levy taxes, and an executive appointed by the British king.
What are grants-in-aid and how do they influence the relationship between the federal and state governments?
Grants-in aids are funds given by Congress to state or local governments for a specific purpose. Inducements for states to provide services they otherwise might not be able to afford or offer. They give the national government opportunities to define these state governments with great specificity.
What is home rule? What was the nature of colonial home rule?
Home rule is the power given by a state to a locality to enact legislation and manage its own affairs locally. Britain gave America home rule but they were still heavily involved in America's foreign commerce. Their involvement created a market for British manufactured goods and provided a steady supply of cheap raw materials.
How did the issue of slavery manifest itself in the Constitution?
In order to resolve the issue of slavery, the delegates decided each slave would count as three-fifths of a citizen. They also included a ban on the regulation of slave trade until 1808 and required northern states to return runaway slaves to their masters.
Why have institutional reform and how does it generally occur?
Institutional reform is important because it helps institutions perform more efficiently and accomplish new collective goals. Institutional reform occurs within agencies when new tasks are added to old, until the work outstrips the capacity of existing structures, and new offices and procedures are created.
Why are institutions important
Institutions are important because they manage potential conflicts and keep ethnic and religious rivals from becoming trapped in a spiral of mutual suspicion, fear, and hostility.
What are institutions?
Institutions are organizations that manage political conflicts between political rivals, help find mutually acceptable solutions, and make and enforce society's collective agreements. In the U.S. several institutions are Congress, the Presidency, and the Supreme Court.
What is the doctrine of nullification?
It allows a state to invalidate any federal law deemed unconstitutional to the state.
What is judicial review?
Judicial review is the authority of a court to declare legislative and executive acts unconstitutional and therefore invalid.
Why are majority rule and delegation important concepts? What do they help do in terms of collective action?
Majority rule embodies the hallowed democratic principle of political equality. Equality requires each citizen's vote carries the same weight and offers all citizens the same opportunity to participate in the nation's civic life. When disagreements arise, the more widely shared preference should prevail. Delegation occurs when individuals or groups authorize someone to make and implement decisions. Delegation is so pervasive because it addresses common collective action problems. When issues are delegated, decisions are made at a higher rate opposed to just one group making all of the decisions.
What is the argument against nationalization?
Many people felt as though the national government would become too powerful.
What were the roadblocks to the Constitution's ratification?
Many people thought the Constitution would impose taxes and wreak havoc on their incomes. Farmers, used to receiving handouts, worried about their level of protection under the Constitution. The Farmers failed to recognize, that the ascendancy of the national government would benefit them by shifting public finance away from property taxes and toward import duties. Some northeastern merchants who foresaw this shift lobbied their delegates to oppose ratification.
Why were McCulloch v. Maryland and Gibbons v. Ogden relevant to the relationship between the federal and state governments?
McCulloh v. Maryland: State action may not impede valid constitutional exercises of power by the Federal Government. With McCulloh vs. Maryland, the Supreme Court invoked by the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution, which allowed the Federal government to pass laws not expressly provided for in the Constitution's list of expressed powers. Gibbons v. Ogden: Federal government is allowed to regulate commerce between states.
Who is Montesquieu? Why were his ideas important?
Montesquieu was a French philosopher that supplied the Framers with the nuts and bolts of a design of government with the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Montesquieu championed limited government - limited not only in the nature of its authority, but also in the size of the political community it encompassed.
How did the shortcomings of government under the Articles impact the Revolutionary War?
Not having a central authority allowed states to free ride and not pay funding for the war. Soldiers were not given adequate funding to obtain the necessary supplies.
Why do politicians act strategically?
Politicians act strategically to subordinate their sincere preferences to what is best for their constituents in order to achieve results that stand a better chance of success.
What is politics? Why is it important?
Politics is the process through which individuals and groups reach agreement on a course of common, or collective, action-even if they disagree on the intended goals of that action. Politics is important because each party needs to find a solution to its conflict or disagreement. A solution requires parties to cooperate, even when cooperation is costly and difficult to achieve.
What are some powers denied to the national government? The state governments?
Powers denied to the national government are: tax state imports, change state boundaries, impose religious tests, pass laws in conflict with the Bill of Rights. Powers denied to the state government are: tax imports and exports, coin money, enter into treaties, impair obligation of contracts, and enter compacts with other states without congressional consent.
What are some examples of exclusive powers of the national government? Exclusive powers of the state government?
Powers of the national government are: coin money, regulate interstate and foreign commerce, tax imports and exports, make treaties, make all laws, "necessary and proper" to fulfill responsibilities, make war, and regulate the postal system. Powers of the state government are: run elections, regulate intrastate commerce, establish republican forms of state and local governments, protect public health, safety, and morals, and all powers not delegated to the national government or denied to the states by the constitution.
What is preemption legislation and why is it important?
Preemption legislation is the rule of law that if the federal government through Congress has enacted legislation on a subject matter it shall be controlling over state laws and/or precludes the state from enacting laws on the same subject if Congress has specifically stated it has "occupied the field".
What are preferences?
Preferences are "givens"- individuals and groups know what they want - that must be reconciled if they are to agree to some common course of action. Preferences reflect one's economic situation, religious values, ethnic identity, or some other valued interest.
What were some collective action problems that were visible during the war?
Prisoners Dilemma and Free Riding were two collective action problems visible during the war
What are private versus public goods?
Private goods are the things people buy and consume themselves in a marketplace tat supplies these goods according to the demand for them. Public goods are those which everyone participates in supplying-say through tax dollars- and which anyone can freely consume, as much as he or she desires. An example of a public good is a freeway.
What are direct orders?
Requirements that can be enforced by legal and civic penalties
What is separation of powers? Why would the Founders create a system like this?
Separation of powers is the distribution of government powers among several political institutions. In the United States these powers are Congress, the president, and the Supreme Court. The Founders created a system like separation of powers to keep the government democratic in form and avoid from it becoming a dictatorship. Separation of powers also staggered legislative terms, prohibited an unelected judiciary, and limited national authority.
Describe the events that led to the federal convention?
Shay's Rebellion and colonies overturning unpopular court decisions, altering property assessments and issuing devalued paper money are the events that led to the Federal Constitution.
What are states' rights and what role did they plan in the Federal Convention of 1787?
State's Rights advocates supported retaining those features of the Articles of Confederation that guarded state prerogatives, such as state participation in the selection of national officeholders and equal representation for each state regardless of population. State's Rights advocates served as a safeguard against too-powerful national government at the Federal Convention.
Where do states and the national government share power?
States and national governments share power when it comes to: taxes, borrowing money, chartering banks and corporations, taking property, and enforcing laws and administering a judiciary.
What are cross-cutting requirements?
Statutes that apply certain rules and guidelines to a broad array of federal subsidized state programs
What are crossover sanctions?
Stipulations that a state, to remain eligible for full federal funding for one program must adhere to the guidelines of an unrelated program
Why are bargaining and compromise important to politics?
Success at politics requires bargaining and compromise. Bargaining is the prolonged exchange of proposals and counter proposals. Bargaining usually ends in compromise, a settlement in which each side concedes some preferences to secure others.
How is the Supremacy Clause related to federalism? The Tenth Amendment? Which has had more of an impact on the relationship between the national government and the state governments?
Supremacy Clause: establishes the U.S. Constitution, federal states, and U.S. treaties as "the supreme law of the land". 10th Amendment: offers the most explicit endorsement of federalism in the Constitution, "The powers not delegated to the U.S. by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people". The 10th Amendment failed to fend off federal authority- Supremacy Clause has more impact.
How did the United States become a nation of nationalized public policy instead of a nation of segmented communities?
Supremacy clause gives most of the power to the national government, thus unifying the states. Also this gave power to congress to address problems the states had not grappled with under the Articles of Confederation.
What is the Bill of Rights and why was it critical to the ratification of the Constitution?
The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the Constitution. The Bill of Rights was critical for ratification because it persuaded the Antifederalists to ratify the Constitution.
How is the Constitution amended? What is the nature of the process? What is the most popular manner in which the Constitution has been amended?
The Constitution allows an amendment to be proposed either by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress or by an "application" from two-thirds of the states. Enactment occurs when three-fourths of the states, acting through their state legislatures or in special conventions, accept the amendment. In every instance of the past twenty-seven amendments, Congress has initiated the process in all but one case the state legislature did the ratifying.
What were the Continental Congresses and what did each do (1st and 2nd)?
The Continental Congresses were made up of each colony's leading professionals, merchants, and planters. The 1st Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of American Rights, which essentially reassured home rule, and endorsement of an agreement to ban all trade with Britain until it rescinded the despised taxes and regulation. The 2nd Continental Congress issued the nation's first bonds and established a national currency. It also authorized delegate George Washington to expand the Massachusetts militia into a full-fledged national army.
What is the Declaration of Independence and why was it important? Who wrote it and what does it say - please go to the back of your book and read it so you know the answer to this?
The Declaration of Independence was the document drafted by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by the 2nd Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776, declaring independence of the thirteen colonies from Great Britain.
What is the Electoral College? What was its goal?
The Electoral College is a body of electors in each state, chosen by voters, who formally elect the president and vice president of the United States. Each state's number of electoral votes equals representation in Congress. An absolute majority of the total electoral vote is required to elect a president and vice president. The goal of the Electoral College is to mix the state, congressional, and popular participation in the election process.
What did the Federalists argue? The Anti-Federalists?
The Federalists supported the Constitution's ratification. The Antifederalists did not support ratification and believed that only local democracy, the kind found in small homogenous communities, could approach true democracy. The thought the United States was too diverse and large to be ruled by a single set of laws.
What was the Great Compromise/Connecticut Compromise?
The Great Compromise was the Solomon-like compromise that split control of the legislature's two chambers between the large, House of Representatives and the small, Senate, states. The upper chamber, the senate, retained feature of Congress under the Articles of Confederation. Madison's population based elective legislature became the House of Representatives.
How did the Senate aid the cause of states' righters until the 17th Amendment was enacted?
The Senate defended state prerogatives against national encroachment. This occurred because senators were selected by state legislatures. However, this changed when the 17th amendment passed, mandating the direct, popular election of senators.
Contrast the Virginia Plan with the New Jersey Plan? How were they different and how were they similar?
The Virginia Plan, proposed by James Madison, introduced a tripartite national government, but unlike the subsequent Constitution, it provided for a popularly elected legislature that would dominate national policymaking. The New Jersey Plan, proposed by William Patterson, gave Congress the authority to force the states to comply with its tax requisitions. The plan also allowed for a simple majority vote to enact national policy rather than the supermajority required in the Articles. This plan kept a malapportioned Congress representing states, with each state getting one vote. The similarities of both plans stem from extending more power to a central unit, but the differences lie in the way each state receives representation.
What efforts went into designing the judicial branch?
The convention spent little time designing the new federal judiciary. They included the supremacy clause and judicial review in the constitution to cover any loopholes.
What was our first written Constitution and what was the nature of the government it set up? What were its weaknesses?
The first written Constitution was the Articles of Confederation. Under the articles, the government was a confederation, a highly decentralized system in which the national government has limited authority from the states rather than directly from citizens. Weaknesses of the Articles included unanimous agreement, too much power at the state level, each state producing its own currency, no central authority, and state imposed trade barriers.
How does the institutional design of our federal government mitigate "popular passions"?
The institutional design mitigates "popular passions" by escalating transaction costs so the government can better address the nations collective problems but does not give all authority to self interested politicians or a majority coalition to turn the power of government against citizenry. The design of separation of powers also keeps the government form becoming a dictatorship.
After the war ended, what types of domestic issues emerged? Why were these important? What impact did they have?
The issues that emerged from the war are a large debt, trade conflict with other nations, and popular discontent. These issues were important in making the colonies realize the need for change.
What is the necessary and proper clause of the Constitution and why is it important?
The necessary and proper clause is the last clause of Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution. The clause grants Congress the authority to make all laws that are "necessary and proper" and to execute those laws. The clause is important because it left the door open for a major expansion of Congress's legislative power and the nationalization of public policy during the twentieth century.
What is the principal-agent relationship? Can you think of an example from your own life of such a relationship? What do you think is the most important principal-agent relationship in American government?
The principal- agent relationship is comprised of principals, those who possess decision-making authority, and agents, those who exercise authority on behalf of the principals. An example of this would be someone hiring an H&R Block agent to fill out their tax forms for them and hopefully save them some money. The most important principal-agent relationship in the American government is the president appointing hundreds of staff members (agents) to monitor and promote the administration's interests within the bureaucracy on Capitol Hill.
What was the Stamp Act? Why was it important?
The stamp act imposed a tax on all printed materials, including legal documents, licenses, insurance papers, land titles, and a variety of consumer goods. The stamp act was the most aggressive challenge to home rule and Americans greeted it with a personal affront. Americans had paid taxes before but they had been self-imposed. The Stamp Act encouraged Americans to chant, "No Taxation without Representation" but truthfully the Americans were not interested in representation in Britain's Parliament.
Why did states need to surrender some of their autonomy to a central agency thus losing some of their states rights in order to create this new government?
The states were willing to surrender some of their autonomy to create a central agency because, the new national government would assume outstanding debts that states incurred during the war, protect the states from invasion and insurrection, and guarantee that all states would be governed by republican instructions.
What are the three conditions required of a federal system?
The three conditions required by a federal system are: The same people and territory are included in both levels of government. The nation's constitution protects units at each level of government from encroachment by the other units. Each unit is in position to exert some leverage over the other(s).
What is the veto power found in the Constitution?
The veto power found in the Constitution is the formal power of the president to reject bills passed by both houses of Congress. However, the veto power can be overridden by a 2/3's vote in each house.
Why are there problems associated with collective action?
There are problems with collective action because it involves comparing preferences and finding some course of action that sufficient members of participants agree is preferable to proposed alternatives or doing nothing. Also, even when differences are in principle reconcilable, there is no guarantee that a solution will be discovered and implemented.
What are the costs of collective action? The visible/material ones? What about the not-so-visible/non-material ones?
There are two costs of collective action: transaction costs and conformity costs. Transaction costs or the visible costs are the time, effort, and recourses required to make collective decisions. Conformity costs or the not-so visible costs are the differences between what a person would ideally prefer and what the group with which that person makes collective decisions actually does. *Institutions that minimize transaction costs, making it easy for government to act, may do so by imposing excessive conformity costs. Thus, transaction costs and conformity costs are inversely related.
What are unfunded mandates and why are they controversial?
Unfunded mandates is a statute or regulation that requires a state or local government, or private individuals or organizations in order to perform certain actions, but provides no money for fulfilling the requirements. Unfunded mandates are controversial because they require the state or local government to pay for the implementation of the law. Many believe if the federal government imposes a law, funding should be provided.
What is the prisoner's dilemma?
a. Prisoner's Dilemma- arises whenever individuals, who ultimately would benefit from cooperating with each other, also have a powerful, irresistible incentive to break the agreement and exploit the other side. Prisoner's Dilemma can be solved by making reneging and defection very expensive and creating institutions that help parties discover opportunities to profit through cooperation and guarantee agreements are honored.
What is free riding?
arises whenever citizens recognize that their small contribution to the collective enterprise will not affect its success of failure. This problem can be solved by adding incentives for contribution or by penalizing those with fines for not contributing.
What is the Tragedy of the Commons?
is a situation in which group members overexploit a common resource, causing its destruction. The two solutions to solving this problem are regulation and privatizing.
How have policy areas been transferred to the federal government? What problems did this solve?
the nationalization of public policy that proceeded from these causes did not arise from some grand design. Rather, it occurred as politicians sought solutions to problems and responded to the demands of their constituencies. Has much to do with the interplay of political interests.
