Political Science 01 Final

Writ of Certiorari

DEFINITION: A certiorari is issued by a superior court, directing an inferior court, tribunal, or other public authority to send the record of a proceeding for review. In other words, this is seen as the writ that the Supreme Court issues to a lower court to review the lower court's judgment for legal error and review where no appeal is available as a matter of right. A party who wants SCOTUS to review a decision of a federal or state court files a petition for a writ of certiorari. If the Court grants the petition, the case is scheduled for the filing of briefs and for oral argument. SIGNIFICANCE: The Supreme Court is very selective about which cases it will hear on appeal, and usually only does hear these cases if the case has national significance and has the potential to harmonize conflicting decisions in the federal Circuit courts.

Collective Good

DEFINITION: A collective good is also known as a public good that is provided by everyone in some sense for the benefit of everyone. These goods can be consumed or used by anyone. These goods are non-excludable whereas private goods are brought by individuals on the market and consumed as individuals rather than a public. SIGNIFICANCE: These goods are important for a functioning society, however, it can perpetuate the issue of the free-rider problem--people don't pay their fair share, but still indulge in the goods that is provided by everyone.

Heuristics/cues

DEFINITION: A heuristic, or cue, acts as a useful shortcut to getting an informed view about something. Certain cues will tell us what we need to know about an issue by helping us form quick opinions on the basis of whether someone supports a certain policy, for an example. People systematically rely on cues in order to make quick decisions about people or the party to see if they can trust them. It allows people who are not well-informed to do roughly and make decisions on stuff they would normally do if they were informed.

Roe v. Wade, 1973

DEFINITION: A landmark decision by United States Supreme Court on the issue of the constitutionality of laws that criminalized or restricted access to abortions. The Court ruled that a right to privacy under the Due Process clause of the 14th Amendment extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that this right must be balanced against the state's interests in regulating abortions: protecting women's health and protecting the potentiality of human life. In the end, the Court resolved this balancing test by tying state regulation of abortion to the third trimester of pregnancy. SIGNIFICANCE: This is important because Roe v. Wade prompted a national debate that continues today about issues including whether or not abortion should be legal and to what extent. It reshaped national politics, dividing much of the United States into pro-abortion and anti-abortion camps.

Political Ignorance "Challenge"

DEFINITION: A lot of people seem to have no clue about politics; they are ignorant of the issues, the actors, the different policies and how these policy proposal would affect them or others. Political scientists questions this ignorance and wonders if citizens are able to form reasonable judgments, even with a lack of political knowledge and information. As a result, they look at underlying factors that they think shapes public opinion such as attitudes, ideology, party's, core values, and self-interest. The textbook argues that people only tend to acquire accurate information about politics when the payoff is greater than the cost of doing so.

Countermajoritarian Difficulty

DEFINITION: A perceived problem with judicial review of legislative laws. Some oppose or see a problem with the judicial branch's ability to invalidate, overrule, or countermand laws that reflect the will of the majority. This problem is often raised in discussions of US constitutional law, particularly discussing the powers within the three branches of government. SIGNIFICANCE: People argue that in some cases, elected representatives pass laws that do not reflect the will of the people, and in those cases, judicial review is a valid means by which to correct the democratic process.

Political Institutions

DEFINITION: A political institution is the rules of the game. These institutions structure how we operate politically. They can also be defined as sets of rules and norms that organize political activity. SIGNIFICANCE: These institutions are the foundations of politics and how the American people function in their political life. It establishes a ground for the political system and led way to the functions of each political aspect within politics and government. An example is Congress and how it creates laws for the American constituencies.

Sample vs. Population

DEFINITION: A population is the entire group that you are trying to receive information from. Some examples are: group of adults, group of children, group of voters, etc. On the other hand, a sample is a part of the population that is used to gain information about the whole population. The reasons why we have samples is because we're unable to interview and get results from every individual from the population. SIGNIFICANCE: This is important when it comes to doing research through surveys or polling when trying to find information about a certain pattern, behavior, etc.

Proximity voting

DEFINITION: A vote for the candidate closest to a voter more politically. This can be on the basis of ideology or policy issues, however, using issues as an indicator is more difficult since a candidate might be close to some issues and far on others. Ideology is more consistent/coherent to calculate. SIGNIFICANCE: There are some problems to this since candidates might support various issues differently and people may be ignorant of the candidates' positions. Some people use heuristics, like party ID, to get around this. This works relatively well in local elections.

The Least Dangerous Branch

DEFINITION: Alexander Hamilton declared in the federalist papers, Federalist #78, that the Courts are the least dangerous branch due to the fact it has "no influence over either the sword or the purse." In other words, it holds no force over others or will to do things, as it is only capable of holding judgment of what the legislative and executive branch decides to do. Congress controls the flow of money and the President controls the military while the courts does not have this type of power from a constitutional design standpoint. The Judiciary simply depends on the political branches to make decisions to uphold its judgment. SIGNIFICANCE: This is significant because the Federalist 78 sparked controversy on the power of the courts. People forget to realize that the existence of judicial review has a lot of power over deciding whether or not a law or statute is unconstitutional. Although the Court's doesn't have the same standards and level of powers as the other branches, they are still able to engage in the system of checks and balances to ensure that their power is not being undermined completely by the legislative and executive branch.

Issue Network

DEFINITION: Alliance of various interest groups and individuals who unite in order to promote a common cause or agenda in a way that influences government policy. These networks increase participation in bureaucratic policymaking with people who have policy expertise and are drawn to the same issues. It is a relatively open and informal network of public officials and lobbyists who have a common interest in a given area and who are brought together by a proposed policy in that area.

Plural Executive

DEFINITION: An executive council that acts as the presidency rather than one person. This was considered at the time of the Founding as a way to act as the system of checks and balances within the Executive, but it was specifically rejected. SIGNIFICANCE: This is important because if this were to be how our presidential system functioned today, it would lead to many accountability problems along with transaction costs that might have been too much for the White House and overall political system to handle.

Commander-in-chief

DEFINITION: As Commander-in-Chief, the President is in charge of the U.S. Armed Forces: the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps. The President decides where troops are stationed, where ships will be sent, and how weapons are used. All military generals and admirals take their orders from the president, however, the President does not have the power to declare war constitutionally. This power is delegated to Congress. SIGNIFICANCE: This role for the president is super important because it is his duty to defend the United States, its territories and possessions, and its armed forces from attack. He has a lot of military control and power over the armed forces and the president is responsible for making the right decisions when ordering the military.

Selective Incentive

DEFINITION: Benefits that can motivate participation in a group effort because they are only available to those who participate, such as member services offered by interest groups. Goods or benefits offered only to those who contribute to a collective undertaking in an effort to stop free riding. They're made available to people on the basis of whether they contribute to a collective good. SIGNIFICANCE: It helps overcome the free-rider problem. Because it only gives goods out to those who pay their fair share, this prevents people from trying to obtain goods without making their fair contribution to obtain that good.

Forecasting Presidential elections

DEFINITION: Campaigns frame the issues, which will have a strong influence on how people view them. However, campaigns matter a little less than the fundamentals, like how well the economy is doing. Selective perception also affects views on debates and other matters since voters and the audience will pay attention to a particular issue and will try to see if the candidate they're leaning towards supports their beliefs.

Committee government

DEFINITION: Committees have long been viewed as the critical actor in Congress, the key to its power and the place where decisions get made. The way to get power was to stay in office for a long time because as a senior member, you get to choose what committee you want to serve on. The period of committee government is the 1940s-1960s.

Iron Triangles

DEFINITION: Comprises the policy-making relationship among the congressional committees, the bureaucracy, and interest groups. All three will work together so that all three can achieve their goals. It is a mutually beneficial, three-way relationship. Each group does some action that will help the other group, creating a lasting and unbreakable bond between the three. All three members tend to dominate all policy-making in their respective specialized areas of concerns and they tend to present a united front against "outsiders" who attempt to invade their turf and alter established policies. SIGNIFICANCE: These alliances among different people form to promote their common causes. An example is the important issue on the effects of tobacco on health and the government's role in regulating it. The tobacco farmers and industry have numerous interest groups, a "tobacco lobby" that provide information to the tobacco division of the Department of Agriculture and to subcommittees of the House and Senate agricultural committees. They support each other by either supporting one's budget, passing legislation that benefits their agenda, etc.

Party tides (in congressional elections)

DEFINITION: During the congressional elections, party tides occur when one party has a big net gain in the House or Senate. This can drastically change policies and programs that get passed and therefore, change the incumbent president's final approval ratings. This can be done through gerrymandering since this is performed to favor one party.

Elite v.s Mass Polarization

DEFINITION: Elite polarization is the polarization of party members in government and the legislative body whereas mass polarization is the polarization of voters. Masses might use cues from elites to take their policy position, as elites might place influence over mass polarization. Elite polarization occurs when party members (both elected government officials and activists within party organization) grow more internally homogenous on policy positions and more divergent relative to members of other parties. Mass polarization occurs when the electorate's attitudes towards political issues, policies, and people are divided along partisan lines. This is greatly related to the culture war thesis with the divide between red states and blue states.

Impact of Campaign Donations on Members of Congress

DEFINITION: Even though campaign donations are aimed to buy influence and change how members vote, there is actually little to no impact on voter behavior. However, they're not really able to have an impact on elections to begin with. Instead, money buys member participation. People work for a bill in the committee and help draft amendments, which is most likely to make a difference for issues that are less visible to regular voters. Also, PACs tend to stick with incumbents since they want to buy access to people who are going to stay in office.

Executive Order

DEFINITION: Fairly modern development that has allowed the President to intrude into administration versus Congress by implementing his own legislation. The order has the force of the law until it is retracted by a president, nullified by Congress, or ruled as conflicting with the Constitution or federal law by the Courts. These orders are effective because Congress has to pass a law to overturn the executive order, which can be vetoed by the President. As a result, it's difficult to reach a ⅔ vote to override the President's veto. SIGNIFICANCE: Executive orders are quite significant because this gives the presidency leverage over the legislative agenda since the Founding Fathers of the Constitution originally did not intend for the President to have a role in creating legislation and influencing the policy agenda of Congress. Through these orders, the president is able to apply his agenda to American politics.

Incumbency Advantage

DEFINITION: For most of the second half of the 20th century, over 90% of incumbents win reelection to the House, and they're winning by big margins. The vast majority aren't even close! There is a huge name recognition advantage for incumbents, which translates into a huge fundraising advantage. Public funding could help alleviate this problem, but it wouldn't fix it completely since the incumbent would get a lot of media exposure anyway.

Modern Presidency

DEFINITION: Franklin Delano Roosevelt started the Modern Presidency greatly increasing the power of the Executive Branch at the expense of the Legislative. Prior to his presidency, power swung freely between Congress and the President. However, after FDR's presidency, the power has primarily stayed with the president through his positions as chief legislator, chief budgeter, head of the bureaucracy, commander-in-chief, head of state, popular leader, and party leader. SIGNIFICANCE: This is significant because it gives more power to the President rather than having an equal amount settled between the President and Congress. Due to this, the President has more of a discretion to oversee what happens during his presidency and can take more control over things like the budget, and the expansion of legislation, military orders and powers, going public, etc.

President as "clerk"

DEFINITION: From 1840s-1900, many political leaders thought political power should center on Congress and that the president's job should be to execute decisions made by Congress. During this era, people referred to the president's position as "clerk in chief" because the President was not expected to initiate or guide national policy. SIGNIFICANCE: This is significant because it affects the way the people see the President and how they act. This doesn't give them that much leverage to exercise political power over passing legislation, so this has led the Presidents to take advantage of unilateral actions, like executive orders, to promote their self-interests on their own terms.

Issue Public

DEFINITION: Groups of people who pay attention to one particular issue. One can be part of more than one issue public. Generally, the group are particularly affected by an issue that is close to the area that they live in. For an example, people who live close proximity to oil-rich areas would be more concerned with by proposed legislation regarding pipelines and fracking projects.

Ideology

DEFINITION: Ideology is defined as an elaborate set of organized, internally consistent attitudes that allow one to understand, evaluate, and respond to political phenomena. This might be liberal, conservative, libertarian, etc. Roughly ⅕ of Americans use these terms spontaneously to describe themselves; most people express policy views that do not fit nearly into an ideological category--they are liberal on some attitudes and conservative on others.

Party press

DEFINITION: In the 19th century, papers were explicitly partisan--they were a tool for the parties to get their messages out. By the late 1800s and early 1900s, there is a large independent publishing chain that wielded a great deal of power and held a monopoly on getting information to the public. Party press helps mobilize people by presenting news in a way that rallies the party faithful (part of a high-participation atmosphere in the U.S.). However, the difficulty is that you can't exactly trust the paper to be accurate on basic facts since it does not contain objective reporting at all.

Holds

DEFINITION: In the Senate, a hold is a parliamentary procedure permitted by the Standing Rules to allow one or more Senators to prevent a motion from reaching a vote on the Senate floor.

Insider v.s Outsider Lobbying Strategies

DEFINITION: Inside lobbying describes efforts by lobbyists to influence legislation or rule-making directly by contacting legislators and their assistants, sometimes called staffers or aides. On the other hand, outsider lobbying includes attempts by interest group leaders to mobilize citizens outside the policymaking community through public relations methods or advertising in order to pressure public officials within the policymaking community.

Political socialization

DEFINITION: It is a lifelong process by which people form their ideas about politics and acquire political values. There are many factors that contribute to this act, whether that be family, educational system, peer groups, and/or the mass media. These factors influence how people think about politics and how they identify with a certain party.

Position-taking

DEFINITION: It is a matter of making a public statement on an issue. The reward for members of Congress is not for doing things, but for simply taking a stand (as voters are expressive). SIGNIFICANCE: This is effective to voters because voters want to know if the candidate will take a stand, despite the fact if they know it or not that they can stop an issue.

Presidential Memorandum

DEFINITION: It is quite similar, nearly the same as an executive order. It is a type of executive action issued by the President of the United States to manage and govern the actions, practices, and policies of the various departments and agencies under the executive branch.

Judicial Review

DEFINITION: Judicial review was established by the case of Marbury v. Madison (1803). Essentially, judicial review allows the judicial branch to look over a piece of legislation and declare its constitutionality by seeing if it abides by constitutional law. It is their ability of a court to declare a statute or act of a government unconstitutional and therefore void. Judicial review enforces the idea of separation of powers sharing institutions, as it is based on the idea that no branch of government should be able to exert power over any other branch without due process of law. SIGNIFICANCE: This gives the power of assessment to the courts, as they can assess whether a law is in compliance with the constitution. This is one of the checks and balances in the separation of powers because the judiciary is able to supervise the legislative and executive branches.

Factors affecting individual vote choice

DEFINITION: Many vote on past performance, many on ideological grounds, many on party lines, and many on policy issues. Heuristics will often be used to make these choices.

Party identification

DEFINITION: Normally people tend to use party identification to make decisions or vote for a candidate if they don't think about politics through ideology. Partisanship is the political attitude that shapes opinions and organizes other attitudes most consistently. A lot of Americans identify with the Democrats or Republicans. In a sense, it's a psychological attachment that is a good predictor of voting behavior. It also acts as a useful cue/heuristic for people that is stable over time and shapes how people view the world.

Political constraints on the Court

DEFINITION: One major political constraints is that the Courts are reactive, not proactive. In other words, they don't aim to initiate change, but instead, respond to the cases that come to them. They also have such an over-crowded agenda, they often cannot make decisions or deal with every case. Also, judges are appointed by the president and thus there is a political constraint on who gets into the judiciary; decisions can be overturned or circumvented by new laws. SIGNIFICANCE: This super significant because the courts help interpret laws, but they are known as the weakest branch. The courts aren't elected, so they aren't being held accountable by the people or the President they were appointed by. They are literally appointed for life, which can be a concern for democracy. Judges can also pick and choose between cases and frame the public agenda that way since they decide on what to see.

Voter mobilization

DEFINITION: Parties try to reduce costs of lack of voter turnout by mobilizing voters. During the 1960-90s, there was a decline in voter mobilization and as a result, there was a decline in turnout. Through mobilizing, politicians can directly contact voters to ask them to do this. People also perform door-to-door canvassing and this was proven to work best through experimental studies. This revives direct contact and convinces more people to turn out.

Conditional party government

DEFINITION: Party responsibility exists only if there is a widespread policy agreement among the majority party. The idea here is that if party members mostly agree on policy, then delegating powers to leaders is not as costly as it would have been. The degree of authority delegated to party leaders in Congress is directly related to the ideological agreement between the members of Congress of that party at any given time. SIGNIFICANCE: Delegation is more efficient with widely agreed on policy and therefore, you're more likely to get more policy wins--this is good for the party brand name and good for politicians. It helps overcome transaction costs of legislating.

Rationale for having committees

DEFINITION: People delegate power to the committee system because it provides information for Congress and also, promotes re-election. Getting on a committee that are of special concern to your district can attract voters.

Expressive Benefits

DEFINITION: Personal benefits that arise from taking action to express one's views. An example of this is participating in a protest and receiving the satisfaction that you are fulfilling your sense of political efficacy. This serves as another motivation for group membership and can help prevent people from free-riding if they acknowledge how they can receive personal benefits for contributing to a collective action.

PACs

DEFINITION: Political committees who are organized for the purpose of raising and spending money to elect and defeat candidates. Most PACs represent business, labor, or ideological interests. Their money, however, is limited by federal regulations since they coordinate with the campaigns. On the other hand, Super PACs' money are not limited since they do not explicitly coordinate with the campaign.

Priming

DEFINITION: Priming causes someone to think about a political issue in one frame or the other; then that individual exposed to this frame forms an opinion based on these frames. This is the process in which the media attend to some issues and not others and thereby alter the standards by which people evaluate election candidates.

Prisoner's Dilemma

DEFINITION: Prisoner's dilemma refers to the concerns of parties and how although two parties have collective interests to do/achieve something, they both generally renege before the other in fear that the other party won't fulfill their side of the bargain. They want to gain an advantage before the other party in case on doesn't commit, but this can be solved by making defection expensive and/or creating institutions that guarantee agreements that are honored through coercive authority. SIGNIFICANCE: This is importance because this issue is prevalent when it comes to people organizing and coordinating with one another. It affects the decisions people make in politics and people don't realize that engaging in coordination will result in the best outcome.

Sophomore Surge

DEFINITION: Refers to an increase in votes that congressional candidates usually receive when running for their first re-election.

Court-packing fight, 1937

DEFINITION: Roosevelt proposed a plan to appoint another judge for every judge older than seventy, so he could implement his New Deal plan and actively manage the economy by obtaining favorable rulings toward the legislation that the court had originally ruled unconstitutional. However, public opinion was terrible during this time and the court-packing plan died in Congress. Though, the Courts did start upholding the same economic legislation it had been blocking for 2 years.

Standing committee

DEFINITION: Standing committees were to provide Congress with its own internal information source. They deal with fixed topics and tend to have stable membership while each committee has jurisdiction over a particular set of policies. This allows a division of labor and specialization in Congress. Committees have staffs who are paid to be experts in these areas.

Stare Decisis

DEFINITION: Stare Decisis follows the precedent of previous cases. Courts use this to look into past cases that dealt with similar issues to guide their decisions on how they should interpret something in the present. Essentially, the policy of courts are to be abided by or adhere to principles established by decisions in earlier cases. SIGNIFICANCE: This is significant, especially in relation to the decisions made by lower courts. Inferior courts under the superior court must bind to the precedent because they are obligated to follow it. Essentially, the lower courts must abide by the prior decisions of higher courts to make their decisions and this is how a lot of state law abides by federal law.

Strategic Politicians

DEFINITION: Strategic politicians are strategic actors. Their main goal is to get elected or re-elected and they will aim to achieve this goal through bargaining and making compromises to maintain or obtain their seat in office. They are strategic in ways with their publicity and campaign methods and approach since they want to appeal to the public and gain support from the masses. SIGNIFICANCE: Strategic politicians are significant because they are agents of their constituents. They serve the people of the district/county they plan to service, so with their election and position in office, they have the power to help make decisions that will serve their community.

Stuart v. Laird, 1803

DEFINITION: Stuart v. Laird, 1803 upheld the repeal of the Judiciary Act of 1801, which effectively abolished the existing circuit courts. The decision also affirmed the constitutionality of requiring Supreme Court justices to ride circuit.The Court concluded that Congress has the constitutional authority to establish from time to time such inferior tribunals as they may think proper, and to transfer a cause from one such tribunal to another.

Textualism vs. Purposive theory of interpretation.

DEFINITION: Textualism theory refers to the original meaning of the words on the page. In other words, people use this theory if they want to understand the words of the Constitution at the time they were used. This is commonly used by Antonio Scalia, former Supreme Court justice, that interpreted laws on the basis of whether or not it abided with the original language and understanding of the Constitution. On the other hand, purposive theory interprets provisions as a "reasonable" member of Congress/Famer would have wanted it interpreted in light of the current situation. They ask what the purposes are expressed in a statute and argues that the general purpose of the Constitution is to promote "active liberty." Essentially, purposive theory interprets a statute or clause within the context of the law's purpose whereas textualism interprets a statute or clause based on the original meaning of the words from the time period of when the Constitution was created. SIGNIFICANCE: This is important because since the Supreme Court justices uses different theories of interpreting the laws, it is difficult for the whole board of justices to come to a consensus on how a law should be interpreted. The original meaning of the text is much different than interpreting something on the basis of the current time period since society has progressed immensely over time.

Power to declare war

DEFINITION: The Power to Declare War is delegated to Congress constitutionally. The President, meanwhile, derives the power to direct the military after a Congressional declaration of war from Article II, Section 2, which names the President Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. SIGNIFICANCE: This is significant because this power is not shared with anyone, including the President. The Constitution clearly grants Congress this power whereas it grants the President the role of Commander-in-Chief in Article 2, Section 2.

Unilateral Action

DEFINITION: The President can engage in unilateral action by implementing executive orders. These have the effect of law as long as Congress doesn't overturn it and the Courts don't rule that the order violates some existing federal law or the Constitution. SIGNIFICANCE: Unilateral action puts the President in a tough situation, as his actions are left on his own hands and he is held accountable for his own actions. The more divided of a government we have, the more incidences of unilateral actions occur because with a divided government, the President will be unable to get stuff done through Congress.

"Power to persuade"

DEFINITION: The President is expected to do much more than what their authority allows them to do. Persuasion and bargaining are the means that presidents use to influence policy. As this was described by Richard Neustadt, this method allows the President to engage in partisan political discussion to pass the bill of their choosing in Congress. The President can threaten with a veto in order to persuade legislators to alter the content of the bill to be more acceptable to the President. Congress can override a veto with a ⅔ vote, but this is very hard to achieve. SIGNIFICANCE: This increases the president's power since they try to exert their own agenda through the use of bargaining in order to get what they want.

Going public

DEFINITION: The President tries to affect public opinion such that Congress gives in and gives the President what he wants. This is the exertion of force rather than bargaining. This all relies on the fact that the President is the most public actor in the system and commands the public attention. The President finds himself going public more often than they do bargaining because the more divided government America has, the greater the polarization which makes it harder for people to collaborate and agree on policies. SIGNIFICANCE: It is an important strategy, but a fragile one. It relies on popularity and the ability to effectively communicate on TV, so this is a good strategy for the president since it changes politics in a fundamental way: the rise of the "permanent campaign."

Spoils System

DEFINITION: The Spoils system is a patronage system that was creating during Andrew Jackson's presidency to award people favors--jobs or services--in return for their vote. Instead of hiring people and providing resources based off one's merit, it is instead based on one's political connections with others. However, this system was overturned through the Pendleton Act of 1883 that changed the system to be based on merit. SIGNIFICANCE: This is significant because this impacted the ways of the political system during Jackson's presidency. This is how people got federal jobs and political roles in the American political system, but now that has changed!

Supremacy Clause

DEFINITION: The Supremacy Clause emphasizes that the federal law and the constitution are the supreme law of the land. This is discussed within the Constitution in Article VI, Clause 2 and it established the supremacy of these two laws. However, this does not mean that any federal law automatically overrules any state law, as the federal law MUST be compatible with the Constitution. For an example, it should not conflict with a specific provision of the constitution and it should be a law that relates to an area that the federal government has jurisdiction over. SIGNIFICANCE: This is very significant because it shapes how people operate in society. For example, the controversy over the legal use of recreational marijuana has sparked conversations about whether or not if federal law trumps state law. This is the most important guarantor of national union. It binds all judges to adhere to this principle in their courts when making judgments on legislation as well.

Merit System

DEFINITION: The process of promoting and hiring government employees based on their ability to perform a job, rather than on their political connections. It is the opposite of the spoils system. This was created as a result of the passing of the Pendleton Act of 1883. SIGNIFICANCE: This is significant because it changed the way people get federal government positions now.

Disturbance Model

DEFINITION: When you have something PRO that shows up, you will have something CON that shows up. This helps explain polarization because there's always another group that's trying to oppose another interest group. Interest groups can form in opposition to others so as to counteract influence in their respective political domains.

Logic of agency design (incentives shaping design of bureaucracy)

DEFINITION: The arrangement of the bureaucracy is largely a product of the search by Congress and the White House for ways to maximize the political benefits and minimize the costs each time they use their authority. Model bureaucracy imposes conformity costs on bureaucrats and the people they deal with while reducing transaction costs and agency losses. If you want an agency to do well, then you must create an agency that is built in a way that insulates it from future political challenges. Funding of agency is important. SIGNIFICANCE: Our pattern of separation of powers and checks and balances generates two forces: compromise and political uncertainty. The logic of agency design under separated institutions sharing power is particularly inherent in our constitutional system. Due to the sheer number of veto points, chances are that the opposing interest group will have some influence at least at some point in the process. The opponents of the bill actually get to help shape how it's designed. As for political uncertainty, even supporters of the agency try to protect against this. This both results in a lot of rules, restrictions, and court appeals. Both supporters and opponents are trying to limit discretion and are trying to make the agency a little bit less effective.

Cloture Rule

DEFINITION: The cloture rule is the rule that allows the Senate to end a filibuster or debate with 60 majority vote. The majority leader of the Senate would first try to see if a bill is at risk of being filibustered and find ways to prevent it. If they're unable to do so, they will decide if they are able to reach a 60 vote. If not, they will do nothing due to the fact that time is scarce. SIGNIFICANCE: This gives the minority party an advantage to block whatever bill it opposes and recently, they've been using this strategy.

Committee gatekeeping

DEFINITION: The committees of Congress can just move forward if they don't like the bill, so essentially, they can ignore it by pigeon holing it.

Gerrymandering

DEFINITION: The deliberate manipulation of the boundaries of voting districts in order to produce a particular effect, normally an advantage for a particular party or a disadvantage for a group (or both!). This is normally done at the State level. In Davis v. Bandemer (1986) ruled that gerrymandering can be unconstitutional if it is too biased against one party, but none have yet been found to be so.

Free rider problem

DEFINITION: The free-rider problem refers to a collective action issue, in which people don't pay their fair share, but still indulge in public goods or collective activities despite their lack of contribution. This leaves people with no incentive to contribute. Some solutions to this is to enforce compliance or provide selective incentives, which brings about compliance. SIGNIFICANCE: The free-rider problem is a significant concept because it is an issue that is quite prevalent when it comes to the production of collective activities or public goods in America. People often aim to fulfill their personal self-interests at the expense of the well-being of society.

Pluralism

DEFINITION: The idea that interest groups compete against each other for resources and this this is a good way of balancing the interests within society. It emphasizes that the policymaking process is open to the participation of all groups with shared interests, with no single group usually dominating. Pluralists tend to believe that as a result, public interest generally prevails.

Class voting

DEFINITION: The idea that people will vote on economic (and therefore class) reasons. This is challenged by Frank's culture war thesis, which says that people tend to focus more on social issues rather than economic ones if people believe in the divide between red and blue states.

Judicialization of politics

DEFINITION: The judicialization of politics is a rising phenomenon in the United States and is defined as the ever-accelerating reliance on courts and the judicial means for addressing core moral predicaments, public policy questions, and political controversies. Decisions such as Roe v. Wade have proven the court to be a major venue of politics by turning political issues into legal ones and shaping the debate. SIGNIFICANCE: Activist judges are not just interpreting policy now, but they are making policy hence the case of Roe v. Wade. They are politicizing the Supreme Court and the judiciary, even though they were meant to only make judgment. Now, they're making policy.

Power of the Mass Media

DEFINITION: The main effect of the media is agenda-setting. Coverage of an issue does lead the public to see it as a bigger problem. The classic example in recent years has been crime--the data showed that crime rates are going down, but the media presented it more frequently, so the public perceives it as a bigger problem. There's also evidence that the media primes the public to weigh an issue more heavily in evaluating leaders. This is shown through the coverage of stories that are manipulated. It's not exactly changing people's attitudes, but it can make them act on an issue where they otherwise may not have.

Rise of adversarial journalism

DEFINITION: The media only cares about their ratings, so they aim to show the most contentious news. Journalists want to get ratings and will distort the news in order to achieve their goals. There is an increased focus by the media on the spin and strategy of political players, instead of just purely talking about the policies and issues. As a result, it relies on antagonistic reporting in an effort to shape public opinion on a particular topic or politician.

Factors determining voter turnout

DEFINITION: The most important factors of voter turnout are age and education. The older you are, the more likely you are to vote. The more educated you are, the more likely you are to vote. There are also other factors such as race (African-Americans and Hispanics vote less), geography (southern states vote less than northern ones), and the strictness of voter registration laws (which can put low-income communities of color at a disadvantage with disenfranchisement).

Member of Congress goals

DEFINITION: The primary goal of congress members is to get re-elected. They are power hungry because they want to be able to not only pursue the goals that they want, but they also want to avoid the consequences of losing a general election. Because if you don't get re-elected, the new candidate will pursue the goals that are opposed to yours. As for their other goals, they focus on policy and personal power.

Selective perception

DEFINITION: The process by which individuals perceive what they want to in media messages while ignoring opposing viewpoints. It is a term to identify the behavior all people exhibit to tend to "see things" based on their particular frame of reference. People screen out messages that do not conform to their own biases.

Take Care Clause

DEFINITION: The provision in Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution that instructs the President to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." First asserted by Teddy Roosevelt as an independent source of power, the Take Care clause has been used by presidents over time to justify a much broader role--whatever actions national policy might require that aren't expressly forbidden by the Constitution or public law. In other words, some interpret it as the equivalent of the power given to Congress under the necessary and proper clause--states that Congress has the power to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers. SIGNIFICANCE: The purpose of this clause is to ensure that a law is faithfully executed by the President. This is super important because the clause aims to hold the President accountable for successfully executing the laws the ways that it should be executed.

Social desirability effect

DEFINITION: The social desirability effect refers to the assumption that your answers say something about the true beliefs of the survey respondents, but this assumption is sometimes false. People, essentially, give the answer that they believe to be the respectable one. This is common in surveys that are about more delicate issues such as racial preferences or moral issues. SIGNIFICANCE: This can affect the accuracy of results from research because not everyone might be honest and might only answer questions in a manner that will be viewed favorably.

Aggregate public opinion

DEFINITION: The sum of all individual opinions. These are better informed and more rational than individual public opinion, where there is a lot of ignorance and contradiction. Aggregate public opinion is stable, responds rationally to events in the public sphere, and is reasonably coherent. SIGNIFICANCE: Politicians need to be aware of public because because they need to know how to manipulate it in their favor. For interest groups, there is a real incentive to learn how to gauge and influence public opinion in order to put pressure on to politicians. This has been a significant factor since the inception of the republic.

Reasons to be wary of poll results

DEFINITION: The way you word the question gives very different results. Some will be leading, others will be more straightforward but not offer any contextual information. Minor differences in wording can make a big difference. For an example, when asking about abortion and referring to them as either cases or circumstances can skew the way people answer the question. These different results will actually incentivize politicians to phrase things in a particular way to prove their point. SIGNIFICANCE: If you want to get accurate results, you need to get a proper random sample. People need to actively interpret the polls since they aren't neutral information. Also, the pollster will choose which bits of the poll to emphasize when they report it, so it can be quite selective. We must take into account social desirability effects, but most importantly, the way the question is framed is key. The framing may be by the particularly wording of the question, previous questions in the survey, or recent events.

Casework

DEFINITION: These are constituency services. Members of Congress spend a lot of resources on this kind of errand-running. This is pure profit for members and there lies little to no risk. This allows a personal connection with constituents. SIGNIFICANCE: By getting closer with your constituents, members of Congress are able to get re-elected.

Political attitude

DEFINITION: These attitudes are defined as an organized and persistent manner of thinking, feeling and reacting with regard to people, groups, social issues, or more generally, any event in one's environment. It combines feelings, beliefs, thoughts, and predispositions to act a certain way--it's more general than an opinion on a specific issue. Underneath your opinions are attitudes that are more general and less volatile over time. So an attitude would be your position towards the value of privacy, gender relations, the role of the government in regulating morality. Based on your attitudes and values, you can still give an opinion about something you don't know much about.

Core values

DEFINITION: They are the fundamental beliefs of a person or organization. These guiding principles dictate behavior and can help understand the difference between right and wrong. Some examples of core values are individualism and egalitarianism. This can cut across partisan id's and attitudes.

Speaker of the House

DEFINITION: They hold various tools, like the power of recognizing those who want to speak on the floor. Essentially, they are the gatekeeper for access to the floor and they appoint various committees, decides which committees to refer legislation to, and sometimes set time limits on committees. Their important role is selecting the committee members and chairs, and this gives party members the incentive to be loyal to the Speaker. SIGNIFICANCE: They have the power of recognition, so they can invite and/or prevent people from being able to speak on the floor and voice their opinions. This is much different from the Senate, who gets the power of the filibuster.

Horserace coverage

DEFINITION: This form of coverage tends to focus more on the infamous aspects of the elections, such as the non-important topics or scandals/tabloids that are able to get more ratings than covering policy issues. The media tends to focus more on polling data and public perception instead of candidate policy, and almost exclusively reports on candidate differences rather than similarities. SIGNIFICANCE: As this focuses more on who is gaining/winning or losing, it loses focus on what is being done about issues. This can alter how people perceive the two candidates and give them misjudgment about who to trust and vote for.

Retrospective Voting

DEFINITION: This form of voting is a method people use to base their voting decisions on the past performance of the candidates. It is one way of viewing the point of elections by keeping politicians accountable for what they do and having them respond to what you want. This is different from proximity voting, which is based on how close you are to them politically in terms of either policy issues or ideology. SIGNIFICANCE: This helps keep politicians accountable for their actions if you decide to vote for people who make promises for the new elections and/or say they will continue the work they have done in the past. It is also a way of voting to keep incumbents in office more easily, especially if the already elected candidate have done a good job in the past.

Single member districts, plurality rule elections

DEFINITION: Voters in a single member plurality election cast a vote for one candidate and the candidate who wins the most votes wins. It's also known as first-past-the-post and parties strategize by joining a different party with similar views because they know that splitting the votes between two parties instead of three will allow the other party to win more easily--Duverger's Law.

Bradley Effect

DEFINITION: This is a theory concerning observed discrepancies between voter opinion polls and election outcomes in some US government elections where a white candidate and a non-white candidate run against each other. The theory proposes that some voters who intend to vote for the white candidate would nonetheless tell pollsters that they are undecided or likely to vote for the non-white candidate. This was named after Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, an African-American who lost the 1982 California governor's race despite being ahead in voter polls going into the elections. SIGNIFICANCE: The Bradley effect is skewed by the social desirability bias, in which people answer questions on the basis of what they think would be more favorable to the people giving out the surveys. Some white voters give inaccurate polling responses for fear that, by stating their true preference, they will open themselves to criticism of racial motivation.

Lobbying

DEFINITION: This is an attempt by a group to influence the policy process through persuasion of government officials. This is the act of attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of officials in their daily life, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies.

Credit-claiming

DEFINITION: This is an effective strategy used by many congressmen to get re-elected into office by improving the relationship with constituents. They try to convince their constituents that they are personally responsible for causing the government to do something that the constituent likes. The two main kinds of credit-claiming are casework and particularized benefits. SIGNIFICANCE: Credit-claiming is important for congressmen and strategic politicians because their primarily goal is to get [re]elected, so through this strategy, they can personally connect with their constituents.

Party Brand Name

DEFINITION: This is similar to the definition of party reputation. What goes on in Congress is you see the two parties running public relations campaigns to bolster their own reputation and tarnish the other party's. Every issue becomes a battle over whom to blame.

Media bias

DEFINITION: This is the bias or slant in the selection of which news to report and how the news is reported. An example is how some news outlets give one candidate more favorable coverage. There is conflict between the goal of winning a wide audience and the goal of informing the public because it depends on what "sells" the public and gains more attention. Plenty of news sources are not even trying to perform a political information function, they just accuse the left and right of manipulating the news they report. SIGNIFICANCE: This greatly affects the way that particularly social issues are reported because there is a common consensus that these are reported with a liberal attitude among the press. However, this is not the case for economic issues.

Opinion leadership

DEFINITION: This is the leadership by an active media user who interprets the meaning of media messages or content for lower-end media users. Typically, the opinion leader is held in high esteem by those who accept their opinions. They possess social power to influence other attitudes or behaviors since they're seen as trustworthy.

Filibuster

DEFINITION: This is the most famous feature of the Senate chamber. It gives senators the ability to engage in unlimited debate on a bill that they're trying to prevent moving forward on. The filibuster has been created by the chamber because the Constitution doesn't say anything about how the Senate makes their rules.

Rally-around-the-flag phenomenon

DEFINITION: This is used to explain increased short-run popular support of the President during periods of international crisis or war. Because this effect can reduce criticism of governmental policies, it can be seen as a way for the country's leader to distract its population/the American people from their own domestic conflicts.

Marbury v. Madison, 1803

DEFINITION: This landmark case by the Supreme Court forms the basis for the exercise of judicial review under Article III of the Constitution. It helped define the boundary between the constitutionally separate executive and judicial branches of the American government. This case expanded the power of the Supreme Court, as the Courts now have the power to declare a law unconstitutional through the principle of judicial review. SIGNIFICANCE: This is important because it sustains the system of checks and balances on behalf of the branches of the court. This allows them to check the powers of other branches to ensure that their legislation is abiding to the constitution.

Indexing Hypothesis

DEFINITION: This predicts that news content on political and public policy issues will generally follow the parameters of elite debate. The news is a representation of reality through the lens of what elites in Washington think is important. Critical viewpoints that are not prominent in DC are not taken seriously by objective media. SIGNIFICANCE: When political elites are in general agreement on an issue, news coverage of that issue will tend to reflect that consensus. When political elites disagree, news coverage will fall within the contours of their disagreement. Essentially, elite debates control the agenda on the news.

Seniority System

DEFINITION: This system is a way to determine employment advantages on the basis of one's length of time and service in office/as employees. Senior members of the majority generally get first pick as to which committees they'd like to serve on, for example.

Party Polarization

DEFINITION: To put it simply, party polarization resembles how Republicans reside and agree with Republicans and Democrats reside and agree with Democrats. This refers to cases in which an individual's stance on a given issue, policy, or person is more likely to be strictly defined by their identification with a particular political party. SIGNIFICANCE: When parties are more divided, party members have incentives to delegate less authority to party leaders because they're afraid that party leaders will use power to push policies that they disagree with. So, when party members are not unified on policy, the incentive to take powers away from party leaders lead to this--party polarization.

Pendleton Act, 1883

DEFINITION: United States federal law that established that positions within the federal government should be awarded on the basis of merit instead of political affiliation. It required qualified people to be elected to governmental offices and this overturned the use of Andrew Jackson's Spoils system. SIGNIFICANCE: This is significant because it changed the way people get federal government positions now. Since it's not based on political affiliation anymore, people had to work hard and have a good record in order to have a chance at getting employed.

Social issues v.s economic issues (importance in elections)

DEFINITION: Your view on social issues versus economic issues will depend on how you view the culture war thesis. If you believe in the divide between red and blue states, you will clearly think social issues are more important than economic issues. There is a geographic divide on social issues, but not so much on economic issues. Social issues mattered more to voters as party elites polarized on these issues. Lower income voters are more likely to vote based on economics than higher income voters since these affect them more. Wealthy blue state voters are far more likely to be Democratic than wealthy red state voters as well due to social liberalism.

Particularized Benefits/Earmarks

Particularized benefits go to an identifiable group of individuals or to a particular district, which the recipients need to be able to attribute it to the individual member of Congress. Earmarks are provisions in a spending/appropriations bill that tells the executive branch that it must spend money on a particular program. Members of Congress generally demand earmarks in return for votes. SIGNIFICANCE: This is used for members of Congress to get closer to their constituent in hopes that they'll receive their support and help them get re-elected.

Dual Principals Problem

• DEFINITION: Elected officials are the "principal" and the bureau is the "agent." Principal is the person ideally "calling the shots" and/or who the agent is working for. The agent has an incentive to be responsive to what the boss wants (EX: The Speaker of the House is responsive to the House body because they can vote him out). The bureaucracy has two bosses—the President and Congress. The agent can play off the two forces against each other and the struggle for control between those bosses can distort what the agency does. SIGNIFICANCE: The Dual Principals Problem has the pros of specialization, flexibility and discretion, credible commitment, and lock-in victories, but also, it holds the cons of accountability issues and agency loss. This is important because one person is able to make decisions on behalf of, or that impact, another person and it exists in circumstances where agents are motivated to act in their own best interests.

Heuristics/Cues

• DEFINITION: Heuristics, or cues are useful shortcuts to getting an informed view. For an example, party ID acts as a cue/heuristic. Certain cues will tell us what we need to know about an issue in terms of how we would feel about it if we had the time/inclination to study it properly. We form our opinions on the basis of whether a candidate supports a certain policy or not. People systematically rely on cues from people or parties they truest. It allows people who are not well informed to do roughly what they would do if they were informed. SIGNIFICANCE: These are important because many voters use heuristics/cues to make their decisions, even if they are not well-informed. It helps speed up the process to finding a satisfactory solution.

Random Sample

• DEFINITION: In order to understand random sample, we must take the definitions of sample and population first. The population refers to the entire group of people about which information is wanted. Essentially, these are the people we are trying to get research/survey results from. The sample is a part of the population that is used to gain information about the whole population. Essentially, this is the sub-section of our population that we are surveying. In order to achieve our goals with this survey, we need to have a representative sample and in order to get a proper result, the sample must be as random as possible. A true random sample is when each member of the population has an equal chance of being a part of the sample. The most common way to do this today is random digit dialing. SIGNIFICANCE: Random samples are important because research is important. Through surveys, you can discover why people have a certain voting pattern or why people are more supportive of one policy more than the other. Through a random sample, it provides more accurate results of the survey and that's what we want. We want it to be as random as possible so each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.

Political Socialization

• DEFINITION: Political socialization refers to the bit of your life and the influences that seem to fix, or socialize, you into your party identification. It is a lifelong process by which people form their ideas about politics and acquire political values. The family, educational system, friends, and the mass media all play a role in this process of socialization. SIGNIFICANCE: This is important because this plays a role in almost every one's life. It orientates the people towards a particular type of political behavior, philosophy, and ideology. It can also affect the political system because once an individual start to be able to engage actively in political matter, their participation and what they do and how they vote affects society.

Retrospective Voting

• DEFINITION: Retrospective voting refers to the act of voting based on the past performances of the candidate. One way of viewing the point of elections through this, you have a simple approval or disapproval based on what they have done in the last term. You keep the politicians accountable for what they do and therefore, responsive to what you want. This is different from proximity voting, which is the act of voting for the candidate who is closest to the voter politically through either or both issues and ideology. SIGNIFICANCE: This is significant to the political system because it impacts how people decide to vote for certain candidates. This form of voting will allow people to hold politicians accountable for continuing the work that they have done in the past and/or have promised to do for the American people. This is important because if the candidate gets re-voted in, consistency will maintain in its form.

Iron Triangle

• DEFINITION: The iron triangle comprises the policymaking relationship among the congressional committees, the bureaucracy, and interest groups that results in the mutual benefit of all thee of them. Each group does some action that will help the other group, creating a lasting and unbreakable bond between the three. All three members tend to dominate all policy-making in their respective specialized areas of concerns and they tend to present a united front against "outsiders" who attempt to invade their turd and alter established policies.

Cross-cutting Cleavages

• DEFINITION: The key to a stable democracy is cross-cutting cleavages. Each person had multiple identities and these identities don't reinforce each other. Cleavages may include racial, political, religious divisions in society. This was used as a mechanism for political stability, as no group can align all its members along a uniform cleavage-based platform, but rather has to appeal to the members of the group that are spread throughout the groups created by other cleavages. SIGNIFICANCE: This is important because these cleavages can strengthen society by bringing people's identities together, but they can also weaken society if people's different identities are piling differences on one another. Politicians use cross-cutting cleavages to their advantage to appeal to voters and the public by tapping into their identities and finding what relates to them.

Culture War Thesis

• DEFINITION: This thesis implies the conflict between the values that are considered traditionalist or conservative and those considered progressive or liberal. It refers to the split in the United States reflecting differences in people's beliefs about private and public morality. In America, there is the division between red and blue states on the basis of social, cultural, and moral issues rather than economic ones. This thesis can help explain political polarization since it's easier to negotiate economic issues instead of social issues. According to Frank, politics is dominated by a cultural backlash against perceived liberal elitism by conservatives. This means social and cultural issues drive the debates rather than the ones on economics and class.