PoliSci 1 Final

Core Values

A broad, abstract attitudes of general beliefs about desirable outcomes or behaviors, such as individualism, support for equal opportunity, moral traditionalism, or opposition to big government. Significance: reflects a person's political attitude. But it shows inconsistency in a person's views because these core values are not organized fundamentally. For instance, a person who dislikes big government but wants stricter regulation to protect customers, workers, and the environment. COMPLETE.

Issue Network

A loose, informal, and highly variable web of relationships among representatives of various interests who are involved in a particular area of public policy. Significance: In a nation that has such a wide variety of competing interests, opinions, and goals, an issue network is able to draw from all of that, work within the group, and resolve the particular issue to try to best serve all interests. An issue network is often compared with an iron triangle. An issue network, however, differs from an iron triangle in that they seek to support the public interests, not private ones, by seeking to benefit a wide ranging constituency that supports their side of the issue. Issue networks can be antagonistic to iron triangles as they may oppose a policy pushed by a private interest group, and carried out by a government agency. An issue network is not as easily identifiable or as neatly categorized as an Iron Triangle or subgovernment. Issue networks are more preferable than Iron Triangles and probably come up more often today. More issue networks when there's more conflict.

Holds

A practice that allows for a senator to inform the floor leader that they don't want a bill to reach the floor for a vote. This makes it so that the party leader knows that the senator may oppose the bill through filibustering. One way to end a hold or filibusters is through successful cloture motion. Significance: Exercise of agenda power. COMPLETE.

Executive Order

A presidential directive to an executive agency establishing new policies or indicating how an existing policy is to be carried out. Executive Orders do not require Congressional approval to take effect but they have the same legal weight as laws passed by Congress. The President's source of authority to issue Executive Orders can be found in the Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution which grants to the President the "executive Power." Section 3 of Article II further directs the President to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." Presidents give direction and guidance to Executive Branch agencies and departments, in the form of Executive Orders to implement or execute laws. Any president may revoke or alter an order with a new one, but Congress can resist executive actions by withholding appropriations for the policies its members oppose

Prisoner's Dilemma

A problem that arises whenever individuals, who ultimately would benefit from cooperating with the other, also have a powerful and irresistible incentive to break the agreement and exploit the other side. Significance: Prisoner's dilemma is a classic collective action problem, and explains why many politicians act in their own self interest instead of trusting others COMPLETE.

Seniority System

A system that is employed in Congress in which majority party leaders who have served the longest get first choice in being committee chairs/offices, and doing committee assignments. In this way newer MOCs don't waste energy and time competing for this positions. It is also a way of reducing transaction costs because the seniority system allows MOC with political precedent to head these committees. Was really during the 1920s-1970s. However because during the Civil Rights movement Conservative Democrats, who had been around forever, would stop legislation from getting on the floor, reforms to the seniority system were made. Seniority still matters, but it's just not as absolute. Now, if a MOC does something good, they will get rewarded. Significance: Incentives for MOC to follow party rules and continue to get elected. COMPLETE.

Filibuster

A tactic used in the Senate to halt action on a bill. It involves making long speeches until the majority retreats. Once senators hold the floor, they have an unlimited time to speak unless a cloture vote is passed by 3/5 (60) of the members. Significance: A filibuster creates a procedure to block or delay the passage of bills, which can be used by the opposition to make a point or to show dissatisfaction within Senate bills (i.e. a republican senator filibustering a bill to give women the right to an abortion, etc) COMPLETE

Pluralism

A theory that groups provide a key link between people and government. Once interests are organized, groups can turn to the government and get a hearing. Secondly, groups compete, but no one group is going to be more dominant than the others. Groups weak in one resource can use another. For example, while big business may have money on their side, labor has large numbers on their side. All legitimate groups are able to affect policy by one mean or another. Significance: If you care about something and work the political system as much as you can, you'll get as much as others. You have a say in their government, and government can and will respond to your needs.

Access

Access refers to the direct access interest groups have with members of Congress. Essentially, the greater developed groups will have more access to members of congress. The way they gain access is through hiring lobbyists who reach out to the m.o.c. Through their access, lobbyists gain the ability to provide technical information, such as the effects of a proposed program. They also gain the ability to provide political information, such as the reactions of certain constituencies towards and help plan strategy for convincing other politicians to either agree or disagree. Significance: This access allows for interest groups to help implement their beliefs and views in legislation. The greater the access the greater impact interest groups can make.The importance for access is democracy. In our American society, democracy calls for everyone's voice and opinion to be heard, and interest groups represent some of those voices. Their access allows for certain ideals to be heard and possibly implemented. COMPLETE.

Lobbying

Activities through which individuals, interest groups, and other institutions seek to influence public policy by persuading government officials to support their group's' position. There are two types of lobbying tactics--insider and outsider. Lobbying is done by many different types of people, associations and organized groups, including individuals in the private sector, corporations, legislators or government officials or interest groups. Significance: Helps Congressmen write bills, gain more information about the subject, have more money to support the subject, and bring in expertise. COMPLETE.

Culture War Thesis

Americans are much more politically divided than the past, Divisions are centered on "social" or "cultural" issues rather than economic issues. Working class white voters vote Republican; educated white-collar voters lean Democratic. Significance: Voters are more likely to vote on ideological beliefs than fiscal beliefs. Shows the ways that voters are currently voting. COMPLETE.

Political Attitude

An attitude is an enduring predisposition to respond to a person, group, topic, or issue in a particular way. It's a combination of feelings, beliefs, and thoughts. The way people state opinions or cast votes express the underlying attitudes evoked by the choices they face. There are two types of attitudes: general and specific. Examples of general are a distrust of government and the belief of the right to privacy, whereas a specific one is a person's views on abortion or on Obamacare. Significance: each person differs widely in the attitudes they bring that affect political choices and they differ in how strongly they hold attitudes. COMPLETE.

Plural Executive

An executive branch with power divided among several independent officers and a weak chief executive. It was an idea originally proposed by James Madison but was rejected because people wanted a more reactive executive in times of need but also an executive that could not be too powerful when there is no crisis. Significance: Because the framers didn't accept a plural office, the executive branch contains none of the internal checks provided by institutional design. This has allowed for the modern presidency to grow and have the power that it has today. COMPLETE.

Party Identification

An important attitude that influences the vote. Most voters identify with one of the two major political parties, and these basic partisan loyalties influence the vote. Significance: Party identification affects beliefs as well as opinions. Attitudes introduce bias into perceptions and interpretations of political information of political information because people tend to pay more attention and give more credence to sources and information that confirm rather than challenge their beliefs. COMPLETE.

Opinion Leadership

An opinion leader refers to a citizen who is highly attentive to and involved in politics or some related area and to whom other citizens turn to for political information and cues. The rest of society is relatively uninformed and inattentive, and therefor free rides off the opinion leaders by taking cues and forming opinions based on these educated few. Moreover, taking cues from opinion leaders brings about to the 'rally around the flag phenomena'. Rally effect is much bigger when opposition leaders support President (since no opposing opinion leaders' voices are heard in media). Significance: Most people are uneducated and therefore people usually follow opinion leadership to vote or express any opinions. Also, an example of free riding. COMPLETE.

Media Bias

An overt political slant to appeal to a specific part of the population. An example is Fox News. However, reports do tend to be more liberal, though this tends to affect coverage of social issues more than economic issues. In campaign coverage, media tends to release more positive stories of democratic candidate and more negative stories about the republican candidate. Significance: Allows readers/listeners to avoid listening to news that they don't agree with. Instead, they can choose the news/side that they want to hear, helping to polarize the nation. COMPLETE.

Priming

By covering some issues and ignoring others, the news media help to define the political agenda, influencing which considerations are in the foreground when citizens make political judgements. They "prime" their audience to use particular frames in responding to political phenomena. Example: Media reporting may be very strong leading up to an event such as the Olympics, Super Bowl, or World Cup, making it almost impossible for audiences to ignore the event. Such aggressive reporting thus creates an audience of people at least temporarily interested in the sport, even though prior to the reporting many (perhaps most) members of the audience were not sports fans. Rather, they are people who get caught up in the moment. Significance: an illustration of one of the ways media power is used to portray or construct a certain truth to the public. COMPLETE.

Class Voting

Class voting is the phenomenon in which citizens in the same socioeconomic class (i.e. working class) tend to vote similarly. Significance: political actors who understand which way a certain class tends to vote will be able to draw more voters to their side and have an advantage when it comes time for re-election. COMPLETE.

Political Constraints on Courts

Constraint #1: court typically lacks the ability to implement its decisions directly - ex: Andrew Jackson Native American "removal" policy. Ignored Marshall court efforts to protect native americans Constraint #2: Limits on court agenda - courts must wait for an actual case to be brought to them by litigants with standing before the can act; Lower courts decide vast majority of cases Constraint #3: makes it unlikely court will be too far from party in power for long; Not a perfect constraint (Earl Warren, David Souter) Today: confirmation battles make surprises less likely (Alito, Roberts, Sotomayor) Constraint #4: threatening the court; sanctions available to Congress/ President: can override statutory decisions, Constitutional amendment, impeachment threats, court-packing (1937 fight) , "switch in time that saved nine" Significance: where does this leave court? faces political constraints - unable to defy clear public majority for long but: There often is no clear public majority on issue Courts as major venue for politics —> judicialization of politics

Pendleton Act, 1883

Created a system based on merit (competitive job exams, job security, etc) to appoint public officials. Covered only 10% of federal jobs, but gave leave for president to expand this upon discretion. Significance: In an attempt to dismantle the spoils system, it ironically provided a new outlet for presidents to protect their loyal helpers. Beginning with Grover Cleveland, at the end of a president's term they would expand the coverage of federal positions to include the officers they had appointed, giving them job security under the new act. Coverage has grown to 80% of federal jobs which has effectively implemented a merit system. COMPLETE.

Impacts of Campaign Donations on Members of Congress

Currently, all of the money spent on major campaigns for federal offices comes from private sources. Because money is distributed unequally, its role in electoral politics threatens democracy equality. Privately financed elections raise the suspicion that elected officials will serve as agents of their contributors rather than of their constituents. Meaningful elections require money, but the pursuit of money can subvert the very purpose of elections. Interest groups give their money to politicians who are already in agreement with them (NRA will give money people who support guns). However we know that if you give money to a politician, you will get facetime with them. COMPLETE

Reasons to be Weary of Poll Results

Due to three major measurement problems, polls tend to show different results, hence why people need to look at the various ~Sampling problems: A truly random sample of a population is rarely feasible People who take part in polls tend to be wealthier, more educated, and more politically knowledgeable ~Difficulty of "weighting": Must "weight" up members of groups you have difficulty contacting The member of that group you contacted may not be representative of the group as a whole Many people that say they will vote may not end up voting How credible are the responses of people ~Small differences in wording can have a big impact: Some polls are framed for the desirable response People may react or respond differently depending on how a poll question is worded E.g. "do you support abortion?" vs. "do you support the Roe v. Wade supreme court decision?" Because of these issues, it is often hard to know the actual results public opinion on a topic, candidate, etc. COMPLETE

Marbury v Madison

During John Adam's last days as president, William Marbury, along with others, were appointed as justices of the peace in the District of Columbia. However, such appointments were not finalized and when Thomas Jefferson assumed office, and ordered James Madison to not keep William Marbury as justice. William Marbury went to the Supreme Court and petitioned for a writ of mandamus (which is a judicial instruction to a government officer to preform his duty and deliver the commissions) The Supreme Court claimed lack of jurisdiction - declared Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional. Significance: development of judicial review built on this precedent. Marshall chose not to hear the case and ended up with new judicial authority. COMPLETE.

Ideology

Elaborate set of organized, internally consistent attitudes that allow one to understand, evaluate, and respond to political phenomena. Significance: It promotes consistency among political attitudes by connecting them to something greater, a more general principle or set of principles. It's linked to principles. Because of this, the political thinking of most citizens or the opinions of people don't fall into one ideology category (liberal or conservative). COMPLETE. (407)

Public Goods

Goods that are collectively produced and freely available for anyone's consumption. Significance: When it was decided that the airwaves were a public good instead of a private good, the government was able to regulate it by creating the FCC (federal communications commission). Laws were created to institute equal time for different candidates running for office, and by lodging this authority in an independent agency, they removed it as a resource for some future political party. COMPLETE

Faction

Group of people sharing common interests who are opposed to other groups with competing interests. James Madison defined a faction as any group with objectives contrary to the general interests of society. Members of factions band together to achieve their goals and advance their agenda and position within an organization. Madison identifies two kinds of factions: those composed of a minority of the citizenry and those composed of a majority. Factions are not limited to political parties; they can and frequently do form within any group that has some sort of political aim or purpose. Significance: ????

Elite Polarization

High levels of ideological distance between parties and high levels of homogeneity within parties. This change occurs because polarization stimulates partisan motivated reasoning, which in turn generates decision making that relies more on partisan endorsements and less on substantive arguments. Party members within the government tend to strongly agree on certain policy positions presented directly from their party and less likely to agree on issues that are presented and discussed from members of other parties. This can be predominantly seen between the democrats and republicans who disagree on policies as one party identifies as liberal and the other as conservative; therefore creating disagreement on certain issues presented. Significance: This is a specific way to analyze trends between parties in government and the ways that the parties can influence the behavior in the government. COMPLETE

Logic of Agency Design

In modern bureaucracy, there are demands for regulatory policies, and there is a need to delegate to expert agencies. In the issue network conditions, interest groups are competing, and ideological conflict over the issue is generated, but instead of stable, dominant coalition, there will be ongoing conflict among competing groups/experts. When combined with separated institutions sharing power, issue networks lead to agencies designed for failure. As a remedy, opponents help design agencies, and supporters try to protect from political uncertainty, e.g hostile president, this results in lots of rules, restrictions, and court appeals. Significance: The examples of new expert agencies are Interstate Commerce Commission in1887 for railroad regulation, Food and Drug Administration in 1906, Federal Reserve Board in 1913, and Securities and Exchange Commission in 1934.

Issue Public

Individuals who follow particular issue closely (due to their job or personal interest in topic). An example is if I'm a coal miner, I'm gonna follow issues that will directly affect me. Less informed people rely on cues from opinion leaders Example: "Rally-around-the-flag" Rally effect is much bigger when opposition leaders support President (since no opposing opinion leaders' voices are heard in media). Significance - Since the general public isn't as informed as certain people, they take cues from those who are well informed on a certain issue/issues in order to form their opinions on the subject matter COMPLETE

Disturbance Model

Interest groups form primarily in opposition to other interest groups so as to counteract influence in their respective political domains. The theory also states that interest groups form and grow in response to threats. EX: whenever a school shooting happens, the NRA membership goes up because people get scared that the president will take away gun rights. Significance: How interest groups grow. Integral for their ability to affect politicians/change. COMPLETE.

Conditional Party Government

It is a theoretical framework that states that party responsibility exists only if there is a widespread policy agreement among the majority party. And that the degree of authority delegated to and exercised by congressional party leaders is conditioned by the extent of ideological consensus among party members. Example: John Boehner having to rely on majority democratic votes to pass important legislation as his own party members did not support. The power the speaker holds depends on how unified the party is. Therefore if the party is unified, the speaker of the house will have more power because members of congress will stand by him. Significance: Affects how much Congress can get done and how many laws can get passed. Is there more to this? If you can think of anything, please fill in. Cuts out transaction costs of discussions, they can act unilaterally. COMPLETE.

Stuart v. Laird (1803)

Judiciary Act of 1801 had increased number of district and appeals courts (create new judgeships for Federalists and protect Constitution from incoming Dem-Rep), shrank Supreme Court from 6 to 5 members so Pres. Adams could fill vacant Chief Justice position with John Marshall and deny Jefferson the opportunity to appoint his own justice. In Stuart v Laird, the Supreme Court rules Congress has the authority to reorganize the judiciary, thereby repealing Judiciary Act of 1801, disappointing to Federalists and victory for Democratic-Republicans. Significance: Federalist party permanently weakened, rise of Democratic-Republican officeholders, influential to system of checks and balances as we know it today.

Cross-Cutting Cleavages

Key to the pluralist theory. Economic divisions are crosscut by religious, racial / ethnic, geographic divisions. Overlapping memberships limit scope of each group's demands Shifting coalitions: your enemy today may be your ally tomorrow. No permanent winners or losers Example: Republicans are very much into privacy. However, they are also against abortion. Roe v Wade was decided on the fact that it's a violation of women's rights to privacy for them to not be allowed an abortion. Significance: cross-cutting cleavages (e.g. race, class, religion, gender, region, etc) can produce conflict and disagreement among the population over politics and policy. A new issue arises that splits a party. Creates a new equilibrium, could create a new party. Slavery was a cross-cutting cleavage. Stable majority, each person has an incentive to find differences to deviate them. Has to do with polarization.

Heuristics/Cues

One mechanism that has been offered as a bridge between the public's general ignorance of relevant information and the "rational" behavior of its collective opinions is the use of informational shortcuts or heuristics. Example: annie likes democrats, democrats hated prop 8, annie hates prop 8. Significance: Makes it easier for people to form opinions, but may not be the best way to formulate a political thought.

Position Taking

One of three primary activities undertaken by members of Congress to increase the probability of their reelection. It involves taking a stand on issues and responding to constituents about these positions. Many role call votes are about position taking because they want to go on the record to show that they opposed something from happening. Significance: shows that Politicians are logical thinkers and will take certain stances on certain issues not because they may believe in the stance they are taking, but because they need to maximize the chance of their re-election. COMPLETE.

Power to Declare War

Only Congress has the ability to commit the US to going to war with another state, otherwise known as "declaring war." The President has the ability to check this power, because he serves as Commander-in-chief over the nation's armed forces. Significance: The power to declare war is an important check in the system of checks and balances, because as the body that best represents the desires of the people, Congress alone has the power to commit the us to war. Since the President has a large incentive into engaging in war (gaining more authority) it is important now, and was important to the founders that Congress has the power to declare war in order to ensure that if and when the US goes to war it is for a valid reason, not just a power play by the President. However, this power has proven to be lessened over time as the President has gained more and more of an ability to circumvent this check. COMPLETE.

Factors Determining Voter Turnout

Out of all eligible voters only a small percentage actually go to the polls and vote; this is due to many factors such as race, citizenship, socioeconomic status, yearly wage, party ideologies, and how they may view their vote. Voting laws also have a part in determining voter turnout--mail-in ballots have decreased turnout, as have voter ID laws. Statistics tell us that we are less likely to come out to vote if we feel that we will not make the deciding vote in an election (for example, if you live in California you won't have as much of an impact as you would if you lived in Ohio). Shelby County vs Holder Significance: Not everyone votes, and it's very tough to make everyone vote. COMPLETE.

Single Member District, Plurality Rule Elections

Plurality: a vote in which the winning candidate receives the greatest number of votes (but not necessarily a majority- over 50 percent) Single member district: an electoral district that returns one office holder to a body with multiple members such as a legislature. This is also sometimes called single-winner voting or winner takes all. The alternative are multi-member districts, or the election of a body by the whole electorate voting as one constituency. Person who gets the most votes gets elected. Significance: significant because it drives our political system to be a two party system. Because it isn't proportional, when people are voting they are most likely not going to vote for small parties because they will see it as throwing away their vote. COMPLETE

PACs

Political Action Committees. Large groups that can raise lots of money for campaigns. There is a limit to how much money they can donate directly to a candidate, but no limit on how much money they can spend individually trying to get that candidate elected. Significance: An example of how political institutions shape outcomes and that collective action is central to politics. COMPLETE.

Party Brand Name

Political Party's names are "brands" and they have their reputation to "sell" in order to have more people support them. However, there's tension--does policy win = reputational win? Significance: Solve collective action problem: get members to contribute to building good party reputation. Should power be delegated to party leaders? Has to do with why party success builds party reputation which makes party stronger COMPLETE.

Party Polarization

Political polarization 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 (e.g., Democrat or Republican) or ideology (e.g., liberal or conservative). Significance: The profusion of news across the spectrum of political ideology gives consumers the latitude to select news producers according to their assessment of their reliability. Moreover, the multitude of news choices allows consumers to avoid information that contradicts their prior beliefs. Hence, the profusion of news via cable television and the Internet might contribute to the trend toward partisan and ideological polarization among those who are interested in politics. (????? wtf is this lol)

Strategic Politicians

Politicians that aim to confer benefits and avoid costs; need to persuade other politicians in each state that they benefit from stronger government. Politicians are strategic actors because they are goal-oriented, with their goals ranging from securing a seat in the legislative branch (house or senate) or securing the presidency. They therefore behave strategically in pursuing their goals and consider the consequences of all their actions in achieving that goal. Strategies include bargaining and compromising with other strategic politicians in pursuit of their goals. This is significant because it shows a massive divide between voters and politicians. While politicians act with goals in mind, voters do not think like this or have an incentive to act in this way. COMPLETE

Social Issues vs Economic Issues

Poorer citizens votes are more Democratic than wealthier citizens in each state, but poorer/rural states tend to have more socially conservative voters (geographic divide on social issues more than economic issues). Social issues mattered more to voters as party elites polarized on these issues (leads to bigger geographic divide in voting) Significance: cross-cutting cleavage

Court Packing Fight, 1937

President Roosevelt tried to implement a bill that would one new Justice to the Supreme Court for every member older than 70 years and 6 months. This was because the Supreme Court had declared many New Deal policies unconstitutional, and Roosevelt hoped that putting new Justices in the court would allow him to obtain favorable rulings regarding New Deal legislation. Significance: Presidents have issues controlling the Supreme Court. COMPLETE.

Member of Congress Goals

Primary Goal: Re-election They do the things they need to do to get reelected Secondary Goals: Policy (e.g. favor liberal or conservative policies) Personal Power Looking for outside lobbying Significance: Congressmen will do what will get them reelected before completing any policy goals. Congress wants to claim credit for particularized benefits. COMPLETE.

Random Sample

Sample is a part or subset of the population that is used to gain information about the whole population. Random sample, also known as the "convenience sample", is the idea that each member of population has an equal chance of being part of the sample. A truly random sample of a population is rarely feasible. The larger the sample, the more closely the sample's answers will approximate the answers the pollster would get if the entire population could be asked. As the sample gets larger, however, the rate of improvement in accuracy declines. Significance: Random sample is an important method in measuring public opinion, though not perfect. COMPLETE.

Expressive Benefits

Satisfaction from expressing a political value. Significance: Pushes people to vote.

Selective Incentive

Selective incentives are benefits that can be denied to individuals who do not join or contribute to a public interest group. An example is that joining AAA gives members roadside assistance, maps, and discounts at hotels, but joining is also a way of solving a collective action problem because by giving money members are also helping AAA, which is an interest group, fulfill their goals. Significance: selective incentives solve collective action problems because they make people give money to interest groups which help them in the long run. Minimize the free-rider problem. COMPLETE.

Selective Perception

Selective perception occurs when individuals perceive what they want through the media, and block out what they disagree with. This makes them either highly disagree or agree with certain policies or topics, based off of their own influences and experiences and biases. When studying public opinion, political scientists are able to see how individuals respond through selective perception. Significance: Helps understand how and why voters act based off their own preference to disregard or pay close attention to what is in the media surrounding their or the other party's candidate or party's policies. COMPLETE.

Iron Triangles

Successful alliances between agencies, members of congress, and interest groups to form narrowly focused sub-governments controlling policy in their domains, out of sight or oversight of the full Congress, the president, and the public at large. Conditions: Agency deals with single interest group Not a partisan / ideological issue Rooted in collective action logic Concentrated benefits, diffuse costs Narrow interest group more likely to lobby for agency than is general public Cooperative ties develop between agency, congressional committee, and supportive interest group. Agency "capture." The key to a successful iron triangle is to impose as little costs on everyone to ensure they go unnoticed by politicians looking for an issue to campaign on. Because industries have large stakes in the regulations put on them, they become the primary source of political pressure on the agencies that regulate them. This encourages close bonds between the two groups as the agencies are mandated to maintain the economic health of the industry it regulates. Thus, the regulators become agents for the sector they regulate, often times catering to their needs at the expense of the public. For example, the Civil Aeronautics Board protected the major airlines from competition. However, as I stated earlier, this only lasts as long as it goes unnoticed and in today's world, the large numbers of competing interest groups and ever vigilant politicians has created an environment more suited to "issue networks". Significance: government action happens often behind the scenes, diminishing transparency and potentially democracy COMPLETE.

Insider Lobbying Tactics

Tactics depend on personal access (including meetings, phone calls, and other forms of face-to-face interaction) to the government/gov't officials and work through mutually beneficial exchanges between lobbyists and politicians in order to achieve what interest groups want. Informational advantage (lobbyists gives information to Members of Congress). Insiders can testify at hearings. Significance: Lobbyists reduce the politician's costs of getting involved because they make it easier for them to gain information on the topic and have the money to do so. COMPLETE.

Textualism vs. Purposive Theory of Interpretation

Textualism is a formalist theory of the interpretation of law, holding that a legal text's ordinary meaning should govern its interpretation. A textualist approach focuses on upholding laws based on what is written explicitly in the Constitution. A Purposive interpretation is an approach to statutory and constitutional interpretation under which common law courts interpret an enactment in light of the purpose for which it was enacted A purposive approach focuses on what is implied in the Constitution.Roe v Wade is founded on the purposive theory. You can interpret greater policy and be more active, fudge it a little bit. Easier to push your agenda. Extending specific statements to mean other things. So maybe they would use discussions that lawmakers were having on the floor rather than just the language of the law. Significance: The fact that there is a split between textualism and purposive ways of interpreting the Constitution depending on the judge makes Supreme Court (and other lower court) decisions difficult, thus making the legality of something difficult to judge. It also adds politics into elected a judge, because a Conservative president will want to vote for a judge who focuses on textualism. COMPLETE.

Presidency as Clerk

The Constitutional presidency intended for the President's role to be one that lacked significant and long-lasting power, so that he would only have a substantial degree of control only when dealing with an emergency that would quickly dissipate as the crisis came to an end. The main feature of the "historical presidency" was as being a clerk, where the President's main job was to fill vacancies in the federal bureaucracy. Significance: led the President to give out jobs to people in his party, thus strengthening his party's role. ? COMPLETE.

Roe v Wade

The U.S. Supreme Court decision on January 22, 1973, that overturned state laws banning abortions. As modified in later Supreme Court cases, it makes abortions a private decision between a woman and her doctor for the first three months of a pregnancy (first trimester) but allows states to impose some restrictions during the second trimester and to ban abortions in the third trimester except to save the pregnant woman's life or health or if the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. Significance: Roe v. Wade was 1st of modern cases to decide an issue that had been previously decided state by state on a national basis. Many questioned the constitutionality of this, as the 9th amendment gives all other rights to states. Raises up question of marble cake federalism. also can reference Oberfell v. Hodges.

Incumbency Advantage

The advantage that House members gain by serving more than one term. Since 1960s, 80% incumbents have been re-elected in every single Congressional election because voters recognize their names and are familiar with what the candidates represent. Incumbents already have organized campaigns that have won in the past. Example: Obama was able to use his same platform and used his name recognition to be reelected for his second term. Significance: Shows that people may just vote for people because their names are familiar, not because the actually know all of their policies/are too lazy to look at the policies of other people. COMPLETE.

Merit System

The antithesis to the spoils system, positions are given based on merit which is defined by competitive exams and once hired, the position is protected from being changed for political reasoning. While the merit system does rid the bureaucracy of a corrupt spoils system which led to financial scandals and even the assassination of James Garfield, it also paved the way for a system of career bureaucrats. Advocates argued the country needed experts to solve regulatory issues, however these experts inevitably developed their own personal interests and the protections given to them prevented punishments for any incompetence. Also, as they become experts in their fields, they become less reliant on their principals creating various delegation issues. Significance: theoretically supposed to reward people from doing their job, better than the spoils system. actually has consequences in practice. COMPLETE.

Cloture Rule

The cloture rule refers to the only senate procedure that can be used to bring an end to a filibuster. This is not done in the House of Representatives. This process was first adopted by the United States Senate in 1917 in order to end Filibuster on the Treaty of Versailles. When it first originated, the rule required a supermajority vote, two-thirds majority. In order for the cloture rule to be considered, a minimum of of sixteen senators to sign a petition for a cloture. After a cloture has been invoked there may not be more than thirty hours of debate on the bill, no amendments to that bill may be moved, and no senator may speak for more than an hour on that issue. Significance: ????

Forecasting Presidential Elections

The economy is the biggest indicator, and the incumbent party's president's approval rating.

Voter Mobilization

The efforts of parties, groups, and activists to encourage their supporters to turn out for elections. Significance: Low voter turnout is a consistent problem, and people are apathetic. Increasing turnout among groups that tend to vote at lower rates can not only increase their political power, but also change the outcomes of elections. Indeed, this is a major reason that Democrats are concentrating so much on mobilizing voters who don't vote in midterm elections. COMPLETE.

Factors affecting individual vote choice

The four factors that affect people's voting choice are policy proximity, partisanship, retrospection, and candidate traits. -Policy proximity means that people are more likely to vote for the candidate who has the policy proximate to their own believes. -Partisanship is that people are more likely to support the candidate from their own party (ex. Supporting Obama if you are a democrat or supporting Romney if you are a republican). -Retrospection is also called the performance voting, which suggest that people will vote the party in control if they think the government is performing well, or vote the "outs" when they think the party in charge is performing poorly). -Voters also make predictions based on the candidates' personal characteristics, including competence, experience, honesty, knowledge, and leadership skills. The reason is that voters cannot anticipate all the problems and issues that will come up after the election, nor can they easily monitor the behaviors of their elected officials, so the candidate's traits seem important in that case. Significance: There are many ways/reasons voters vote the way they do, hard to target a specific type of voter? COMPLETE.

President's Professional Reputation

The idea of president's reputation concerns how the governors, military leaders, leading politicians, foreign ambassadors and Congress view the president. Significance: the president's professional reputation comes into play by how the government rely on the president to carry out his legislation. The better the reputation of the president, the easier it will be to facilitate negotiations to implement policy. COMPLETE.

Modern Presidency

The modern presidency signifies a massive change from the Framers' presidency to a presidency with much more influence and power. This new type of presidency was due to the United States stepping out of isolationism after WWI as well as the government's expanding role in domestic affairs.This position is characterized by the President assuming a role as chief legislator, manager of a massive bureaucracy, a popular leader, and as the leader of a military superpower. The modern president now declares more and more executive actions and sets the agenda and budget for Congress. Significance: the modern presidency has powers that the Founding Fathers did not dream of. Modern President has much stronger power and influence, shows that the constitution can be open to interpretation. COMPLETE.

Party Press Era

The period from the 1780s-1830s when news editors received patronage from political parties, usually in the form of government printing contracts. An editor would readily endorse a party's candidates and champion its principles, typically in line with his own beliefs, and in return would receive support for his six-cent paper. This gave the editor, who often also served as printer, writer, and business manager, a sense of prestige and power in society, and patronage was critical to the paper's long-term economic stability. Significance: demonstrates the way media power worked with parties in the past through patronage and agenda setting. COMPLETE.

Spoils System

The practice of the winning party dispensing government jobs based on contribution to the party's success rather than by merit. For one it set the stage for the modern bureaucracy we see today. The principle of "rotation in office" was advocated by Andrew Jackson as a means of democratizing public offices. However, this became muddled with the practical need of party organizations to reward the activists they relied on, creating the spoils system. While it held many of the principles of a modern bureaucracy such as a hierarchy of authority and a division of labor, it permitted corruption to occur as winning became of higher importance to the parties. Elected officials would trade positions for votes, often going to high level elites rather than the hard working middle class it was originally intended to support. Significance: Bad outcome for democracy. The qualifications for receiving office then are just having giving favors to elected officials. COMPLETE.

Commander-in-Chief

The president of the United States has the responsibility to serve as commander over the nation's armed forces. However, Congress has the ability to check this power, because only Congress has the ability to declare war. Significance: The President's role as Commander-in-chief is connected to the original intent of the Framers for the Presidency to act quickly and unilaterally in times of crisis, but then for the power of the President to recede when the crisis is resolved. However, since over time crisis's have become routine and Presidents have not given up power after a problem is resolved; this power of serving as commander-in-chief helps to show how the power of the presidency has increased over time, because although legislation such as the War Powers Act has attempted to stop the President from having too many powers, he still has control over the military. COMPLETE.

Speaker of the House

The presiding officer of the house of representatives. The speaker is elected at the beginning of each congressional session on a party-line vote. As head of the majority party the speaker has substantial control over the legislative agenda of the House, and has the authority to appoint committees, make rules, and manage the legislative process on the majority party's behalf. Significance: Because the speaker of the house is picked by the majority party in the House, they are crucial in allowing the majority party to really have control over the House. However, Congress is subject to what political scientists have labeled conditional party government, meaning that the degree of authority delegated to and exercised by congressional party leaders varies with the extent of election- driven ideological consensus among members. COMPLETE.

Credit-Claiming

The process by which Congress members take credit for their involvement in some aspect of a government processes in order to be able to project a good image or gain constituent support, with the ultimate goal of being reelected. Examples: Credit claiming has many different forms by which it can be observed including: casework, earmarks, or pork barrel politics. Significance: Credit-claiming highlights how the main goal of Congress members is to get reelected. Realistically, aiding one constituent (casework) would not appear to be particularly beneficial to any congress member as it does not directly relate to their role in government, so by taking the time and effort to directly help a constituent or resolve some problem, it can be seen how Congress members are strategic actors seeking to be able to credit claim in order to get reelected. COMPLETE.

Political Socialization

The process of acquiring political attitudes. Usually takes place at a young age, but some change in political view is possible. By 25-30 years old most people maintain their same political affiliations. A lot of people tend to acquire their political views from family, friends, neighborhoods. If there is a change in view, most likely it happens between 18-25. Significance: Political views are hard to change, embedded into us. Politicians will target people from their own party instead of people from opposing party, because they're not going to be able to change their minds. COMPLETE.

Take Care Clause

The provision in the Constitution instructing the president to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." Significant: Controversial presidential power because it can be seen to give too much power to President. It has super vague language, so it can be interpreted that presidents have the power to have executive actions/orders. COMPLETE.

Casework

The response or service performed by a Congress member or their staff to directly aid a constituent or answer their request for help. Example: Casework can vary from simple to complex problems, and includes work such as aiding a family in adoption or helping an individual acquire legal citizenship. Significance: Casework highlights how Congress members are strategic actors who have the main goal of being reelected. Casework also demonstrates how incumbents have an advantage over opponents because they have access to government agencies which can speed along processes so that a congress member can directly help a constituent and then go on to credit claim and highlight that casework example to garner positive press. COMPLETE.

Sample vs Population

The set of all subjects of interest. The sample is the small portion taken from the larger pool which is the population. This is used for surveys and analyzing possible outcomes. Significance: Taking a sample randomly from a population assures that can be considered to be representative of the population. The introduction of any biases would make samples unrepresentative, and the conclusions not generalizable. Sample vs. population are important in research studies and observational studies. It helps us understand political inquiry. COMPLETE.

Aggregate Public Opinion

The sum of all individual opinions where the measurement of errors and random individual changes tend to cancel one another out. So the average remains the same. It depends on the power of everyone, that they are taking cues from others. It also leads to aggregate partisanship where poll respondents who are republicans or democrats shift in response to economy, political events, and presidential approval. Significance: Shows that public opinion is stable, responsiveness to political / economic events, and reasonable coherent. People take cues from individuals who follow particular issue closely (due to their job or personal interest in topic) which leads the uninformed voter to be less partisanship driven. However, limitations are that voters can be dependent on elite cues, and they can be policies defined by the parties. Even though it is coherent, it is not always consistent. COMPLETE.

"Minimal Effects"

The theory that its difficult to move direction of public opinion. Need to get people to hear the message (exposure). People have attitudes / predispositions that are hard to move. Significance: Media has little actual influence on public opinion, and actually more of a watchdog role or informative role or intermediary role than a position to change public opinion. COMPLETE.

Delegation Dilemma for Congress

There comes a dilemma when deciding to delegate or not for several reasons. One, Congress will lose control of the power. Two, they will lose a credit claiming opportunity should success happen. Three, there are a lot of bureaucratic inefficiencies. And four, it is difficult for Congress to control the bureaucracy once it is established, because bureaucracies remain very autonomous. While it may seem like Congress would have no reason to delegate, there are benefits as well. Congress, by delegating, will place the task into someone of expertise; they will avoid blame if something goes wrong; there will be more efficiency; and it will overall avoid the collective action problems of Congress. This causes a dilemma, because there are lasting benefits and also negative implications. (Lecture Notes)

Outsider Lobbying Tactics

These tactics are employed by interest groups and do not require personal contact with politicians and may take the form of implicit or explicit threats rather than offers of reciprocally helpful exchanges. Strategy is to persuade politicians to act as group desires by altering the political forces they feel obliged to heed. Examples are demonstrations and protests. More about grassroots lobbying; sending letters to politicians. Using social media as an outlet (an example is Black Lives Matter). All civil rights movements start from outsider lobbying tactics. Significance: Explains the different way that outsider tactics are used and how the difference of lack of personal government contact can change the way the political forces execute. COMPLETE.

Writ of Certiorari

This is a term mainly used by the U.S Supreme Court when they are deciding on which cases to take up. In order for someone to appeal to be heard by the Supreme Court they must apply for a Writ of Certiorari. The court would then take up the case if more than three of the members of the court believe it to be a significant issue. If they deny such a writ, they are allowing the lower court's decision to stand. Only granted 2-3% of the time. Requires 4 Justices. Significance: The Supreme Court can decide when it wants to take up cases. So if they're not ready to address a certain social issue, they don't have to. It allows the Supreme Court to delay having to make integral decisions when they're not ready. COMPLETE.

Dual-Principals Problem

This is also known as the principal-agent problem or the agency dilemma. This occurs when one person or entity (the "agent") is able to make decisions on behalf of, or that impact, another person or entity: the "principal". This dilemma exists in circumstances where the agent is motivated to act in his own best interests, which are contrary to those of the principal Significance: Elected officials are the "principal." The bureau is the agent. In the U.S. there are two principals. The president and Congress jointly control design, staffing, and the funding of the bureaucracy. This is specifically talking about bureaucrats.

Sophomore Surge

This term refers to the increase in votes (8-10%) that a congressional candidate, specifically in the House of Representatives, receives when running for their first re-election. This can be attributed to several factors: those politicians running for a second term are more equipped to run a successful campaign as they are now more knowledgeable about how to campaign properly. They are also more well known to voters, as they have been in the public light for two years, unlike new candidates who are relatively unknown. Significance: ?????

Costless Filibuster

Time constraint in the modern political scene make the filibuster much more difficult because the majority cannot keep 50 members present long enough to wait out the minority because there are many other bills that need to be passed. Doesn't involve a senator speaking on the floor for a very long time. Can be a person just saying "filibuster." Significance: because a handful of senators can standstill legislative action while expending zero political capital and facing little accountability, today's filibuster works as a minority veto. COMPLETE

Power of the Mass Media

Watchdog over government policy and leaders, informs the public about politics and policy. It's also an intermediary institution (links government to citizens). The media has influence over agenda-setting (when an issue is covered a lot, the public sees it as a bigger problem. e.g. crime). The media coverage also primes the public to weigh certain issues more heavily in evaluating leaders Significance: Media coverage creates a setting that brings actors (Presidents, politicians) together and ensures that any agreements will be honored. COMPLETE.

Going Public

When Presidents engage in intensive public relations to promote their policies to the voters and thereby induce cooperation from their elected officeholders in Washington. It's an alternative to directly negotiating with Congress. Presidents can exploit news coverage for their own legislative initiatives.EX: State of the Union Address is good opportunity for presidents to go public. It incentivizes members of Congress because voters who support the president's agenda could impact their own reelection chances. This in turn is also a way for the president to set Congress' agenda. Significance: Lacks the face-to-face element of bargaining and threatens to displace it with coercion. But, going public is also a more visible strategy as opposed to bargaining which is conducted in private, elite negotiations. COMPLETE.

Mass Polarization

When citizens disagree strongly and those disagreements multiply over time, therefore seems to present obvious threats to democratic well-being Significance: Political scientists analyze the stark differences and discuss trends due to the public and their opinions based off of their reactions to their and the opposing parties proposals and policies.

Counter-Majoritarian Difficulty

When people oppose or see a problem with the judicial branch's ability to invalidate, overrule or countermand laws that reflect the will of the majority. Significance: highlights a potential problem in America's governmental system. While the judicial branch is needed to keep the Legislative and Executive Branches of the Government in check, it is also true that the nine judges on the supreme court are not elected by the people yet they have the power to declare the people's will "unconstitutional". Thus, judicial review is illegitimate because it allows unelected judges to overrule the lawmaking of elected representatives, thus undermining the will of the majority. COMPLETE.

Party Tides

When you have a democratic shift in the presidency, you'll have bureaucratic offices and positions join it. The nation seems to favor one party over the other in an alternating fashion. So in 2008 there was a democratic tide, yet in a short two years, the tide changes again. This is because of diminished turnout. Blame President's party if bad economy (and reward for good economy) Low presidential approval Midterm loss (1998, 2002 exceptions) Limited evidence that congressional performance matters (scandals are an exception) Significance: people don't pay as much attention to Congress's performance, but vote in midterms in accordance with presidential approval ratings ????????? COMPLETE.

Supremacy Clause

a clause in Article VI of the Constitution declaring that national laws are the "supreme" law of the land and therefore take precedence over any laws adopted by state localities that may conflict with national legislature. Significance: The clause was meant to mean that the national government enjoys supremacy, but only insofar as its policies conform to a Constitution that prohibits certain kinds of federal activities. However as years went on and the sphere of legitimate national action expanded, whenever the national government carved out new authority, it automatically became supreme. COMPLETE.

Rally Around the Flag Phenomena

a concept used to describe the short term spike in presidential approval for the president during times of war and conflict. This effect is much bigger when opposition leaders support President (since no opposing opinion leaders' voices are heard in the media). Significance: Gives the president power to do more of what he would like because it reduces criticism of presidential policies. Allows bipartisanship to flourish. COMPLETE.

Indexing Hypothesis

a hypothesis that predicts that news content on political and public policy issues will generally follow the parameters of elite debate: when political elites (such as the White House and congressional leaders) 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 more or less within the contours of their disagreement. Significance:

Standing Committee

a person or group of persons elected for a function; Significance: committee governments lower transaction costs

Free Rider Problem

a situation in which individuals can receive the benefits from a collective activity whether or not they helped to pay for it, leaving them with no incentive to contribute. Significance: exemplifies how there must be incentives in order to have a functioning political system COMPLETE.

Power to Persuade

a successful president is supposed to have the power to persuade. The president must bargain and persuade others that his constituents/the members of congress believe that it is in their best interest. He must interpret to his colleagues how his policy will benefit them as well. Significance: as the Constitution states, the president is required to execute all laws, but actual presidential strategy goes beyond the constitution. He has the ability to shape his administration, and convince Congress to do what he wants. He is not just his job statement. COMPLETE.

Bradley Effect

a theory concerning observed discrepancies between voter opinion polls and election outcomes in some United States government elections where a white candidate and a non-white candidate run against each other. People's responses might have to do with social desirability. I.e., if you answer yes to "will you vote for Barack Obama", is it just because you don't want to seem racist? Significance: Can we trust respondents? 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. The Bradley effect posits that the inaccurate polls were skewed by the phenomenon of social desirability bias. Specifically, some white voters give inaccurate polling responses for fear that, by stating their true preference, they will open themselves to criticism of racial motivation. Members of the public may feel under pressure to provide an answer that is deemed to be more publicly acceptable, or 'politically correct'. The reluctance to give accurate polling answers has sometimes extended to post-election exit polls as well. The race of the pollster conducting the interview may factor into voters' answers. Question wording is key. Rendered null though.

Leadership as "Bargaining"

a tool that the President uses as a means of getting his agenda passed. Uses going public to do this. Bargaining will help communicate with Congress, get your agenda through.

Political Institutions

an organization that manages potential conflicts between political rivals, helps them to find mutually acceptable solutions, and makes and enforces the society's collective agreements; a system of politics and government. Some examples are the Constitution, Congress, vetoes, and electoral votes. Significance: shape outcomes and structure the incentives of political actors. Without political institutions, our government would not be as effective. COMPLETE.

Permanent Campaign

constantly fundraising when in office. Significance: it's good to have permanent campaigns because it's good to have continual accountability. On the other hand, elected officials shouldn't be campaigning all the time because we elected them to do a job, not to campaign. COMPLETE.

Rise of Adversarial Journalism

deals with the exposure of scandals, corruption, and injustice, pioneered during the late 19th century progressive era. The rise of this type of "attack" journalism started in the 1830's when citizens felt as there was prominent political corruption. Significance: Citizens realized that the government hid a lot from them. Contributes to the media's role as a watchdog, and thus their importance. COMPLETE.

Unilateral Action

efers to the the different types of administrative and policy changes that the president can initiate on his or her own without the cooperation, and sometimes over the objections of Congress or the judiciary. Unilateral action includes: executive orders, proclamations, administrative and National security directives, military orders, pardons, signing statements and executive agreements. It is important because presidents can and do make new laws without the explicit consent of Congress - they can make the decisions quickly, forcefully and with no advance (however they are constrained by constituency and the legislative power of appropriation). Also, it allows the president to achieve legislative outcomes much closer to his or her ideal point, and it determines what they are able to achieve - thus they value it and want more of it. Court can strike a President's unilateral action as unconstitutional or inconsistent with his or her executive responsibilities if they do not agree.

Particularized Benefits/Earmarks

items individual members routinely insert into spending bills or revenue bills providing special benefits to their states, districts, and campaign contributors. Significance: members of Congress have electoral incentive to be individually, rather than collectively, responsive by delivering particularized benefits to their districts, instead of benefits for the general public. COMPLETE.

Retrospective Voting

retrospective voters are oriented toward policy outcomes rather than the means used to achieve them; consider the performance of the incumbent only, all but ignoring the opposition; and evaluate what has been done, paying little attention to what candidates promise to do in the future Ex: An individual did not like Obama's first term so he votes Republican (or someone different than Obama) this election. Often refers to voting made after taking into consideration factors like the performance of a political party, an office holder, and/or the administration. Often a heuristic used when someone wants to choose a candidate quickly without doing adequate research. Significance: Not the best way to vote. Voters hold politicians accountable for things that they can't control. But it shows that when people vote they don't do that much research--just do what's pretty easy. COMPLETE.

Judicial Review

the authority of a court to declare legislative and executive acts unconstitutional and therefore invalid. Significance: judicial review is an additional check, although it's not in the constitution. ???What else????

Midterm Loss

the drop in the midterm congressional vote in the president's party from its level two years prior/ rise in opposite party voting in midterm elections. Midterm loss leads to party tides. Significance: people become disenfranchised with president's party and members of congress from the president's party lose seats in midterm elections. COMPLETE.

Political Ignorance "Challenge"

the political ignorance problem is that of not being politically knowledgeable, and thus leading people to vote based on two main foundations: Attitudes Definition: an enduring predisposition to respond to a person, group, topic, or issue in a particular way Combines feelings, beliefs, and thoughts, E.g. general and specific attitudes Ideologies Definition: elaborate set of organized, internally consistent attitudes that allow one to understand, evaluate, and respond to political phenomena E.g. liberal, conservative, libertarian Significance: important in explaining why many voters tend to vote for someone who they think will represent them based on their attitudes and ideologies as opposed to a person's policies COMPLETE

"Judicialization of Politics"

the reliance on courts and judicial means for addressing core moral predicaments, public policy questions, and political controversies. EX: Obamacare was taken to the courts as "unconstitutional" Taking legislation to the courts if you can't get it not passed the regular way. Significance: compared to when the Judicial branch was first created, the Judicial branch today is expected resolve a much wider range of issues including labor, immigration, trade and commerce, privacy to property, religious freedoms, and much more. What this means is that a branch of government that was indented to exist as merely a check against the other branches has taken on much more responsibilities and tasks. Some argue that these new responsibilities should not be trusted to unelected officials. Makes you question whether or not justices are objective when implementing the law, and that we are more and more relying on unelected court officials to claim something unconstitutional. COMPLETE.

Social Desirability Effect

the tendency of survey respondents to answer questions in a way that will be viewed favorably by others (rather than answering how they honestly would have). People often report inaccurately on topics to present themselves in the best possible light. Significance: This bias poses a problem with conducting research with self-reports or questionnaires. Results may be inaccurate due to the social desirability effect. This means that question wording is key! Rather than asking "are you a racist" ask about stereotypes. COMPLETE.

Proximity Voting

the theory that one will choose a candidate based on how close his/her views are to them. As illustrated in lecture, if people are somewhere in the middle on a spectrum of liberal to conservative they will likely end up voting for the person who is the least distant from them. However, if you focus on proximity voting it requires a lot of information on the voter's part. Significance: people put themselves on a spectrum and put their candidates spectrums too. They don't look at candidates issue by issue, but vote for people who are close to them on the political spectrum. COMPLETE.

Stare Decisis

"let the decision stand" Requires judges to follow the precedents established by prior decisions when deciding a current case. The purpose of stare decisis is to promote consistent, predictable rulings on cases of similar nature. Significance: It sets precedents for cases and also set rules and laws for future cases so that the courts can not "change their mind" and make exceptions for cases. COMPLETE.