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PoliSci: Final Exam
Final Exam Vocab from Chapters 13-17 of
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| accountability | The ability of the public to hold government officals responsible for their actions. |
| agency point of view | The tendency of bureaucrats to place the interests of their agency ahead of other interests and ahead of the priorities sought by the president or Congress. |
| bureaucracy | A system of organization and control based on the principles of hierarchical authority, job specialization, and formalized rules. |
| cabinet (executive) departments | The major administrative organizations within the federal executive bureaucracy, each of which is headed by a secretary (cabinet officer) and has responsibility for a major function of the federal government, such as defense, agriculture, or justice. |
| clientele groups | Special-interest groups that benefit directly from the activities of a particular bureaucratic agency and are therefore strong advocates of the agency. |
| demographic representativeness | The idea that the bureaucracy will be more responsive to the public if its employees at all levels are demographically representative of the population as a whole. |
| executive leardership system | An approach to managing the bureaucracy that is based on presidential leadership and presidential management tools, such as the president's annual budget proposal. |
| formalized rules | A basic principle of bureaucracy that refers to the standardized procedures and established regulations by which a bureaucracy conducts its operations. |
| government corporations | Bodies, such as the US Postal Service and Amtrak, that are similar to private corporations in that they charge for their services, but different in that they receive federal funding to help defray expenses. Directors: appointed by the president & Senate |
| hierarchical authority | A basic principle of bureaucracy that refers to the chain of command within an organization whereby officials and units have control over those below them. |
| independent agencies | Bureaucratic agencies that are similar to cabinet departments but usually have a narrower area of responsibility. Each such agency is headed by a presidential appointee who is not a cabinet memeber. An example is NASA. |
| job specilization | A basic principle of bureaucracy that holds that the responsibilities of each job position should be explicitly defined and that a precise dividion of labor within the organization should be maintained. |
| merit (civil service) system | An approach to managing the bureaucracy whereby people are appointed to government positions on the basis of either competitive examinations or special qualifications, such as professional training. |
| neutral competence | The plilosophical belief that government governs best by staying out of people's lives, thus giving individuals as much freedom as possible to determine their own pursuits. |
| patronage system | An approach to managing the bureaucracy whereby people are appointed to important government positions as a reward for political services they have rendered and because of their partisan loyalty. |
| policy implementation | The primary function of the bureaucracy; it refers to the process of carrying out the authoritative decisions of Congress, the president, and the courts. |
| presidential commissions | Organizations within the bureaucracy that are headed by commissioners appointed by the president. An example is the Commission on Civil Rights. |
| regulatory agencies | Administrative units, such as the Federal Communications Commission and the EPA, that have responsibility for the monitoring and regulation of ongoing economic activities. |
| spoils system | The practice of granting public office to individuals in return for political favors they have rendered. |
| whistle-blowing | An internal check on the bureaucracy whereby individual bureaucrats report instances of mismanagement that they observe. |
| appellate jurisdiction | The authority of a given court to review cases that have already been tried in lower courts and are appealed to it by the losing party; such a court is called an appeals court or appellate court. |
| compliance | The issue of whether a court's decision will be respected and obeyed. |
| concurring opinion | A separate opinion written by a Supreme Court justice who votes with the majority in the decision on a case but who disagrees with their reasoning. |
| decision | A vote of the Supreme Court in a particular case that indicates which party the justices side with and by how large a margin. |
| dissenting opinion | The opinion of a justice in a Supreme Court case that explains his or her reasons for disagreeing with the majority's decision. |
| facts (of a court case) | The relevant circumstances of a legal dispute or offense as determined by a trial court. THe facts of a case are crucial because they help determine which laws are applicable in a case. |
| judicial activism | The doctrine that the courts should develop new legal principles when judges see a compelling need, even if this action places them in conflict with the policy decisions of elected officials. |
| judicial confrence | A closed meeting of the justices of the US Supreme Court to discuss and vote on the cases before them; the justices are not supposed to discuss conference proceedings with outsiders. |
| judicial restraint | The doctrine that the judiciary should be highly respectful of precedent and should defer to the judgement of legislatures. The doctrine claims that the job of judges is to work within the confines of laws set down by tradition and lawmaking majorities. |
| judicial review | The power of courts to decide whether a governmental institution has acted within its constitutional powers and, if not, to declare its action null and void. |
| jurisdiction (of a court) | A given court's authority to hear cases of a particular kind. Jurisdiction may be original or appellate. |
| laws (of a court case) | The constitutional provisions, legislative statutes, or judicial precedents that apply to a court case. |
| legitimacy (of judicial power) | The issue of the proper limits of judicial authority in a political system based in part on the principle of majority rule. |
| majority opinion | A Supreme Court opinion that results when a majority of the justices are in agreement on the legal basis of the decision. |
| opinion (of a court) | A court's written explanation of its decision, which serves to inform others of the legal basis for the decision. Supreme Court opinions are expected to guide the decisions of other courts. |
| original jurisdiction | The authority of a given court to be the first court to hear a case. |
| plurality opinion | A court opinion that results when a majority of justices agree on a decision in a case but do not agree on the legal basis for the decision. In this instance, the legal position held by most of the justices on the winning side is called the plurality opin |
| precedent | A judicial decision in a given case that serves as a rule of thumb for settling subsequent cases of a similar nature; courts are generally expected to follow precedent. |
| senatorial courtesy | The tradition that a US senator from the state in which a federal judicial vacancy has arisen should have a say in the president's nomination of the new judge if the senator is of the same party as the president. |
| writ of certiorari | Permission granted by a higher court to allow a losing party in a legal case to bring the case before it for a ruling; when such a writ is requested of teh US Supreme Court, four of the Court's nine justices must agree to accept the case before it is gran |
| balanced budget | When the government's tax revenues for the year are roughly equal to its expenditures. |
| budget deficit | When the government's expenditures exceed its revenues. |
| budget surplus | When the government's tax and other revenues exceed its expenditures. |
| captial-gains tax | Tax that individuals pay on money gained from the sale of a capital asset, such as property or stocks. |
| deficit spending | When the government spends more than it collects in taxes and other revenues. |
| demand-side economics | A form of fiscal policy that emphasizes "demand" (consumer spending). Government can use increased spending or tax cuts to place more money in consumers' hands and thereby increase demand. |
| deregulation | The rescinding of excessive government regulations for the purpose of improving economic efficiency. |
| economic depression | A very severe and sustained economic downturn. Depressions are rare in the United States: the last one was in the 1930s. |
| economic recession | A moderate but sustained downturn in the economy. Recessions are part of the economy's normal cycle of ups and downs. |
| economy | A system of production and consumption of goods and servies that are allocated through exchange among producers and consumers. |
| efficiency | An economic principle that holds that firms should fulfill as many of society's needs as possible while using as few of its resources as possible. The greater the output (production) for a given input (ie labor hours), the more efficient the process. |
| equity (in relation to economic policy) | The situation in which the outcome of an economic transaction is fair to each party. An outcome can usually be considered fair if each party enters into a transaction freely and is not knowingly at a disadvantage. |
| externalities | Burdens that society incurs when firms fail to pay the full cost of resources used in production. An example of an externality is the pollution that results when corporations dump industrial wastes into lakes and rivers. |
| fiscal policy | A tool of econoimc management by which government attempts to maintain a stable economy through its taxing and spending decisions. |
| graduated personal income tax | A tax on personal income in which the tax rate increases as income increases; in other words, the tax rate is higher for higher income levels. |
| inflation | A general increase in the average level of prices of goods and services. |
| lassez-faire doctrine | A classic economic philosophy that holds that owners of businesses should be allowed to make their own production and distribution decisions without government regulation or control. |
| monetary policy | A tool of economic management, available to government, based on manipulation of the amount of money in circulation. |
| national debt | The total cumulative amount that the US government owes to creditors. |
| regulation | Government restrictions on the economic practices of private firms. |
| supply-side economics | A form of fiscal policy that emphasizes "supply" (production). An example of supply-side economics would be a tax cut for business. |
| entitlement program | Any of a number of individual benefit programs, such as social security, that require the givernmetn to provide a designated benefit to any person who meets the legally defined criterial for eligibility. |
| equality of opportunity | The idea that all individuals should be given an equal chance to succeed on theri own. |
| in-kind benefits | Government benefits that are cash equivalents, such as food stamps or rent vouchers. This form of benefit ensures that recipients will use public assistance in a specified way. |
| means test | The requirement that applicants for public assistance must demonstrate they are poor in order to be eligible for the assistance. |
| negative government | The philosophical belief that government governs best by staying out of people's lives, thus giving individuals as much freedom as possible to determine their own pursuits. |
| positive government | The philosophical belief that government intervention is necessary in order to enhance personal liberty when individuals are buffeted by economic and social forces beyond their control. |
| poverty line | As defined by the federal government, the annual cost of a thrifty food budget for an urban family of four, multiplied by three to allow also for the cost of housing, clothes, and other expenses. Families below the poverty line are considered poor and are |
| public assistance | A term that refers to social welfare programs funded through general tax revenues and available only to the financially needy. Eligibility for such a program is established by a means test. |
| social insurance | Social welfare programs based on the "insurance" concept, so that individuals must pay into the program in order to be eligible to recieve funds from it. An example is social security for retired people. |
| transfer payment | A government benefit that is given directly to an individual, as in the case of social security payments to a retiree. |
| cold war | The lengthy period after World War II when the United States and the USSR were not engaged in acutal combat (a "hot war") but were nonetheless locked in a state of deep-seated hostility. |
| containment | A doctrine, developed after World War II, based on the assumptions that the Soviet Union was an aggressor nation and that only a determined United States could block Soviet territorial ambitions. |
| detente | A French word meaning "a relaxing" and used to refer to an era of improved relations between the United States and the Soviet Union that began in the early 1970s. |
| deterrence | The idea that nucelar war can be discouraged if each side in a conflict has the capacity to destroy the other with nuclear weapons. |
| economic globalization | The increased interdependence of nations' economies. The change is a result of technological, transportation, and communication advances that have enabled firms to deploy their resources across the globe. |
| free trade | The view that the long-term economic interests of all countries are advanced when tariffs and other trade barriers are kept to a minimum. |
| insurgency | A type of military conflict in which irregular soldiers rise up against an established regime. |
| internationalism | The view that the country should involve itself deeply in world affairs. |
| isolationism | The view that the country should deliberately avoid a large role in world affairs and instead concentrate on domestic concerns. |
| military-industrial complex | The three components (the military establishment, the industries that manufacure weapons, and the members of Congress from states and districts that depend heavily on the arms industry) that mutually benefit from a high level of defense spending. |
| multilateralism | The situation in which nations act together in repsonse to problems and crises. |
| multinational corporations | Business firms with major operations in more than one country. |
| protectionsim | The view that the immediate interests of domestic producers should have a higher priority (through, for example, protective tariffs) than should free trade between nations. |
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