| Question | Answer |
| Government | The instituions and processes through which public policies are made for a society |
| Public Goods | Such as clean water, that everyone must share |
| Policymaking Institutions | The branches of government charged with taking action on political issues |
| Individualism | Individuals should be left on their own by government |
| Pluralist Theory | Empasizes that politics is mainly a competition amoung groups, pressing its own preferred policies |
| Hyperpluralism | Groups are so strong that government is weakend |
| Public Policy | A choice that government makes in response to a political issue |
| Political Participation | All the activites used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or policies they pursue |
| Policymaking System | The process by which policy comes into being and evolves over time |
| Singles Issue Groups | have narrow interst, tend to dislike compromise, and often draw membership from people new to politics |
| Policy Agenda | The issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actually involved in politics at any given point |
| Majority Rule | Choosing amoung alternatives requires that the majority's desire be respected |
| Policy Gridlock | No coalition is strong enough to form a majority and establish policy |
| Democracy | A system of selecting policymakers and of organizing government so that policy represents and responds to public prefernece |
| Minority Rights | Garentees rights of those who do not belong to majorities |
| Political Issue | An issue that arises when people disagree about a problem and how to fix it |
| Linkage Institutions | The political channels though which peoples become political issues on the policy agenda |
| Politics | The process by which we select our government leaders and what policies these leader pursue |
