american gov. 170
Terms
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- iron triangles of government
- small and informal but stable group of well positioned legislators, executives, and lobbyists who seek to promote policies beneficial to a particular interest
- rider
- ammendment to a bill that deals with an issue unrelated to the content of the bill. (senate only)
- gerrymandering
- the process by which the party in power draws election district boundaries in a way that is advantagous to the canidates
- pork barrel projects
- legislative acts whose tangible benefits are targeted at particular legislators connstituents.
- logrolling
- the trading of votes between legislators so that each gets what he or she most wants
- stewardship theory (president)
- a theory that argues for a strong assertive presidential role with presidential authority limited only to points that are specifically prohibited by law
- punditocracy
-
A group of political pundits who are thought to have too much influence
- merit 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.
- k street
- street in dc where all the lobbyists and different groups set up their headquarters
- partisan press
- newspapers and other media that openly support a political party and whose news is significant part follows the party line.
- deterrence
- the idea that nuclear war can be discouraged if each side in a conflict has the capacity to destroy the other with nuclear weapons.
- containment doctrine
- a doctrine developed after ww2, said that soviet union was aggressive and that only a determined united states could block soviet territorial ambitions
- judicial review
- power of courts to decide whether a governmental institution has acted within its constitutional powers and if not declare its action null and void.
- judicial activism
- doctrine that the courts should develop new legal principles when judges see a compelling need even if this action places them in conflict with precedent or the policy decisions of elected officials
- solicitor general
- the governments lawyer in supreme court cases
- precedent
- previous judicial ruling that serves as a rule of thumb for settling similiar cases (courts generally expected to follow precedent)
- regulatory agencies
- administrative units such as the fcc and epa that monitor and regulate ongoing economic activities
- government corporation
- bodies such as the usps 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 with expenses.
- presidential commission
- organizations within the bureaucracy that are headed by commissions appointed by the president ex. (commission on civil rights)
- unilateralism
- the situation in which one nation takes action against another state or states
- preemptive war doctrine
- idea thought of by president george w bush that the united states could attack a potentially threatening nation even if the threat had not yet reached a serious level
- protectionism PAC
- the view that the immediate domestic interests should have higher priority (ex. protective tariffs) than free trade between nations
- patronage
- 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.
- spoils system
- the practice of granting public office to individuals in return for political favors they have rendered
- whistle blowing
- an internal check where the bureaucrats report instances of mismanagement they observe.
- presidents
- signs laws vetos laws meets with foreign heads of state (foreign policy) leads the military