Enterline: poli sci study cards
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- Why do we have a social welfare policy?
- to provide people with protection against poverty and hunger, improve their health and physical well-being, provide educational and employment training opportunities, and enable them to lead more secure, satisfying, and productive lives.
- What is Public Policy?
- an intentional course of action followed by government in dealing w/ some problem or matter of concern
- Why is Bush's popularity decreasing in America?
- Bush's popularity is decreasing because many Americans do not know about the foreign policy and the biases in the media
- What does the Congress do?
- responds to initiatives
- Who has more power, Congress or executives?
- executives execute actions; therefore, the executives are much stronger than Congress
- What is public policy based on?
- The public policy is based on law; authoritative and binding of people
- What is an example of public policy?
- ⬢ An example of a public policy concerns drug abuse; there must be change and those who do not comply will be penalized
- What are the four theories of Public policy?
- Elite Theory, Bureaucratic Theory, Interest Group Theory, and Pluralist theory
- What is the Elite Theory?
- chosen few makes all of the decisions
- What is the bureaucratic theory?
- more power to the bureaucracy; more power towards security and budgets
- What is the Interest Group Theory?
- given myriad pressure points, interest groups control government
- What is the Pluralist Theory?
- political resources are widely scattered; no one group dominates policymaking
- What are the stages to Public Policy?
-
⬢ Problem must get on the governmental agenda
⬢ Formulation of alternatives for dealing with the problem
⬢ Policy adoption is the formal enactment or approval of an alternative
⬢ Budgeting provides financial resources to carry out the approved alternative
⬢ Policy implementation is the actual administration or application of the policy
⬢ Policy evaluation determines the policy's actual accomplishments, consequences, or shortcomings - In general, how is the president viewed in Public Policy?
- President is agenda - setter for Congress (in general)...stated in the first article in the Constitution (legislation)
- How do individuals contribute to public policy?
- Individuals can matter too; individuals may also push issues to the congressional agenda
- True or false: agenda setting is a competititve process.
- TRUE!!!
- What are the three types of policy formulation?
- Routine, Analogous, and Creative
- What is routine formulation?
- a repetitive and essentially changeless process of reformulating similar proposals within an issue area
- What is analogous formulation?
- handles new problems by drawing on experience within similar problems of the past
- What is creative formulation?
- involves attempts to develop new or unprecedented proposals that represent a departure from existing practices
- Why are major legislations so hard to pass?
- Complex legislation takes time to pass and legislation passed is often incremental
- How does budget affect public policy?
-
You need money to carry out public policy
A policy can be nullified by a refusal to fund
Having the potential to curb funding can be a powerful tool for congressional committee chairs - What are the three techniques used by the administration in public policy?
- Authoratative, Incentive, and Horatory
- What are authoratative techniques?
- rests on the notion that people's actions must be restrained by government in order to prevent or eradicate activities or products that are unsafe, evil, or immoral
- What are incentive techniques?
- encourage people to act in their own best interest by offering payoffs or financial inducements to get them to comply
- What are horatory techniques?
- encourage people to comply with policy by appealing to their better instincts
- Who are the important people involved in public policy?
-
Congressional committees
Presidential committees
Private research committees
General Accountability Office (GAO - What is an agenda?
- a set of issues to be discussed or given attention
- What is a systematic agenda?
- all public issues that are viewed as requiring governmental attention; a discussion agenda
- What is the governmental (institutional) agency?
- the changing list of issues to which governments believe they should address themselves
- What is agenda setting?
- the constant process of forming the list of issues to be addressed by government
- What is policy formulation?
- the crafting of appropriate and acceptable proposed courses of action to ameliorate or resolve public problems
- What is policy adoption?
- the approval of a policy proposal by the people with the requisite authority, such as a legislature
- What is policy implementation?
- the process of carrying out public policy through governmental agencies and the courts
- What is policy evaluation?
- the process of determining whether a course of action is achieving its intended goals
- What is the Social Security Act?
- a 1935 law that established old-age insurance (social security) and assistance for the needy, children, and others, and unemployment insurance
- What is the Non-means-based Program?
- program such as social security where benefits are provided irrespective of the income or means of recipients
- What is the means-tested program?
- income security program intended to assist those whose incomes fall below a designated level
- What is the entitlement program?
- income security program to which all those meeting eligibility criteria are entitled
- What is Medicare?
- the federal program established in the Lyndon B. Johnson administration that provides medical care to elderly Social Security recipients
- What is Medicaid?
- an expansion of Medicare, this program subsidizes medical care for the poor
- What happened to the Social Welfare Policy in the Late 19th Century?
-
 Farmers and rural Americans sought help
 Falling commodity prices; exploitation of railroads
 1890s sever economic depression
 Acceptance and expectance of government intervention
 Capitalism can create incredible rates of prosperity - During the Great Depression, what happened to the economy when FDR was elected in 1932?
-
 Unemployment extremely high; bud for economy
 This is expected, if there is a great depression, the economy is expected to go downhill. There is a big influx of people moving to the city, but the city cannot handle this. There are not enough jobs for everyone to move to the city
 Created Civil Works Administration by executive order to put people to work - What led to the creation of Social Security?
- the great depression
- After Social Security was passed, who strongly opposed the idea of a national health insurance policy?
-
 AMA (American Medical Association) strongly opposed it, so it was omitted
 The AMA did not want health care because they did not want to deal with governmental intervention, which was aggressive. They were also afraid of losing money - In 1945, who put Health Insurance on the National Policy Agenda?
- Truman
- Who introduced Medicare?
- Johnson
- What did Income Security Programs do for Americans?
- Protect people against loss of income due to retirement, disability, unemployment or deal or absence of family breadwinner
- What did the non-means-based programs offer?
-
o Social insurance
o Old age, survivor and disability insurance
o Unemployment insurance - What did the means-based programs offer?
-
o They either come as or in-kind benefits, such as food stamps
o Supplemental Security Income
o Some of these programs are making people dependent on social welfare instead of rehabilitating them - What is the Reconciliation Act of 1996?
-
 States start to reform - length of time on welfare (restrictions)
 Required single mothers with a child over five years of age to work within two years of receiving funds
 Included a provision that unmarried mothers under the age of 18 be required to live with an adult and attend school in order to receive welfare benefits
 Set a five-year lifetime limit for and from block grants
 Included a requirement that mothers must provide information about a child's father in order to receive full welfare payments
 Cut off food stamps and SSI for legal immigrants
 Cut off cash welfare benefits and food stamps for convicted drug felons
 Limited food stamps to 3 months in a 3 year period for persons 18 to 50 years old who are not raising children and not working - What are business cycles?
- fluctuation between expansion and recession that is a part of modern capitalist economies
- What does Laissez-faire mean?
- a French term literally meaning "to allow to do, to leave alone." It is a hands-off governmental policy that is based on the belief that governmental involvement in the economy is wrong
- What is an interventionist state?
- alternative to the laissez-faire state; the government takes an active role in guiding and managing the private economy
- What is an economic regulation?
- governmental regulation of business practices, industry rates, routes, or areas serviced by particular industries
- What is a social regulation?
- governmental regulation of the quality and safety of products as well as the conditions under which goods and services are produced
- What is economic stability?
- a situation in which there is economic growth, rising national income, high employment, and steadiness in the general level of prices
- What is inflation?
- a rise in the general price levels of an economy
- What is recession?
- a short-term decline in the economy that occurs as investment sags, production falls off, and unemployment increases
- What is the monetary policy?
- a form of government regulation in which the nation's money supply and interest rates are controlled
- What is money?
- a system of exchange for goods and services that includes currency, coins, and bank deposits
- What is the Federal Reserve Board?
- a seven-member board that sets member banks reserve requirements, controls the discount rate, and makes other economic decisions
- What is the Reserver requirment?
- governmental requirements that a portion of member banks' deposits must be retained to back loans made
- What is the discount rate?
- the rate of interest at which member banks can borrow money from their regional Federal Reserve Bank
- What are the open market operations?
- the buying and selling of government securities by the Federal Reserve Bank in securities market
- What is the fiscal policy?
- Federal government policies on taxes, spending, and debt management, intended to promote the nation's macroeconomic goals, particularly with respect to employment, price stability, and growth
- What is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)?
- the total market value of all goods and service produced in a country during a year
- What is the Department of Agriculture (1862)?
- to protect agriculture and the interest of agriculture and to provide farmers with technology
- What is the Homestead Act (1862?
- gave people incentives to move west for free land (~116 acres)
- What is the Morrill Land Grant Act (1862)?
- gave land grants to universities (colleges)
- What is significant about government regulations in the economy?
- it provides a safe place to live, a good environment, but there is also less freedom for business owners, which will result in less hiring.
- How did the Great Depression affect the economy?
-
o Low confidence in economy
o Prices dropped (agriculture)
o Production declined
o Unemployment rose
o Tremendous disparity in wealth - What is isolationism?
- a national policy of avoiding participation in foreign affairs
- What is unilateralism?
- a national policy of acting without consulting others
- What is moralism?
- the policy of emphasizing morality in foreign affairs
- What is pragmatism?
- the policy of taking advantage of a situation for national gain
- What is Washington's Farewell Address?
- Washington's 1796 final address as president in which he declared that the U.S. should avoid becoming involved in foreign alliances
- What does impressment mean?
- the British practice in the early eighteenth century of stopping ships at sea to seize sailors suspected of having deserted the Royal Navy
- What is the Embargo Act?
- passed by Congress in 1807 to prevent U.S. ships from leaving U.S. ports for foreign ports without the approval of the federal government
- What is the War of 1812?
- fought between the U.S. and Great Britain over impressment and U.S. territorial designs on Canada
- What is the Monroe Doctrine?
- President James Monroe's 1823 pledge that the U.S. would oppose attempts by European states to extend their political control into the Western Hemisphere
- What are tariffs?
- taxes on imports used to raise government revenue and to protect infant industries
- What are the Barbary Wars?
- conflicts the U.S. fought in the early eighteenth century with North African states against their piracy
- What is Manifest Destiny?
- theory that the U.S. was divinely mandated to expand across North America to the Pacific Ocean
- What is the Spanish-American War?
- brief 1898 war against Spain because of Spanish brutality in Cuba and U.S. desire to attain overseas territory
- What is the Roosevelt Corollary?
- concept developed by President Theodore Roosevelt early in the twentieth century that it was the U.S. responsibility to assure stability in Latin America and the Caribbean
- What is collective security?
- the concept that peace would be secured if all countries collectively opposed any country that invaded another
- What is the Leaugue of Nations?
- created in the peace treaty that ended WWI, it was an international governmental organization dedicated to preserving peace
- What did the UN resemble after WWI?
- The League of Nations
- What was significant about Pearl Harbor?
- naval base in Hawaii attacked by Japan on December 7, 1941, initiating U.S. entry into WWII.
- What is the UN?
- an international governmental organization created shortly before the end of WWII to guarantee the security of nations and to promote global economic, physical, and social well-being
- What is the International Governmental Organization?
- an organization created by the governments of at least two and often many countries that operates internationally with the objectives of achieving the purposes that the member countries agree upon
- What is the Bretton Woods Agreement?
- international financial agreement signed shortly before the end of WWII that created the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
- What is the International Monetary Fund?
- international government organization created shortly before the end of WWII to stabilize international financial relations through fixed monetary exchange rates
- What is the world bank?
- international governmental organization created shortly before the end of WWII to provide loans for large economic development projects
- What is the general agreement on tariffs and trade? (GATT)
- devised shortly after WWII as an interim agreement until a World Trade Organization could be created to help lower tariffs and increase trade
- What is multilateralism?
- the U.S. foreign policy that actions should be taken in cooperation with other states after consultation
- What is the Truman Doctrine?
- U.S. policy initiated in 1947 of providing economic assistance and military aid to countries fighting against communist revolutions or political pressure
- What is the Marshall Plan?
- European Recovery Program, named after Secretary of State George C. Marshall, of extensive U.S. aid to Western Europe after WWII
- What is containment?
- strategy to oppose expansion of Soviet power, particularly in Western Europe and East Asia, with military power, economic assistance, and political influence
- What is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization? (NATO)
- the first peacetime military treaty the U.S. joined, NATO is a regional political and military organization created in 1950
- What is the Cuban Missile Crisis?
- the 1962 confrontation that nearly escalated into war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union over Soviet deployment of medium-range ballistic missiles in Cuba
- What is the Vietnam War?
- between 1965 and 1973, the U.S. deployed up to 500,000 troops to Vietnam to try to prevent North Vietnam from taking over South Vietnam; the effort failed and was extremely divisive within the U.S.
- What is detente?
- the relaxation of tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union that occurred during the 1970s
- What is the Nixon Doctrine?
- the policy implemented at the end of the Vietnam War that the United States would provide arms and military equipment to countries but not do the fighting for them
- What are the human rights?
- the belief that human beings have inalienable rights such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion
- What is the Iranian Hostage Crisis?
- crisis during the Carter administration when Iranian students with support of the Iranian government took over the U.S. embassy in Tehran, holding all the personnel hostage
- What is the Carter Doctrine?
- policy announced after 1979 Soviet invasions of Afghanistan that the Persian Gulf area was a vital U.S. interest and the U.S. would fight to maintain access to it
- What is the Reagan Doctrine?
- policy that the U.S. would provide military assistance to anti-communist groups fighting against pro-Soviet governments
- What is the Operation Desert Storm?
- the 1991 American-led attack against Iraq to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait
- What is engagement?
- policy implemented during the Clinton administration that the U.S. would remain actively involved in foreign affairs
- What is enlargement?
- policy implemented during the Clinton administration that the United States would actively promote the expansion of democracy and free markets throughout the world
- What is the North American Free Trade Agreement? (NAFTA)
- agreement that promotes free movement of goods and services among Canada, Mexico, and the US
- What is the World Trade Organization?
- international governmental organization created in 1995 that manages multilateral negotiations to reduce barriers to trade and settle trade disputes
- What is the Department of State?
- chief executive-branch department responsible for formulation and implementation of U.S. foreign policy
- What is the Department of Defense?
- chief executive-branch department responsible for formulation and implementation of U.S. military policy
- What is the Central Intelligence Agency? (CIA)
- executive agency responsible for collection and analysis of information and intelligence about foreign countries and events
- What is the National Security council?
- executive agency responsibility for advising the president about foreign and defense policy and events
- What is the Department of Homeland Security?
- executive agency responsibility for advising the president about foreign and defense policy and events
- What is the War Powers Act?
- passed by Congress in 1973; the president is limited in the deployment of troops overseas to a sixty-day period in peacetime (which can be extended for an extra thirty days to permit withdrawal) unless Congress explicitly gives its approval for a longer period
- What is the Military-industry Complex?
- the grouping of the U.S. armed forces and defense industries
- What is the Nongovernmental Organization?
- an organization that is not tied to a government
- What is al-Qaeda?
- worldwide terrorist organization led by Osama bin Laden; responsible for numerous terrorist attacks against U.S. interests, including 9/11 attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon
- What is the Taliban?
- fundamentalist Islamic government of Afghanistan that provided terrorist training bases for al-Qaeda
- What does War on Terrorism mean?
- initiated by George W. Bush after the 9/11 attacks to weed out terrorist operatives throughout the world, using diplomacy; military means, improved homeland security, stricter banking laws, and other means
- What are the Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty?
- 2002 U.S. Russian treaty that reduced the number of nuclear warheads in each side's arsenals respectively to about 1,700 and 2.200 the lowest total in decades
- What are weapons of Mass Destrcution?
- biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons, which present a sizeable threat to U.S. security
- What is information warfare?
- attacks against information and communication systems, which present a sizeable threat to U.S. security
- What happened in the Kyoto Conference on Global Climate Change?
- 1997 international conference to develop agreements to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming
- What is the Grand Strategy?
- the choices a government makes to balance and apply economic, military; diplomatic, and other resources to preserve the nation's people, territory, and values