political science 1050 exam 2
Terms
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- what is it called when competing interests balance each other by bringing resources and arguments to bear on different sides of important public policy decisions
- pluralism
- what are those we nomally think of as subject to market forces and laws of supply and demand?
- private goods
- what is it when a key characteristic of private goods and services is that individuals can be prevented from using, consuming, or enjoying them by pricing mechanisms, the costliness of production and scarcity.
- excludible
- something people may use, consume, or enjoy
- public good
- what is it when public goods are often cpoiled or not provided at all because people can use, consume, or enjoy them without paying the associated costs
- free riders
- some public policy decisions allocate substantial benefits to only a few individuals or small groups
- concentrated benefits
- what do interest groups do?
-
-organize individuals with similar interests
-inform the public and elected reps
-organize electoral competition - facts and analyses designed to shape opinions in a way that reflects their objectives and interpretations of issues
- interested expertise
- interest groups also participate indirectly by:
-
1-producing voter guides and summaries of the issues designed to aid voters
2-buying television advertising meant to influence elections
3-work to increase voter participation - interest groups generally do not put their own members into...
- elected office
- interest groups do seek to put their members into...
- appointed offices
- what do interest group members do in the appointed offices?
- carry out their state responsibilities in ways which favor policies supported by the interest groups which helped them get appointed
- the texas governor is reponsible for appointing the members of approximately -----, ---- and -----
-
125
boards
commissions - many national organizations attempt to set broad ----- ------, then to integrate their ----- and ----- level affiliates in their larger strategies
-
political objectives
local and state -
interest groups in the state also try to affect policy by
- suing under federal law in the federal court system
- direct, private, face-to-face contact with public officials to explain your position on political and social issues in order to shape policymaking
- lobbying
- what defined as a felonly the receiving of campaign contributions with an agreement to act in the contributors interest?
- the 1991 texas ethics law
- who are the prominent group technologies?
-
-petitions, letter writing, and phone-in campaigns
-public demonstrations
-media campaigns
-attending public meetings
-legal action
-illegal action - can be especially effective on the local level where meetings are often sparsely attended
- attending public meetings
- is the legal action strategy expensive or inexpensive?
- expensive
- what are illegal actions?
-
-bribery
-sit-ins and occupations
-violence and sabotage - what were widely used during the 1950s and 1960s in the struggle for civil rights in the south and protest of the vietnam war?
- sit-ins and occupations
- one kind of political entity intended to obtain some kind of collective good and shape public policy
- interest group
- what are the six classifications of interest groups?
-
-economic
-ideological
-public interest organizations
-single issue groups
-inter-governmental associations
-personality based interests - which interest group has trade associations, unions, and corporations
- economic
- which trade organization is a clear slant
- ideological
- which interest group has counties that organize to get policy changes at federal level
- inter-governmental associations
- what interest groups have based interests?
- personality
- has individuals who join to influence public policy
- interest group
- organizations that can act in a unitary manner to achieve policy goals
- institutional interests
- do institutional interests have collective action problems?
- no
- the u.s. congress is a prime target of...
- interest groups
- groups have many points of ---- to -----
- access to congress
- members of congress also have ----- to ----- to interest groups
- incentives to listen
- groups compete for influence throughout the policy process, and that no single group dominates the arenas of government
- pluralist theory
- there are interest groups, and they are influential, but that some interest groups are significantly more powerful than others
- neo-pluralist argument
- asserts that certain interest groupsmay capture agencies and influence policy with very little dissent
- regulatory capture
- policy subsystems that exert great control over policy in their area of expertise
- iron triangles
- consist of a bureaucratic regulatory agency, a legislative committee, and an interest group/corporation
-
iron triangles
- making face to face contact with legislators or staff
- inside
- grass roots organizations to influence legislator
- outside
- the oldest and still most frequently used tool of grassroots pressure is the...
- letter-writing campaigne
- what are the consequences of interest group activities?
-
-lots of lawmakers know what is important
-aggregate interests
-provide policy analysis
-link between public and political elites
-have to be careful not to lose legitimacy
-influence public opinion - negative consequences:
-
-potential for gridlock
-lots of budgetary inefficiencies
-unequal outcomes - those who get their policies enacted ten to be better funded
- unequal outcomes
- the president is more immune from influences of group pressure than congress:
-
accessibility
-rep of all - does the president have inherent advantage?
- no
- more than ------ percent belong to at least one interest group. on average each belongs to ---- groups
-
75
two - given directly to candidate
- hard money
- given to groups for non-candidate type activity
- soft money
- professor james wilson has identified three incentives:
- solidary
- professor james q wilson has identified three incentives:
-
solidary
material
purposive - specialized organizations that raise and spend campaign funds
- political action committees(pac)
- RPAC:
- realtors
- AMPAC:
- doctors
- sixPAC:
- beer wholesalers
- most contributions are to ----------, regardless of -----
-
incumbents
party - conputer generated letters, faxes and other communications to people why might be sympathetic to an appeal for money or support
- direct mail
- from peaceful sit-ins and demonstrations to riots and even rebellion
- direct action
- some people seek to influence policy by
- selecting cases to litigate
- bigger, broader, and much looser connections of interest groups, politicians, bureaucrats, and policy experts active in a particular policy area
- issue networks
- one conclusion is that groups are most influential when they:
-
-act on low profile issues
-attempt to block action rather than originate it
-are unopposed by other groups or politicians
-have plentiful resources - means of communication that are technologically capable of reaching many people and are economically affordable to most
- mass media
- newspapers selling for a penny
- penny press
- what was the birth of the media in america?
- the penny press
- sometimes called yellow journalism
- sensationalism
- the most important modern trends in the newspaper industry are the ---------- of newspapers
- decline in the number, and the independence
- president roosevelt made effective use of the radio with his
- fireside chats
- probably the most important recent development in radio communications is the rapid increase in
- talk shows
- -- percent of all household have at least one --------- --- and with an average of ---- per household
-
99
televisino set
four - the industry was organized under three large networks:
-
nbc
cbs
abc - was the first campaign to take advantage of television, producing simple commercials
- dwight eisenhower
- --------- ---------- continues to be the largest single source of information available to americans
- network television
- this is probably the best known example of what is generally described as the --- ------
-
cable television
new media - regulates the electronic media
- the federal communications commission
- regulations concerning what could be broadcast were upheld by
- the supreme court
- unlike print media, electronic media was constrained by
- technology
- government can regulate who gets to put their views on the radio
- yes
- forced stations to provide balanced political viewpoints to be expressed
- fairness doctrine
- when was the fairness doctrine repealed?
- 1987
- the dominant provider of information in american society
- television
- one researcher concluded that while media may not tell people what to think, they could tell people what to think about
- agenda setting
- agenda setting is also known as
- the cnn affect
- media may also be responsible for directing the public to think along certain lines such as evaluating a president based on a particular issue
- priming
- one researcher concluded that the media are harder on ------ than ------
-
incumbents
challengers - the fact that the media are ------ ---------- pulls them in a ---------- direction
-
business enterprises
conservative - a bias toward the negative in the media
- selection bias
- where reporters unanimously decide something is newsworthy and attack it like wolves tearing apart their prey
- pack journalism
- the primary process for nominating candidates was instituted in
- 1972
- --------------- are not nearly as important as in the earlier eras, and media coverage has -------- accordingly
-
conventions
dropped - the parties now treat the convention as huge
- infomercials
- was established in 1987 to ensure that debates provide the best possible information to viewers and listeners
- the commission on presidential debates
- is the is the commission on presidential debates a nonprofit, nonpartisan corporation?
- yes
- this established a rule that explicitly states that presidential candidates must have an average of at least -- percent support in ---- national polls in order to take part in the fall depates
-
non partisan commission
15
five - the first question the media raises about debates is...
- who won?
- the media pays more attention to ----- than to ------
-
the president
congress - from the medias standpoint, what the government does well is ---- newsworthy than what government does badly
- less