Chapter 1 Key Terms

Question 1

Government

Answer 1

The institutions and processes through which public policies are made for a society.

Question 2

Public Goods

Answer 2

Goods, such as clean air amd clean water, that everyone must share.

Question 3

Politics

Answer 3

The process by which we select our governmental leaders and what policies these leaders pursue. Politics produces authoritative decisions about public issues.

Question 4

Political participation

Answer 4

All the activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue. Voting is the most common but not the only means of political participation in a democracy. Other means include protest and civil disobedience.

Question 5

Single-issue groups

Answer 5

Groups that have a narrow interest, tend to dislike compromise, and often draw membership from people new to politics. These features distinguish them from traditional interest groups.

Question 6

Policymaking system

Answer 6

The process by which policy comes into being and evolves over time. People’s interests, problems, and concerns create political issues for government policymakers. These issues shape policy, which in turn impacts people, generating more interests, problems, and concerns.

Question 7

Linkage institutions

Answer 7

The political channels through which people’s concerns become political issues on the policy agenda. In the United States, linkage institutions include elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media.

Question 8

Policy agenda

Answer 8

The issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actually involved in politics at any given point in time.

Question 9

Political issue

Answer 9

An issue that arises when people disagree about a problem and how to fix it.

Question 10

Policymaking institutions

Answer 10

The branches of government charged with taking action on political issues. The U.S. Constitution established three policymaking institutions- the Congress, the presidency, and the courts.

Question 11

Public policy

Answer 11

A choice that government makes in response to a political issue. A policy is a course of action taken with regard to some problem.

Question 12

Democracy

Answer 12

A system of selecting policymakers and of organizing government so that policy represents and responds to the public’s preferences.

Question 13

Majority rule

Answer 13

A fundamental principle of traditional democratic theory. In a democracy, choosing among alternatives requires that the majority’s desire be respected.

Question 14

Minority rights

Answer 14

A principle of traditional democratic theory that guarantees rights to those who do not belong to majorities and allows that they might join majorities through persuasion and reasoned argument.

Question 15

Representation

Answer 15

A basic principle of traditional democratic theory that describes the relationship between the few leaders and he many followers.

Question 16

Pluralist theory

Answer 16

A theory of government and politics emphasizing that politics is mainly a competition among groups, each one pressing for its own preferred policies.

Question 17

Elite and class theory

Answer 17

A theory of government and politics contending that societies are divided along class lines and that an upper-class elite will rule, regardless of the formal niceties of governmental organization.

Question 18

Hyperpluralism

Answer 18

A theory of government and politics contending that groups are so strong that government is weakened. Hyperpluralism is an extreme, exaggerated, or perverted form of pluralism.

Question 19

Policy gridlock

Answer 19

A condition that occurs when no coalition is strong enough to form a majority and establish policy. The result is that nothing may get done.

Question 20

Gross domestic product

Answer 20

The sum total of the value of all the goods and services produced in a nation.

Question 21

Individualism

Answer 21

The belief that individuals should be left on their own by the government. One of the primary reasons for the comparitively small scope of American government is the prominence of this belief in American political thought and practice.