Parliamentary system – A system of government in which the legislature selects the prime minister or president.

Presidential ticket – The joint listing of the presidential and vice presidential candidates on the same ballot as required by the Twelfth Amendment.

Treaty – A formal, public agreement between the United States and one or more nations that must be approved by two thirds of the Senate.

Executive agreement – A formal agreement between the U.S. president and the leaders of other nations that does not require Senate approval.

Congressional-executive agreement – A formal agreement between a U.S. president and the leaders of other nations that acquires approval by both houses of Congress.

Veto – A formal decision to reject the bill passed by Congress.

Pocket veto – A formal decision to reject a bill passed by Congress after it adjourns – if Congress adjourns during the ten days that the president is allowed in order to sign or veto law, the president can reject the law by taking no action at all.

Take care clause – The constitutional requirement (in Article II, Section 3) that presidents take care that the laws are faithfully executed, even if they disagree with the purpose of those laws.

Inherent powers – Powers that grow out of the very existence of government.

State of the Union Address – The president’s annual statement to Congress and the nation.

Impeachment – Formal accusation against a president or other public official, the first step in removal from office.

Executive privilege – The right to keep executive communications confidential, especially if they relate to National Security.

Executive orders – Formal orders issued by the president to direct action by the Federal bureaucracy.

Impoundment - A decision by the president not to spend money appropriated by Congress, now prohibited under Federal law.

Line item veto – Presidential power to strike, or remove, specific items from a spending bill without vetoing the entire package; declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Chief of staff – The head of the White House staff.

Executive Office of the President – The cluster of presidential staff agencies that help the president carry out his responsibilities. Currently the office includes the Office of Management and Budget, the Council of Economic Advisers, and several other units.

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) – Presidential staff the agency that serves as a clearinghouse for budgetary requests and management improvements for government agencies.

Cabinet – Advisory council for the president consisting of the heads of the executive departments, the vice president, and a few other officials selected by the president.

Rally point – A rising public approval of the president that follows a crisis as Americans “rally ’round the flag” and the chief executive.

Mandate – A president’s claim of broad public support.

Cycle of decreasing influence – The tendency of presidents to lose support over time.

Cycle of increasing effectiveness – The tendency of presidents to learn more about doing their jobs over time.

Bureaucracy – A form of organization that operates through impersonal, uniform rules and procedures.

Bureaucrat – A career government employee.

Department – Usually the largest organization in government with the largest mission; also the highest rank in Federal hierarchy.

Independent agency – A government entity that is independent of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

Independent regulatory commission – A government agency or commission with regulatory power whose independence is protected by Congress.

Government corporation – A government agency that operates like a business corporation, created to secure greater freedom of action and flexibility for a particular program.

Senior Executive Service – Established by Congress in 1978 as a flexible, mobile corps of senior career executives who worked closely with presidential appointees to manage government.

Spoils system – A system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends.

Merit system – A system of public employment in which selection and promotion depend on demonstrated performance rather than political patronage.

Office of Personnel Management (OPM) – Agency that administers civil service laws, rules, and regulations.

Hatch Act – Federal statute barring Federal employees from active participation in certain kinds of politics and protecting them from being fired on partisan grounds.

Implementation – The process of putting a law into practice through bureaucratic rules or spending.

Administrative discretion – Authority given by Congress to the Federal bureaucracy to use reasonable judgment in implementing the laws.

Regulations – The formal instructions that government issues for implementing laws.

Rule-making process – The formal process for making regulations.

Uncontrollable spending – The portion of the Federal budget that is spent on programs, such as Social Security, that the president and Congress are unwilling to cut.

Entitlement programs – Programs such as unemployment insurance, disability relief, or disability payments that provide benefits to all eligible citizens.

Indexing – Providing automatic increases to compensate for inflation.

Oversight – Legislative or executive review of a particular government program or organization. Can be in response to a crisis of some kind or part of routine review.

Central clearance – Review of all executive branch testimony, reports, and draft legislation by the Office of Management and Budget to ensure that each communication to Congress is in accordance with the president’s program.

Judicial review – The power of a court to refuse to enforce a law or government regulation that in the opinion of the judges conflicts with the U.S. Constitution or, in a state court, the state constitution.

Adversary system – A judicial system in which the court of law is a neutral arena where two parties argue their differences.

Criminal law – A law that defines crimes against the public order.

Civil law – A law that governs relationships between individuals and defines their legal rights.

Justiciable dispute – A dispute growing out of an actual case or controversy and that is capable of settlement by legal methods.

Defendant – In a criminal action, the person or party accused of an offense.

Plea bargain – Agreement between a prosecutor and a defendant that the defendant will plead guilty to a lesser offense to avoid having to stand trial for a more serious offense.

Public defender system – Arrangement whereby public officials are hired to provide legal assistance to people accused of crimes who are unable to hire their own attorneys.

Original jurisdiction – The authority of a court to hear a case “in the first instance.”

Appellate jurisdiction – The authority of a court to review decisions made by lower courts.

Court of appeals – A court with appellate jurisdiction that hears appeals from the decisions of lower courts.

Precedent – A decision made by a higher court such as a circuit court of appeals or the Supreme Court that is binding on all other federal courts.

Writ of habeas corpus – A court order requiring explanation to a judge why a prisoner is being held in custody.

Senatorial courtesy – Presidential custom of submitting the names of prospective appointees for approval to senators from the states in which the appointees are to work.

Judicial restraint – Philosophy proposing that judges should interpret the Constitution to reflect what the framers intended and what its words literally say.

Judicial activism – Philosophy proposing that judges should interpret the Constitution to reflect current conditions and values.

Stare decisis – The rule of precedent, whereby a rule or law contained in a judicial decision is commonly viewed as binding on judges whenever the same question is presented.

Writ of certiorari – A formal writ used to bring a case before the Supreme Court.

Docket – The list of potential cases that reach the Supreme Court.

Amicus curiae brief – Literally, a “friend of the court” brief, filed by an individual or organization to present arguments in addition to those presented by the immediate parties to a case.

Opinion of the Court – An explanation of the decision of the Supreme Court or any other appellate court.

Dissenting opinion – An opinion disagreeing with a majority in a Supreme Court ruling.

Concurring opinion – An opinion that agrees with the majority in a Supreme Court ruling but differs on the reasoning.

Writ of habeas corpus – A court order requiring explanation to a judge why a prisoner is being held in custody.

Ex post facto law – Retroactive criminal law that works to the disadvantage of a person.

Bill of attainder – Legislative act inflicting punishment, including deprivation of property, without a trial, on named individuals or members of a specific group.

Due process clause – Clause in the Fifth Amendment limiting the power of the national government; similar clause in the Fourteenth Amendment prohibiting state governments from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

Selective incorporation – The process by which provisions of the bill of rights are brought within the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment and so applied to state and local governments.

Establishment clause – Clause in the First Amendment that states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. The Supreme Court has interpreted this to forbid governmental support to any or all religions.

Vouchers – Money government provides to parents to pay their children’s tuition in a public or private school of their choice.

Free exercise clause – Clause in the First Amendment that states that Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion.

Bad tendency test - Interpretation of the First Amendment that would permit legislatures to forbid speech encouraging people to engage in illegal action.

Clear and present danger test – Interpretation of the First Amendment that holds that the government cannot interfere with speech unless the speech presents a clear and present danger that it will lead to evil or illegal acts.

Preferred position doctrine – Interpretation of the First Amendment that holds that freedom of expression is so essential to democracy that governments should not punish persons for what they say, only for what they do.

Nonprotected speech – Libel, obscenity, fighting words, and commercial speech, which are not entitled to constitutional protection in all circumstances.

Libel – Written defamation of another person. For public officials and public figures, the constitutional tests designed to restrict libel actions are especially rigid.

Sedition - Attempting to overthrow the government by force or use violence to interrupt its activities.

Obscenity – Quality or state of a work that taken as a whole appeals to a prurient interest in sex by depicting sexual conduct in a patently offensive way and that lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Fighting words – Words that by their very nature inflict injury on those to whom they are addressed or insight them to acts of violence.

Commercial speech – Advertisements and commercials for products and services; they receive less First Amendment protection, primarily to discourage false and misleading ads.

Prior restraint – Censorship imposed before a speech is made or a newspaper is published; usually presumed to be unconstitutional.

Civil disobedience – Deliberate refusal to obey law or comply with orders of public officials as a means of expressing opposition.

Naturalization – A legal action conferring citizenship on an alien.

Dual citizenship – Citizenship in more than one nation.

Right of expatriation – The right to renounce one’s citizenship.

Property rights – The rights of an individual to own, use, rent, invest in, buy, and sell property.

Contract clause – Clause of the Constitution (Article I, Section 10) originally intended to prohibit state governments from modifying contracts made between individuals; for a while interpreted as prohibiting state governments from taking actions that adversely affect property rights; no longer interpreted so broadly and no longer constrains state governments from exercising their police powers.

Police powers – Inherent powers of state governments to pass laws to protect the public health, safety, and welfare; the national government has no directly granted police powers but accomplishes the same goals through other delegated powers.

Eminent domain – Power of a government to take private property for public use; the U.S. Constitution gives national and state governments this power and requires them to provide just compensation for property so taken.

Regulatory taking – Government regulation of property so extensive that government is deemed to have taken the property by the power of eminent domain, for which it must compensate the property owners.

Due process – Established rules and regulations that restrain government officials.

Procedural due process – Constitutional requirement that governments proceed by proper methods; limits how government may exercise power.

Substantive due process - Constitutional requirement that governments act reasonably and that the substance of the laws themselves be fair and reasonable; limits what the government may do.

Search warrant – A writ issued by a magistrate that authorizes the police to search a particular place or person, specifying the place to be searched and the objects to be seized.

Racial profiling – Police targeting of racial minorities as potential suspects of criminal activities.

Exclusionary rule – Requirement that evidence unconstitutionally or illegally obtained be excluded from a criminal trial.

Immunity – Exemption from prosecution for a particular crime in return for testimony pertaining to the case.

Grand jury – A jury of 12 to 23 persons who, in private, hear evidence presented by the government to determine whether persons shall be required to stand trial. If the jury believes there is sufficient evidence that a crime was committed, it issues an indictment.

Indictment – A formal written statement from a grand jury charging an individual with an offense; also called a true bill.

Plea bargain – Agreement between a prosecutor and a defendant that the defendant will plead guilty to a lesser offense to avoid having to stand trial for more serious offense.

Petit jury – A jury of 6 to 12 persons that determines guilt or innocence in a civil or criminal action.

Double jeopardy – Trial or punishment for the same crime by the same government; forbidden by the Constitution.

Community policing – Assigning police to neighborhoods where they walk the beat and work with churches and other community groups to reduce crime and improve relations with minorities.

Natural rights - The rights of all people to dignity and worth; also called human rights.

Affirmative action – Remedial action designed to overcome the effects of discrimination against minorities and women.

Women’s suffrage – The right of women to vote.

Equal protection clause - Clause in the Fourteenth Amendment that forbids any state to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. By interpretation, the Fifth Amendment imposes the same limitation on the national government. This clause is the major constitutional restraint on the power of governments to discriminate against persons because of race, national origin, or sex.

Due process clause – Clause in the Fifth Amendment limiting the power of the national government; similar clause in the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the state governments from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

White primary – Democratic party primary in the old “one-party South” that was limited to white people and essentially constituted an election; ruled unconstitutional in Smith v. Allwright (1944).

Racial gerrymandering – The drawing of election districts so as to ensure that members of a certain race are a minority in the district; ruled unconstitutional in Gomillion v. Lightfoot (1960).

Poll tax – Tax required to vote; prohibited for national elections by the Twenty-Fourth Amendment (1964) and ruled unconstitutional for all elections in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections (1966).

Literacy test – Literacy requirements some states imposed as a condition of voting, generally used to disqualify black voters in the South; now illegal.

Majority-minority district – A congressional district created to include a majority of minority voters; ruled constitutional so long as race is not the main factor in redistricting.

Jim Crow laws – State laws formerly pervasive throughout the South requiring public facilities and accommodations to be segregated by race; ruled unconstitutional.

De jure segregation – Segregation imposed by law.

De facto segregation – Segregation resulting from economic or social conditions or personal choice.

Commerce clause – The clause of the Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3) that gives Congress the power to regulate all business activities that cross state lines or affect more than one state or other nations.

Class action suit – Lawsuit brought by an individual or group of people on behalf of all those similarly situated.

Restrictive covenant – A provision in a deed to real property prohibiting its sale to a person of a particular race or religion. Judicial enforcement of such deeds is unconstitutional.

Public policy – A specific course of action taken by government to achieve a public goal.

Policy agenda – The informal list of issues that Congress and the president consider most important for action.

Distributive policy – A type of policy that provides benefits to all Americans.

Redistributive policy – A type of policy that takes benefits (usually through taxes) from one group of Americans and gives them to another (usually through spending).

Rule – The precise legal definition of how government will implement a policy.

Iron triangle – A policy-making alliance that involves a very strong ties among a congressional committee, an interest group, and a Federal Department or agency.

Issue network – A policy-making alliance among loosely connected participants that comes together on a particular issue, then disbands.

Fiscal policy – Government policy that attempts to manage the economy by controlling taxing and spending.

Monetary policy – Government policy that attempts to manage the economy by controlling the money supply and thus interest rates.

Inflation – A rise in the general price level (and decrease in dollar value) owing to an increase in the volume of money and credit in relation to available goods.

Unemployment – The number of Americans who are out of work but actively looking for a job. The number does not usually include those who are not looking.

Excise tax – Consumer tax on a specific kind of merchandise, such as tobacco.

Deficit – The difference between the revenues raised annually from sources of income other than borrowing and the expenditures of government, including paying the interest on past borrowing.

Tariff – Tax levied on imports to help protect the nation’s industries, labor, or farmers from foreign competition. It can also be used to raise additional revenue.

Progressive tax – A tax graduated so that people with higher incomes pay larger fraction of their income than people with lower incomes.

Regressive tax – A tax whereby people with lower incomes pay a higher fraction of their income than people with higher incomes.

National debt – The total amount of money the Federal government has borrowed to finance deficit spending over the years.

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) – Presidential staff agency that serves as a clearinghouse for budgetary requests and management improvements for government agencies.

Congressional Budget Office (CBO) – An agency of Congress that analyzes presidential budget recommendations and estimates the cost of proposed legislation.

Sales tax – General tax on sales transactions, sometimes exempting food and drugs.

Value-added tax (VAT) – A tax on increased value of the product at each stage of production and distribution rather than just at the point of sale.

Tax expenditure – Loss of tax revenue due to Federal laws that provide special tax incentives or benefits to individuals or businesses.

Monetarism – A theory that government should control the money supply to encourage economic growth and restrain inflation.

Federal Reserve System – The system created by Congress in 1913 to establish banking practices and regulate currency in circulation and the amount of credit available. It consists of 12 regional banks supervised by the Board of Governors. Often called simply the Fed.

Laissez-faire economics – Theory that opposes governmental interference in economic affairs beyond what is necessary to protect life and property.

Keynesian economics - Economic theory based on the principles of John Maynard Keynes stating that government spending should increase during business slumps and be curbed during booms.

Trade deficit – An imbalance in international trade in which the value of imports exceeds the value of exports.

World Trade Organization (WTO) – International organization derived from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that promotes it free trade around the world.

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) – An international trade organization with more than 130 members, including the United States and the People’s Republic of China, that seeks to encourage free trade by lowering tariffs and other trade restrictions.

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) – Agreement signed by the United States, Canada, and Mexico in 1992 to form the largest free trade zone in the world.

Protectionism - Policy of erecting trade barriers to protect domestic industry.

Offshoring – The practice of exporting U.S. jobs to lower paid employees in other nations.

Regulation – Efforts by government to alter the free operation of the market to achieve social goals such as protecting workers and the environment.

Monopoly - Domination of an industry by a single company; also the company that dominates the industry.

Antitrust legislation – Federal laws (starting with the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890) that try to prevent a monopoly from dominating an industry and restraining trade.

Trust – A monopoly that controls goods and services, often in combinations that reduce competition.

Closed shop - A company with a labor agreement under which union membership is a condition of employment.

Union shop – A company in which new employees must join a union within a stated time period.

Labor injunction – A court order forbidding specific individuals or groups from performing certain acts (such as striking) that the court considers harmful to the rights and property of an employer or community.

Collective bargaining – Method whereby representatives of the union and employer determine wages, hours, and other conditions of employment through direct negotiation.

Environmental impact statement – Statement required by Federal law from all agencies for any project using Federal funds to assess the potential affect of the new construction or development on the environment.

Deregulation – A policy promoting cutbacks in the amount of Federal regulation in specific areas of economic activity.

Unfunded mandates – Programs that the Federal government requires States to implement without Federal funding.

Entitlements – Programs such as unemployment insurance, disaster relief, or disability payments that provide benefits to all eligible citizens.

Means-tested entitlements – Programs such as Medicaid and welfare under which applicants must meet eligibility requirements based on need.

Public assistance - Aid to the poor; “welfare.”

Social insurance – Programs in which eligibility is based on prior contributions to government, usually in the form of payroll taxes.

Social Security – A combination of entitlement programs, paid for by employer and employee taxes, that includes retirement benefits, health insurance, and support for disabled workers and the children of deceased or disabled workers.

Medicare – National Health Insurance program for the elderly and disabled.

Medicaid – Federal program that provides medical benefits for low-income persons.

Health maintenance organization (HMO) – Alternative means of health care in which people or their employers are charged a set amount and the HMO provides health care and covers hospital costs.

Medical savings account – Alternative means of health care in which individuals make tax-deductible contributions to a special account that can be used to pay medical expenses.

Realism – A theory of international relations that focuses on the tendency of nations to operate from self-interest.

Idealism – A theory of international relations that focuses on the hope the nations will act together to solve international problems and promote peace.

Isolationism – The desire to avoid international entanglement altogether.

Internationalism – The belief that nations must engage in international problem solving.

Unilateralism – A philosophy that encourages individual nations to act on their own when facing threats from other nations.

Bush Doctrine – A policy adopted by the Bush administration in 2001 that asserts America’s right to attack any nation that has weapons of mass destruction that might be used against U.S. interests at home or abroad.

Multilateralism – A philosophy that encourages individual nations tacked together to solve international problems.

Hard power – The reliance on economic and military strength to solve international problems.

Soft power – The reliance on diplomacy and negotiation to solve international problems.

Theory of deterrence – A theory that is based on creating enough military strength to convince other nations not to attack first.

Weapons of mass destruction – Biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons that can cause a massive number of deaths in a single use.

Normal trade relations – Trade status granted as part of an international trade policy that gives a nation the same favorable trade concessions and tariffs that the best trading partners receive.

National Intelligence Director – The Federal government’s primary intelligence officer, responsible for overseeing all national intelligence agencies and providing advice to the President on terrorist threats.

Bipartisanship – A policy that emphasizes a united front and cooperation between the major political parties, especially on sensitive foreign policy issues.

Economic sanctions – Denial of export, import, or financial relations with the target country in an effort to change that nation’s policies.

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From APstudynote.com