American Government Glossary

Affirmative Action: Programs aimed at giving women, minorities, and other disadvantaged groups equal opportunity in employment, education, and other areas of life.

Agency Capture: Situation where a government regulatory agency, rather than protecting the public, serves the interests of the industry it regulates.

Agency Point of View:  The tendency of bureaucrats to adopt their agency’s perspective and try to protect its programs and budget.

Appellate Jurisdiction: Authority of a court to review a case previously heard in a lower court.

Bad Tendency Test: Legal standard that says First Amendment does not protect speech that has a “tendency” to incite unlawful activity.

Block Grants: Federal grants-in-aid that give states and localities discretion in how the money will be spent within a general area, such as education.

Candidate-centered Campaigns: Campaigns where candidates are in charge of organizing the election effort and choosing the issues on which they will run.

Categorical Grants: Federal grants-in-aid to states and localities for a particular purpose or program, such as a school lunch program.

Caucus: A meeting in which voters discuss and openly vote for their preferred party nominee.

Civil Liberties: Fundamental individual rights, such as freedom of speech, that are protected from government infringement.

Civil Rights: Right of every person to equal protection under the laws and access to society’s opportunities and facilities. 

Clear-and-present Danger Test: Legal standard that says First Amendment does not protect speech that poses  a clear and present danger.

Cloture: A Senate procedure to limit debate that requires a three-fifths majority.

Concurring Opinion: Opinion written by a justice who votes with the winning side but disagrees in whole or part with its legal argument.

Confederacy: Government system in which sovereignty (final authority) is vested entirely in subnational (state) governments.

Constituency: The people represented by an elected official.

Containment: A doctrine, developed after World War II, that the U.S. would contest efforts by the Soviet Union to expand its influence.

Cooperative Federalism: The situation where federal, state, and local governments work together to solve problems.

Demand-side Policy: Increase government spending in order to give consumers more money to spend, thereby increasing demand.

Derivative: A financial instrument whose price depends on the value of the assets it contains.

Direction (of an opinion): Whether people favor or oppose something.

Dissenting Opinion: Opinion written by a justice on the losing side that explains the reasons for disagreeing with the decision.

Distributive Policy: Policy that benefits one group while spreading costs across the full public.

Dual Federalism: Constitutional doctrine based on idea that a precise separation of national and state power was possible.

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): A tax credit for people who work in low-paying jobs.

Economic Class: People who share the same economic status.

Economic Efficiency: Relationship between economic output—what is produced—and economic input—what goes into producing those goods and services.

Economic Equity: Situation in which outcome of economic transaction is fair to each party—for instance, if the seller knows a product is defective, the buyer should be told of the defect.

Economic Groups: Groups organized primarily for economic reasons but that engage in political activity to further that interest.

Economic Sanctions: Punitive economic actions against a country taken by another country.

Electoral College: Each state has electors equal in number to their number of Senate and House members; the candidate who wins a majority of electoral votes is elected president.

Electoral Votes: Method for choosing the president, where each state has electoral votes equal in number to the number of its members (House and Senate) in Congress.

Entitlement Program: An individual benefit program, such as social security, that requires government to provide a designated benefit to qualifying individuals.

Evangelicals: Religious adherents who accept the Bible as authoritative and believe in spreading the Gospel.

Exclusionary Rule: Legal principle that evidence gathered by unconstitutional means normally cannot be used against the accused in a trial.

Executive Agreement: Treaty-like agreement made by president that doesn’t require Senate ratification.

Executive Office of the President (EOP): The staff organization (includes personal assistants, specialists, and policy experts) that assists the president in carrying out major duties.

Executive Order: Presidential directive specifying how a law is to be carried out.

Fairness Doctrine: A government policy (rescinded in 1987) that required broadcasters to cover political issues in a neutral and balanced way. 

Federal Grants-in-aid: Federal cash payments to states and localities for programs they administer.

Federal Reserve: The nation’s country’s central banking system, which is responsible for the nation’s monetary policy by regulating the supply of money.

Federal System (Federalism): Governmental system in which sovereignty (final power) is divided between the national and subnational levels of government.

Filibuster:  A tactic whereby a minority of senators prevent a vote on a bill by exercising their right to talk without limit.

Fiscal Federalism: Use of federal  grants to states to extend the reach of the federal government into policy areas traditionally reserved for the states.

Flaw in Pluralist Argument: Some groups, particularly business firms, get the large share of the benefits from group activity.

Free-rider Problem: Situation where the benefits offered by a group to its members are available without charge to nonmembers, reducing their incentive to join the group.

Free Trade: Situation where tariffs and other trade barriers between nations are kept to a minimum.

Great Compromise: The compromise of small and large state delegates to the Constitutional Convention to create two chambers of Congress—one (the Senate) apportioned by state and the other (the House) apportioned by population.

Greenhouse Effect: Environmental warming that results when an increase in number of carbon particles in the atmosphere blocks heat from escaping into space.

Imminent Lawless Action Test: Legal standard that says First Amendment does not protect speech aimed at inciting lawless action if such action is both imminent and likely. 

Implied Powers: Powers implicitly granted Congress by the powers granted it in the Constitution.

Information Commons: Situation where most citizens are regularly exposed to a more or less common version of the news.

Intensity (of an opinion): how strongly people feel about something

International Monetary Fund (IMF): Institution that makes short-term loans to countries experiencing economic problems.

Invisible Primary: Period during nominating campaign when, though no votes are cast, the candidates try to put in place the elements of a winning campaign.

Judicial Activism: The philosophy that courts should promote fundamental constitutional principles, even if such action conflicts with precedent or the policies of elected officials.

Judicial Restraint: The philosophy that courts should act with restraint, deferring generally to precedent and the policies enacted by the people’s elected officials.

Judicial Review:  Power of courts to decide whether a legislative or executive institution has acted within its constitutional authority and, if not, to nullify its actions.

Jurisdiction (of a committee): Policy area in which a particular committee is authorized to act.

Majority Opinion: Legal opinion put forth by a majority of justices as basis for their decision. 

Mark Up: The authority of congressional committees to change the content of a bill.

Marshall Plan: U.S. initiative that provided billions of dollars to rebuild Europe after World War II.

Means Test: The requirement that applicants for public assistance must prove they are poor in order to receive it.

Medicaid: Government-provided health insurance for those with low incomes.

Medicare: Government-provided health insurance for qualified retirees.

 Memory Tip: You aid the poor (Medicaid) and care for the elderly (Medicare)

Merit system: Hiring of government employees based on competitive examinations or special qualifications.

Moral Hazard: Situation where a party takes a risk knowing it can transfer that risk to another party.

NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement): Trade agreement involving the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

National Interest: The idea that countries should pursue policies that promote their security and well-being.

Nationalization: The historical shift in power in America’s federal system toward the national government. 

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization): Military alliance of the United States, Canada, and most European countries.

Negative Externality (Spillover Effect): Situation that results when firms or consumers fail to pay the full cost of producing a good or service—for instance, when production results in air or water pollution.

Original Jurisdiction: Authority of a court to be the first to hear a case.

Oversight:  Congress’s constitutional responsibility to see that the executive branch faithfully administers the law.

PAC (Political Action Committee): Organization through which a group raises voluntary contributions and gives the money to election campaigns.

Party-centered Campaigns: Campaigns where political parties choose the nominees, organize the campaign effort, and determine the platform on which their candidates will run.

Party Polarization: The situation where political opinions and actions divide sharply along party lines.

Party Unity: Degree to which members of same party vote the same way on bills.

Pluralist Argument: Society consists of a large and diverse number of groups. As long as many of these groups benefit from group activity, that activity contributes to the public good.

Plurality Opinion: In the absence of a majority opinion, the legal opinion put forth  by most of the justices on the winning side as basis for their decision. 

Policy Implementation: The primary function of the bureaucracy. It refers to the process of carrying out the decisions of Congress, the president, and the courts.

Political Culture: The widely shared and deep seated beliefs of a nation’s people.

Political Socialization: Learning process through which people acquire their political beliefs, opinions, and values.

Political (Social) Movement: Sustained effort to achieve social and political change by people who feel government is unresponsive to their interests.

Poll Tax: A tax citizens had to pay before they could register to vote.

Pork-barrel: Legislation whose benefits are targeted at a particular legislator’s constituency.

Power: The ability of an actor to influence policy or control behavior.

Poverty Line: As defined by government, the income level below which a family is defined as poor and thereby eligible for certain forms of public assistance.

Precedent: A judicial decision that serves as a guide for settling subsequent cases of a similar nature.

Preemptive War Doctrine: Doctrine holding that U.S. can attack a potentially threatening nation even before the threat materializes.

Primary: An election in which voters cast a secret ballot for their preferred party nominee.

Primary Election: An election in which voters directly choose the party nominees (rather than the party organizations).

Private (Individual) Goods: Benefits that a group can grant directly and exclusively to its members.

Progressive Income Tax: A tax on personal income where the tax rate increases as income increases.

Proportional Representation System: Electoral system in which legislative seats are allocated to each party in proportion to its share of the popular vote.

Protectionism: Use of high tariffs or other trade barriers to protect domestic firms and workers from foreign competition.

Public Assistance Programs: Social welfare programs funded through general tax revenues and available only to the financially needy.

Public (Collective) Goods: Benefits that are available to everyone, whether they belong to a group or not.

Quantitative Easing: An unconventional monetary policy in which a central bank creates money in order to buy securities from banks in order to increase their supply of money.

Reapportionment: The reallocation of House seats after each census to reflect changes in state populations since the previous census.

Redistributive Policy: Policy that imposes costs on one group to give a benefit to another group.

Regulatory Policy: Policy aimed at regulating business, carried out through regulatory agencies, such as the EPA and FTC.

Relative Deprivation: A sense of being disadvantaged relative to another group or groups.

Reserved Powers: Powers granted to the states under the Tenth Amendment.

Restraint of Trade: Business practices designed to eliminate or restrict competition in order to charge artificially high prices.

Salience (of an opinion): How important people think something is relative to other things.

Sample:  A group selected from a larger population for purpose of estimating the population’s characteristics.

Sampling Error: Error resulting from using a sample to estimate the population. 

Selective Incorporation: Process by which selected rights in the Bill of Rights (such as the right to an attorney) are incorporated into the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment in order to protect them from state action.

Separated Institutions Sharing Power:  Power is divided among separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches, each of which shares in the power of the others in order to serve as a check on their power.

Service Sector: Sector of the economy that provides services rather than products.

Single-member Plurality District System (“first past the post”) : Electoral system in which only the candidate who gets the most votes in a district is elected.

Social Insurance Programs: Social welfare programs, such as social security, that require individuals to pay into the program in order to be eligible for its benefits.

Sovereignty: Supreme (final) governing authority within a particular geographical area.

Standing Committees: Permanent congressional committees with responsibility for a particular policy area, such as agriculture or foreign affairs. 

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT): Negotiations between U.S. and Soviet Union to reduce their nuclear arsenals.

Supply-side Policy: Cut taxes on business and upper-incomes in order to encourage investment in production, thereby increasing supply. 

Tariff: Tax that a country levies on goods shipped into it from another country.

Three-fifths Compromise: Each slave would count as three-fifths of a person for purposes of taxation and representation.

Unit Rule: Awarding all of a state’s electoral votes to the candidate who wins the state’s popular vote.

Unitary System: Government system in which sovereignty (final authority) is vested solely in the national government.

Voter Registration: Requirement that citizens register beforehand in order to vote.

World Bank: Institution that makes long-term development loans to poor countries for capital investment projects such as dams, highways, and factories.  

World Trade Organization (WTO): International organization through which its member nations negotiate rules of trade, such as copyright protection.

Writ of Certiorari: Decision by the Supreme Court to accept a case heard in a lower court.