Final Exam Review sheet!

FINAL EXAM REVIEW FOR POL 100

Chapter 9 – Campaign, Elections, and the Media

Candidates
Presidential primaries
Caucus
Primary election
Opinion polls
Focus groups
Financing campaigns
Federal Election Campaign Act
PACs and Contributions
Soft money
Electoral College
Vote Fraud
Low voter turnout
Media
Functions of the media
Influence of television on elections

Chapter 10 – The Congress

Bicameralism
Lawmaking
Representation
Trustee vs delegate view
Service to constituents – casework
Ombudsperson
Oversight
Public Education
Resolving Conflict
Senate powers
House of Representatives Powers
Power of incumbency
Committee Structure
Standing committee
Select committee
Speaker of the House
Whips
Senate Majority Leader
Senate Minority Leader
Preparing the Budget
Spring Review
Fall Review
Appropriation
Chapter 11 – the President

Head of state
Chief executive
Power of appointment and removal
Power of reprieves/pardon
Commander-in-Chief
Chief Diplomat
Proposal of Treaties
Executive Agreements
Chief Legislator
Vetoing Legislation
Line-Item Veto
Statutory powers
Expressed Powers
Inherent powers
Emergency powers
Executive orders
Abuse of Power/Impeachment
Executive Office of the President

Chapter 12 – Bureaucracy

Public and private bureaucracies
Three models:
Weberian
Acquisitive
Monopolistic
Executive Branch:
Cabinet Departments
Independent Executive Agencies
Independent Regulatory Agencies
Deregulation vs regulation
Government corporations
Political appointees
Civil service
Spoils system
Civil service reform
Government in the Sunshine Act
Sunset laws
Privatization
Public-private partnership

Chapter 13 – The Courts
Common law tradition
Precedent
Stare decisis
Federal court system
Jurisdiction
Federal courts
Federal Question
Diversity of Citizenship
US District Courts
US Court of Appeals
US Supreme Court
FISA Court
Alien “Removal Courts”
Amicus Curiae
Procedural Rules
Majority opinion
Dissenting opinion
Judicial appointments
Policy-making
Judicial review
Judicial activism
Warren Court
Judicial restraint
Strict vs broad construction
Executive checks
Legislative checks
Political question

Chapter 14 – Domestic and Economic Policy
Policy-making process
Agenda – building
Policy formulation
Policy adoption
Policy implementation
Policy evaluation
Health care
Medicare
Medicaid
Uninsured
Welfare reforms
Welfare-to-work
Supplemental security income
Food stamps
Juvenile crime
Prison population
Incarceration rates
National Environmental Policy Act (1969)
Clean Air Act (1990)
Kyoto Protocol
Global warming debate
Fiscal policy
Keynesian economics
Deficit spending
Monetary policy
Federal reserve system
Loose monetary policy
Tight monetary policy
Free trade
Common markets
World Trade Organization

Chapter 15 – Foreign Policy

Iraq Study Group report
Foreign policy
Diplomacy
Economic aid
Technical assistance
Military intervention
National security policy
Morality/Idealism
American Exceptionalism
Political realism
Realpolitik
Presidential leadership
State Department
National Security Council
Intelligence Community
CIA
Executive Order (1976)
Attentive public
Military-industrial complex
Formative Years
“Entangling Alliances”
Monroe Doctrine
Isolationism
Internationalism
Cold War
Containment Policy
Superpower relations
Détente
Post-Cold War World

Essay Choices:

Here are five potential essay questions. Three of these questions will be choices on the exam. You will only have to choose ONE.

A. Political scientists have noticed that the strength of the executive branch has increased, while the ability of Congress and the courts to check this branch has been weakened. Discuss the various methods that the judicial and legislative arms can take to check the executive branch, and debate whether these are sufficient to check the growth of executive power.
B. What is the difference between judicial review and judicial activism? Explain both, and provide specific examples.
C. Outline and describe the most important functions of Congress. In which have they been most successful? In which have they been least successful? Try to provide concrete examples.
D. What is the role and influence of the news media in American politics? What is "setting the agenda"? What are the differences between print and broadcast news? Give an example of the effect of the news media on American politics.
E. Why is voter turnout so low in the United States? Cite three reasons from the textbook and explain.

Just for the record...

Stuart got elected!!


First Asian leads the parade of new MSPs
Check the state of the parties

THE first Asian MSP in Scotland led a host of new faces yesterday who will change the make-up of the Scottish Parliament and the country's future over the next four years.

Most of the gains were by the SNP, though other main parties also acquired new representatives because of smaller parties being squeezed out.

Bashir Ahmad was one of four SNP MSPs voted in for the Glasgow region.

Of the other SNP members to win seats in the regions, some are well-known fundamentalists for the Nationalist cause, while others are gradualists on the issue of independence - suggesting there will certainly be debate within the parliamentary party.

Labour too brought in some interesting new faces including a lord and Donald Dewar's press spokesman for Labour.

The Liberal Democrats triumphed in Dunfermline West by bringing in a computing student, but most of their fresh faces were in the regions.

There are 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, 73 of which are first-past-the-post constituencies, while 56 are regional seats voted through proportional representation.

New SNP MSPs through the constituency system include Angela Constance in Livingston, Dr Alasdair Allan in Western Isles, Kenneth Gibson in Cunninghame North, Joe Fitzpatrick in Dundee West and Willie Coffey in Kilmarnock and Loudon.

However, most gains were made in the regions.

In Glasgow, Mr Ahmad, who is already a councillor in the region and has been on the party's national executive, was at the top of the list.

The new MSP, born in India but brought up in Pakistan, came to Scotland aged 20 and worked as a bus conductor and driver as he saved to buy his first shop. He then opened a restaurant and a hotel.

In the West of Scotland, Bill Wilson, from the fundamental wing of the party, was voted in alongside Gil Paterson and Stuart McMillan.

In contrast, Mike Russell, who is a gradualist, was voted in the South of Scotland.

A professor of British and Irish studies, Chris Harvie gained a seat in Mid Scotland and Fife.

Aileen Campbell won a seat in Scotland South and Jamie Hepburn, Christina McKelvie and John Wilson won seats in Scotland Central. Nigel Don was the only new name in the North East.

Labour saw the arrival of Lord George Foulkes, the former Hearts chairman, and the return of Iain Gray, the former MSP who has been working as a special adviser in the Scotland Office, in East Lothian. David Whitton, the former press officer for Donald Dewar, won in Strathkelvin and Bearsden.

Mr Foulkes, list MSP for Lothians, said: "I've always been an enthusiast for the Scottish Parliament [but] it needs some energy and inspiring debate."

In the regions, Claire Baker, John Park and Richard Simpson all won seats in Mid-Scotland and Fife.

The Tories brought in young blood in lawyer John Lamont in Roxburgh and Berwickshire. Another new face was Liz Smith in Mid-Scotland and Fife. And Jim Tolson, a computing student, won a constituency seat for the Lib Dems in Dunfermline West.

Comment: A considerable shambles
By Anthony King
Last Updated: 2:22pm BST 04/05/2007

Have your say Read comments


Live: Scottish, Welsh and local elections
Labour avoids 'meltdown' amid Scottish fiasco
The confusing ballots
Quite apart from their outcome - or, rather, their outcomes - yesterday’s elections were a considerable shambles.

In Scotland and to a smaller extent south of the border, the newly introduced technology simply failed to work. One of the few confident predictions one can make in human affairs is that new technologies usually fail to work. But there was an additional problem.

There used to be only one electoral system in mainland Britain: first past the post in single-member constituencies. Whichever candidate got more votes than any other candidate was declared the winner. And that was that.

Now Britain operates more electoral systems than any other country.

Yesterday Scottish voters could take advantage - simultaneously - in three different systems: old-fashioned first past the past in the constituency elections for the Scottish Parliament; a party-list system in the regional parliamentary elections and a system known as the single transferable vote in the elections, which also took place yesterday, to Scotland’s local authorities.

Voters south of the border have a right to complain of relative deprivation. In voting for their local councillors, they were confined to using first past the post. But even in parts of England new-fangled machines for counting the votes were used - mostly unsuccessfully.

The outcome, at least north of the border, was predictable. Tens of thousands of Scottish voters - confronted by ballots of unbelievable complexity - failed to complete them in the manner the law required and thereby forfeited, or seem to have forfeited, their votes.

Small wonder that some sixteen hours after the polls closed only just over two thirds of the seats in the Scottish Parliament have been allocated to individual candidates and parties and that a large proportion of Scotland’s local authorities have likewise yet to declare.

In both Scotland and Wales it looks almost certain that either minority or coalition administrations will now take power.

In Wales, Labour will be the largest single party, though probably without an overall majority.

In Scotland, it is still nip and tuck between Labour and the SNP, though the SNP will probably in the end have more seats. Post-election negotiations among the parties are therefore about to begin.

The story south of the border - and east of it - is complicated but in essense fairly straightforward.

The Conservatives have done well, but not very well. They still need to make substantial progress if they are to be in with a chance of winning outright the next general election.

Labour did badly, but not cataclysmically badly. Labour leaders can take comfort from the fact that they were doing just as badly in the 2004 local elections before they went on to win nationally in May 2005. All the same, Gordon Brown must have hoped for a more auspicious electoral send-off.

The Liberal Democrats have entirely lost momentum in electoral terms. They gained a few councils yesterday but they also lost a few and now have considerably fewer councillors than they did a year ago.

Even so, they could still emerge as powerbrokers after the next general election if the two major parties do almost equally well - or badly.

Anthony King is professor of government at Essex University

Scottish election!!

Just wanted to share this:

My dear old buddy Stuart is running on the SNP ticket in Greenock/Inverclyde tomorrow. Here's some info:

5. Stuart McMillan
(Also standing in Greenock & Inverclyde constituency)
Scottish National Party
Stuart has been a member of the SNP for 14 years. He was a founder member of the re-formed Port Glasgow Branch and recently joined the Greenock and Inverclyde Branch and has become the Branch Press Officer. Stuart was also a founder member of the Dundee Young Scottish Nationalists whilst studying in Dundee and was an active member of the Abertay Nationalists.
Stuart was born in Barrow in Furness in 1972, graduated with an MBA (European) from the University of Abertay Dundee in 1997 and was married in 2003. After graduating, Stuart began employment as a Supply Analyst with IBM UK Ltd., then left to work for the SNP group in the Westminster Parliament before returning to Scotland in 2003 to be the Office Manager for Bruce McFee MSP. Stuart's studies took him to Angouleme and Toulose in France, Dortmund in Germany and Ronneby in Sweden.
Stuart is a keen piper and currently plays with the London Scottish Pipes and Drums. He has busked around Europe twice visiting friends on the way. Stuart was the SNP candidate for Inverclyde at the Westminster Election in 2005. He increased the SNP vote by 5.6%, went from 3rd to 2nd place and achieved a swing of 2.5 % from Labour.
Stuart will be contesting the Greenock and Inverclyde Constituency for the SNP at the Scottish Parliamentary elections in 2007.

Recent electoral experience
2005 Westminster election, Inverclyde, 7,059 votes (19.56 %)


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