AP Government
General: Key Terms
Government:The institutions and processes through which policies are made for a society.
Politics:The process by which we select our governmental leaders and what policies these leaders pursue. Also: The process by which we elect leaders to represent us in the “how.”
Political participation:All the activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue; examples include voting, protest and civil disobedience.
Linkage institutions:The political channels through which people’s concerns become political issues on the policy agenda; examples include elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media.
Democracy:A system of selecting policymakers and of organizing government so that policy represents and responds to the publics preferences. Link to: republic; oligarchy.
Majority rule:A fundamental principal of traditional democratic theory. In a democracy, choosing among alternatives require that the majority’s desire be respected. Link to: minority rights.
Minority rights:A principal of traditional democratic theory that guarantees rights to those who do not belong to majorities but allows for their participation and protection. Link to: majority rule.
Pluralist theory:A theory of government and politics emphasizing that politics is mainly a competition among groups, each one pressing for its own preferred policies.
Elite and class theory:A theory of government and politics contending that societies are divided along class lines and that the upper-class elite will rule; or perhaps should rule. Link to: oligarchy.
Hyperpluralism:A cynical theory of government and politics contending that groups are so strong that government is weakened; pluralism gone bad. Link to: policy gridlock.
Policy gridlock: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. Link to: hyperpluralism.
Individualism:The belief that individuals should be left on their own by the government; a prominent belief in American political thought. Link to: conservative.
Divided Government:When one political party controls one branch of government and the other political party has control over the other branch of government.
Policymaking Institutions:
Congress, Presidency, Bureaucracy, and Judiciary
General: Potential Key Legislation
Unit 1: Foreign, Economic, and Domestic Policy
Clean Air Act: 1970’s
Clean Water Act: 1980’s
Consumer Product Safety Act: 1970’s-Creates Consumer Product Safety Commission
Interstate Commerce Act: 1880’s-Creates Interstate Commerce Commission
Welfare Reform Act (Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act): 1990’s-AFDC to TANF
National Security Act: 1940’s-National Security Council
SALT I and SALT II: 1970’s and 1990’s-Limiting Nuclear Weapons
Social Security Act: 1930’s-Establishes Social Security
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty: 1960’s-Eliminates Nuclear Testing in Atmosphere, Outer Space, and Water
Social Security Act Amendments: 1960’s-Medicaid and Medicare
National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act): 1930’s-Pro-Union Legislation
Taft-Hartley Act: 1940’s-Legislation that limited union power/abilities
Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform Act (FAIR): 1990’s-Limiting Agricultural Price Supports
No Child Left Behind (NCLB): 2000’s-Reauthorization of Federal Education Funding; Changes in Accountability Standards
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): 1990’s-U.S./Canada/Mexico Trade Block Agreement
Unit 2: Public Opinion, Political Socialization, and Political Participation
Motor-Voter Act: 1990’s-More Accessible Voter Registration (Driver’s License Office/Mail)
Unit 3: Elections, Parties, Candidates, and Campaigns
Federal Election Campaign Act: 1970’s-Control of Raising and Spending of Funds
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold): 2000’s-Changing Spending and Fundraising Limits
Unit 4: Interest Groups and Media
Communications Decency Act: 1990’s-Criminalizes Spreading “Indecent” Materials on the Internet
Unit 6: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
Civil Rights Act of 1964: 1960’s-Forbids Discrimination on Race, Color, Religion, Origin, and Sex by Individuals
Civil Rights Act of 1968: 1960’s-No Discrimination in Housing
Voting Rights Act of 1965: 1960’s-No Restriction on Voting; Federal Government as Watchdog
Americans with Disabilities Act: 1990’s: No Discrimination in Employment, Public Service, Transportation, or Telecommunications
Equal Pay Act: 1960’s-Equal Pay for Equal Work (Comparable Worth)
Title IX (Higher Education Act): 1970’s-No Discrimination in Education On Basis of Gender
Espionage and Sedition Acts: 1910’s-Restatement of Political Speech Limits
Patriot Act: 2000’s-Change to Homeland Security and Constitutional Rights and Privacy
Unit 8: The Presidency
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: 1960’s-LBJ “Unlimited War” Power
War Powers Act: 1970’s-Limitation of President’s “War” Powers
Unit 9: Bureaucracy
Pendleton Act: 1880’s-Moving From Spoils System/Patronage to Meritocracy
Hatch Act: 1930’s-Limiting Political Activity of Government Employees and Government Contractors
Civil Service Reform Act: 1970’s-Streamlining the Federal Bureaucracy
Sunshine Act (Freedom of Information Act): 1970’s-Requiring Open Session of Government Meetings
Unit 1 Key Terms
Policy agenda:The issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actually involved in politics at any given time. Link to: gatekeeper role of media; electronic throne.
Policymaking institutions:
The branches of government charged with taking action on political issues; Examples include Congress, the Presidency, the Courts, and the Bureaucracy.
Policymaking system:The process by which policy comes into being and evolves over time. People’s interest and concerns create political issues for government policymakers. These issues shape policy, which in turn impacts people, generating more interests, problems and concerns.
Economic policy: This constitutes the decisions makes regarding fiscal policy (taxing and
Spending) and monetary policy (the control of the money supply).
Fiscal Policy:This process consists mainly of the budget process and decisions made in
regards to taxing and spending. Link to: Budget;Deficit; Debt; Surplus.
Budget:This process defines the spending authority of the US Government for the fiscal year (October 1-September 30). Link to: Fiscal Policy.
Mandatory Spending:The areas of the federal budget that must be enacted each year by law and are no dependent on annual review by the appropriations committees of Congress. Mandatory programs include such programs as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Link to: Entitlements; Discretionary Spending.
Discretionary Spending:The area of the budget that Congress can change year to year through various appropriations spending. Link to: Mandatory Spending; Entitlements.
Demand Side Economics:The process by which the government chooses to emphasize “demand” by
increasing spending and/or tax cuts for consumers to have more money.
Supply Side Economics:The process by which the government chooses to emphasize “supply” by
tax cuts for business. Link to: Reaganomics; supply-side economics.
Monetary Policy:The government’s control of money supply. A tool of economic
management by which the amount of money in circulation can be
manipulated.
Inflation:A general increase in the average level of prices in goods and services.
Deflation:A decrease in wages faster than the decreased level of prices in goods and
services. Link to: recession; depression.
GDP/GNP:Gross Domestic Product and Gross National Product act as indicators for
the health of the United States economy as equivalent to the goods and services produced within the borders.
Consumer Price Index:“CPI” is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a fixed “market
basket” of good and services purchased by the consumer. Link to: inflation; deflation.
The “Fed”/Federal Reserve Board:
The Federal Reserve System and its governing body (the board of governors) have the ability to control money supply by raising and lowering
the rates required of banks to borrow money and to keep money on reserve. This impacts the interest rates charged by banks in loaning money.
Environmentalism:This is a policy instituted by the government in the 1960’s. The focus was
on protection from harmful air, water, and ground pollutants. Link to: Clean Air Act; Clean Water Act; Earth Day; Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Kyoto Protocol:This was a 1990’s agreement concerning carbon emissions and issues with
greenhouse gases. The conference accepted proposals to adopt
technological and energy-efficient measures. There have been problems with the enforcement of these standards. The U.S. still continues to resist
signing the agreement that they helped shape.
Superfund:The Superfund law was created by the federal government in the 1980’s to protect people, families, communities and others from heavily contaminated toxic waste sites that have been abandoned. Superfund provides broad federal authority to clean up releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances that may endanger public health or the environment.
Conservationism:The focus early on in environmental protection by the government through
its commitment to land conservation. Link to: Endangered Species Act;
National Park Service; U.S.Forest Service.
Consumer:The government is heavily involved in working to protect the best
interests of the citizen who uses the products and services of the business world. Link to: Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
Business:The government is heavily involved in the world of those who produce
Products and services for citizen consumption. This is done through
legislations, tax incentives and abatements, loans, and institutional services.
Link to: Tax Incentives/Abatements; Loans.
Incentives/Abatements:Tax incentives are tax breaks offered by various government levels through
tax credits for capital investment and tax deductions for capital
depreciation. Tax abatements are often used by local governments as a way
of lessening property tax burdens to encourage businesses to move/stay in
an area.
Loans:The government will often guarantee loan assistance to help businesses out
to prevent financial trouble/bankruptcy and the impact it would have on
the overall economy.
Regulation/Deregulation:The government is in constant balance between what is the proper amount
of legislative restriction on businesses. Link to: conservatives; liberals.
Labor:The government has taken an active role in the 20th century to aid labor
through legislation such as minimum wage laws, maximum work hours,
unemployment benefits, working conditions, hiring practices, etc. Link to:
National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act); Taft-Hartley Act; National Labor Relations Board; Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Agriculture:The government endorses a number of farm programs to stabilize farmers’
incomes. This usually entails emergency assistance and price
supports/subsidies. Link to: price supports.
Price supports:The government keeps the prices of farm products at a certain level to offset the market’s fluxuations. The government has phased out a number
of these programs beginning in the 1990’s. Link to: Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform Act (FAIR).
Trade:The government has to balance the needs of business, labor, and the
consumer with ideas such as import and export tariffs. Link to: Federal
Trade Commission (FTC); North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
Social Welfare Policy:The government’s policy to assist for personal security and needs of its
citizenry.
Poverty:As defined by the government, poverty is a set valuation that determines
what government assistance a person/family is eligible for.
Head Start:Government program that provides preschool education for poor children
in order to give them a better chance to succeed when they begin school.
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC):
The United States Federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a
refundable tax credit that goes to families who fall below a certain level
of income and have children.
In-Kind Benefits:Government benefits that are cash equivalents such as food stamps or
rent vouchers. This form of benefit ensures that the recipient will use
the benefit for its intended purpose.
Entitlements:This represents any number of individual benefit programs that require
the government (by law) to provide a designate benefit to any person who
meets the legally defined criteria for eligibility. Link to: Social Insurance;
Public Assistance.
Social Insurance:Social welfare programs that are based on the “insurance” concept.
Individuals pay into the program in order to be eligible to receive funds
from it. Link to: Social Security; Medicare; Unemployment Insurance.
Public Assistance:Social welfare programs that are funded through general tax revenues and
available only to people who demonstrate their financial neediness. Only
these people in poverty are eligible as determined by the means test. Link
to: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Food
Stamps, Government Housing/Housing Vouchers, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
Education:The federal government uses public schools to create an equality of
opportunity or the idea that all individuals should be given an equal chance
to succeed on their own. Link to: No Child Left Behind; Head Start.
Foreign Policy:The primary goal of United States foreign policy is the preservation of the
American state. Thus, the focus is on national security. Link to:
Isolation (Monroe Doctrine, Roosevelt Corollary); Intervention (Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan); Containment (Korea and Vietnam); Cold War (Bay of Pigs, U2, Cuban Missile Crisis);
Détente (Nixon-China, Strategic Arms Limitation Treat [SALT I/II]); Evil Empire (BerlinWall, USSR Collapse); New World Order (Bosnia, Somalia); War on Terrorism (Axis of Evil).
Foreign Policymaking Machinery:
The organizations involved in making political decisions in dealing with issues of national security. Link to: Intelligence; Military; Diplomacy;
Trade/Economics.
Intelligence:This community gathers information of what is going on in the world. The
government uses organizations like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),
the National Security Agency (NSA), and the military intelligence agencies
to achieve its goal. Link to: National Security Council.
Military:The Department of Defense is responsible for the protection of our
country’s interest through the use of military force. The president consults
the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to shape military
strategy and evaluates the military’s personnel and weapons needs. Link to: NATO.
Diplomacy:The Department of State conducts diplomatic relations with most of the
foreign countries of the world through its embassies and ambassadors.
Link to: UN.
Trade/Economics:The Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, and Treasury department play an
Ever increasing role in foreign affairs in trade and financial issues between the United States and other countries. Link to: International Monetary Fund (IMF); World Bank; World Trade Organization (WTO); North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA); G8.
National Security Council (NSC):
The president’s key policymaking group that assists in making national
security decisions. Members include: the President. the Vice President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Advisor. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the military advisor to the Council and the Director of National Intelligence is the intelligence advisor.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO):
This represents one of the country’s most important military alliances. It
was created in response to the threat of Soviet invasion of Europe. NATO
includes most of Europe, Canada, and the United States.
United Nations (UN):This organization was established after World War II for global peace and
prosperity. The Security Council (the US, Britain, France, Soviet Union, and China as permanent members) is the key instrument of multi-lateral policymaking.
International Monetary Fund (IMF):
This organization (started after WWII) makes short-term loans so that
countries experiencing temporary problems will not collapse economically
or resort to ruinous practices, such as high tariffs.
World Bank:This organization (started after WWII) makes long-term loans to poorer countries for capital investment projects, such as the construction of dams, highways, power plants, and factories to promote economic growth.
World Trade Organization (WTO):
This organization was created in the 1990’s as the institution through which
most nations negotiate general rules of trade.
G8:The Group of Eight (G8) is an international forum for the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Together, these countries represent about 65% of the world economyand the majority of global military power (7 of the top 8 positions for military expenditureand almost all of the world's active nuclear weapons.) Each year, they meet in a forum for discussion. Often, other “key” countries are included in the discussion.
Military Power:This is representative of what the US military has been trained for or called
upon for military action through unlimited nuclear warfare, limited nuclear warfare, unlimited conventional warfare, limited conventional warfare, counterinsurgency, and police-type action.
Collective Security: The theory that a nation’s security is increased by the increased security of all nations.
Department of Homeland Security:
The newly-formed department that attempts to coordinate the security of
domestic interests.
Military-Industrial Complex:
The three components of military establishment, the industries that
manufacture weapons, and the member s of Congress from states and
districts that depend heavily on the arms industry. Each mutually benefit
from a high level of defense spending.
Global Economic Goals:
The US hopes to sustain an open system of trade that will promote
prosperity at home, maintain access to energy and other resources that
are vital to the functioning of the economy, and keep the widening gap
between the rich and poor countries from destabilizing the world’s
economy.