Aristotle
Greek philosopher who defined democracy as the "rule of many
authority
The right to exercise political power
Bureaucracy
Structures of authority organized around expertise and specialization
Bureaucratic Theory
A theory that appointed civil servants make the key governing decisions
Citizen Participation
a political system in which those affected by a governmental program must be permitted to participate in the program's formulation
city-state (polis)
a relatively small political system within which classical democracy was practiced
Community Control
A political system in which local citizens are empowered to govern themselves directly
Democracy
a term used to describe three different political systems in which the people are said to rule, directly or indirectly
direct or participatory democracy
A political system in which all or most citizens participate directly by either holding office or making policy
Elite (political)
An identifiable group of people with a disproportionate share of political power
Elitist Theory
a theory that a few top leaders make the key decisions without reference to popular desires
Alexander Hamilton
individual who worried the new government he helped to create would be too democratic
Legitimacy
the widely shared perception that something or someone should be obeyed
majoritatian
a political system in which the choices of the political leaders are closely constrained by the preferences of the people
Marxist Theory
A theory that government is merely a reflection of underlying economic forces
Mills
A sociologist who presented the idea of a mostly nongovernmental power elite
New England Town Meetings
A North American approximation of direct or participatory democracy
pluralist theory
A theory that no one interest group consistently holds political power
Polis
Greek city-state
political power
power used to determine who will hold government office and how the government will behave
Power
the ability of one person to get another person to act in accordance with the first person's intentions
Representative Democracy
Conferring political power on those selected by the voters in competitive elections
Joseph Schumpter
An economist who defined democracy as the competitive struggle by political leaders for the people's vote
Max Weber
A sociologist who emphasized the phenomenon of bureaucracy in explaining political developments
Which statement best describes the performance of the government in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US
a fraction of the bipartisan homeland security policies and programs were implemented after many years of debate
Today, on average, Americans pay _____ percent of their income to federal payroll taxes.
21%
Most national political officeholders are middle-class, middle-aged, white Protestant males. Knowing this, we
still cannot explain many important policies
What do the authors define as "the ability of one person to get another to act in accordance with the first person's intentions
power
Which of the following statements concerning power is correct?
Power:
its exercise can sometimes be obvious
it can be exercised in subtle ways
it involves a person getting another person to act
in accordance with the first person's wishes
it is found in all human relationships
Which of the following statements about authority is correct?
Authority is defined as the right to use power
A survey of 450 history and political science professors resulted in ___________ being listed as
the most significant achievement of government since 1950.
the rebuilding of Europe
Americans seem to agree that the exercise of political power at any level is legitimate only if, in some sense, it is _______?
democratic
In Aristotle's view, democracy would consist of
participation by all or most citizens in either holding office or making policy
Aristotle's notion of democracy is also referred to as
direct and participatory democracy
In the ancient Greek city-state, the right to vote was NOT extended to
those who did not own property, women, minors, and slaves
Which of the following is a basic tenet of representative democracy?
Individuals should acquire power through competition for the people's vote
Sometimes, representative democracy is disapprovingly referred to as the ________ theory of
Democracy.
elitist
If you fear that people often decide big issues on the basis of fleeting passions and in response to demagogues, you are likely to agree with
many of the Framers of the Constitution
The text suggests representative democracy is justified by all of the following concerns EXCEPT that
the people cannot choose among competing leadership groups
In sharp contrast to the United States, very few officers in some Europeans democracies are
elective
The test suggests the Founders thought the government should _______ popular views
mediate
The Founders granted that representative democracy would
prevent both sweeping changes in policy and often proceed slowly
The Founders might agree that ______ ought to hinge on popular vote.
a. the right to a fair trial
b. freedom of speech
c. freedom of press
d. freedom of religion
e. none of the above
None of the above
Issues can be handled in a majoritarian fashion if
a. they are important enough to command the attention of most citizens.
b. they are sufficiently clear to elicit an informed opinion from citizens.
c. they are sufficiently feasible to address so that wha
all the above (they are important enough to command the attention of most citizens,
they are sufficiently clear to elicit an informed opinion from citizens, they are sufficiently feasible to address so that what citizens want can in fact be done)
In the Marxist view government is a reflection of underlying ________ forces.
economic
Marx concluded "modern" societies generally feature a clash of power between
capitalists and workers
Wright Mills, an American sociologist, suggests politics and government are dominated by
the power elite
Which of the following statements is NOT consistent with Mills' position?
Corporate Leaders are the primary, dominant nongovernmental influence in policy making
Max Weber felt that the dominant social and political reality of modern times was that
all institutions have fallen under the controls of large bureaucracies
Weber's theory suggests it would be wise for scholars who want to study power to focus on
appointed officials and career government workers
The view that money, expertise, prestige, and so forth are widely scattered throughout our society in the hands of a variety of groups is known as the
pluralist view of American society
A pluralist might agree with all of the following statements EXCEPT
mass opinion and the interests of citizens are irrelevant to policymaking
The text suggests ______ theory "does the most to reassure one that America has been, and continues to be, a democracy in more than name.
pluralist
Ronald Reagan's policy initiatives on social and economic problems sought to
return citizens' assumptions to what they had been before the 1930's
American foreign policy, according to the text, tends to alternate between
interventions and isolationism
The fact that people have been willing to die over competing views of the public interest suggests that
such views are more than mere window dressing
The kinds of answers that political scientists usually give to the fundamental political questions tend to be
partial, contingent, and controversial