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| The institutions and processes through which public policies are made for a society. |
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| Goods, such as clean air and clean water, that everyone must share. |
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| The process by which we select our governmental leaders and what polices these leaders pursue. Politics produces authoritative decisions about public issues. |
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| All the activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue. The most common, but the only, means of political participation in a democracy is voting. Other means include protest and civil disobedience. |
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| Groups that have a narrow interest, tend to dislike compromise, and often draw membership from people new to politics. These features distinguish them from traditional interest groups. |
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| The process by which policy comes into being and evolves over time. People's interests, problems, and concerns create political issues for government policymakers. Theses issues shape policy, which in turn impacts people, generating more interests, problems, and concerns. |
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| The political channels through which people's concerns become political issues on the policy agenda. In the United States, linkage institutions include elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media. |
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| The issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actually involved in politics at any given point in time. |
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| An issue that arises when people disagree about a problem and how to fix it. |
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| Policymaking instititions |
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| The branches of government charged with taking action on political issues. The U.S. Constitution established three policymaking institutions - the Congress, the presidency, and the courts. Today, the power of the bureaucracy is so great that most political scientists consider it a fourth policymaking institution. |
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| A choice that government makes in response to a political issue. A policy is a course of action taken with regard to some problem. |
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| A system of selecting policymakers and of organizing government so that policy represents and responds to the public's preferences. |
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| A fundamental principle of traditional democratic theory. In a democracy, choosing among alternatives requires that the majority's desire be represented. See also minority rights. |
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| A principle of traditional democratic theory that guarantees rights to those who do not belong to majorities and allows that they might join majorities through persuasion and reasoned argument. See also majority rule. |
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| A basic principle of traditional democratic theory that describes the relationship between the few leaders and the many followers. |
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| A theory of government and politics emphasizing that politics is mainly a competition among groups, each one pressing for its own preferred policies. Compare elite and class theory, hyperpluralism, and traditional democratic theory. |
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| A theory of government and politics contending that societies are divided along class lines and that an upper-class elite will rule, regardless of the formal niceties of governmental organization. Compare hyperpluralism, pluralist theory, and traditional democratic theory. |
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| A theory of government and politics contending that groups are so strong that government is weakened. Hyperpluralism is an extreme, exaggerated, or perverted form of pluralism. Compare elite and class theory, pluralist theory, and traditional democratic theory. |
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| 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. |
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| The sum total of the value of all the goods and services produced in a nation. |
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| The belief that individuals should be left on their own by the government. One of the primary reasons for the comparatively small scope of American government is the prominence of this belief in American political thought and practice. |
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