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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 policies these leaders pursue. Politics produces authoritative decisions about public issues. |
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| All the activities used my citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies the pursue. Voting is the most common but not the only means of political participation in a democracy. 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. These 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's 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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| 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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| The effects a policy has on people and problems. Impacts are analyzed to see how well a policy has met its goal and at what cost. |
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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 principal of traditional democratic theory. In a democracy, choosing among alternatives requires that the majority's desire be respected. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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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| An overall set of values widely shared within a society. |
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| The sum total of the value of all the goods and services produced in a nation. |
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