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| The discrepancy between what citizens ideally would like their agents to do and how the agents actually behave. |
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| The capacity to set the choices available to others. |
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| Someone who makes and implements decisions on behalf of someone else. |
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| The right to make and implement a decision. |
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| A form of negotiation in which two or more parties who disagree propose exchanges and concessions to find a course of acceptable collective action. |
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| The formal group of presidential advisers who head the major departments and agencies of the federal government. Members are chosen by the president and approved by the Senate. |
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| An alliance of unlike-minded individuals or groups to achieve some common purpose such as lobbying, legislating, or campaigning for the election of public officials. |
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| An alliance of unlike-minded individuals or groups to achieve some common purpose such as lobbying, legislating, or campaigning for the election of public officials. |
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| Goods that are collectively produced and freely available for anyone’s consumption. |
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| The authority of one actor to dictate the actions of another. |
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| Settlement in which each side concedes some of its preferences in order to secure others. |
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| Settlement in which each side concedes some of its preferences in order to secure others. |
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| A document outlining the formal rules and institutions of government and the limits placed on its powers. |
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| The act of organizing a group to achieve a common goal. This remains a prerequisite for effective collective action even after the disincentives to individual participation (that is, prisoner’s dilemma problems) have been solved. |
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| The act of one person or body authorizing another person or body to perform an action on its behalf. |
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| A system of government in which citizens make policy decisions by voting on legislation themselves rather than by delegating that authority to their representatives. |
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| Public goods or bads generated as a byproduct of private activity. Air pollution is an example (public bad) because it is, in part, the byproduct of the private activity of driving a car. |
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| Focus identified by participants when coordinating their energies to achieve a common purpose. |
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| A situation in which individuals can receive the benefits from a collective activity whether or not they helped to pay for it, leaving them with no incentive to contribute. |
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| The institutions and procedures through which people are ruled. |
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| An approach to direct democracy in which a proposal is placed on an election ballot when the requisite number of registered voters have signed petitions to do so. |
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| In a democracy, an organization that manages potential conflicts between political rivals, helps them to find mutually acceptable solutions, and makes and enforces the society’s collective agreements. Congress, the presidency, and the Supreme Court are all prominent examples. |
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| The principle that decisions should reflect the preferences of more than half of those voting. Decision making by this principle is one of the fundamental procedures of democracy. |
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| Subdivision of some government departments that confers on its occupants specific authority and responsibilities. |
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| A form of government in which the chief executive is chosen by the majority party or by a coalition of parties in the legislature. |
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| A vote in which the winning candidate receives the greatest number of votes (but not necessarily a majority--over 50 percent). |
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| Elected professional who specializes in providing compelling reasons for people with different values and interests to join in a common action. |
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| The process by which individuals and groups reach agreement on a common course of action even as they continue to disagree on the goals that action is intended to achieve. |
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| An officeholder’s actual influence with other officeholders, and, as a consequence, over the government’s actions. |
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| Individuals’ choices, reflecting economic situation, religious values, ethnic identity, or other valued interests. |
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| An individual with the authority to make some decision. This authority may be delegated to an agent who is supposed to act on this individual’s behalf. |
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| A situation in which two (or more) actors cannot agree to cooperate for fear that the other will find its interest best served by reneging on an agreement. |
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| Benefits and services over which the owner has full control of their use. |
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| Prevent a common resource from being over-exploited by tying the benefit of its consumption to its cost. |
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| Goods that are collectively produced and freely available for anyone’s consumption. |
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| An approach to direct democracy in which a state legislature proposes a change to the state’s laws or constitution which all the voters subsequently vote on. |
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| Representative Government |
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| A political system in which citizens select government officials who, acting as their agents, deliberate and commit the citizenry to a course of collective action. |
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| A form of democracy in which power is vested in elected representatives. |
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| Setting up rules limiting access to a common resource and monitoring and penalizing those who violate them. |
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| The distribution of government powers among several political institutions. In the United States, at the national level power is divided between the three branches: Congress, the president, and the Supreme Court. |
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| A majority of fifty percent plus one. |
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| A larger than fifty-one percent majority, required for extraordinary actions such as amending the Constitution or certain congressional actions. For example, in the Senate sixty votes required to stop a filibuster. |
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| A situation in which group members overexploit a common resource, causing its destruction. |
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| The costs of doing political business reflected in the time and effort required to compare preferences and negotiate compromises in making collective decisions. |
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| A form of government in which the ruling power exploits its authority and permits little popular control. |
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