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| A theory that prevailed in the nineteenth century and held that the presidency was a limited or restrained office whose occupant was confined to expressly granted constitutional authority. |
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| A theory that argues for a strong, assertive presidential role, with presidential authority limited only at points specifically prohibited by law. |
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| Meetings at which a party’s candidates for nomination are voted on and that are open to all the party’s rank-and-file voters who want to attend. |
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| A strong showing by a candidate in early presidential nominating contests, which leads to a buildup of public support for the candidate. |
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| The rule that grants all of a state’s electoral votes to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the state. |
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| A subunit of the Executive Office of the President (EOP), the White House Office is the core of the presidential staff system in that it includes the president’s closest and most trusted personal advisors. |
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| A group consisting of the heads of the executive (cabinet) departments, who are appointed by the president, subject to confirmation by the Senate. The cabinet was once the main advisory body to the president, but it no longer plays this role. |
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| The president’s first months in office, a time when Congress, the press, and the public are more inclined than usual to support presidential initiatives. |
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| presidential approval ratings |
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| A measure of the degree to which the public approves or disapproves of the president’s performance in office. |
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| A system of organization and control based on the principles of hierarchical authority, job specialization, and formalized rules. |
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| A basic principle of bureaucracy that refers to the chain of command within an organization whereby officials and units have control over those below them. |
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| A basic principle of bureaucracy holding that the responsibilities of each job position should be explicitly defined, and that a precise division of labor within the organization should be maintained. |
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| A basic principle of bureaucracy that refers to the standardized procedures and established regulations by which a bureaucracy conducts its operations. |
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| cabinet (executive) departments |
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| The major administrative organizations within the federal executive bureaucracy, each of which is headed by a secretary or, in the case of Justice, the attorney general. Each department has responsibility for a major function of the federal government, such as defense, agriculture, or justice. |
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| Bureaucratic agencies that are similar to cabinet departments but usually have a narrower area of responsibility. Each such agency is headed by a presidential appointee who is not a cabinet member. An example is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. |
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| Administrative units, such as the Federal Communications Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency, that have responsibility for the monitoring and regulation of ongoing economic activities. |
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| Advisory organizations within the bureaucracy that are headed by commissioners appointed by the president. An example is the Commission on Civil Rights. |
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| Government bodies, such as the U.S. Postal Service and Amtrak, that are similar to private corporations in that they charge for their services but differ in that they receive federal funding to help defray expenses. Their directors are appointed by the president with Senate approval. |
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| An approach to managing the bureaucracy whereby people are appointed to important government positions as a reward for political services they have rendered and because of their partisan loyalty. |
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| The practice of granting public office to individuals in return for political favors they have rendered. |
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| An approach to managing the bureaucracy whereby people are appointed to government positions on the basis of either competitive examinations or special qualifications, such as professional training. |
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| The administrative objective of a merit-based bureaucracy. Such a bureaucracy should be “competent” in the sense that its employees are hired and retained on the basis of their expertise, and “neutral” in the sense that it operates by objective standards rather than partisan ones. |
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| The process through which annual federal spending and revenue determinations are made. |
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| The primary function of the bureaucracy; it refers to the process of carrying out the authoritative decisions of Congress, the president, and the courts. |
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| The tendency of bureaucrats to place the interests of their agency ahead of other interests and ahead of the priorities sought by the president or Congress. |
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| Special interest groups that benefit directly from the activities of a particular bureaucratic agency and therefore are strong advocates of the agency. |
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| bureaucratic accountability |
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| The degree to which bureaucrats are held accountable for the power they exercise. |
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| Top-level career civil servants who qualify through a competitive process to receive higher salaries than their peers but who can be assigned or transferred by order of the president. |
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| An official who presides at a trial-like administrative hearing to settle a dispute between an agency and someone adversely affected by a decision of that agency. |
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| An internal check on the bureaucracy whereby employees report instances of mismanagement that they observe. |
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| demographic representativeness |
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| The idea that the bureaucracy will be more responsive to the public if its employees at all levels are demographically representative of the population as a whole. |
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| jurisdiction (of a court) |
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| A given court’s authority to hear cases of a particular kind. Jurisdiction may be original or appellate. |
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| The authority of a given court to be the first court to hear a case. |
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| The authority of a given court to review cases that have already been tried in lower courts and are appealed to it by the losing party; such a court is called an appeals court or appellate court. |
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| The power of courts to decide whether a governmental institution has acted within its constitutional powers and, if not, to declare its action null and void. |
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| Permission granted by a higher court to allow a losing party in a legal case to bring the case before it for a ruling; when such a writ is requested of the U.S. Supreme Court, four of the Court’s nine justices must agree to accept the case before it is granted certiorari. |
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| A judicial decision that serves as a rule for settling subsequent cases of a similar nature. |
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| A written statement by a party in a court case that details its argument. |
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| A closed meeting of the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court to discuss and vote on the case before them; the justices are not supposed to discuss conference proceedings with outsiders. |
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| A vote of the Supreme Court in a particular case that indicates which party the justices side with and by how large a margin. |
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| A court’s written explanation of its decision, which serves to inform others of the legal basis for the decision. Supreme Court opinions are expected to guide the decisions of lower courts. |
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| A court opinion that results when a majority of the justices are in agreement on the legal basis of the decision. |
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| A court opinion that results when a majority of justices agree on a decision in a case but do not agree on the legal basis for the decision. In this instance, the legal position held by most of the justices on the winning side is called a plurality opinion. |
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| A separate opinion written by one or more Supreme Court justices who vote with the majority in the decision on a case but who disagree with its reasoning. |
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| The opinion of a justice in a Supreme Court case that explains his or her reasons for disagreeing with the majority’s decision. |
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| The tradition that a U.S. senator from the state in which a federal judicial vacancy has arisen should have a say in the president’s nomination of the new judge if the senator is of the same party as the president. |
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| The relevant circumstances of a legal dispute or offense as determined by a trial court. The facts of a case are crucial because they help determine which law or laws are applicable in the case. |
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| A method of interpreting the Constitution that emphasizes the meaning of its words at the time they were written. |
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| living constitution theory |
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| A method of interpreting the Constitution that emphasizes the principles it embodies and their application to changing circumstances and needs. |
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| The doctrine that the judiciary should closely follow the wording of the law, be highly respectful of precedent, and defer to the judgment of legislatures. The doctrine claims that the job of judges is to work within the confines of laws set down by tradition and lawmaking majorities. |
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| The doctrine that the courts should develop new legal principles when judges see a compelling need, even if this action places them in conflict with precedent or the policy decisions of elected officials. |
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| The doctrine that the courts should develop new legal principles when judges see a compelling need, even if this action places them in conflict with precedent or the policy decisions of elected officials. |
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| A system for the exchange of goods and services between the producers of those goods and services and the consumers of them. |
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| A classic economic philosophy holding that owners of business should be allowed to make their own production and distribution decisions without government regulation or control. |
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| A term that refers to government restrictions on the economic practices of private firms. |
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| An economic principle holding that firms should fulfill as many of society’s needs as possible while using as few of its resources as possible. The greater the output (production) for a given input (for example, an hour of labor), the more efficient the process. |
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| Burdens that society incurs when firms fail to pay the full costs of production. An example of an externality is the pollution that results when corporations dump industrial wastes into lakes and rivers. |
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| The rescinding of excessive government regulations for the purpose of improving economic efficiency. |
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| The situation in which the outcome of an economic transaction is fair to each party. An outcome can usually be considered fair if each party enters into a transaction freely and is not unknowingly at a disadvantage. |
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| A tool of economic management by which government can attempt to maintain a stable economy through its taxing and spending policies. |
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| A very severe and sustained economic downturn. Depressions are rare in the United States; the last one was in the 1930s. |
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| A moderate but sustained downturn in the economy. Recessions are part of the economy’s normal cycle of ups and downs. |
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| A form of fiscal policy that emphasizes “demand” (consumer spending). Government can use increased spending or tax cuts to place more money in consumers’ hands and thereby increase demand. |
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| The situation when the government’s expenditures exceed its tax and other revenues. |
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| The total cumulative amount that the U.S. government owes to creditors. |
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| The situation when the government’s tax and other revenues for the year are roughly equal to its expenditures. |
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| The situation when the government’s tax and other revenues exceed its expenditures. |
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| A form of fiscal policy that emphasizes “supply” (production). An example of supply-side economics is a tax cut for business. |
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| The tax that individuals pay on money gained from the sale of a capital asset, such as property or stocks. |
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| graduated (progressive) personal income tax |
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| A tax on personal income in which the tax rate increases as income increases; in other words, the tax rate is higher for higher income levels. |
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| A general increase in the average level of prices of goods and services. |
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| A tool of economic management based on manipulation of the amount of money in circulation. |
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| As defined by the federal government, the annual cost of a thrifty food budget for an urban family of four, multiplied by three to allow also for the cost of housing, clothes, and other expenses. Families below the poverty line are considered poor and are eligible for certain forms of public assistance. |
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| The philosophical belief that government governs best by staying out of people’s lives, giving individuals as much freedom as possible to determine their own pursuits. |
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| The philosophical belief that government intervention is necessary in order to enhance personal liberty and security when individuals are buffeted by economic and social forces beyond their control. |
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| Any of a number of individual-benefit programs, such as social security, that require government to provide a designated benefit to any person who meets the legally defined criteria for eligibility. |
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| Social welfare programs based on the “insurance” concept, requiring that individuals pay into the program in order to be eligible to receive funds from it. An example is social security for retired people. |
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| The requirement that applicants for public assistance must demonstrate that they are poor in order to be eligible for the assistance. |
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| A term that refers to social welfare programs funded through general tax revenues and available only to the financially needy. Eligibility for such a program is established by a means test. |
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| A government benefit that is a cash equivalent, such as food stamps or rent vouchers. This form of benefit ensures that recipients will use public assistance in a specified way. |
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| The idea that all individuals should be given an equal chance to succeed on their own. |
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| That which is best for the nation in its dealings with the world in terms of protecting its security and its way of life. |
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| The view that the country should deliberately avoid a large role in world affairs and instead concentrate on domestic concerns. |
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| The view that the country should involve itself deeply in world affairs. |
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| The lengthy period after World War II when the United States and the Soviet Union were not engaged in actual combat (a “hot war”) but were locked in a state of deep-seated hostility. |
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| A doctrine, developed after World War II, based on the assumption that the Soviet Union was an aggressor nation and that only a determined United States could block Soviet territorial ambitions. |
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| bipolar (power structure) |
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| A power structure dominated by two powers only, as in the case of the United States and the Soviet Union during the cold war. |
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| unipolar (power structure) |
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| A power structure dominated by a single powerful actor, as in the case of the United States after the collapse of the Soviet Union. |
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| The situation in which nations act together in response to problems and crises. |
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| The situation in which one nation takes action against another state or states. |
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| The idea, espoused by President George W. Bush, that the United States could attack a potentially threatening nation even if the threat had not yet reached a serious and immediate level. |
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| The idea that nuclear war can be discouraged if each side in a conflict has the capacity to destroy the other with nuclear weapons. |
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| Terrorism that transcends national borders and often targets people and locations other than the ones directly at issue. |
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| military-industrial complex |
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| The three components (the military establishment, the industries that manufacture weapons, and the members of Congress from states and districts that depend heavily on the arms industry) that mutually benefit from a high level of defense spending. |
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| multinational (transnational) corporations |
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| Business firms with major operations in more than one country. |
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| The condition where tariffs and other barriers to trade between nations are kept to a minimum. |
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| The increased interdependence of nations’ economies. The change is a result of technological, transportation, and communication advances that have enabled firms to deploy their resources around the globe. |
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| The placing of the immediate interests of domestic producers (through, for example, protective tariffs) above that of free trade between nations. |
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