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GSU POLS 1101 - Study Guide for Exam 1

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POLS 1101: American Government (Spring 2019)Professor: Dr. Michael EvansStudy Guide for Exam 1 Module 1: What are Governments and What do They Do?- According to the textbook, what are the defining features of “government”?- Make sure to know the basic definitions of these types of governing institutions: legislature, executive branch, bureaucratic agencies, judicial branch, and courts.- What is the name of the legislature of the government of the State of Georgia? What is the name of the legislature of the federal government of the United States? What are the names of the two chambers of the legislature of the government of the State of Georgia? What are the names of the two chambers of the legislature of the federal government of the United States?- Make sure to know the definitions for these two distinctive features of the American formof government: federalism and separation of powers.- Make sure to know and understand the definition of these concepts provided by the textbook:o Authority (as in A having authority over B)o Legitimate claim to authorityo Power (as in A having power over B)- How are the following three kinds of laws different from one another: ordinances, statutes, regulations?- Why, according to the textbook, is Max Weber’s definition of government (as that which has “a monopoly over the legitimate use of force over a territory”) misleading for understanding the nature of American government?- What does it mean to be “sovereign”? Whom (or what) is considered to be sovereign in the United States?- Make sure to know and understand the various ways governments exercise power over people. And make sure to understand how the following concepts relate to the government’s use of power over people: positive incentives, negative incentives, carrots, sticks, power of the sword, and the power of the purse.- What do “the power of the sword” and “the power of the purse” have to do with the “separation of powers” in American government?- According to the textbook, one reason governments exercise power is in order to provide “public goods.” What are public goods? How do they differ from so-called “private goods”? What does the provision of public goods have to do with collective action problems and free riding?Module 2: Overview of the American Way of Government - What is meant by the word “ideology”?- According to the textbook, what are two government purposes that most Americans consider to be legitimate?o What is “limited government”? What does it have to do with “securing rights”?o What is the difference between a legal right and a natural right? Which natural rights are listed in the Declaration of Independence? Do Americans tend to agree or disagree that those rights listed in the Declaration are actual moral rights that government has a responsibility to secure?o What are socioeconomic rights? In which document are they listed: The Declaration of Independence or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Do Americans agree or disagree over whether socioeconomic rights are actual moral rights that government has a responsibility to secure?- According to the textbook, three government purposes the mainstream of American politics considers to be illegitimate are theocracy, racial supremacy, and state socialism (also known as communism or Marxist-Leninist socialism).o Make sure to know and understand the definitions of those three terms.o Which of those three purposes was accepted as legitimate by parts of the mainstream of American politics in the past?o According to the textbook, what is market capitalism and how does it differ from state socialism?- In addition to federalism and the separation of powers, two distinctive features of the American form of government are constitutional government and democratic government. Make sure to know and understand how each of those concepts are defined by the textbook.o What does it mean to say that in a constitutional government “ordinary laws can be unlawful”?o According to the textbook, a government can be a “constitutional government” even if it doesn’t have a single written constitutional document like the U.S. Constitution. Furthermore, due to the existence of “sham constitutions,” a government can have a single written constitutional document and still not be a true constitutional government (as defined by the textbook). Make sure to understand this discussion. o According to the textbook, what is the most basic aspiration Americans strive for by binding their government to fundamental laws?o What, according to James Madison, is the “great difficulty” one must confront when “framing a government which is to be administered by men over men”? What, according to the textbook, did Madison mean by saying “a dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government.” What, according to the textbook, did Madison mean by saying “auxiliary precautions” are also needed for controlling government?- Make sure to know and understand the three general ways and ten specific ways (discussed in the textbook) that American citizens are legally and institutionally enabled to exert control over government.o Make sure to know and understand the following terms introduced in that section of the textbook: free elections, political parties, constituents, petition, interest groups, lobbying, jury, civil disobedience.- Make sure to understand the four freedoms necessary for democracy discussed in the textbook.- Make sure to know and understand the advantages democratic governments have over non-democratic (“authoritarian”) governments (as discussed in the textbook).Module 3: Overview of the American Way of Politics - How does the textbook define “politics”? According to this account, is politics more or less likely to be found in a stable democratic government or in an unstable and/or authoritarian government?- According to the textbook, what are “two (sometimes overlapping) sources of disagreement …. [that] are constant objects of political contention in the United States.”- Be able to identify someone as “liberal” (i.e., “to the left”) or “conservative” (i.e., “to the right”) based on how they stand on the following five dimensions of policy discussed in Section 2.1.1. of the textbook: (1) Regulating the Market Capitalist Economy; (2) Programs Promoting Economic Security, Welfare and Equality; (3) Promoting Social


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