Political Science 1010
Introduction to Political Science
Fourth Exam Review


Institutions

• Definition
• Process of institutionalization
  • Autonomy and professionalization
  • Growth in internal complexity
  • Generally applicable decision-making rules

Territorial structuring of authority

• Relationship/authority of national government and "first order civil divisions"
  • Unitary
  • Confederation
  • Federation
• Patterns of centralization and decentralization across systems
• National-State relations in the American federal system
  • federal grants
  • burden shifting
  • New Federalism

Legislatures

• Presidential v. Parliamentary systems
• Legislative functions
• Problems of legislatures
  • efficiency v. importance
  • lack of expertise
  • "president worship"
  • absenteeism
  • incumbent advantage and low turnover

Executives

• Presidents v. Prime Ministers
• cabinets and ministers
• Cross-national variations
  • German "constructive no confidence"
  • French "cohabitation"
• Executive roles
  • head of state v. head of government
  • party chief
  • commander-in-chief
  • chief diplomat
  • dispenser of appointments
  • chief legislator

Bureaucracy

• Weber's characteristics of bureaucracy
• Wilson and Goodnow's concerns about accountability
• Claire's "administocracies"
• Bureaucratic functions
  • adminstration
  • service delivery
  • regulation
  • licensing
  • information gathering
• Bureaucratic policy-making
  • Adjudication
  • Discretionary implementation
  • Rule making
  • Advising
• Remedies for bureacratic problems
  • ombudsmen
  • legislative checks
  • cutting
  • decentralization
  • politicization

Legal System and the Courts

• Types of Law
  • Criminal law
  • Civil law
  • Constitutional law
  • Administrative law
  • International law
• Court systems
  • Adversarial and accusatorial systems
  • U.S. v. British system
  • European inquisitorial process
  • role of lawyers in each system
• Political impact of courts
• judicial activism v. judicial restraint

Terms you should know:
accusatorial adversarial adjudication administration appeal appropriations backbencher barrister Bundesrat Bundestag burden shifting bureaucracy cabinet chancellor	civil law coalition common law confederation consituency casework department (French) devolution first-order civil division fusion of power House of Commons House of Lords indict institutionalize	investigating judge Länder (German) life peer merit civil service minister MITI mixed-member National Assembly ombudsman opposition natural law parliament parliamentary systems	portfolio positive law precedent prefecture premier presidential systems Question Hour Riksdag separation of powers solicitor State Duma unfunded mandate vote of confidence