Political Science 1100
American National Government
Final Exam Review


Congress

• goals of members/ consequences of those goals (Mayhew)
  
• Election/Reelection
  • redistricting
  • incumbent advantage
• structure of the institution
  
  • committee system
    
  • party/leadership system
    
  • House and Senate differences
• legislative process
  

Presidency and executive branch

• Constitutional roles of the president
  
  • Chief administrator
  • Chief legislator
  • Commander-in-Chief
  • Chief magistrate
  • Chief diplomat
• Veto power
• War power and treaties
• Structure of the executive branch
  
  • Bureaucracy
    
  • Cabinet
    
  • Executive Office of the President
    
  • understand the role of each of these, and the nature of their relationship with the president
    
• cozy triangles and policy subgovernments
  

Judiciary

• Organization and structure of federal court system
  
• power of judicial review
• Jurisdiction
  
• Relationship of federal courts to state courts
  
• Role of Writ of Certiorari
  
• Politics of nomination and confirmation process
• policymaking role of the Court
  
• Current composition/membership of the U.S. Supreme Court

Policy

• Stages of the policy making process
  • issue identification
  • agenda setting
  • policy formulation
  • policy adoption
  • policy implementation
  • policy evaluation
• Models of decision-making
  • rational
  • incremental
  • elite
  • pluralist
• Types of policy
  • distributive and redistributive
  • budgetary politics and fiscal policy
    • Deficits, surpluses and debt
    • Discretionary spending
      • Domestic
      • International
      • Defense
    • Mandatory spending
      • Entitlements
  • The Federal Reserve System and monetary policy
    
  • Foreign policy
    • Defense/National Security policy
      • Bipolar world system and Cold War
      • Impact of:
        • End of Cold War
        • September 11
    • Congress, the President and war powers
    • Tools of diplomacy
      • covert actions
      • formal recognition
      • foreign aid
      • treaties

Terms you should know:

agenda setting amicus curiae appellate jurisdiction balance of trade Board of Governors bureaucracy cabinet casework circuit courts cloture Cold War concurring opinion conference committee containment dissenting opinion elite model of decision-making entitlements

executive agreement executive order Executive Office of the President executive privilege Federal Reserve Bank filibuster fiscal policy foreign aid formal recognition franking privilege incremental model of decision-making isolationism issue identification gerrymandering home style judicial activism judicial review

Keynesian legislative veto line-item veto majority leader mandatory spending merit system minority leader monetarists monetary policy mutual assured destruction Office of Management and Budget original jurisdiction party whips patronage Pendleton Act pluralist model of decision-making pocket veto

policy adoption policy evaluation policy formulation policy implementation policy subgovernments pork-barrel legislation rational model of decision-making rule of four seniority system Speaker of the House standing committee tariffs trial courts unanimous consent agreement War Powers Act White House Office writ of certiorari

There will also be a small, but significant, cumulative component to the exam. The material from the previous sections of the semester may include:

Chapter 1 politics and government Chapter 2 principal features of the Constitution amending process Chapter 3 unitary, federation, confederation fiscal federalism federal supremacy Chapters 4 Definitions of: civil rights civil liberties You will not need to know specific civil rights or civil liberties cases

Chapter 5 political socialization Chapter 6 nature and functions of American political parties Chapter 7 voter turnout party identification, retrospective voting Chapter 8 determinants of interest group strength Chapter 9 effects of mass media