Final Study Guide

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GVB 110: American National Government

Eleven of the terms, questions, or phrases below will appear on the exam. You will choose your favorite eight to answer. You will be asked to explain the meaning of each concept, discuss its political significance, and discuss how we, as political actors, should react or respond to the concept. Identification is worth 8 points, significance is worth 6 points, and response is worth 6 points. You will receive 20 points for putting your name on the bluebook.

The exam is 8:00-10:00am, Wednesday, 16 May.

Class and Reserve Reading

Stella Liebeck

Judicial review, Judicial activism and judicial restraint (also in Wasserman)

Pseudo-environment

Campaign finance- PACs, soft money, bundling, and Buckley v. Valeo

What does campaign spending buy? What do campaign contributions buy?

The political education of Maggie Lauterer

The spiral of silence

Progressive, Proportional, and Regressive Taxation

9th Amendment and the Right to Privacy

Incorporation of the Bill of Rights through the 14th Amendment (also in Wasserman)

What is the most important thing you have learned about American politics?

The Lost Art of Argument

Nickel and Dimed

Amending the Constitution

Wasserman

Sound bites, pseudo-events, news management, alternative media strategy

The business interests of media corporations (also in Hudson, chapter 4)

Causes of the two party system

Who votes and who doesn’t vote?

Functions of parties

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)

Elitism vs. Pluralism

Hudson

The "Candidate centered" campaign

The Hidden Election

The tragedy of the commons

The prisoners’ dilemma

The costs and benefits of voting

RIP

What changes in the distribution of income occurred in the United States between WWII and the 1980s? What changes in the distribution of wealth took place during the 1980s and 1990s?

Two contradictory tracks of American race relations

The racial divide between city and suburb

Radical individualism and civic virtue

Two of Hudson’s seven steps toward reform

Rubin

Information and the Public Opinion Gap

Shaping the News Coverage

Astroturf and Potemkin Interest Groups

Initiatives