Defining+Key+Terms

Power Points:

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Description: There are four key terms I want to review before we proceed further. The two most important are "government" and "politics." By defining these fully we can cover most of the other institutions and concepts we will discuss in class. The other two terms are "sovereignty" and "public policy." On the slides you will note a variety of definitions for each term. These are pulled from various places and are intended to show that there can be conflict over even how we talk about government.

You will notice that a full discussion of these terms will allow for an understanding of related terms like democracy, legislature, constitution, authoritarianism, and interest group, among many others. The goal is for you to achieve a degree of fluency with all these terms so that we can communicate efficiently abut them from here on out.

Goals:

These are some specific questions you should be able to address after reviewing the slides. The assessment questions on this section are based on them.

- How can you define "government?" What are the principle components of these definitions? - What are three basic things that governments do and what are the principle governing institutions that do them? - How can you define "politics?" What are the principle components of those definitions? - What is a political institution and how is it different than a governing institution? - What is "sovereignty?" What is the nature of sovereignty in the United States and Texas? How is this seemingly simple concept made complex in our federal republic? - What is "public policy?" What types exist? Which ones are more prominent on the national level and which are more prominent on the state level? - What does the term "consent of the governed" mean? - What powers are necessary for a government to in fact govern? - Be familiar with the various issues associated with democracy, oligarchy and autocracy. - Be familiar with legislative, executive and judicial powers. - What problems are associated with majority rule? How are these addressed? - What is tyranny - how is it best defined? How does the American governing system attempt to prevent tyranny? - What is a Constitution and what does it do? - What differences exist between the governing system of the United States and that of Texas? - Be able to answer simple questions about local governments - cities, counties, and single purpose governments - in Texas. - How do political institutions attempt to influence governing institutions? - Know the impact values, interests, and the desire for power have on the political process. - As much as we might detest politics - the political world exists for a reason. What is it? - What are the major political institutions? - What role does public opinion have on the political world? - What is the nature of public opinion in Texas and how does it condition what Texas government does? - What is ideology, and how is ideology within Texas different than that of the US as a whole? - What values and interests tend to make Texas different than the US as a whole? - Which matter the most: traditionalism, liberty or equality? - What is the nature of party competition in Texas? - Which interest groups tend to dominate the state?

Terminology:

- sovereignty - government - politics - public policy - popular sovereignty - legislature - executive - judiciary - separated powers - coercion - consent - autocracy - oligarchy - democracy - indirect and direct democracy - initiative, referenda and recall elections - political parties - interest groups - the media - ideology - federalism