Ap Gove Study Guide
A.P. U.S. Government
Final Exam Study Guide
(Featuring Economics!)
Note: Definitions are in bold and important points are underlined
Chapter 1: The Study of American Government
Two Questions about Politics:
Who Governs?
To what ends?
Political Power – the ability of one person to get another person to act in accordance with the first person’s intentions
People who exercise political power may or may not have the authority to do so.
Authority – the right to use power; the exercise of rightful power is easier than the exercise of power that is not supported by any persuasive claim of right
Legitimacy – political authority conferred by law, public opinion, or constitution
What is Democracy?
Democracy – has two different meanings
Direct or participatory democracy – a political system in which all or most citizens participate directly by either holing office or making policy. The town meeting, in which citizens vote on major issues, is an example of participatory democracy.
Representative democracy (R.D.) – a political system in which leaders and representatives acquire political power by means of a competitive struggle for the people’s vote. This is the form of gov’t used by nations that are called democratic.
Framers embraced representative democracy because they saw it as a way of minimizing the chances that power would be abused by a tyrannical popular majority or by self-serving officeholders
R.D. is any system of government in which leaders are authorized to make decisions by winning a competitive struggle for the popular vote
Majoritarian politics – the politics of policy-making in which almost everybody benefits from a policy and almost everybody pays for it
Elite – identifiable group of persons who possess a disproportionate share of some valued resource- in this case political power
Four theories of Elite Influence
Marxists – people who believe that those who control the economic system also control the political one
Claim societies
Final Exam Study Guide
(Featuring Economics!)
Note: Definitions are in bold and important points are underlined
Chapter 1: The Study of American Government
Two Questions about Politics:
Who Governs?
To what ends?
Political Power – the ability of one person to get another person to act in accordance with the first person’s intentions
People who exercise political power may or may not have the authority to do so.
Authority – the right to use power; the exercise of rightful power is easier than the exercise of power that is not supported by any persuasive claim of right
Legitimacy – political authority conferred by law, public opinion, or constitution
What is Democracy?
Democracy – has two different meanings
Direct or participatory democracy – a political system in which all or most citizens participate directly by either holing office or making policy. The town meeting, in which citizens vote on major issues, is an example of participatory democracy.
Representative democracy (R.D.) – a political system in which leaders and representatives acquire political power by means of a competitive struggle for the people’s vote. This is the form of gov’t used by nations that are called democratic.
Framers embraced representative democracy because they saw it as a way of minimizing the chances that power would be abused by a tyrannical popular majority or by self-serving officeholders
R.D. is any system of government in which leaders are authorized to make decisions by winning a competitive struggle for the popular vote
Majoritarian politics – the politics of policy-making in which almost everybody benefits from a policy and almost everybody pays for it
Elite – identifiable group of persons who possess a disproportionate share of some valued resource- in this case political power
Four theories of Elite Influence
Marxists – people who believe that those who control the economic system also control the political one
Claim societies