Praxis Government/Political Science flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Veil of ignorance

Rawlsian device for choosing principles of justice without knowing one's social position, ensuring impartiality and yielding equal liberty plus the difference principle.

General will

Rousseau's concept of the collective will of citizens directed at the common good, distinct from the sum of private interests and the source of legitimate sovereignty.

Harm principle

Mill's rule that the only legitimate ground for restricting an individual's liberty is preventing harm to others.

Positive and negative liberty

Berlin's distinction: negative liberty is the absence of external interference, while positive liberty is the capacity to be one's own master.

Historical materialism

Marx's claim that relations of economic production form a base that shapes political, legal, and ideological institutions in the superstructure.

State of nature

Hypothetical condition before government, used by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau to justify different social contracts and limits on political authority.

Difference principle

Rawls's rule that social and economic inequalities are justified only if they benefit the least advantaged members of society.

Separation of powers

Montesquieu's design dividing legislative, executive, and judicial authority among separate bodies so that ambition is made to counteract ambition.

Judicial review

Marbury v. Madison (1803) established that courts may declare acts of Congress unconstitutional, making the judiciary a check on legislative power.

Necessary and proper clause

Article I clause granting Congress implied powers to carry out its enumerated duties; McCulloch v. Maryland upheld a national bank and federal supremacy.

Selective incorporation

Process by which the Supreme Court applies most Bill of Rights protections to the states through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Categorical grants

Federal money given to states for narrowly defined programs with conditions attached, offering less discretion than block grants and often requiring matching funds.

Electoral College

Body of 538 electors chosen by the states, equal to House seats plus two senators; a candidate needs 270 votes and most states use winner-take-all.

Cloture

Senate procedure requiring sixty votes to end debate and a filibuster, effectively setting a supermajority threshold for most contested legislation.

Iron triangle

Stable policy alliance among a congressional committee, an executive agency, and an interest group that mutually supports one another's goals.

Prior restraint

Government action that blocks expression before publication; Near v. Minnesota held such censorship presumptively unconstitutional under the First Amendment.

Duverger's law

Single-member district plurality elections tend to produce two-party systems, while proportional representation with large districts tends to produce multiparty systems.

Parliamentary system

System in which the executive is drawn from the legislature and remains accountable to it; a vote of no confidence can remove the prime minister.

Fusion of powers

In the Westminster model the executive sits within the legislature and depends on its confidence, contrasting with United States separation of powers.

Semi-presidential system

A directly elected president shares executive power with a prime minister who is responsible to the legislature, as in France and Russia.

Proportional representation

Electoral rule allocating seats roughly in proportion to vote share, typically using party lists in multimember districts and minimum thresholds.

Guardian Council

Iran's unelected body that screens candidates for office and reviews legislation for conformity with Islamic law and the constitution.

Democratic centralism

Leninist organizational principle of strict discipline and top-down authority requiring members to accept and carry out decisions of the leadership.

Hybrid regime

Government combining multiparty elections with authoritarian practices such as media control and unequal playing fields, also called competitive authoritarianism.

Containment

Cold War strategy urged by George Kennan to limit Soviet expansion through deterrence, alliances, and aid rather than direct military confrontation.

Security dilemma

Under anarchy, states build defenses that neighbors perceive as threats, producing spirals of armament and mistrust even without aggressive intent.

Democratic peace theory

Empirical claim that established democracies rarely or never fight one another, explained by institutions, shared norms, and economic interdependence.

Collective security

Principle that aggression against one member is treated as aggression against all, requiring a combined response, as stated in the UN Charter.

Balance of power

Situation in which states ally against a rising threat so that no single state or coalition can dominate the international system.

Treaty of Westphalia

The 1648 settlement ending the Thirty Years' War and establishing territorial sovereignty and noninterference as foundations of the state system.

Levels of analysis

Waltz's framework explaining war and foreign policy through individual leaders, state-level domestic factors, and the structure of the international system.

Constructivism

International relations theory holding that state identities and interests are shaped by social interaction and shared ideas rather than by material structure alone.